Monday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 6.20.2005:

The coming coup

Iranian blogger, Hoder.com:

Things are really getting nasty here. After Karrubi's unbelievably blunt letter to the Supreme Leader, everything is suddenly changing. All non-fundamentalists are rallying behind Rafsanjani. Many are talking about a possible coup by Sepah and Basij after Friday's second round results. ...

He is also reported that the chief prosecutor of Tehran, has released a warning for people who use SMS on their cell phones to spread news, views, and jokes for or against candidates... Those who don't comply "will be prosecuted and their phones will be seized." READ MORE

Hoder is perhaps the most famous Iranian blogger. He is an Iranian journalist whose newspaper was shutdown by the regime. He moved to Canada, began blogging and has been a supporter of the reformist movement. He is currently in Iran to witness the vote. He provides a glimpse into the reformist mind in Iran.

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• Iran Focus reported that members of Iran's hard-line paramilitary Bassij forces attacked campaigners for Rafsanjani.
• Iran Focus reported that some 1,000 copper workers staged a hunger strike.
• Iran va Jahan laments the fact that although the vote rigging allegations in the first round of the elections in Iran are the most blatant, the world media is silent.
• The Wall Street Journal said that the most astonishing aspect of Friday's presidential vote in Iran is that Tehran managed to convince so many in the West that this is a real demonstration of democracy.
• Michael Ledeen's sources inside Iran's Interior Ministry put the actual number of voters was roughly seven million people. This means 17 million votes were fraudulent.
• Adnkronos International reported that following charges of vote rigging Iran's powerful Guardian Council decided to recount part of the votes. Yahoo News also.
• The New York Times reported Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying, Throughout the Middle East the fear of free of choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty. It is time to abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard work of democracy.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s former Parliament Speaker and presidential hopeful Mehdi Karroubi resigned his membership of the powerful State Expediency Council and stepped down as an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in protest against rigging of the polls.
• ABC News reported Noble Prize winner Shirin Ebadi as saying stoning is still occurring in Iran and regarding the election, the result is not a true reflection of the will of the people.
• And finally, Kenneth R. Timmerman's publisher Crown Forum released an excerpt of his new book, Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran, Chapter 1: THE DEFECTOR. (Iran's involvement in 9/11). A must read.