Replies

Join Us At Today's Iranian Alert Thread – The Most Underreported Story Of The Year!

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail DoctorZin”

Join Us At Today's Iranian Alert Thread – The Most Underreported Story Of The Year!

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail DoctorZin”

Movement's Representative Blasts Khomeini's Legacy on Famous "Arte TV"

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Jan 31, 2004

Kaveh Mohseni, the SMCCDI's Representative in France, blasted, this evening, Rouh-ollah Khomeini's legacy during an interview with the famous French-German "Arte TV". The program recorded in the Paris office of the SMCCDI was aired by this EU funded Cultural and Political TV in order to mark the 25th anniversary of the return of the founder of the Islamic republic regime on Feb. 1st 1979 to Iran.

Mohseni, who was shown having a banned "Lion & Sun" flag by his side and sitting behind his monitor showing from the Movement's website the pictures of the July 1999 Students Uprising, described the exasperation of the secularist Iranians and even those of strong religious believes by stating: " Majority of Iranians have today witnessed another version of Islam than the one existing under the former regime. They're seeing how tolerance has been replaced by intolerance of Khomeini's lecture and legacy..."

"The founder of this regime went ahead and even qualified the tragic Iraq-Iran war as a "God Given Benediction" He emphasized.

Speaking about the so-called "reformist" challenges "within the regime", Mohseni added: " People have understood that reforms can't be possible with this regime. They saw how those self-called reformists tried each time to appropriate the popular actions in their name as they did it with the Students and other layers of the society's actions and demonstrations without even defending those arrested. That's why Iranians have now turned their back to them..."

The broadcast of this program confirms the increasing change of part of EU's behavior in reference to Iran and its understanding of the possibility of a radical political change in the months to come.

"France-3", the French governmental TV, made on July 8th 2004, an interview with a SMCCDI female member during which she was describing the agony of Iranians. This member speaking with a hidden face and under the name of "M" stated, as well, about the exasperation of Iranians from EU's stands and its policy of supporting the regime. Since then, the number of contacts made between EU Media sources and the SMCCDI are in constant raise. Several interviews have been made, in the last months, by French, German and Italian TV and radio networks as well as written press with the Movement's members.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_4782.shtml

108 Iranian Reformist MPs Resign in Vote Dispute

Sun February 1, 2004 02:36 AM ET
Parinoosh Arami
TEHRAN (Reuters) -

More than 100 Iranian reformist lawmakers submitted their resignations on Sunday in protest over a hard-line watchdog's decision to disqualify hundreds of reformist candidates from parliamentary elections on Feb. 20.

"Now the totalitarians have decided to eliminate republicanism and after that Islam by forming a show parliament. We have no choice but to resign," prominent reformist member of parliament Mohsen Mirdamadi said in a speech on behalf of 108 resigning lawmakers.

The resignations marked a significant escalation of Iran's worst political crisis for years which was sparked by the Guardian Council's decision to bar more than 2,000 aspiring candidates from standing in the election.

Reformist allies of President Mohammad Khatami accuse unelected hard-liners, who have used their sweeping powers to block most reform efforts since Khatami's 1997 election, of carrying out a blatant grab for power.

"One (political) faction lacks the support of the people. They want to gain it by force through the Guardian Council," said parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi.

Reformists won a comfortable majority of parliament's 290 seats in 2000 elections. Among those barred from this month's vote are more than 80 current reformist deputies.

The mass resignations will make it difficult for parliament to continue functioning given the requirement of a quorum of two-thirds of members to be present to hold a session.

"They want to cover the ugly body of dictatorship with the beautiful dress of democracy," Mirdamadi said in an unusually stinging public address broadcast live on state radio.

The resignations will be submitted to parliament's presiding board for consideration later in the week, members of parliament told Reuters.

The electoral dispute has raised concern abroad about the future of democracy in the oil-rich nation, which this month marks the 25th anniversary of the Islamic revolution that brought clerics to power.

Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari on Saturday said the elections would lack legitimacy if allowed to go ahead with so many candidates barred from the race.

CALL FOR VOTE DELAY
He said the candidate bans meant reformists would not be able to compete for more than half of parliament's seats. Reformist parties have said they will boycott the elections.

Mousavi-Lari, who is responsible for organizing the vote, has called on the Guardian Council -- an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic jurists -- to agree to a postponement of the poll.

Scores of top government officials, including vice-presidents, Cabinet ministers and state governors have also threatened to resign over the election dispute.

Khatami, who has tended to avoid direct confrontation with hard-liners since coming to power, has voiced hope that the dispute can be resolved through negotiations and pledged to hold a competitive election on the scheduled date.

Karroubi said he and Khatami had started "new measures" to resolve the standoff on Saturday night.

He did not elaborate but called on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters of state, "to intervene and resolve this issue."

Analysts say Khamenei, concerned that the elections will cause a crisis of legitimacy and increase international criticism of Iran's clerical rule, may step in to force the Guardian Council to reinstate most of the banned candidates.

Despite the intensifying political atmosphere, public interest in the dispute remained muted. After years of broken promises of reform, most Iranians have grown increasingly disenchanted with the reformist-conservative power struggle.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4255972

Activity Heats Up as U.S. and Iran Flirt With Closer Ties

February 01, 2004
The Washington Post
Robin Wright

In a major diplomatic shift, Iran and the United States are seriously probing whether to reengage now that they have overlapping interests in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to officials and analysts from the two nations.

The interest is reflected in a burst of activity, including a trip to Tehran later this month by a delegation of congressional staffers. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who organized the visit, has called it "historic," adding, "This is a significant step, and we can build on it."

The State Department has prepared for Secretary Colin L. Powell an analysis on the potential to move forward, and the White House has approved meetings by Republican and Democratic legislators with Iranian officials, say U.S. officials and congressional sources.

"The Bush administration's attitude now is: No promises, no commitments, but let's see where this goes," a congressional source said.

The overtures come after a quarter-century of hostility -- and several false starts dating back to the secret arms-for-hostages swap in the mid-1980s. President Bush called Iran one of three nations in the "axis of evil" in his 2002 State of the Union address.

In contrast, the State Department on Friday welcomed the congressional visit. "We've always encouraged exchanges, people to people exchanges, with Iran. We've certainly encouraged congressional travel, in general. So I guess it sounds like it would be fine with us if that's what they decided to do," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

The two U.S. interventions in countries that share long borders with Iran have galvanized a rethinking of policy in Washington and Tehran, officials and analysts say. Iran's agreement in December to allow surprise inspections by U.N. arms experts to verify that Tehran is not producing nuclear weapons also changed the atmospherics.

"Iran's acceptance of the terms was important, because it indicated a willingness to engage with the international community and a flexibility on controversial issues that we've not seen before," said Shaul Bakhash of the Brookings Institution.

Since then, Washington provided rescue personnel and aid after an earthquake leveled the historic city of Bam, killing 40,000, and offered to send a high-level humanitarian delegation led by Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and including a Bush family member. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi met with Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) last month at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, while last week Specter and Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) co-hosted Iranian U.N. Ambassador Javad Zarif at a Capitol Hill dinner, a visit approved by the Bush administration. Also in the works is a visit by Iran's soccer team for games against D.C. United and the L.A. Galaxy in April.

Overtures have been made before. Yet the two nations have rarely been interested at the same time -- as they are now, say U.S. and Iranian analysts. Unlike past contacts, these are public. And while neither is ready for full rapprochement, "this time it's more than a flirtation," said Hadi Semati, a Tehran political scientist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Both countries have more incentive to reengage than at any time since 1979, when the United States took in deposed shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Iranian students responded by seizing the U.S. Embassy and holding 52 Americans hostage. The crisis led to a break in relations.

"The potential is great, because the necessities are also great. Failing to work things out on major issues that concern Afghanistan and Iraq and wider regional security could harm both sides. Conversely, developing a working relationship will benefit both sides," said William G. Miller, a former U.S. diplomat in Iran now at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Both the United States and Iran need stability in Iraq, a prerequisite for pulling out U.S. troops from that country. Iran has a Shiite majority with large Kurdish, Sunni and Arab minorities -- the same groups that are in Iraq. Internal tension in Iraq could easily spill across the 912-mile border.

In Afghanistan, Washington and Tehran share an intense interest in preventing the Taliban's return and stemming the Afghan heroin flow across the 585-mile border with Iran into Europe.

There are other incentives, too. In Iran, which today begins 11-day celebrations of the revolution's 25th year, officials no longer call the United States the Great Satan or use terms such as "Westoxication." Iran's focus is instead on why Washington blocks its membership in the World Trade Organization.

"There are clearly significant elements today in Iran who believe they need a more normalized relationship with the United States in order for them to fulfill their economic and political potential in the world," Biden said.

Fear, after the United States' use of military might on two of Iran's borders, is another reason for Iran's willingness to talk, Specter said. Others suggest that the changed regional security situation is more of a factor.

"The threat from Saddam [Hussein] is no longer there, so the opportunity for Iran to have a peaceful neighbor is more at play than the fact they saw that we can [win decisively]. The Iranians recognize that the Americans and Brits have helped them pacify two dangerous borders," said Rep. Victor F. Snyder (D-Ark.), who has met with Iran's U.N. envoy three times.

Conservatives in both capitals are still reluctant. "The irony is that Iran is one place Bush would like to find a way to diminish tensions. I'm not sure that exists with his neo-con advisers," Biden added.

Presidential elections in both countries between late 2004 and early 2005 also limit progress. Tehran's current crisis over parliamentary elections this month hampers action since Iran needs consensus on sensitive steps.

"Realistically, any major breakthrough will be postponed until after elections in both countries. Until then, there are only likely to be limited or necessary steps to manage the relationship, but even these can be important in setting a new tone and paving the way for the future," said Nasser Hadian, a Tehran University political scientist on sabbatical at Columbia University.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2047-2004Jan31.html?nav=hptop_tb

Egyptian President Declines Iranian Invitation

February 01, 2004
AFP
IranMania

TEHRAN -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has declined an Iranian invitation to attend an economic summit in Tehran later this month, a visit that was supposed to have heralded a resumption of diplomatic ties between Iran and Egypt, the Iranian foreign minister said Sunday.

"Mr Hosni Mubarak is not going to participate himself, but a high-ranking delegation is going to be sent," Kamal Kharazi told reporters.

"Iran-Egyptian relations are in the reconstruction phase and need time," he added. "There should be a natural and definite course for relations to be resumed in the near future."

"What is important is that both sides have decided on this and are working on it," he added.

Iran had invited Mubarak to a summit of the Islamic group of eight due to be held in Tehran from February 19-20.

The group was set up in 1998 on Turkey's initiative. It comprises Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

Diplomatic ties between Cairo and Tehran were severed in 1979, the year that Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel and gave asylum to shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi when he was deposed by the Islamic revolution.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=22174&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Iranian MPs' resignation letter - text

MPs have been angered by the ban

The following is the text of identical resignation letters submitted by more than 100 members of Iran's parliament, protesting at the disqualification of thousands of candidates from elections due on 20 February.

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

To the honourable Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Majlis, Hojjat ol-Eslam val-Moslemin Mehdi Karrubi, peace and greetings.

The failure to respect the nation's rights, the pursuit of an illegal disqualification process by the Guardian Council and the precedent that is being created in the supervision of the elections make it impossible for a free, fair, just and legal election to take place for the seventh Majlis.

These illegal actions are such that I am no longer able to act in accordance with the oath that we took on the basis of Article 67 of the constitution.

I hereby present my resignation from the post of deputy on the basis of Articles 92 and 93 of the Internal Regulations of the Majlis, and in protest at the destruction of the republican aspect of the system and the transformation of the Islamic Consultative Majlis into a non-popular and ceremonial Majlis.

I should be grateful if you could order the necessary legal procedure in relation to my resignation as soon as possible.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3449021.stm

Khatami slams Jewish lobby in Washington; says Tel-Aviv is ''real'' capital of US
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami slammed the Zionist lobby in the United States, saying it is being used by the "criminal Zionist regime" to set the United States' foreign policy agenda, according to the private German television network 3sat, quoting Iran's chief executive as saying Saturday.

"Israel is not the friend of the US because Israel's Zionist lobby decides a major part of American policy. I have once said in a speech that I do feel sorry for the American nation because although its capital is Washington, its real capital is Tel Aviv," Khatami said in
an exclusive interview with the German television station.

"The tax money of the hardworking American nation is being used for a small group who can impose on the US the spread of war and violence in the world," he added.

In the meantime, the Iranian president also reiterated that "historically, as well as morally, Israel is not a legitimate state". (Albawaba.com)

http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?action=story&sid=269383&lang=e&dir=News

Iran's "reformist" President. ;)

This thread is now closed.

Join Us At Today's Iranian Alert Thread – The Most Underreported Story Of The Year!

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail DoctorZin”