Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [7/03-7/09] major news events regarding Iran.

Iran and the G8 Summit.

• Adnkronos International reported that the Iranian opposition views this G8 Summit with hope.
• Iranian blog, Roozonline reported that days before the G8 summit, rumor has it the U.S. will arrive with plans in tow for military action against Iran. Another.
• The U.S. State Department published the G8 Statement on Iran.

The London Bombing.

• National Review reminded us that if London, which has long faced the highly sophisticated terrorists of the IRA can be struck by terror, then every city is vulnerable.
• Victor Davis Hanson, National Review suggested that the British may react very differently than the Spanish did after Madrid — by doing nothing.
• The NY Sun reported that Jack Straw said the attacks in London bore all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
• Iran Focus reports that a senior Iran cleric blames West for London bombings.
• Nick Cohen, The Guardian said, We all know who was to blame for Thursday's murders... and it wasn't Bush and Blair. A power warning to the liberal elite.
• The Times UK reported Netanyahu said concerted action was required to rein in Iran, not least because of its links with Islamic terrorist groups.
• Roger Scruton, The Times UK said, In dealing with terrorism you are confronting a resentment that is not concerned to improve the lot of anyone, but only to destroy the thing it hates.
  

Ahmadinejad: The Terrorist Charges.

• The Times UK examined the charges Ahmadinejad is a terrorist, torturer and executioner.
• The Guardian UK reported that Iran claimed that its hard-line president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was the victim of a smear campaign.
• Amir Taheri, New York Post reported that Ahmadinejad was wounded in an assassination of an Iran dissident and spent a day in a Vienna hospital before being whisked out of Austria with a diplomatic passport.
• Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post reported that the mask is off the Iranian regime, but the world does not seem to care.
• Northeast Intelligence Network reported on Ahmadinejad's own website for evidence of his involvement in the taking of the U.S. Embassy.
• Iran Press Service examined a few of Iran's President Elect challenges.

More on the Election Fraud.

• The Times Union reminds us that Ahmadinejad's 17 million votes, as reported by the Interior Ministry, amount to only 36 percent of the electorate. If you believe their totals.

Iran's Troublemaking Outside of Iran.

• Middle East Newsline reported the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has offered $100,000 for the abduction of an Israeli soldier.
• Khaleej Times reported that Iran threatened Bahrain after a newspaper published a cartoon deemed insulting to the Islamic republic'’s supreme leader.
• St Petersburg Times reported that Iranian leaders are just waiting for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.
• WorldNetDaily reported that an Iranian movement says it now has recruited 40,000 human "time bombs" to carry out suicide attacks against Americans.
• Men's News Daily said that the Islamic terrorists can take down a building, bomb a train, and kill and maim innocent people and that the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued to finance and sustains terror groups throughout the world.

The power struggle inside of Iran.

• Iranian.ws reported that Grand Ayatollah Hassan Ali Montazeri criticized the recent presidential elections, and called for the urgent amendment of Iran's constitution.
• The Guardian UK reported that Iran's hard-line Revolutionary Guards pledged their loyalty to the country's ultraconservative president-elect.

Iran's military.

• The Washington Times reported that Ahmedinejad said his country needs a strong army to "form a great resource for the country and its people." He added that Iran was "pivotal in bringing security to the Islamic world."
• St Petersburg Times reported that Russia is reportedly in talks to upgrade three Iranian submarines with missile weapons systems.
• BBC News reported that the Iranians plan to train Iraq's Military.
• Radio Free Europe reported that a U.S. court has sentenced an Iranian national to nearly five years in prison for trying to export parts for F-4 and F-14 jet fighters.

Iran's nuclear negotiations.

• Khaleej Times reported that a close aide to Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran's nuclear policies will change under the new government.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, denied was stepping down as had been reported earlier.
• Voice of America News reported a meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and France's new foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy. The French minster said, the EU-Three will never accept a resumption of military nuclear activities by Iran.
• The Financial Times reported that the EU3 may seek to turn the Paris agreement into international law.
• Iran Focus reported that Iranian officials are becoming increasingly anxious that the European Union may change its policy toward the clerical state.
• BBC News reported Tehran is considering building 20 new nuclear power stations.
• World Net Daily reported on how Condi scuttled EU-Iran agreement.

The Iranian Economy.

• The Peninsula reported that Iran is in talks with Indian and Chinese firms that are interested in developing the Azadegan oil field.
• BusinessWeek reported that since the Iranian President-elect is anti-capitalist and anti-West, investment may suffer.

Human Rights/Freedom of the press inside of Iran.

• Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported that jailed Iranian dissident journalist Akbar Ganji has defied the will of his captors, vowing to refuse to end his 26-day hunger strike.
• IranMania reported that imprisoned Iranian dissident Ganji is near death due to his hunger strike and demanding unconditional freedom.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that the EU called on Iran to release Ganji.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Ebadi says Zarafshan on medical leave from prison and the government denies Ganji is in any medical emergency.
• Gooya News reported that more than 380 intellectuals and scholars called for a demonstration next Tuesday, to press the Islamic government to release Akbar Ganji and other political prisoners.

• Amnesty International released an Urgent Action statement on Iranian writer and journalist Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf.
• Reporters Without Borders issued another statement saying Iran's judiciary continues to stall in Kazemi case, two years after her death.
• Gooya News published a petition in support of Dr. Hossein Ghazian who was tried and charged with the alleged crime of cooperating with a belligerent state (the U.S.) through conducting opinion polls for Gallup Organization and Zogby Polling Institute.
• Iran Focus reported that a hospital belonging to the Revolutionary Guards in the Iranian capital is refusing entry for women not wearing the head-to-toe covering known as chador.
• IranMania reported that Iran's Judiciary system says will not carry out eye-for-eye verdict.
• Iranian.ws reported that an Iranian woman singer was threatened with death for singing.
• Voice of America News reported that Iran's streets are full of children working illegally.

Popular struggle for freedom inside of Iran.

• SMCCDI reported that several militiamen were killed in an ambush near the southeastern City of Zahedan.
• FrontPageMag reported that more and more young Iranians are resorting to violence against the regime and its representatives.
• SMCCDI reported that repressive measures are increasing with the approach of the anniversary of Students' Uprising on July 9th.
• SMCCDI reported a scheduled demonstration at Tehran University did not happen. The regime had sent all students home and surrounded the University with security forces.

Popular support outside of Iran for the pro-democracy efforts in Iran.

• SMCCDI reported that for the third time this year, their website was shut down, allegedly for emailing spam. Update
• Iran Focus obtained the photograph of Iran’s President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with Ayatollah Khomeini’s Chief Representative in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the 1980s. Photo.
• Farah Pahlavi published an English translation of a message of solidarity with the Iranian people.
• Freethoughts reminded us of the July 9th, 1999 crackdown in Iran.

Iran and the International community.

• The Jerusalem Post reported that the leading Polish presidential candidate said, an Iranian attempt to develop nuclear weapons would be the greatest threat to peace on earth.
• Middle East Newsline reported that Israel's Defense Ministry has said that Iran could destroy the Jewish state with two atomic bombs.
• Roozonline examined the recent cold reception the Europeans gave to Iranian representatives.
  

Can you believe this?

• Tiscali.it reported that El Baradei is married to an Iranian woman whose relative is Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, one of the "brains" of the regime and close to the tyrant Khamenei.

Must Read reports.

• The Post-Gazette suggested that since Ayatollah Khameini no longer sees a need to put a "reformist" face on the regime, Iran is very close to -- or already possesses -- a nuclear weapon and the means to deliver it.
• Newsweek provides a serious look at Iran's nuclear lies.
• Middle East Intelligence Bulletin published a few years ago a report on the Origins of Iran's Reformist Elite. A valuable read in light of recent developments in Iran.
• Iran Focus reported that a clique of 300 men with family ties have been running the Islamic Republic from the time of the 1979 Iranian revolution until present.
• James Lewis, Real Clear Politics thinks an Iranian bomb will split Islam.
• Alan Peters, The Free Republic published: Operation "Sandblast" advocating the U.S. support a radical rethinking of U.S. policy. The following is an example of one such approach.
• CNN sees Iran as a land of contradictions.
• Jewish Journal lamented that during Bush’s tenure, the movement for reform and liberty in Iran has waned.

The Experts.

• Michael Rubin, Forward said Washington must plan today for the democratic Iran of tomorrow.
• Amir Taheri, Arab News reported the people of Iran are witnessing an impressive build-up of power around the newly elected president.
• Amir Taheri, Aawsat discussed the new face of Iran and the West's great misunderstanding.

Photos and cartoons of the week.

• A photo of a recent demonstration against the regime: 70,000,000 prisoners in Iran and
• A Cox and Forkum cartoon: It gets worse every year.

And finally, The Quote of the Week.

Amir Taheri, The Times UK said about the London bombing:

It may take some time before the full identity of the attackers is established. But the ideology that motivates them, the networks that sustain them and the groups that finance them are all too well known.

Saturday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 7.9.2005:

Ebadi says Zarafshan on medical leave from prison

Islamic Republic News Agency:

Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said here Saturday that her client Nasser Zarafshan is on leave from prison for treatment of kidney stones.

"Right now he is on convalescence after surgery. My client during this period, which will not be short, will be on leave from prison," Ebadi, who is one of the Zarafshan's attorneys, added. ...

Zarafshan who was the attorney for the serial murder case was detained in August 2002 on charges of divulging state secrets and sentenced to five years in prison and 70 lashes.

Judiciary Spokesman Jamal Karimirad said ... On the latest conditions of the jailed dissident Akbar Ganji, he added that the news on deteriorating health of Ganji is not true. ... "Ganji had refused to see the two doctors sent to examine him." Also, he said he has been in talks with Ganji's wife and attorney to facilitate dispatching Ganji to a hospital which has not occurred yet. READ MORE

A demonstration calling for Ganji's release has been scheduled for Tuesday.

July 9th Update: I have heard of a few successful demonstrations in Tehran and other cities. I will publish more soon.

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

• Nick Cohen, The Guardian said, We all know who was to blame for Thursday's murders... and it wasn't Bush and Blair. A power warning to the liberal elite.
• Men's News Daily said that the Islamic terrorists can take down a building, bomb a train, and kill and maim innocent people and that the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued to finance and sustain terror groups throughout the world.
• Amir Taheri, Aawsat discussed the new face of Iran and the West's great misunderstanding.
• Farah Pahlavi published an English translation of a message of solidarity with the Iranian people.
• CNN sees Iran as a land of contradictions.
• Iran Press Service examined a few of Iran's President Elect challenges.
• Roozonline examined the recent cold reception the Europeans gave to Iranian representatives.
• The U.S. State Department published the G8 Statement on Iran.
• The Times UK reported Netanyahu said concerted action was required to rein in Iran, not least because of its links with Islamic terrorist groups.
• World Net Daily reported on how Condi scuttled EU-Iran agreement.
• Roger Scruton, The Times UK said, In dealing with terrorism you are confronting a resentment that is not concerned to improve the lot of anyone, but only to destroy the thing it hates.
• Freethoughts reminded us of the July 9th, 1999 crackdown in Iran.
• Gooya News reported that more than 380 intellectuals and scholars called for a demonstration next Tuesday, to press the Islamic government to release Akbar Ganji and other political prisoners.
• Jewish Journal lamented that during Bush’s tenure, the movement for reform and liberty in Iran has waned.
• Miami Herald reported that a Basij Forces Commander was named as new Iran police chief.
• SMCCDI reported a scheduled demonstration at Tehran University did not happen. The regime had sent all students home and surrounded the University with security forces.

And finally:

• A photo of a recent demonstration against the regime: 70,000,000 prisoners in Iran and
• A Cox and Forkum cartoon: It gets worse every year.

Face up to the truth

Nick Cohen, The Guardian:

The instinctive response of a significant portion of the rich world's intelligentsia to the murder of innocents on 11 September was anything but robust. A few, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, were delighted. The destruction of the World Trade Centre was 'the greatest work of art imaginable for the whole cosmos,' declared the composer whose tin ear failed to catch the screams. READ MORE

Others saw it as a blow for justice rather than art. They persuaded themselves that al-Qaeda was made up of anti-imperialist insurgents who were avenging the wrongs of the poor. 'The great speculators wallow in an economy that every year kills tens of millions of people with poverty, so what is 20,000 dead in New York?' asked Dario Fo. Rosie Boycott seemed to agree. 'The West should take the blame for pushing people in Third World countries to the end of their tether,' she wrote.

In these bleak days, it's worth remembering what was said after September 2001. A backward glance shows that before the war against the Taliban and long before the war against Saddam Hussein, there were many who had determined that 'we had it coming'. They had to convince themselves that Islamism was a Western creation: a comprehensible reaction to the International Monetary Fund or hanging chads in Florida or whatever else was agitating them, rather than an autonomous psychopathic force with reasons of its own. In the years since, this manic masochism has spread like bindweed and strangled leftish and much conservative thought.

All kinds of hypocrisy remained unchallenged. In my world of liberal London, social success at the dinner table belonged to the man who could simultaneously maintain that we've got it coming but that nothing was going to come; that indiscriminate murder would be Tony Blair's fault but there wouldn't be indiscriminate murder because 'the threat' was a phantom menace invented by Blair to scare the cowed electorate into supporting him.

I'd say the 'power of nightmares' side of that oxymoronic argument is too bloodied to be worth discussing this weekend and it's better to stick with the wider delusion.

On Thursday, before the police had made one arrest, before one terrorist group had claimed responsibility, before one body had been carried from the wreckage, let alone been identified and allowed to rest in peace, cocksure voices filled with righteousness were proclaiming that the real murderers weren't the real murderers but the Prime Minister. I'm not thinking of George Galloway and the other saluters of Saddam, but of upright men and women who sat down to write letters to respectable newspapers within minutes of hearing the news.

'Hang your head in shame, Mr Blair. Better still, resign - and whoever takes over immediately withdraw all our forces from Iraq and Afghanistan,' wrote the Rev Mike Ketley, who is a vicar, for God's sake, but has no qualms about leaving Afghanistan to the Taliban and al-Qaeda or Iraq to the Baath party and al-Qaeda. 'Let's stop this murder and put on trial those criminals who are within our jurisdiction,' began Patrick Daly of south London in an apparently promising letter to the Independent. But, inevitably, he didn't mean the bombers. 'Let's start with the British government.'

And so it went on. At no point did they grasp that Islamism was a reactionary movement as great as fascism, which had claimed millions of mainly Muslim lives in the Sudan, Iran, Algeria and Afghanistan and is claiming thousands in Iraq. As with fascism, it takes a resolute dunderheadedness to put all the responsibility on democratic governments for its existence.

I feel the appeal, believe me. You are exasperated with the manifold faults of Tony Blair and George W Bush. Fighting your government is what you know how to do and what you want to do, and when you are confronted with totalitarian forces which are far worse than your government, the easy solution is to blame your government for them.

But it's a parochial line of reasoning to suppose that all bad, or all good, comes from the West - and a racist one to boot. The unavoidable consequence is that you must refuse to support democrats, liberals, feminists and socialists in the Arab world and Iran who are the victims of Islamism in its Sunni and Shia guises because you are too compromised to condemn their persecutors.

Islamism stops being an ideology intent on building an empire from Andalusia to Indonesia, destroying democracy and subjugating women and becomes, by the magic of parochial reasoning, a protest movement on a par with Make Poverty History or the TUC.

Again, I understand the appeal. Whether you are brown or white, Muslim, Christian, Jew or atheist, it is uncomfortable to face the fact that there is a messianic cult of death which, like European fascism and communism before it, will send you to your grave whatever you do. But I'm afraid that's what the record shows.

The only plausible excuse for 11 September was that it was a protest against America's support for Israel. Unfortunately, Osama bin Laden's statements revealed that he was obsessed with the American troops defending Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein and had barely said a word about Palestine.

After the Bali bombings, the conventional wisdom was that the Australians had been blown to pieces as a punishment for their government's support for Bush. No one thought for a moment about the Australian forces which stopped Indonesian militias rampaging through East Timor, a small country Indonesia had invaded in 1975 with the backing of the US. Yet when bin Laden spoke, he said it was Australia's anti-imperialist intervention to free a largely Catholic population from a largely Muslim occupying power which had bugged him.

East Timor was a great cause of the left until the Australians made it an embarrassment. So, too, was the suffering of the victims of Saddam, until the tyrant made the mistake of invading Kuwait and becoming America's enemy. In the past two years in Iraq, UN and Red Cross workers have been massacred, trade unionists assassinated, school children and aid workers kidnapped and decapitated and countless people who happened to be on the wrong bus or on the wrong street at the wrong time paid for their mistake with their lives.

What can the survivors do? Not a lot according to a Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He told bin Laden that the northern Kurds may be Sunni but 'Islam's voice has died out among them' and they'd been infiltrated by Jews. The southern Shia were 'a sect of treachery' while any Arab, Kurd, Shia or Sunni who believed in a democratic Iraq was a heretic.

Our options are as limited When Abu Bakr Bashir was arrested for the Bali bombings, he was asked how the families of the dead could avoid the fate of their relatives. 'Please convert to Islam,' he replied. But as the past 40 years have shown, Islamism is mainly concerned with killing and oppressing Muslims.

In his intervention before last year's American presidential election, bin Laden praised Robert Fisk of the Independent whose journalism he admired. 'I consider him to be neutral,' he said, so I suppose we could all resolve not to take the tube unless we can sit next to Mr Fisk. But as the killings are indiscriminate, I can't see how that would help and, in any case, who wants to be stuck on a train with an Independent reporter?

There are many tasks in the coming days. Staying calm, helping the police and protecting Muslim communities from neo-Nazi attack are high among them. But the greatest is to resolve to see the world for what it is and remove the twin vices of wilful myopia and bad faith which have disfigured too much liberal thought for too long.

A powerful warning to the liberal elite.

Iranian Pro-Democracy Supports To Protest Iranian Embassy in London

Men's News Daily:

The Islamic terrorists can take down a building, bomb a train, and kill and maim innocent people but they will not break the resolve of the people who stand united to defend liberty and freedom.

If the people of the world who value peace, freedom, and human rights unite and put pressure on spineless European politicians and media to tackle the Islamic fundamentalists head on, we will not be defeated.

Islamic terror networks that finance, harbor, brainwash and train these thugs and extremists are appearing all over Europe under different guises. Islamic apologists appear too often on our televisions and try to justify terror acts.

Remember how the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, invited Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, and gave him a red carpet treatment. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, is the Islamic cleric who justifies suicide bombings as an act of Islamic martyrdom. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi supports beating of women and female circumcisions, yet the Mayor of London decided to give him a platform last year.

The European politicians have courted and bowed to the Ayatollahs in the Islamic Republic for over 25 years, just for the sake of a few short-term business contracts.

Meanwhile the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued to finance and sustain terror groups throughout the world. Now the Islamic Republic is close to obtaining nuclear weapons. Will you let the Islamic clerics in Iran obtain nuclear weapons? READ MORE

On Saturday 9 th July, Iranian pro-democracy supporters will stage a protest outside the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( 16 PRINCE`S GATE LONDON SW7 1PT) , between 1-4 PM and then later between 4-6 PM outside the Islamic Centre in Maida Vale ( 140 Maida Vale, London, W9 1QB ) London. Join us and stand up against Islamic fundamentalism. Make Islamic Fundamentalism History!

Amir Taheri: The New Face of Iran: The Great Misunderstanding

Aawsat:

Judging by all the stories told about Mahmoud Ahamdinejad's alleged involvement in unsavoury activities, the new president-elect of the Islamic Republic must have lived several lives so far. A clipping of the articles published about Ahamdinejad in the past 10 days would persuade a reader that he was, almost single-handedly, behind all the misdeeds of the Islamic Republic in the past quarter of a century. READ MORE

Seldom has a politician been subjected to such a barrage of negative publicity by the world media in so short a time.

All started when a London-based website known to be close to Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the mullah who lost the election to Ahmadinejad, dug out an Associated Press photo dating back to November 1979. In the photo we see a bearded youth holding the arm of a blindfolded American diplomat, among the hostages at the US Embassy in Tehran, while two other grim-looking teen-agers look on. The website that circulated the photo claimed that the bearded youth was Ahamdinejad. This was followed up with claims by some American ex-hostages that they recognised Ahamdinejad in the photo and remembered him as their chief tormentor.

Anyone with any knowledge of Iran's current power struggle, however, would know that the whole episode was concocted by Ahmadinejad's rivals to blacken his image even before he has started work as President of the Islamic Republic.

It soon became clear that the youth in the photo was not Ahamdinejad but another militant named Jaafar Zaker who later died in the Iran-Iraq war. The other two adolescents in the photo have also been identified. At the same time more than a dozen former kidnappers who were involved in the holding of the American hostages have stated that Ahamdinejad was not among them.

The almost unanimous attempt at presenting Ahamdinejad as the devil incarnate, recalls the equally unanimous attempt by the global media eight years ago to portray Muhammad Khatami as an angel in human shape.

They were wrong then and may well be wrong now.

The Islamic Republic is the fruit of a revolution that, like all other revolutions, consists of countless acts that, in ordinary circumstances, would only be regarded as crimes. A revolution is not a garden party, but, more often, a killing field. No one involved in a revolution could remain pure. And Ahamdinejad is no exception.

Let us take a closer look at those accusing Ahamdinejad of crimes that he may not have been involved in. Mahdi Karrubi, the mullah who lost in the first round of the presidential election, was one of the most militant of Khomeinists until a decade ago. In 1993 he represented Tehran in the pan-Islamist conference organised by Hassan al-Turabi in Khartoum the Sudanese capital. There he was named a member of the nine-man presidium of the global Islamist movement. Other members included Osama bin Laden and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

No doubt, Karrubi subsequently transformed himself into a "moderate", showing that people can change in time and by aging.

As for Rafsanjani, the other mullah who lost to Ahamdinejad, his record is not the brightest. Rightly or wrongly, he is, in fact, subject to an international arrest warrant by the Criminal Court in Berlin for his alleged participation in the murder of four Iranian dissidents there in 1992. All you need to do is to read Akbar Ganji's book about Rafsanjani to know that the defeated presidential candidate was not choirboy.

Even Muhammad Khatami, the outgoing President, has not been unaffected by his association with the revolution. In 1979 he was member of a squad of militants, led by Muhammad Montazeri, alias "Ayatollah Ringo", who hijacked an Iran Air passenger jet to Libya. A glance at Khatami's articles as a newspaper editor and his speeches as a member of the Islamic Majlis in the 1980s reveals a streak of violence that would be disturbing to any normal human being. But he, too, has been able to transform himself, at least in discourse, into a student of Western philosophy and a commentator on Japanese paintings.

Let us also recall the record of Mostafa Moin, the defeated Khatamist candidate in last month's election, ands a bitter critic of Ahamdinejad. In 1981-83 he was head of the Committee for Islamic Cultural Revolution in Shiraz, purging hundreds of university professors, jailing scores of them, and forcing many more into exile. Over the years, however, Moin, too, has transformed himself into a "moderate", and now speaks about democracy and human rights.

Most members of the current ruling elite in Iran have similar backgrounds. Most are living in houses and villas illegally seized from their owners who were executed, or jailed or forced into exile. Technically, many of the elite could be prosecuted under Iran's own laws on a variety of charges ranging from kidnapping to the illegal seizure of property and, of course, murder. This is because they are children of a revolution, which means they were born in violence and terror. To single out Ahamdinejad for vilification is unjust and could be misleading.

What is certain is that Ahamdinejad was the clear choice of those who voted in Iran's peculiar elections last month. It is also clear that his record, though it certainly includes murky aspects, is not as dark as that of the mullahs he defeated in the first and second rounds of the election.

To describe Ahmadinejad as a conservative and the two mullahs he defeated as "moderate" or "reformist" is ridiculous to say the least.

Ahmadinejad is not a conservative because he does not want to conserve anything. On the contrary, he wants to change things radically. He has promised to stop the plunder of the nation's wealth by a few mullahs and their acolytes. He is committed to a radical programme of wealth distribution from the mullahs to the poor. He also offers a radical anti-capitalist economic policy based on central planning, government control, and protection for domestic industries. Nor is he a conservative on social issues. Recalling the original message of Khomeini that Iran had "too much freedom", at least in social terms, under the Shah, not too little, he insists that 26 years after the revolution this is still the case.

The ruling elite in Tehran are worried about Ahmadinejad because he threatens to take away their privileges and, worse, bring them to book. During the campaign he asked how could a mullah who did not have two bent farthings to rub against each other before the revolution was now the proud owner of a multi-billion dollar empire? That is not conservative talk.

Ahamdinejad is also no conservative in foreign policy either. With the frankness of a radical he says he will do all he can to prevent the United States from reshaping the Middle East the way President George W Bush wants. He insists that Khomeinist Iran can offer an alternative to the Bush plan for democratisation in the Middle East.

Will the exercise of power, and the realities of life, transform Ahamdinejad into another "moderate" within the next four years? Only time will tell. For now Ahamdinejad must be taken seriously when he says he wants to mobilise Iran's immense resources for "a second revolution" both at home and abroad.

The article points out that Ahmadinejad is a radical, not a conservative. But I find it strange that Amir Taheri consistently endorses the Iranian election results. The Iranian government department responsible for the elections spoke of massive fraud. All the major candidates said the same. For some strange reason, he seems to be willing to "endorse" the election results.

Ebadi says Zarafshan on medical leave from prison

Islamic Republic News Agency:

Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said here Saturday that her client Nasser Zarafshan is on leave from prison for treatment of kidney stones.

"Right now he is on convalescence after surgery. My client during this period, which will not be short, will be on leave from prison," Ebadi, who is one of the Zarafshan's attorneys, added.

Currently there is one week that my client has been out of prison, Ebadi added.

Zarafshan who was the attorney for the serial murder case was detained in August 2002 on charges of divulging state secrets and sentenced to five years in prison and 70 lashes.

Judiciary Spokesman Jamal Karimirad said here Saturday that the medial leave granted to Nasser Zarafshan could be extended depending on the opinion of doctors and submission of the related medical documents.

He told IRNA that Zarafshan is currently on furlough to receive treatment for kidney stones.

On the latest conditions of the jailed dissident Akbar Ganji, he added that the news on deteriorating health of Ganji is not true.

"Orders have been issued by the deputy head of prison affairs for Tehran Public and Revolution Prosecutor Office for providing the necessary medical care to him."
Also deputy prosecutor General, Salar-kia has issued the necessary orders for Ganji's back treatment and for a scan outside prison if needed.

Salar-kia told reporters last week that a file containing over 2,000 pages on Ganji's medial treatment history including his respiratory condition is kept in Tehran Public Prosecutor Office.

He referred to Ganji's medical treatment on the latter's request saying "Ganji had refused to see the two doctors sent to examine him." Also, he said he has been in talks with Ganji's wife and attorney to facilitate dispatching Ganji to a hospital which has not occurred yet. READ MORE

In June, Ganji was granted a weeklong leave for medical reasons subject to a probable extension depending on his medical report, judiciary officials said.

Ganji is reportedly suffering from asthma, with several internet news sites recently saying that he had gone on a hunger strike to protest alleged inattention of the jail wardens to his condition.

Ganji is serving a six-year jail term since January 2001 on a battery of charges, including for linking some of the country's top officials to a string of murders of Iranian intellectuals, which were blamed on rogue intelligence agents.

English Translation of Empress Farah Pahlavi's Message of Solidarity

Farah Pahlavi:

Message of Her Imperial Majesty Farah Pahlavi in Support of the Hunger Strike of Political Prisoners and Students. READ MORE

From the very outset of Iran's early twentieth-century Constitutional Revolution, women have been the pioneers of liberty, progress and development in our country.

The establishment of the Islamic Republic and imposition of its retrograde constitution however deprived women of their hard earned civil and legal rights, relegating them to the rank of second class citizens. During the past twenty-six years Iranian women have embarked upon a new, courageous civil struggle opposing the mediaeval laws contained in the constitution of the Islamic Republic.

The current protest waged by the vibrant and enlightened women of our country is intensifying at a time when university students, intellectuals and human rights activists have transformed Iranian political prisons into bastions for defending freedom and justice.

In the days leading to the spurious presidential election, these protests have greatly contributed to discrediting the clerical dictatorship. Commending the valiant heroes and heroines of our country who are calling for the emancipation and liberty of our homeland, I also would like to express my solidarity with the freedom movement of the Iranian women, students, and intellectuals.

With the hope that the dark night of our homeland will soon turn into day, and the light of liberty, prosperity and development will once again shine on the horizon of our beloved Iran.

A land of contradictions

CNN:

The band jams in a tiny room atop a Tehran building, their music full of heartbreak, their mood subdued. There is no audience, as rock 'n' roll is banned here and on the streets below.

Such restrictions are part of life in Iran, aimed at safeguarding conservative Islamic "values" and, critics claim, the regime led by Ayatollah Ali Khameinei. READ MORE

Yet the group -- named Oriental Silence -- plays on, without fanfare but with hope that tomorrow might be different.

"I want the rights and freedoms that everyone is entitled to," said lyricist Payam Eslami. "Normal rights. Nothing more."

Many, especially Iran's youth (at least half its 75 million population is under 25), felt the reform movement would bring about such freedoms. In 2001, 83 percent of the country's eligible voters turned out to overwhelmingly re-elect moderate President Mohammad Khatami.

This June, with Khatami and allies having been stymied for eight years by hard-line clerics and barred by law from seeking a third term, Iranians hit the polls again. Amid reformist-proposed boycotts, hints of apathy and claims of fraud and intimidation, the results were far different.

With half of eligible voters participating, Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- a staunch Khameinei supporter who embraces the ideals of the 1979 Islamic Revolution -- got 62 percent of the vote to win a runoff with ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

This political roller coaster reflects larger issues in Iran, where ambiguity and inconsistency are commonplace. Forget predicting the future: assessing Iran's present is difficult enough.

In a state ruled by conservative Muslim men, women are fashion designers, race car drivers and students (as a clear majority of university enrollments). In the land where the United States is the "Great Satan," Bill Clinton's autobiography is a bestseller and Western goods fly off store shelves. And in a restrictive society, a Stanford University study estimates World Wide Web use in Iran may triple to 15 million between 2003 and year's end, with some 100,000 Farsi bloggers.
Even Ahmadinejad is full of contradictions. As he advocates a larger role for Islam, he will be the first non-cleric president since 1979. A favorite of the powers-that-be, he lives humbly as a "man of the people," say his supporters. Wary of the West's influence, he cites his astronomical phone bill as proof of his children's frequent Internet use.

So what is the real Iran? Experts say dichotomies -- especially between people's private lives and their public personas -- have long defined Iran, as they do today. Will there be a tipping point, when the divisions become too deep and too important to persist together?

"People have become increasingly fearless," said Abbas Milani, head of Stanford's Iranian Studies Program, claiming that most Iranians favor reform and oppose the regime. "But I don't think anyone can predict when or how [change will come].

"Revolution has a romance with those who have not experienced it," he added. "[Iranians] went through a bloody 10 years of war, terror and absolute mayhem ... People aren't willing to confront [the regime] in an all-out battle."

State, family shift

University of Toronto Professor Mohamad Tavakoli calls Iran not only "one of the most dynamic countries in the Middle East," but also "the most secular in its values, despite the Islamic Republic."

That's not to say Iran is a liberal bastion. Growing up near Tehran, Tavakoli said conservative practices -- pertaining to dating, dress, religion and the like -- typically were enforced sternly at home, while youths had less to fear and more freedoms in the public sphere.

Now the roles are reversed. As the state imposed more restrictions, most families became more open and accepting, Tavakoli said. In many cases, he adds, children force their parents' hands demanding liberties at home -- from what they wear to showing affection for boyfriends or girlfriends -- by threatening to risk arrest or worse by demonstrating their independence in public.

"Limitations imposed on the public have created a more accommodating, liberal family structure," he said. "Family social gatherings, regardless of class, have nothing in common with the public displays."

Meanwhile, hard-line vigilantes, Revolutionary Guards, the Guardian Council and others aligned with the regime have cracked down on many aspects of Iranian society.

Many suspect that authorities track phone calls, e-mails and other communications, said Milani, like Tavakoli an expatriate who returns to Iran frequently. He compared the current regime with that under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Both were "despotisms," he said, but in the latter, at least, one could avoid the worst types of repression by withdrawing from politics.

"Here, they follow you into the bedroom, to the innermost processes of the mind," Milani said of the current system. "They want to determine what you wear, whether you shave or not ... They interfere with everything."

The Islamic Revolution also changed how Islam is practiced, said Tavakoli, by wrapping it up in the ruling political and military system. Some clerics, he said, fear that this has taken some of the spirituality out of the religion and favor decreasing Islam's role in politics.

"In the pre-revolutionary period, you'd do the prayer for yourself," Tavakoli said. "Now you do it for the public to see."

Fighting for democracy

Not all Iranians have embraced hard-line positions, publicly or privately.

Women like Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi have been particularly assertive in demanding freedoms. In academics, the arts and other fields, they often outnumber men -- a stark contrast to strict Islamic regimes like Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan under the Taliban.

"Iranian women have fought the most unrelenting, heroic fight for their rights," Milani said. "They tried to convince women to go back to their houses, offered them opportunities to retire, but women fought back. They stayed, and have become a very influential voice."

Amid fears the recent election would prompt a crackdown, thousands of women took to the streets in June demanding rights -- the first such protest in the 26 years since the revolution.

Laleh Seddigh, a race car driver, says women will maintain legal privileges granted over the past eight years and achieve new rights, as long as they continue fighting.

"If they ask for their rights, [I hope they] will achieve it," said Seddigh. "They must try if they want to be successful."

Granted, there is little doubt that hard-liners now have the upper hand. Ahmadinejad's win gives conservatives, led by Ayatollah Khameinei, control of all three branches of government.

Yet while some say the young population, particularly, is now "permanently depoliticized," Milani points to the huge turnouts in Khatami's twin election wins and other factors and sees only a "lull" in the pro-democracy cause.

Furthermore, voting is now central to the political process. As one Iranian said before the runoff, "The candidates may be different, but the main reason for voting is gaining democracy."

Future murky

Beyond social or cultural issues, the nation's sagging economy stands as a chief concern, a problem that may be exacerbated as more young people enter the work force.

"In Iran, 70 or 80 percent of people are facing financial hardships, a lot of problems making ends meet," said Bahruz, a Tehran mechanic who voted for Ahmadinejad. "The way people dress does not solve economic problems. Our problems must be solved in stages, and it must be the economy first."

Much like the students who fueled the 1979 revolution -- among their number a 23-year-old Mahmoud Ahmandinejad, now the president-elect -- today's large young generation might determine what shape the existing Islamic Republic takes, whether it is strengthened or supplanted.

Young Iranians should not be stereotyped, notes Takavoli, saying it is unwise to assume they all side with the West over Iran, or favor liberal ways over conservative values. "But they all, one way or another, have an interest in free expression," he said.

While some, like the members of "Oriental Silence," have turned away from politics, others seem intent on acting up and speaking up for their homeland.

"I love my country," said one Iranian woman, "and it's my right to participate in what belongs to me."

A interesting article, despite CNN's refusal to investigate the fraud in the June Presidential election.

Iran's President Elect Faces First Challenges

Iran Press Service:

Ten days after his surprise election to the presidency and one month before taking office officially, Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad is experiencing his first political turbulence, with some hard line lawmakers and clerics urging him to “purify” the society from Western, un-Islamic “impurities”.

"Islamic and revolutionary cultures have been neglected in the past years", lamented Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Taqi Rahbar, a hard line cleric MM (member of the Majles) , or the Iranian Parliament Cultural Committee, quoted by the official news agency IRNA. READ MORE

Mr. Rahbar and other colleagues were reacting to recent declarations by Mr. Mehdi Kalhor, a former Director for cultural affairs at both the leader-controlled Voice and Visage (Radio and Television) and the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, stating that the new president was against the government and the State interfering with people’s private and intimate affairs and life, like cloth, music or using satellite dishes, that are officially banned, but tolerated.

"Even if women remove the small handkerchiefs they wear instead of a proper veil, nobody says anything", Mr. Rahbar said adding that mixing of young men and women in public also contravened the values of an Islamic society.

In a live telephone interview from Tehran with the Farsi-language “Mohajer” (Emigrant) Television based in Germany, Mr. Kalhor, described as a Cultural attaché to the 49 years-old Mayor of Tehran said Mr. Ahmadi Mezhad was “basically a very joyful man very much against the interference of the State in people’s private sphere”.

“We are against the Law enforcing forces involved with the way young girls and boys are dressed or what they do. Those are not our youngster’s problems. People’s life is already under too much of pressures. Mr. Ahmadi Nezhad want all people be happy, for we think they are not laughing from the bottom of their hearts”, he added.

He regretted that due to restrictions imposed on Iranian musicians, many of them had left the country. “Where in this world a television is prevented to show musical instruments, as does our Television? We have very talented musicians who can export their music to outside world. We have to open up the society so every one could get permission to express his talent”, Mr. Kalhor said, adding that “even Iranian musicians now living in Los Angeles should be free to perform in Iran”.

Observing that Iranian women are among the world’s most fashionable and glamourous, Mr. Kalhor said some of Iranian tribe’s dresses are so nice and trendy that they could be presented in fashion shows.

And on the use of satellite antennas, he said people must be free to have satellite. “If you impose censorship and prevent people by force, the reaction is obvious. Satellites are today an integral part of our people’s life and no body is allowed to deny them possession it”, he pointed out.

His remarks, aimed obviously at giving the austere and pious Ahmadi Nezhad, a non turbaned but an “osouli”, or “principalist” Muslim a friendly face immediately created outrage among hard line officials, expecting the president-elect enforcing strict Shari’a principles they insist were not observed by the government of the outgoing Hojjatoleslamt Mohammad Khatami, a middle rank cleric.

In fact, during his two years as Mayor of the Capital, Mr. Ahmadi Nezhad had done nothing to oppose the limited social and cultural freedoms Iranians women and youngsters had obtained with their beak and nail. Though he had closed some of cultural centres and encouraged mosques, but also refrained from tearing down satellite dishes and punishing households using them to receive Western, Indian, Turkish or Arabic televisions, not speaking of the tens of Iranian radio and televisions, mostly based in Los Angeles playing forbidden Iranian shows, pop music and anti-regime political programs.

"Such remarks might cause doubts among Ahmadi Nezhad's supporters", IRNA quoted Mehdi Tabataba’i, also a hard core conservative MM, as having said.

The lawmaker was referring to the “masses” of voters who gave their ballots to the Mayor of Tehran, the son of a poor, village blacksmith who, like them, lived in simplicity, keeping his old flat in Tehran instead of moving to palaces in the posh areas situated in the northern part of the Capital where most of the officials, including senior ayatollahs, lives.

Despite a huge earning from spiraling oil price, estimated at over 40 billion US Dollars for the current Iranian year of 1384 (21 March 2005 to 21 March 2006), the gap between the poor and the rich continue to increase, with some 76 percent of the national income going to just 10 percent of the population consisted of the “nouveaux riches”, most of them high-ranking clerics, their families and friends against some 50 per cent of the population living under the poverty line, earning less than 100 USD per month, Iranian economic analysts observed.

Under growing pressures from ultra conservatives both inside and outside of the Parliament, Mr. Ahmadi Nezhad was forced to dismiss his friend, tipped by some as a possible future Culture and Islamic Guidance minister.

This is Ahmadi Nezhad’s first, but also both minor and major challenge on which one can project on his course once fully in charge, being caught between the devil and the deep sea, the hard liners in the one side and the majority of young Iranians who would, at any cost, defend their freedoms on the other.

If he does nothing to please the hard liners “cleansing” the society, implementing Islamic laws of behaviour, tearing down satellite dishes etc.. in the domestic front and adopt an aggressive foreign policy to the extend of emulating North Korean example concerning the thorny nuclear issue and increase support for the radical Palestinian and Arab groups opposed to Peace Process and normalization of the situation in neighbouring Iraq, he would face a Parliament controlled by the conservatives and possible impeachment.

On the other hand, if he yields to them, he would surely met with fierce resistance from the middle class, the students, the independent press and the intelligentsia community backed by the reformists and their acolytes in the nationalist-religious and Iran Freedom Movement, all the forces that have warned against the dangers of “military fascism” symbolized by Mr. Ahmad Nezhad, but yet lost the elections, not forgetting Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the man who was given by most Iranian and foreign pundits as the winner but lost the race to the former Revolutionary Guard officer thanks to obvious manipulations of the votes and “character assassination” denounced by the former president, but also the desertion of voting stations by supporters of other candidates defeated in the first round.

Does the president-elect have the abilities of a trapeze artist? Would he resist to pressures warning the extremists that if they pushes too much, he would appeal to those who voted for him, something the outgoing President refused to do, bringing upon himself and the reformists the anger of his supporters?

In his first press conference, Mr. Ahmadi Nezhad played well on the rope, renewed with forgotten ideals of Grand Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution and founding father of the Islamic Republic by stating that he wants to create a “strong Islamic Iran” that would bring Islamic justice” to the entire world but make “moderation” the motto of his policies.

He also reiterated that benefiting from atomic technology is the “legitimate right” of Iran, but at the same time assured the European Troika that nuclear talks with Britain, France and Germany would continue.

The recent accusations that he was one of the students who stormed the American embassy in Tehran on November 1979, taking 55 American diplomats and staff for 444 days augurs bad for the president-elect, as some former hostages have indicated that they have formally recognised in Mr. Ahmad Nezhad one of their captors.

"This is the guy. There's no question about it", said former hostage Chuck Scott, a retired Army colonel who lives in Jonesboro, Georgia. "You could make him a blond and shave his whiskers; put him in a zoot suit and I'd still spot him."

Scott and former hostages David Roeder, William J. Daugherty and Don A. Sharer told The Associated Press on Wednesday they have no doubt Ahmadi Nezhad was one of the hostage-takers, as alleged by Iran Focus, a London-based Iranian news service, distributing an Associated Press picture showing a thickly bearded young hostage-taker leading out a blindfolded American hostage.

But some of the students who were actively involved in the attack have rebuked the allegations, saying forcefully that he was not among the students who took part in the seizure.

"Mr Ahmadi Nezhad was never one of students following the path of the imam that took the spy den (US embassy)”, confirmed Mr. Mohsen Mirdamadi, an ex-hostage taker who went on to become Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and national Security Committee at the last, reformists-controlled Majles.

“It is just impossible for an (American) hostage to recognise the captors, for the simple reason that the students, aware and afraid of the potentials of the CIA to identify them, would usually be hooded and the hostages blindfolded during lengthy interrogation and questioning periods,”, an Iranian journalist who covered the dramatic event at the time told Iran Press Service on condition of not being named.
This was also confirmed by some of the former hostages.

Sa’id Hajjarian, a former senior Intelligence Ministry’s officer turned reformist playing an important role in the victory of outgoing President Mohammad Khatami in May 1997 identified the man in the photo as Taqi Mohammadi, who died in mysterious circumstances in prison.

Mrs. Ma’soumeh Ebtekar, an Advisor to the outgoing president and one of the students “in the line of Emam (Khomeini) who stormed the American embassy and was then known as Sister Mary also stressed that the president-elect was not among them.

But more damaging for the president-elect, because more serious, are the new charges by Austrian press that he was also involved in the assassination of Dr Abdol Rahman Qasemlou, the charismatic leader of the outlawed Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan in Vienna on July 1989, at the height of fighting between Iranian army and the DPIK peshmergas, or freedom fighters.

Dr Qasemlou had travelled from Paris, where he lived, to the Austrian capital on the invitation from a fellow Iraqi Kurd who was acting on behalf of the Iranian government, then under the presidency of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, to discuss with an Iranian delegation modalities for a cease fire, but was shot dead, alongside his host and other participants by the Iranians, a special hit commando disguised as Government negotiators.

Though the Austrian authorities were alerted about the assassination, but they helped the murderers to leave Vienna for Tehran, invoking diplomatic immunity for the commando.

Austrian Green Party leader Peter Pilz told “Der Standard” newspaper of Saturday 2 July that he wants a warrant issued for the arrest of Ahmadi Nezhad, who he alleged "stands under strong suspicion of having been involved, by bringing into Vienna the weapons with which the commando shot dead the Kurdish leader and his colleagues.

But as the Austria's Interior Ministry and the public prosecutor's office said they would investigate the alleged evidence pointing to the new Iranian president's possible involvement in the attack, the Judiciary ruled against, saying the affair is closed.

This accusation is more plausible since at the time, Mr. Ahmadi Nezhad is reported to have been a member of the Revolutionary Guards Qods (Jerusalem) Unit in charge of eliminating Iranians fighting from abroad the Islamic Republic.

It is interesting to note that in a meeting with Azeri members of the parliament, Mr. Ahmadi Nezhad did nothing to remove the accusations, but questioned “dissemination of unfounded and baseless information by western intelligence organizations despite the best information technologies and know how they possesses?” and warned the outside world, mostly the Europeans, to avoid “misjudgments” about him.

By bringing to power a former “Islamist revolutionary” officer against the so-called “moderate and pragmatic” but also ambitious Hashemi Rafsanjani, the leader might have open the Pandora box. If, by this calculus, he is about to curtailing the hands of shadowy but powerful, ultra-conservative clerical-led groups of which he is a hostage thanks to the joined forces of the “Vox Populi” and the Revolutionary Guards, he might also paving the way for a “bonapartist” adventure, one that, under present international conditions, might lead to a foreign intervention in Iran, something few Iranians wants, hence the frightening possibility of a civil war.

Once again, the answer to all these questions is in the hands of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the “Guide” of the Islamic Republic who takes all major decisions on both domestic and international issues and who Mr. Ahmadi Nezhad says is his mentor.

It gets worse every year

Cox and Forkum:

Arousing Handshakes

Roozonline:

The cancellation of two recent international events, an official lunch by the Belgian government for the visiting Iranian Parliamentary delegation because of serving of wine and the meeting of the President of the Belgian Senate with the Iranian Parliament Speaker because of the refusal of the Iranian official to shake the hands of the Belgian woman official, although not new, have interesting historical precedence. READ MORE

In the recent past, Western politicians tolerated Iranian government officials because of the latter’s international reputation and their promotion of progressive positions on freedom, democracy and human rights. Nowadays however, these same politicians are less patient in situations where their traditions and diplomatic protocol are not observed or respected.

Anne-Marie Lizin, the President of the Belgian Senate cancelled the lunch that was thrown for Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament because, in her words “We do not wish to be under foreign laws.” She also has said that Belgians expect the Iranians to respect their customs just as Belgians respect Iranian customs when they are in Iran.

The cancellations in fact are a signal to the Iranian diplomats to be more realistic in their dealings with officials from other countries. Clearly the expectation that non-Iranians must heed to Iranian customs both in and outside Iran, is asking for too much.

There are many diplomatic incidents when revolutionary men and women have declined to shake hands with people from other countries. One of the more known cases in Iran is when an Iranian delegation went to Moscow to deliver a message from the leader of Iran to then Soviet President Michael Gorbachev. Marzieh Dabagh was a female member of the Iranian delegation who to the astonishment of those present declined to shake hands with Gorbachev. But she realized the impact of this faux pas and subsequently corrected her mistake by shaking hands with her Chador over her hand.

In another incident, when President Khatami was on a visit to Germany, he declined to shake hands with a German cabinet minister in the presence of then President Roman Hertzog. A translator described the incident in these words: Just before the German President stood this lady, who was from the Green Party. She was known to have had negative views on Iran. When President Khatami came to her, she extended her hand. Khatami, on the other hand, put his hands together and in a fashion that is more familiar with Indians, bowed to her in clear sign of respect, without taking her hand. At the same time, he began to mutter in Persian, words to the effect that said ‘see what uncomfortable situations they subject us to’. Everyone was shocked, but I do not think anyone understood why he did that. Such behavior is interpreted as aggressive and that is why during the dinner that evening, everything went very wry and the atmosphere was very cold, despite Khatami’s attempts to explain his gesture. One of the consequences of this was that when Iranian diplomats tried to follow up their agreements with the Ministry that was headed by the lady minister, the Minister would not accept the Iranian officials for about six months. The impasse was resolved by the intervention of higher officials, but still only superficially, while leaving its permanent negative mark.

The issue of shaking hands with foreigners has been such a serious problem for the diplomats of the country that a leading Iranian official in New York even went to the religious authorities to get a clarification on this. The cleric is said to have ruled that if touching hands does not carry any implications of amorality and is not an insult to Islam and the Islamic State, then prudence says it is acceptable. Other clerics are reported to have backed this view. But since this view can be troublesome for those who believe that women and men should not mingle in public, it has not been officially and publicly sanctioned. But there have been officials who privately shake the hands of women, while refraining from doing so in the presence of cameras and other officials who may report them to others. Normally, the Protocol Office of the Foreign Ministry informs the Iranian and foreign officials to respect the Islamic tenets and stay away from the “no-nos.” On the other hand, foreign officials expect their customs and traditions to be equally respected when events take place on their soil, something that Iranian officials continue to have problems with.

Another famous incident is when President Khatami was visiting Spain about 3 years ago. On that trip, Khatami’s delegation had requested from the Spanish authorities to refrain from serving wine, or having women around the meetings, just as it had successfully done in his previous trip to Italy. But this turned out different. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo editorialized that separating men and women is an insult to Spanish women. It said “If Iranian people wish to live under Apartheid, we have no need to receive them. Spanish women are worth far more than a few million Euros that emerge with economic deals through such trips. We do not wish to be seen as impure and be insulted.” A prominent Spanish women is reported to have said that Spanish women considered this gesture an insult to them. On the same trip, BBC quoted the spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry as saying that it President Khatami was not going to attend a lunch given in his honor by the Spanish King and the Queen.

Iranians have viewed such gestures with mixture. For example, a web site belonging to conservatists said that there was a conspiracy to belittle the accomplishments of the Presidents’ successes in Spain. Another Spanish commentator published an article that was widely circulated in the major newspapers in which he reasoned that since Khatami had accepted to visit Spain, he had to respect the traditions and customs of his hosts and that there was going to be wine and women in Spain.

So it appears that European tolerance of Iranian protocol has ended to the point where they cannot even explain that not shaking the hand of a woman is a respectful gesture. And as one Iranian diplomat put it, even if we explain to them that the purpose is to avoid amoral contact and sexual arousal, they would say only sick people may arouse through such contact of hands.

Whatever the rationale, Iranian politicians and protocol writers must realize that if they wish to be in contact with the world, they must present a more human face.

G8 Statement on Iran, Mideast

The U.S. State Department:

UK Chairman's Statement

G8 Foreign Ministers met in London on 23 June to discuss a range of global and regional issues. The meeting focussed on the situation in Afghanistan on which we have issued a separate statement the Middle East and Iran. We also exchanged views on UN Reform, international trade in arms, and developments in the Western Balkans, Sudan, North Korea, Iraq, Lebanon, Zimbabwe and Haiti.

The Middle EastWe discussed the situation in the Middle East and welcomed the work of James Wolfensohn, the Quartet's Special Envoy on Gaza Disengagement and US Security Coordinator General Ward.

Mr Wolfensohn briefed us on his work so far and on how we might maximise the opportunity presented by Israel's planned disengagement from Gaza and part of the West Bank. In particular, he outlined specific proposals to support Palestinian reform and institution building and to ensure effective channelling of donor assistance.

We urge Israel and the Palestinian Authority to co-ordinate with him and with each other on their planning for the withdrawals. We are all clear that Gaza disengagement must be a success.We underlined our commitment to working with the parties and the international community, through the Roadmap, towards the goal of two viable states living side by side in peace and security.

We call on the Palestinian Authority to press ahead with the reform agenda, in particular to deliver on their security commitments under the Roadmap.

We urge Israel to meet its Roadmap commitments, particularly on settlements.

We affirmed G8 support for a negotiated solution to the Middle East conflict in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

Iran

Foreign Ministers underlined the G8's full support for the work of France, Germany and the UK, together with the EU High Representative, to negotiate long term arrangements for Iran's nuclear programme that provide objective guarantees that Iran's programme is for exclusively peaceful purposes. We agreed that for the process to continue, and to build confidence, it is essential that Iran adheres to the Paris Agreement and keeps all fuel cycle activities fully suspended.

Concerns were expressed about Iran's ballistic missile programme, and its attitude towards terrorism and the Middle East Peace Process.We reaffirmed our commitment to the work being undertaken to improve respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Iran.

In that regard, concerns were expressed by some G8 members about the preparations for and conduct of the Presidential elections in Iran. READ MORE

Netanyahu warns West it must halt Iran nuclear plans

Peter Conradi, The Times UK:

THE Israeli finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned that the West must do more to counter Iran’s potential nuclear threat following the election last month of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline mayor of Tehran, as president of the country.

Netanyahu, in London to address a conference, said concerted action was required to rein in Iran, not least because of its links with Islamic terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. He said he wanted the shipment of Russian nuclear equipment and nuclear fuel to a plant under construction at Bushehr to be stopped. READ MORE

“The Iranian regime supports terror, both ideologically and operationally,” he said. “I think the regime will go as fast as it can to develop nuclear weapons, regardless of who leads it.”

Netanyahu, prime minister from 1996-9, said that if Iran succeeded in developing nuclear weapons it would boost radical Islamic groups by providing them with “a nuclear umbrella”.

“This is not an Israel problem — this is a world problem that concerns everybody, including Russia,” he said. “There has to be a common solution here: first to prevent the transfer of nuclear technology or fuel, secondly to punish regimes that deviate from this and, thirdly, to put pressure on the Iranian regime, in all avenues possible, to stop this programme.”

Netanyahu contrasted Iran’s apparent determination to develop nuclear weapons with Libya’s decision to abandon its own fledgling programme in response to the American attack on Iraq. “The deterrent effect has worked on some, but so far has not worked on others,” he said.

Asked whether there would ultimately have to be a military solution to the problem — perhaps involving a repetition of Israel’s pre-emptive strike on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in June 1981 — Netanyahu replied: “I don’t know.” He added: “I am not aware of any plans, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist, for example in America.”

Netanyahu, who has been critical of the plan by Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, to withdraw from settlements in Gaza next month, was sceptical that any concessions by Tel Aviv towards the Palestinians would reduce the threat from terrorists.

He said the Palestinian issue was far down the list of grievances cited by Al-Qaeda and other Islamic groups. If Israel were to conclude a peace treaty with the Palestinians, it would be rejected by such Islamic groups, which viewed the Jewish state as a cancer that must be excised.