Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [9/11-9/17] major news events regarding Iran. (The reports are listed in chronological order, not by importance)

Ahmadinejad - A dangerous terrorist flys into NY City.

• Iran Press News reported that Ahmadinejad, will be leaving Tehran for New York City on Tuesday. He will arrive in New York on Wednesday morning and bring with him an entourage.
• Iranian.ws reported that Ahmadinejd urges Iranian youth to support regime.
• The Marze Por Gohar Party reported that Iranians from all over the United States are merging in New York to protest against the Islamic Republic president Ahmadi Nejad in New York City. A list of groups headed to NYC included.
• Kenneth R. Timmerman, The Washington Times suggested that the NYPD should take Ahmadinejad to the airport minutes after his speech at the UN.
• SMCCDI reported that there would be a large demonstration against Ahmadinejad's presence in NYC.
• Agence France-Presse, Tribune de Genève reported that Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will make his debut on the world stage at the UN summit. The new president will try and lobby support for the Islamic republic's claim to make its own reactor fuel.
• Iran Press Service reported that in his first international appearance, Iranian new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surprised the UN audience that included more than hundred Head of States was that he did not mention his much awaited “initiative” on Iran’s nuclear issue.
• RCI reported there were approximately 5-9,000 demonstrators present at the UN to voice their opposition to Iranian President Ahmadinejad's presence at the UN.
• PRNewswire reported that several former U.S. Embassy hostages, Iranian victims of torture held a press conference condemning the New York (UN) visit of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported that a group of former American hostages is demanding that the CIA turn over a classified report that they say wrongly cleared Iran's new president of his role in interrogating them during the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran.
• Claude Salhani, UPI reported that as Iran's newly elected president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in New York to attend the U.N. general assembly he was met by a flurry of protests.
• Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that Ahmadinejad met with Iranian nationals residing in the United States.
• The Financial Times reported that the presence at the United Nations of Iran's new hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, has galvanized the exiled opposition into action. Several thousand demonstrated his presence in NYC.
• The New York Times reported that there were no senior American diplomats were in the room when Ahmadinejad spoke but a U.S. official denied a walkout.
• Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that President Ahmadinejad will be on CNN for an exclusive interview on Saturday. 11AM PST.
• SMCCDI reported that Iranian activists are planning two protest actions on the dates of Friday September 16th and on Saturday September 17th.
• The Times UK reported that speculation was growing that the Iranian leader planned to propose joint ventures in uranium enrichment with Europe, Russia, China and South Africa to allow a degree of international oversight.
• Iranian blogger, Mehdrad Sheibani, Rooz Online reported that President Ahmadinejad surprisingly spoke of the grandeur of Iranians. Yes, these are the words of a president whose normal speeches at home repeat Islam or Islamic in every sentence he pronounces.
• SMCCDI (Information Service) reported that Iranian political activists gathered, yesterday afternoon, in front of the building which is hosting the Islamic Republic regime's Representation Office at the UN.
• Kenneth R. Timmerman, NewsMax reported that former hostage from the U.S. embassy in Tehran, said: out of his 51 interrogations, Ahmadinejad personally had conducted one-third of them.
  

Iran's Nuclear Program.

• The Telegraph UK reported that the former head of the United Nations inspection team that is investigating Iran's nuclear programme has called on the Security Council to give it greater powers to do its job properly.
• Louis Charbonneau, Reuters reported that a joint EU and U.S. effort to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council is meeting fierce resistance.
• The NY Times reported that Iran said today that it would not suspend its nuclear activities and contended that there would be serious consequences if its case were sent to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.
• AFX News reported that Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who heads his country's atomic energy agency, said his country would not drop its nuclear energy programme whatever 'dividends' are offered by the outside world.
• Reuters reported that Iran's top nuclear official reminded the West that Tehran had powerful allies opposed to referring its suspected atomic weapons program to the U.N. Security Council.
• UPI reported that President Bush called Iran's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons a "grave concern" and said he would raise the issue at the United Nations.
• Mikhail Zygar, Dmitry Sidorov, Mos News reported that by increasing the tensions, Iranian authorities are trying to gain more leeway from the West.
• Steven Weisman, The NY Times reported that India is balking at confronting Iran, straining its friendship with the U.S.
• Globe & Mail reported that lacking the votes to win, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is prepared to delay again a showdown with Iran.
• Ron Kampeas, JTA reported that behind-the-scenes at U.N., Sharon will have one focus - Iranian Nukes.
• Louis Charbonneau, Reuters reported that the U.N. atomic watchdog fears referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council now for possible sanctions would split its members.
• Dafna Linzer, The Washington Post reports on the Bush administration's hour-long slide show that blends satellite imagery with disquieting assumptions about Iran's nuclear energy program, entitled: A History of Concealment and Deception.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that the Bush administration dispatched intelligence experts to China and India last week to brief them on Tehran's alleged efforts to develop a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.
• Bloomberg reported that China's President Hu Jintao agreed to step up diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's nuclear weapons development.
• The LA Times reported that the United States has launched a major push to isolate Iran diplomatically, but said it may be too little too late.
• Reuters reported that Iran is ready to share its nuclear technology with other Islamic countries, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• Time Magazine reported Chinese President Hu Jintao's talks with President Bush this week have shown just how far apart the two countries remain on the goal of depriving "Axis of Evil" states of nuclear programs.
• The Telegraph UK reported on the fear of nuclear weapons proliferation in the Middle East should alarm the west after Iran's president said they would provide Muslim nations with nuclear technology for free
  
• ABC News published the U.S PowerPoint presentation being used as a Briefing on Iran Alleges Pattern of Concealment, Deception.
• The Guardian UK reported that Britain will lead a drive to have Iran referred to the UN Security Council.
• The Associated Press reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice indicated the Bush administration was prepared to delay again a showdown with Iran saying: the world is not perfect in international politics. You cannot always get a 100 percent solution.
• The Washington Times reported that French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin threatened to refer Iran's nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council, saying: If a state fails in its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is legitimate, once dialogue has been exhausted, to refer it to the Security Council.
• Deutsche Welle reported that the EU3 were seeking to arrange a meeting Thursday with the Iranian delegation.The Times of India reported India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: There is no difference in objectives between India and the United States vis-a-vis Iran.
• ABC News reported that President Bush said Friday that he's confident that the international community will refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council if it does not account for what the United States contends is a record of nuclear deceit.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that President Bush hopes to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to toughen his stance on Iran.
• ABC News reported that comments by U.S. President George W. Bush have given fresh impetus to Tehran's talks with the European Union.
• BBC News reported that Iran's president met three leading EU foreign ministers a in the highest-level talks on the subject since his election.
• CNN reported that western leaders are waiting to hear what Iran's new president will say Saturday at the United Nations about the country's nuclear program.
• BBC News reported that the UK government has described as "unhelpful" a speech by the Iranian president in which he asserted Iran's right to produce nuclear energy.
• Ynet News reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with South African President Thabo Mbeki and asked him to advance the referral of Iran’s nuclear program to discussion at the United Nations Security Council.
• CNN reported that Iran's president is absolutely "determined" to pursue a nuclear energy program and will "use every resource" it has to battle the United States and European nations trying to prevent it.
• Reuters reported that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the United Nations on Saturday to stand up to Iran.
• The Financial Times reported that Iran is seeking a compromise in its nuclear-fuel stand-off.
• The Washington Times reported cracks appeared in the U.S.-European diplomatic drive to curb Iran's nuclear weapons program, when Paris would not object to Mr. Ahmadinejad's suggestion that Iran share its nuclear energy technology with other Islamic countries.
  

Akbar Ganji - Back in Jail.

• The Daily Times PK reported that Iranian dissident journalist Akbar Ganji appears to have been sent back to solitary confinement despite promises by judiciary officials that he would be freed from prison.
• BBC News reported that Iranian dissident writer Akbar Ganji has been placed in solitary confinement after being transferred back to prison from hospital, his wife has said.
• Iran Watch Canada translated recent Iranian news reports on Ganji and Zahra Kazemi's court file. One saying the Iranian government spent a total of $1 on Ganji's medical care.
• IranMania reported that the wife of jailed Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji complained that she had had no news of the dissident for three weeks.
• Reuters reported that a United Nations rights investigator on Friday called for the release of dissident Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji, reimprisoned upon discharge from hospital despite poor health after a lengthy hunger strike.
  

Other Iranian dissidents inside of Iran.

• The Scotsman interviewed Ahmad Batebi, Tehran's 'most wanted' political dissident. A must read.
• Iran Press News reported that political prisoners Valiollah Fayz-Mahdavi and Hodjat Zamani, joined their fellow activists, Bina Darab-Zand and Behrooz Javid-Tehrani on their hunger strike.
• The Committee to Protect Bloggers has not been able to get any information on Omid Sheikhan since the third week in July. If anyone out there can find out if he is safe or not, please let them know.
• Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate release of journalist Massoud Bastani, in Evin prison for covering a demonstration in support of imprisoned fellow journalist Akbar Ganji.
  

The unrest against the regime spreads in Iran.

• Iran Press News reported that the Deputy Governor of Kurdistan, Jamshidi, was killed in a car crash along with one of his children. This is the second government official in Kurdistan who has presumably been killed in a car accident, in the past two weeks.
• Iran Focus reported that some 200 special units of the State Security Forces (SSF) moved into different locations across the Iranian capital on Saturday.
• Iranian blogger, Shahram Kholdi, S'CAN-IRANIC reported a few hardliner websites, whose credibility cannot be verified and cite their "informed sources", report that the assassins of Judge Moghaddas were two brothers. One of the brothers is currently under arrest.
  

The Power Struggle inside of Iran.

• Iran Press News reported that Ahmadinejad's own site reports that his opponents at the Ministry of Oil are conceiving a cold winter for the people, due to lack of oil for heating.
  

U.S. Policy.

• The New York Times reported that the assembly of more than 170 world leaders to mark the United Nations' 60th birthday gives Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a unique opportunity to advance U.S. foreign policy goals on several difficult fronts.
• Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service News Agency reported that the President Bush's administration is moving steadily toward adopting the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states.
• Reuters reported that President George W. Bush said Iran had a right to a civilian nuclear program.
• The White House published President Bush's speech at the UN.
  

The Iranian Military.

• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that the Supreme Leader appointed Major General Ataollah Salehi to the post of general commander of the Army.
• Iran Focus reported that Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said: If the U.S. attacks Iran, each of America’s states will face a crisis the size of Katrina.
• WorldNetDaily fears that Iran's military is preparing an EMP attack on the U.S. The effect would be far more devastating than Katrina.
  

The Iranian Economy.

• Iran Press News reported that the regime is facing a $12 billion budget deficit this year.
  

Human Rights/Freedom of the press inside of Iran.

• Shirin Ebadi, Rooz Online warned that Iran's new government sponsored NGO's are providing wrong information regarding human rights conditions in Iran.
• Agence France Press reported that a 22-year-old Iranian man has been publicly hanged.
• Iran Press News reported that the regime has stepped up it's oppression and intimidation of women and the youth of Iran.
• Iran Press News reported on the distribution of CD's cataloguing and exposing the depth of the regime's corruption and crimes in the province of Khuzestan.
• Iranian blogger, Mehrdad Sheibani, Rooz Online reported that a Majlis deputy requests that the term happiness be defined and its terms identified! He has asked the ministry of Islamic guidance to come up with standards for holding marriage weddings and punishing those who violate it!
• Iranian blogger, Hossein Derakshan, The Guardian discussed Internet censorship in Iran.
• Iranian blogger, Mehrangiz Kar, Rooz Online reported that in Iran these days there is talk of replacing detention and flogging as forms of punishment with something more human.
• Iranian blogger, Vahid Sabetian, Rooz Online reported that the new hardline government of Iran has tasked the new Minister of Justice to write the bill for defining political crimes in Iran.
  

Protests inside of Iran.

• Iran Press News reported that the Dezfool Sugar Factory workers marched 448 miles from Dezfool to bring their protest to Tehran.
• Iran Focus reported that the chancellors of ten of Iran’s prestigious universities have resigned in protest against the policies of the new radical Islamist government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
  

Iran and the International community.

• Iran Focus reported that a handshake between British Foreign Minister Jack Straw and one of Esfandiar Rahim Masha'ie, new Vice-Presidents, has aroused much anger and indignation among Iranian exiles, who say he has a long history as a torturer and executioner of political dissidents in Iran.
• Asian Tribune reported that Pakistan is willing to back out of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.
• Bill Samii, Radio Free Europe reported that Iran's Supreme Leader met with Ramadan Abdallah Shallah, visiting head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
• The International Herald Tribune reported that last February, a group of European and American foreign policy experts issued the "Compact Between the United States and Europe," a detailed proposal for trans-Atlantic cooperation on the key foreign policy issues. They produced a response to the Iranian crisis.
• The Tribune India reported that US President George Bush may have launched a failed drive to isolate Iran.
• The Dawn reported that Iranian forces opened indiscriminate fire on three Pakistanis who wanted to go to Dubai through Chabar, killing them.
• Itar-Tass reported that Ahmadinejad, at his meeting of Putin, said: Powerful Russia is Iran’s best friend and powerful Iran is one of the best friends of Russia.
  

Insight into the Iranian people.

• The Telegraph India reported that Hijab and chador notwithstanding, Iranian women have carved out a space for themselves in society.
• The Guardian reported that in Iran an ancient poet, Hafez, already popular is gaining rock star status among those unhappy with the regime. Hafez was a scourge of the clerical establishment, which he saw a two-faced and hypocritical.
  

Can You Believe This?

• Iran Press News reported that Iranians are dying of thirst in the port city of Kenaarak.
• Iran Press News reported that a member of the regime's parliament strongly reacted to comment made by Dr. Condoleeza Rice who had stated that in case she crosses paths with Ahmadinejad at the U.N., she would in fact say hello. Mullah Mousa Qorbaani said: Ms. Rice is delusional if she thinks that she can say hello to Ahmadinejad.
• Reuters reported that rights activist Bianca Jagger, seeks to promote dialogue between Iran and the United States, saying she is treading a fine line between criticism of U.S. policy and a need to hold Tehran to account on human rights.
• Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that prominent American anti-war university professors arrived in Tehran carrying a message of peace.
• Yahoo News reported that Ayatollah Jannati said that the US does not deserve Katrina Aid.
  

Must Read reports.

• Jim Saxton, The Washington Times published Jim Saxton's: Fighting Terror Four Years On.
  
• Salman Rushdie, The Times followed up with his recent call for reform within Islam saying: Lesson One for the Modern Muslim: Remember, This is Not the 8th Century.
• Roger Kimball, The NY Sun reported on the Hitchens, Galloway clash ina debate on the Iraq War. Plus a video.
  

The Experts.

• Farid Zakaria, PBS interviewed Prince Reza Pahlavi on major issues like Democracy & Election in Iran. And audio clip and partial transcript here.
• FrontPageMagazine.com published an interview with Ilan Berman, Vice President for Policy of the Washington-based American Foreign Policy Council and author of the new book: Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge to the United States.
• Amir Taheri, The Wall Street Journal reported that in the Tehran moneychangers' bazaar the Iraqi currency is in great demand. He discussed its implications.
• Amir Taheri, Morocco Times reported that at a recent Friday prayer session in a mosque in London the “imam” delivering the sermon said believers were to pray that "no harm comes to Iran's nuclear bomb."
• Radio Free Europe published an interview with Iran expert, Ilan Berman. Berman said growing Iranian government "activism" throughout both the Middle East and Central Asia poses a major challenge to U.S. interests.
• Amir Taheri, Arab News reported that Iran is readying for conflict with the U.S.
  

Photos, Cartoons, Audio and Video of the week.

• A classic cartoon byCox & Forkum: on Mullahs WMD program.
• The Sun Sentinel and the AP published photos of the NYC demonstration Against Ahmadinejad.
• Atlas Shrugged: The US delegation missing at Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN.
• Iranian.com: More photos of the NYC demonstrations.
• Ken Timmerman, Iran.org
• Marzeporgohar.org: Provided their photos, except the first of Banafsheh.
• A video of the George Galloway and Christopher Hitchens debate in New York.
• IranMania reported that Iran's President Ahmadinejad met with UN Chief Kofi Annan. a photo.
• Ken Timmerman's Speech outside of the UN.
  

And finally, The Quote of the Week.

Reuters quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying:

"The Islamic Republic never seeks weapons of mass destruction and with respect to the needs of Islamic countries, we are ready to transfer nuclear know-how to these countries."

Saturday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 9.17.2005:

Iran Readying for Conflict with U.S.

Amir Taheri, Arab News:

Incredible though it may sound there are signs that Tehran may be preparing for a military confrontation with the United States, and has convinced itself that it could win. ...

the surest sign yet is the military build up under way in the five provinces bordering Iraq. The region, with a population of 20 millions, has been put under the control of the IRGC which has also taken over units of the regular army, including the 88th Division, and the border police. Iran is estimated to have 250,000 troops in the area, its biggest military build-up since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. ...

In the past few weeks top regime figures, including Khamenehi and Ahmadinejad, have made a series of unscheduled visits to Mash'had, Iran's second largest city. One curious fact revealed during these visits is that a bunker-like structure to house the "supreme guide" is being completed close to the "holy shrine" of Reza, the eighth imam. The complex could also house the top echelon of government, including the president, the Cabinet and members of the Islamic Majlis (Parliament).

The choice of Mash'had is not accidental. The city is located 1,000 km from Tehran and thus as far as possible inside Iran from American fire power in Iraq and the Gulf. The US is also expected to shrink from attacks against the Mash'had bunker for fear of collateral damage to the "holy shrine" of the imam a few hundred yards away. ...

one may guess the outline of Tehran's scenario for what it believes is an inevitable clash with the US: READ MORE

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

• Iranian blogger, Mehrangiz Kar, Rooz Online reported that in Iran these days there is talk of replacing detention and flogging as forms of punishment with something more human.
• Iranian blogger, Mehdrad Sheibani, Rooz Online reported that President Ahmadinejad surprisingly spoke of the grandeur of Iranians. Yes, these are the words of a president whose normal speeches at home repeat Islam or Islamic in every sentence he pronounces.
• SMCCDI (Information Service) reported that Iranian political activists gathered, yesterday afternoon, in front of the building which is hosting the Islamic Republic regime's Representation Office at the UN.
• Iranian blogger, Vahid Sabetian, Rooz Online reported that the new hardline government of Iran has tasked the new Minister of Justice to write the bill for defining political crimes in Iran.
• Kenneth R. Timmerman, NewsMax reported that former hostage from the U.S. embassy in Tehran, said: out of his 51 interrogations, Ahmadinejad personally had conducted one-third of them.
• BBC News reported that the UK government has described as "unhelpful" a speech by the Iranian president in which he asserted Iran's right to produce nuclear energy.
• Ynet News reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with South African President Thabo Mbeki and asked him to advance the referral of Iran’s nuclear program to discussion at the United Nations Security Council.
• Roger Kimball, The NY Sun reported on the Hitchens, Galloway clash ina debate on the Iraq War. Plus a video.
• CNN reported that Iran's president is absolutely "determined" to pursue a nuclear energy program and will "use every resource" it has to battle the United States and European nations trying to prevent it.
• Reuters reported that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the United Nations on Saturday to stand up to Iran.
• The Financial Times reported that Iran is seeking a compromise in its nuclear-fuel stand-off.
• The Washington Times reported cracks appeared in the U.S.-European diplomatic drive to curb Iran's nuclear weapons program, when Paris would not object to Mr. Ahmadinejad's suggestion that Iran share its nuclear energy technology with other Islamic countries.
• IranMania reported that Iran's President Ahmadinejad met with UN Chief Kofi Annan. a photo.

And finally, Media Clips:

• Ken Timmerman's Speech outside of the UN.
• A video of the George Galloway and Christopher Hitchens debate on Iraq in New York.

A Human Rights Act

Iranian blogger, Mehrangiz Kar, Rooz Online:

In Iran these days there is talk of replacing detention and flogging as forms of punishment with something more human. This is a good sign and some officials have even gone as far as saying that the current forms of punishment have no legal basis. A departure from past practices? One wonders.

The head of Iran’s judiciary is on record saying that there is a bill that should take care of ending the practice of detaining women and children needlessly for misdemeanors. And unlike in the past, reference for such changes is even made to international treaties and agreements to which Iran has adhered. Reference to such documents as the International Convention on Human Rights, or the Rights of Children among others, is a very positive step. READ MORE

But while there is optimism in the air, there are also serious doubts. The Guardians Council, an appointed body of Islamic jurisprudents who have been very conservative and narrow in their interpretations of Islamic principles and the constitution, are feared again to block any progressive legislature in this regard. These realists point out to the record of the Council which has always vetoed any laws that promoted human rights on grounds of their incompatibility with Islamic laws, principles etc.

While there is good ground for doubt, the new realities of the political terrain of Iran may actually be more conducive to a more progressive outcome. There is a new Majlis, a new president, and other elected or appointed political agencies all of whom now belong to the very same or at least similar political spectrum, i.e. hardline and conservative thinkers. The absence of moderates and liberals in the government may prove to bring more security to the existing officials to become more realistic, because of the absence of the “outsiders” amongst them.

Certainly such a development would help improve Iran’s seriously tarnished image outside the country, especially amongst its own émigrés and those communities.

Mehrangiz Kar is an Iranian attorney and human rights activist living outside Iran.

Secularists protest in front of Islamic regime's office at UN

SMCCDI (Information Service):

Several Iranian political activists gathered, yesterday afternoon, in front of the building which is hosting the Islamic Republic regime's Representation Office at the UN, in order to protest against its tyrannical and terrorist rule. This office which benefits of diplomatic immunity is located at the 34th floor of the building located at 622 on Third Avenue (junction of 40th Street) in New York. READ MORE

The activists were members of the "Iran UN Protest 2005" (IUNP2005) Coalition which includes several secularist groups, such as, SMCCDI which was the organizer of the today's action.

Slogans, such as, "34th floor, House of Terror", "This House of Terror, Must be Closed", "Down with Islamic Republic", "Down with Terrorist", "He He Ho, Islamic Republic Must Go" and "Down with Ahmadinejad" were shouted for several hours in front of the building.

Informative discussions were made between tens of concerned Americans and members of the IUNP2005 Coalition Group, such as, the SMCCDI's Coordinator. Flyers denouncing Islamic regime's persistent human rights' abuses in Iran and its involvement in terrorist activities were distributed to tens of Americans and foreign tourists who often echoed the slogans.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) had mobilized several officers and security patrol cars in order to avoid any harm made to freedom fighters by some of the nervous staff of the Islamist office.

The IUNP2005 Coalition's activists are planning to protest again on Saturday September 17th , from 06:00 PM till 10:00 PM, in front of the "Hilton Hotel" located at 6th Avenue (between 53rd and 54th streets) New York, NY 10019 (tel. 212-586-7000).

The Islamic regime has organized a gala in honor of its terrorist and murderer President to which several foreign guests have been invited.

Several other actions have been taken place in the last days by the IUNP2005 Coalition, such as, a massive gathering in front of the UN and in front of the Islamic regime's Ambassador's residence.

The massive presence of Iranian activists and their American supporters has tarnished the regime's propaganda policy and has shed the light of hope in many Iranians' mind.

Heritage and Submersion

Iranian blogger, Mehdrad Sheibani, Rooz Online:

President Ahmadinejad, who according to Sharg newspaper has taken along his friends on his first trip abroad, misses “the revolution, Islam and the dear motherland” as soon as he lands in New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly meeting.

Prior to his speech before representatives of some 191 countries and organizations, he first holds a meeting with Iranians in the US, whom news agencies call officials, appointees and associates of the government of Iran, as has been the practice with other Iranian visitors to the UN and surprisingly talks of the grandeur of Iranians, clearly avoiding the Islamic content of his local talks. He repeatedly uses words such as “the great Iranian nation” which has a “very bright history”. He calls Iranians to be the “leaders of human civilization” and attributes much of what constitutes science and ethics today to the work of these people.

“Have no doubts that today the great Iranian nation is a most influential force on the world’s stage, its culture, civilization, and morals. Iranian culture and values have many followers”. Yes, these are the words of a president whose normal speeches at home repeat Islam or Islamic in every sentence he pronounces. READ MORE

“And while all other ideologies and philosophies have failed in taking mankind to a satisfactory position, the Iranian nation has solutions for all human problems,” he emphatically says. “Do not doubt that what the Iranian nation offers to mankind today will soon become universal”, he proclaims, insisting that all “resistance against Islamic culture and revolution will end and the future belongs to Islam, the Islamic revolution, and the great Iranian nation.”

And while Ahmadinejad makes these grandeur proclamations in front of just a few of his compatriots in New York about an ancient civilization, a new water dam back at home in the province of Fars province will soon submerge the remnants and ruins of Iran’s past, perhaps not unlike what happened in New Orleans. The director of Fars Province’s Water Works issued a warning that the new dam that is gradually building up a water reservoir will soon submerge all the historic sites that date back to thousand years. And in the capital of the ancient civilization that Ahmadinejad proudly talks of in New York, the interior minister is busy not only shuffling the governors of all the provinces, but reshuffling those offices from head to toe. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the new minister, however takes off for a pilgrimage trip to Saudi Arabia before even learning of the details of his new office, let alone the offices of the towns and villages on the edges of the Iranian plateau. He did of course appoint a new hardline mayor for the city who happens to be a former military commander by the name of Galibaf. His other appointments such as Ravandi for the capital’s province however backfired as he himself resigned due to growing pressure in the Majlis and elsewhere, just as did his representative for the town of Zahedan. But still, Mostafa Pourmohammadi insists on choosing his management team from former security and military officials whom he wants to install at all levels of the reaches of the central government in the provinces. Any one who has followed Iranian post revolutionary history knows the kind of “construction” and progress such sweeping changes bring about.

In Tehran, the very same people that Ahmadinejad believes will soon save the world, are battling hard to organize their front for democracy and human rights against all odds. And speaking of human rights, one cannot lament at Akbar Ganji’s efforts again to save her husband from the dungeons of Evin prison. She again reaches out to international organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters without Borders for help, drawing their attentions to Ganji’s deteriorating health. She stresses that while her husband agreed to break his hunger strike in return for a review of his case and promises of his release, nothing has really changed regarding his imprisonment. We know that Ganji has been returned to Evin prison from Milad hospital, while no one has yet been allowed to visit him.

Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, another student leader who has been in prison recently returned to prison from a “home leave”. As a reminder, he was arrested charged and sentenced for 14 years of imprisonment for “acting against the state” and “insulting the Leader of the country”. Of course there are other prisoners or detainees who are denied their freedoms because of their conscience and expression of their ideas. Farzad Vahidi, who had been arrested numerously in the past and released, has once again been subpoenaed by the judiciary. His documents, not surprisingly, do not refer to any charges against him. Just an invitation to a meeting!

Daftare Tahkime Vahdat (Office for Strenghtening Solidarity), the largest student organization that at one time fully supported the regime and its leadership and whose leaders including Tabarzadi, have been through the cells of Evin prison, is organizing a seminar “human rights and the challenges ahead”, a theme that is a thorn in the eyes of the regime. Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a student leader, says at the seminar “observance of human rights is the most important gateway to solving the country’s current problems.”

While some 20 days have passed since the assassination of Judge Moghadas, Fakhrodin Jaafarzadeh, the head of Tehran’s criminal division has no suspect in the case, even though the Japanese embassy is said to have given him its surveillance video which purportedly has filmed the assassination. The new minister of Intelligence has nothing new to add when he says that his agency has not come up with any names either.

Outside the home of this “great nation”, as Ahmadinejad would like to remind us all, Iran continues to remain a hot topic. The Governing Council of the International Atomic Energy Agency will meet soon to again review Iran’s nuclear program.

The Iraqi president, Jalal Talebani raises a poignant question when he asks Russian leaders who call for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq “who will stop an Iranian invasion of southern Iraq if the US forces leave Iraq?”

Defining Political Crimes After 27 Years

Iranian blogger, Vahid Sabetian, Rooz Online:

Following extensive debates between Judiciary, Legislative and Executive powers, the new hardline government of Iran has tasked the new Minister of Justice to write the bill for defining political crimes in Iran. While the outcome of the bill and eventually law remains in the battles that will certainly occupy all politicians, one only hopes that after waiting for so many years, there will eventually be standards and identifiable lines that clarify what is accepted and what is not in the political domain of Islamic Iran. READ MORE

The exercise is not new. During Mohammad Khatami's government, the Interior Ministry had taken the responsibility of preparing such a bill. But the document was vetoed by the powerful Guardian Council and the Expediency Council. Finally, the bill and the subject were completely pushed aside by other hot political issues, and then forgotten. But Iranian activists are hopeful creatures. They expect that the drafting of such a sensitive bill will be done in consultation with legal and political experts so that it covers vast political spectrums and thus can not be effected by personal interpretations. But these are grand hopes and wishes.

Iran has witnessed plenty of arbitrary and questionable arrests during its past quarter century republican rule. Also, there have been controversial debates over the arrest of politicians, journalists and activists that are all considered political crime who were officially classified as non-political issues. The worst lame excuse of the officials has been the lack of clear definitions of political crimes. Many individuals and groups have questioned the detention, arrests, sentencing etc of activists, but never received any acceptable official explanation. This is a 27 year old question. So hopes are high.

When Emadeddin Baghi, Iranian journalist and writer asked for a public trial and a jury, his demand was denied since the judicial authorities claimed there was no definition for the political crimes. Baghi now writes in his website that denial of such objections based on article 168 of the constitution is a lame excuse and the absence of a formal definition has nothing to do with the citizen's responsibilities and their rights. He clarifies that after two decades of the Islamic rule, these rulers have not been able to define political crimes, and thus have violated the rights of the citizenry.

So many hope that this bill would clearly define political crimes and rights in Iran, which should help political activists in their work.

Former Hostages ID Ahmadinejad

Kenneth R. Timmerman, NewsMax:

A group of former hostages from the U.S. embassy in Tehran reaffirmed today there was "no doubt" that the lead interrogator during their ordeal was the current president of Iran.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has denied he personally took part in the hostage-taking, addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York today for five minutes, despite a finding by the U.S. Department of State that he was a "terrorist" and was ineligible for a visa.

Before he spoke, the former hostages and their supporters held a vigil in front of the Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran at 3rd avenue and 40th street.

"For twenty-six years, the government of Iran has not been held accountable for their violation of international law," said Kevin Hermening, who at 21 was a freshly-arrived Marine guard at the Embassy and the youngest hostage. "Despite our political differences as individuals, we all agree as a group that it is time to seek remedy. Ahmadinejad and his government need to be treated as a pariah."

Barry Rosen, now a professor at Columbia University, agreed. "We have lived with this for the rest of our lives," he said. "We were treated like animals."

He said the group of former hostages had resolved to talk anew about their ordeal in order to put a human face on victims of torture. "We are talking about the lives of millions of human beings who are living in pain on a daily basis."

Hermening identified Ahmadinejad as the lead interrogator for the military and security personnel at the embassy. "He was not an English speaker, but directed the interrogations. He told [the interpreters] what to ask. He ordered me to open safes," Hermening said.

He said he had spoken to other security officers at the embassy, including Tom Ahern and Colonel Charles Scott, and that all agreed there was "no doubt" the lead interrogator was Ahmadinejad.

Hermening recounted the story of Colonel David Roeder, who has spoken to reporters but was unable to travel to New York. "Colonel Roeder's interrogator was the current president of Iran. He told Rader, 'we know where you live. We know that you have a handicapped child. We know what time he gets picked up for school. We know where. If you don't answer our questions as we like, we are going to chop off his fingers and his toes and send them one by one to your wife in a box.'"

Iranian human rights activist Dr. Manoucher Ganji helped convince Hermening, Scott, and fellow hostage William Daughterty to speak to National Iranian TV (NITV), which broadcasts into Iran from Los Angeles. In separate interviews this summer, each described his encounter with the current Iranian president while being held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.


Personally Conducted

Roeder said that out of his 51 interrogations, Ahmadinejad personally had conducted one-third of them. READ MORE

The former hostages said they had recognized Ahmadinejad even before photographs of the hostage-takers resurfaced in U.S. newspapers last June, at the time of the first-round of the Iranian presidential elections. "We knew the man from the movement of his eyes, his lips. We knew him," Hermening said.

Before the NITV interviews, the U.S. Department of State had not sought out the former hostages, although they knew that Ahmadinejad would be applying to travel to the United States to address the UN General Assembly this week.

"After their statements to an international television audience, the State Department couldn't do anything else but recognize him as a terrorist," Ganji said.

Ganji also presented to reporters the former head of a taxi company in Tehran, who said he was personally assaulted and tortured by Ahmadinejad in 1981.

Joseph Pirayoff's company was based in the Hotel Intercontinental in Tehran and provided long-term rentals to U.S. defense contractors, in addition to taxi services.

During the 1979 revolution, he received a phone call from a U.S. military attaché at the embassy, asking him to secretly transport family members of U.S. diplomats to evacuation flights at the Tehran airport at night.

Nearly two years later, Pirayoff said Ahmadinejad and 25 revolutionary guardsmen stormed his apartment looking for president Abolhassan Banisadr, who was ousted by Ayatollah Khomeini in a coup in June 1981. "I told them I didn't know Banisadr," he said. Ahmadinejad hit him so hard in the face he broke his jaw.

Ganji himself was “on an Iranian government hit list for eighteen years” while organizing opposition to the regime from Paris, he said.

Some of the former hostages were so upset that the State Department had failed to contact them to confirm the reports about Ahmadinejad that they wrote to Congress last week.

In a letter addressed to the chairman and ranking member of the House International Relations Committee, Rosen, Doughterty, Roeder, and Paul Lewis recounted the latest chapter of their saga.

"To our consternation, the administration waited six weeks [after the election of Ahmadinejad] before contacting ajy former hostages and then only to arrange future appointment times for interviews. The State Department began conducting the very first debriefings on Wednesday, 10 August. Then - incredibly - the very next day, with the debriefing process scarcely begun. the government leaked to the media a CIA report that the investigation had already been concluded that our stated concerns were a case of mistaken identity."

Initial media reports with the leaked CIA report appeared on Friday, August 12, just two days after the first debriefings of former hostages were held. The former hostages have worked with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R, Fla), who has introduced legislation that would provide payment to the former hostages and their families.

The new bill, HR 3358, would abrogate the Jan. 19, 1981 Algiers Accords that prohibited U.S. persons from suing the government of Iran. The Algiers accords required the United States to release frozen Iranian government assets in exchange for the hostages, and sheltered the Iranian government from lawsuit.

More than twenty-four years after their release, the ordeal the hostages underwent remains with them.

Barry Rosen still recalls with shame signing a "confession" after his captors threatened to kill him. "I was thinking of my two young children," he recalled.

Kevin Hermening recalls the day his captors threatened to execute him, holding him blindfolded and handcuffed while they shouted execution commands and poked him repeatedly in the back with automatic rifles. "It was the most frightening experience of my life," he said.

Ken Timmerman in NYC

SOSIran:

Listen to an mp3 of Ken Timmerman's speech outside the UN this week.

Click here to listen.

UK attacks Iran nuclear stance

BBC News:

The UK government has described as "unhelpful" a speech by the Iranian president in which he asserted Iran's right to produce nuclear energy.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the UN his country had an "inalienable right" to produce nuclear energy - but said Islam precluded Iran having atomic weapons.

The US and the EU want Iran to give up any idea of enrichment capability.

The Foreign Office said nothing in the speech suggested Iran wanted to abide by an agreement it had previously made.

But it said it was a difficult issue and "the only way to resolve it is diplomatically".

Iran recently resumed uranium processing, an activity that had been suspended since November 2004 while talks were held with three European countries - the UK, France and Germany - about its long-term nuclear plans.

IAEA consultation

Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran's program was entirely legal and attacked what he called a "nuclear apartheid" that permits some countries to enrich fuel, but not others.

The Foreign Office spokesman said: "This was an unhelpful speech on which we will now want to consult our partners on the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors.READ MORE

"We and our colleagues in France and Germany along with [EU foreign policy chief] Javier Solana have worked very hard for two years to resolve this difficult issue.

"The only way to resolve it is diplomatically.

"But the Iranian President has offered nothing in this speech to suggest that he wants to abide by the agreement Iran has made."

Sanctions possible

The French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said referring Iran to the UN security council for possible sanctions was still an option.

But BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said it was "not so certain" whether the US and EU partners would convince other countries that Iran deserved to be reprimanded.

"Iran's invitation for other nations to collaborate on its nuclear activities may for some sound like an attractive offer.

"And after a week at the United Nations, when speech after speech has complained about the unfairness of the power balance in the security council, Iran's complaint that there's a double standard about who's allowed to become a nuclear power and who is not may also be met with some sympathy," she said.

Sharon asks S. Africa to act against Iran

Ynet News:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with South African President Thabo Mbeki Friday and asked him to advance the referral of Iran’s nuclear program to discussion at the United Nations Security Council. READ MORE

Meanwhile, President George W. Bush said he is confident “the world will see to it that Iran goes to the U.N. Security Council if it does not live up to its agreements.”
Sharon and the South African president, who met on the sidelines of the U.N. summit in New York, discussed the Iranian question. Diplomatic officials characterized the meeting as a good one.

Israel is currently acting to convince South Africa, which is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s governing council, to support the referral of the Iranian issue to the Security Council for possible sanctions.

Until now, the South Africans have resisted the move. The governing council is comprised of 35 countries, including Russia, China, India and Pakistan, which oppose the move.

‘We are against Iran becoming nuclear power’

President Bush said on Friday he was confident Iran would be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions if necessary over its nuclear program, while Russian President

Vladimir Putin said he wanted to make sure diplomacy was exhausted.

Ahead of a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors next week, Washington and the European Union have sought support for a possible referral of Iran to the Security Council for breaching its nonproliferation obligations.

Russia is among several countries that are cool to that idea. Bush acknowledged after a meeting with Putin at the White House that the effort could require more diplomacy.

“…When that referral will happen is a matter of diplomacy," Bush told a joint news conference.

Both leaders emphasized that they shared a goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

But Putin, who met with Iran's new president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations summit in New York, suggested there was more room for negotiation with Tehran.

"Of course, we are against the fact that Iran would become a nuclear power, and will continue to do so in the future under any circumstances," Putin said. "Now, as regards as to how we can control this situation, there are many ways and means to do so."

Hitchens, Galloway Clash in Heated Debate on Iraq War

Roger Kimball, The NY Sun: Plus a video of the George Galloway and Christopher Hitchens debate in New York. Thanks to the Spirit of Man. (Require Real Player)

It was like 1968 all over again. The long lines in front of Mason Hall at the Baruch College Performing Arts Center on 23rd Street snaked around the block in both directions. The air was heavy - with the sultry stickiness of late summer, the acrid tang of incense, the excited murmurs of aging activists in shabby clothes sporting "Impeach Cheney" buttons, passing out copies of "Worker's World," advising us to "Tell the criminals in the White House to stop the war."

A time warp? No, a debate between the journalist Christopher Hitchens and the British lawmaker George Galloway. Sponsored by the New Press, the International Socialist Review, the Nation Institute, and the National Council of Arab-Americans, the event was a much-anticipated rematch - or "rumble in the jungle," as the Guardian gleefully put it. Last May, when Mr. Galloway came to testify before the U.S. Senate about his involvement in the oil-for-food scandal, he had few answers but plenty of abuse for "neo-cons," "Zionists," and the "lickspittle Republican committee" that was engaged in creating "the mother of all smokescreens" by accusing him, George Galloway, leader of the Respect party, lawmaker for Bethnal Green, of profiting from what is probably the biggest financial scandal in history.

Rough stuff. But Mr. Galloway had bile left over for Mr. Hitchens, whom he described as "a drink-soaked former Trotskyist popinjay." A few years ago, he had adulated Mr. Hitchens as the most eloquent polemicist in the world. But that was before Mr. Hitchens began asking embarrassing questions about the Right Honorable Member's, um, opened-handed policy with respect to Iraqi oil allocations and friendship with his "dear, dear friend" Tariq Aziz and Saddam Hussein, the "courageous" leader who, Mr. Galloway wrote in 1994,"came closest to creating a truly Iraqi national identity."

More than 1,200 people crowded into Mason Hall to watch the spectacle. The atmosphere was brittle with passion. Most of the audience was patently hostile to Mr. Hitchens ("You're disgusting," one audience member shouted several times over the course of the evening). The format was a classic debate, replete with a moderator from Pacifica Radio. Mr. Hitchens spoke for, Mr. Galloway against, the resolution that the war to liberate Iraq was a good thing.

Mr. Hitchens began by asking for a moment of silence in honor of the more than 160 people who had been murdered that day in Iraq by terrorists. That was too much for the audience, which erupted with cries of "Demagoguery!" and accusations that the Bush administration had killed - what was it, 100,000? 100,000,000? Quite a large number - of men, women, and children in Iraq. READ MORE

That, as Mr. Hitchens noted with satisfaction, was a revealing response. One hundred and sixty people are murdered by ravening fanatics and you cannot bear to accord them the respect of a moment's silence. He went on to ask what the world would look like today if the anti-war campaigners of the last fifteen years had had their way.

Well, Saddam Hussein would still be in power, and would be master of Kuwait and its oil reserves. Milosevic would still be strutting in Kosovo, have by now completed his task of "ethnic cleansing." The Taliban would be busy blowing up Buddhist statuary and stoning adulterers and homosexuals in Afghanistan. Colonel Gadhafi would doubtless still be pursuing his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.

And so on.

Mr. Hitchens then asked the audience to consider some of the positive results of the war. Saddam Hussein, a man complicit in the murder and torture of hundreds of thousands, was in jail, no longer presiding over a country that was "a concentration camp above ground and a mass grave below." Iraq was even now debating a new democratic constitution for itself - a first in the Arab world. Colonel Gadhafi had decided to abandon his efforts to acquire a nuclear arsenal and was cooperating with American and British officials. The spirit of democracy, ignited in Iraq, was awakening among the people of Iran and elsewhere in the Arab world. Sure, there are problems in Iraq - serious problems - but there was also real progress.

Mr. Hitchens concluded by saying that it was a "disgrace" that a British lawmaker should go before the U.S. Senate, not to testify, but to decline to testify and resort to "guttersnipe abuse" when questioned.

The audience was erupting loudly now, cheers contending with boos, but Mr. Hitchens persisted: It was more than a disgrace, he said, it was a "crime" that Mr. Galloway should have "profited from the theft of money" from the oil-for-food program. Mr. Galloway's "search for a tyrannical fatherland never ends," Mr. Hitchens said, "the Soviet Union let him down, Albania's gone," his "criminal connections" with Saddam Hussein's regime have been exposed. As recently as the end of July, Mr. Galloway was in Damascus, saluting Syria as a "castle of Arab dignity."

Hard words, comrades! But unfortunately for Mr. Galloway, Mr. Hitchens's charges are well-documented.

Not to worry, though.

William Hazlitt long ago wrote that "those who lack delicacy hold us in their power." Mr. Galloway certainly lacked delicacy. And he held the audience in the palm of his hand. He began by telling how much he admired Christopher Hitchens - not the man who stood there now - the "hypocrite Hitchens," but his earlier, more radical avatar, the man who protested the Vietnam War, supported the Palestinians, who even opposed the first Gulf War.

Mr. Galloway was there to debate Christopher Hitchens about whether the war to liberate Iraq was a good thing. He had no difficulty making it clear that he thought not. But he did have trouble staying on the subject. He flitted bat-if-not-butterfly-like from Iraq to Hurricane Katrina to the "crazed religious fundamentalists" who apparently rule America. The audience instantly warmed to that theme, and Mr. Galloway was eager to gratify them further. Britain and America, he said, "are the biggest rogue states in the world today." Wild applause. Remember the planes that hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001? Those planes did not come out of a clear blue sky, Mr. Galloway said, "they came out of a swamp of hatred created by us." More applause.

You have to give Mr. Galloway this: He really is a rhetorical artist of sorts, a maker of surreal verbal collages boasting high emotional wattage but only traces of fact. "Sharon," "Israel," "Halliburton" - the audience purred, "vulture capitalists," "the miserable malevolent incompetents" who even failed to retrieve the bodies from the flooded streets of New Orleans. Mr. Galloway's claque loved it. What did it have to do with the topic at hand? Er, nothing.

But then neither did his entirely gratuitous insertion of the word "racism" into the discussion. Mr. Hitchens is a racist because ... well, it wasn't really clear why Mr. Galloway thinks that.

Low comedy? Yes. And it's comic, too, that Mr. Galloway should be embarking on an "anti-war tour" around America and Canada with Jane Fonda.

Less funny is the fact that at least 1,000 of the people huddled in Mason Hall on Wednesday do not regard Mr. Galloway as a deranged comedian. They look upon him as a political sage, a voice of freedom, a speaker of truth to power. It is pathetic. It is also vicious.

Granted, George Galloway is in some ways a ridiculous figure. But he reminds us of the astringent truth that the preposterous has no trouble cohabiting with the malevolent.

Mr. Kimball is co-editor and publisher of the New Criterion.

Iran Readying for Conflict with U.S.

Amir Taheri, Arab News:

Incredible though it may sound there are signs that Tehran may be preparing for a military confrontation with the United States, and has convinced itself that it could win.

The first sign came last June with the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of the Islamic Republic, an event that completed the conquest of all levers of power by the most radical elements of the establishment.

Since then Iran Readying for Conflict With US the revolutionary factions have conducted a little publicized purge of the military, the security, the civil service, and state-owned corporations and media.

The most significant purges have affected the military high command.

Among those replaced are the defense minister, the commander-in-chief of the regular army and his four deputies, 11 senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and five commanders of the paramilitary Mobilization of the Dispossessed. Some of the purged officers have been "parked" in a mysterious new organ called "The Defense Guidance Commission" attached to the office of the "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenehi.

The minister of intelligence and security and the minister of the interior, who controls the police and the gendarmerie, have also been replaced.

Another sign that Tehran may be preparing for war is the appointment of military officers to posts normally held by civilians, such as governors, mayors and directors of major public corporations.

But, perhaps, the surest sign yet is the military build up under way in the five provinces bordering Iraq. The region, with a population of 20 millions, has been put under the control of the IRGC which has also taken over units of the regular army, including the 88th Division, and the border police. Iran is estimated to have 250,000 troops in the area, its biggest military build-up since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988.

One of the first acts of the new Cabinet led by Ahmadinejad was to approve an "emergency" fund of $700 million to be disbursed at the discretion of "the supreme guide" for "sacred defense purposes."

The new administration has also decided to speed up defense disbursements under a five-year plan approved by Khamenehi last year. The plan aims at doubling the military budget by 2010. But it now seems that, thanks to rising oil revenues, most of the plan could be completed by 2008.

In the past few weeks top regime figures, including Khamenehi and Ahmadinejad, have made a series of unscheduled visits to Mash'had, Iran's second largest city. One curious fact revealed during these visits is that a bunker-like structure to house the "supreme guide" is being completed close to the "holy shrine" of Reza, the eighth imam. The complex could also house the top echelon of government, including the president, the Cabinet and members of the Islamic Majlis (Parliament).

The choice of Mash'had is not accidental. The city is located 1,000 km from Tehran and thus as far as possible inside Iran from American fire power in Iraq and the Gulf. The US is also expected to shrink from attacks against the Mash'had bunker for fear of collateral damage to the "holy shrine" of the imam a few hundred yards away.

The summer's comings-and-goings in Mash'had have provoked rumors that Khamenehi plans to appoint Abbas Va'ez Tabasi, the mulla who runs the eighth imam's foundation, as "deputy supreme guide", just in case!

The belief that the Americans would not attack sites close to "holy shrines' has also led to the creation of a massive new military base at Fadak, a suburb of the "holy city" of Qom where the eighth imam's sister is buried, south of Tehran. Work on the base that covers an area of 7.2 square km started in August.

Piecing together the bits of the jigsaw one may guess the outline of Tehran's scenario for what it believes is an inevitable clash with the US: READ MORE

• The diplomatic tussle over Iran's nuclear plans goes to the Security Council that will fail to take a decision thanks to Russian and Chinese vetoes.
• The US, after much huffing and puffing launches air strikes against Iran's nuclear installations. (Tehran loves Israel to also participate because that would give the Islamic Republic a better claim to be fighting on behalf of Islam as a whole.)
• Iran retaliates by ordering the forces it controls inside Iraq to attack American and British troops. At the same time the Lebanese branch of the Hezbollah launches massive rocket attacks against Israel while Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, whose leaders spent the past month in Tehran meeting Khamenehi and his aides, organize a wave of suicide operations against Israel from Jerusalem and the West Bank.
• The US and its British allies, stationed in southern Iraq, launch a three-pronged attack, from Shalamcheh, Hamroun and Shatt Al-Arab to seize control of Khuzestan, the province that accounts for 70 percent of Iran's oil production.
• Iranian Special Forces attack Iraq from the Zaynalkosh salient, south of the Kurdish provinces, some 80 km from Baghdad's first defenses in Ba'aqubah.
• Hazara Shi'ites strikes against Kabul, the Afghan capital, from Maydanshahr while Pushtun warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the remnants of the Taleban, some of whom are under Iranian protection, attack across Afghanistan.
• The Americans and their allies attack Khuzestan.
• Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz.
• The Americans attack the Iranian provinces of Kermanshahan and Kurdistan.
• US-led forces attack across the Mandali-Ilam axis. The Iranians retreat to the Zagross mountain range, the first line of Iran's natural defenses. (To fight along the Zagross the IRGC is building new bases at Khorramabad, Pessyan, Borujerd, Zagheh and Malayer in the province of Luristan. The bases would assure the logistics of a quarter of a million troops, and provide temporary shelter for half a million refugees from the border. These bases will complement older ones further west, at Sahneh and Kangavar. )
• Oil prices top $100 and the global economy plunges into a crisis.
• Americans launch cruise missiles against "regime targets" in Tehran. But the regime is already in Mash'had.
• Global TV networks air images of "indiscriminate carnage" and "wanton destruction" in Iranian cities.
• The Security Council meets in emergency and orders a cease-fire while the American media and Congress revolt against President George W Bush and his "pre-emptive" strategy.
• Anti-Bush marches in Washington and dozens of other cities with Hollywood figures and other celebrities calling for Bush to be overthrown.
• Bush accepts a UN-brokered cease-fire and withdraws his forces.
• The Islamic Republic emerges victorious from what Ahmadinejad sees as "a clash of civilizations."
• The Americans leave Iraq and Afghanistan as Bush becomes a lame duck for the rest of his presidency.
• The Islamic Republic gains new domestic legitimacy and proceeds to crush its opponents as "enemies of the nation and of Islam."
• Iran can speed up making its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles without being harassed by Washington.
• Iran becomes "the core power" of a new "Islamic pole" in a multipolar system with China, the European Union and Latin America, Under the Bolivarist leadership of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez emerging as other "poles".
• Bush's successor acknowledges Iran's new status and sends Bill Clinton, who apologized to Iran for "our past misdeeds" in 2000, to Tehran to offer another formal apology on behalf of Bush's successor and offer Ahmadinejad "a grand bargain".
• The Islamic Republic is now free to proceed to address what Khamenehi has described as its "greatest historic task" which is the destruction of Israel.

Sounds outlandish? Well, it is. The Islamic Republic is a fragile structure in a zone of political earthquakes. Logically, the last thing it should want is war. Nevertheless, former President Muhammad Khatami has warned that Tehran may be boxing itself into a position in which it will either have to surrender or fight.