Spotlight on Iran
Spotlight on Iran
Spotlight on Iran
Spotlight on Iran
Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh
The hunger striking prisoners from Evin Prison (www.kaleme.com)
Iranian press voices criticism of Turkey over its stance towards Syrian regime
Revolutionary Guards’ “Great Prophet-6” military exercises
Revolutionary Guards’ “Great Prophet-6” military exercises
Revolutionary Guards’ “Great Prophet-6” military exercises
Revolutionary Guards’ “Great Prophet-6” military exercises
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Highlights of the week
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Internal political struggles within the conservative camp:
arrests of Ahmadinejad’s allies continue
The struggle waged by the traditional-conservative establishment against the allies of President Ahmadinejad and his office chief Rahim Masha’i (referred to as the "deviant faction”) has entered a new phase in recent days with the arrests of some of them.
Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, one of Rahim Masha’i’s allies and chairman of the High Council of Iranian Expatriates’ Affairs, was arrested last weekend, only days after Majles members had forced him to resign as deputy foreign minister for administrative and financial affairs. Also arrested in recent days were Ali Asghar Parhizkar, head of the Arvand Free Trade Zone on the Persian Gulf coast; and Ali Reza Moghimi, head of the Aras Free Trade Zone in East Azerbaijan province.
The three senior officials, considered to be close allies of President Ahmadinejad’s advisors, are accused of involvement in economic corruption affairs. In recent weeks, the Iranian media reported that nearly 30 people close to Ahmadinejad have been arrested. Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje’i announced this week that other officials involved in corruption affairs could be arrested as well.
Commenting for the first time on the wave of arrests of his allies, President Ahmadinejad said that the arrests were motivated by political interests. He warned that, in case of an attempt to act against members of his government, he would break his silence and utilize his legal powers to protect his allies. Meanwhile, media affiliated with the president’s critics in the conservative bloc reported that the president had disregarded established protocol and was conspicuously absent from a meeting held earlier this week between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai.
18 political prisoners end hunger strike
Eighteen political prisoners held in two prisons in Tehran ended a hunger strike which had started as a protest over the deaths of two members of the Nationalist-Religious opposition movement, Haleh Sahabi and Reza Hoda Saber. The hunger strike of twelve political prisoners held in Evin Prison’s ward 350 began on June 18, and was joined several days later by six political prisoners held in Raja’i Shahr Prison.
Earlier this week, the prisoners complied with the request of senior reformist opposition officials and senior reformist clerics to end the strike due to their deteriorating physical condition.
The political prisoners’ families and the spokesman of the reformist opposition sent letters to the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, asking that the issue of political prisoners in the country be resolved at once.
Iranian press voices criticism of Turkey over its stance towards Syrian regime
Iranian media have recently taken a critical stance on the change in Turkey’s policy towards Syria following the riots that had broken out in that country.
This stance could be seen in a number of commentary articles published on the Iranian media, strongly criticizing Ankara’s approach towards the developments in the Arab world in general and Syria in particular.
The conservative daily Keyhan strongly criticized Turkey’s attitude on the developments in Syria and its attempts to exert pressure on Hamas to recognize Israel as part of the internal Palestinian dialogue in Cairo. The daily warned that if Turkey does not change its stance, it will be faced with considerable internal and regional challenges and serious resistance from Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The resistance may compromise Turkey’s position, Keyhan argued, since its regional influence depends on cooperation with those countries.
The daily Hemayat also strongly criticized Turkey’s policy towards Syria and even accused it of helping the U.S. set the stage for a military intervention in Syria.
The website Khabar Online brought up doubts over the Turkish involvement in the Arab world, arguing that Turkey’s involvement reflects a scenario prepared by Saudi Arabia to weaken Iran’s influence in the region.
According to the website, Turkey seeks to take advantage of the developments in the Arab world for its own interests, and hasn’t changed its past policy. If Turkey changed its stance towards the Palestinians, for example, it would have to cut off its ties with Israel.
Press TV, an Iranian English-language website, has also condemned Turkey’s policy towards the events in Syria, going as far as to accuse Turkey of being responsible for the riots in that country and claim that the weapons used by the demonstrators had been smuggled to Syria from Turkey.
Iran skeptical over President Obama’s announcement on
U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan
U.S. President Barack Obama’s announcement on his intention to pull out American forces from Afghanistan in the coming years was met with considerable skepticism in Iran.
Speaking at a meeting with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai at an international anti-terrorism conference held in Tehran this week, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that Obama’s announcement was geared towards U.S. domestic interests and warned about America’s intention to establish permanent bases in Afghanistan for its forces to use.
The reaction of the Iranian press to President Obama’s announcement was similarly dismissive. The conservative daily Jomhuri-ye Eslami argued that the president’s announcement should be considered a tactical measure, a deception meant to serve America’s domestic propaganda and political needs. President Obama is well aware that the ongoing U.S. presence in Afghanistan may jeopardize his standing in the coming election, and it is in this context that his announcement should be understood. Having somewhat improved his position with the announcement on Bin Laden’s killing, he now hopes to create the right conditions for re-election using his new tactics in Afghanistan.
The conservative daily E’temad also argued that the sole purpose of the plan to pull out the Western military forces was to please Western public opinion. The situation in Afghanistan is so complicated that the withdrawal of the Western forces cannot be expected to solve the severe problems facing the country, and the Afghans cannot be expected to become self-sufficient by 2014.
Internal political struggles within the conservative camp:
arrests of Ahmadinejad’s allies continue
The struggle waged by the traditional-conservative establishment against the allies of President Ahmadinejad and his office chief Rahim Masha’i (referred to as the "deviant faction”) has entered a new phase in recent days with the arrests of some of them.
Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, one of Rahim Masha’i’s allies and chairman of the High Council of Iranian Expatriates’ Affairs, was arrested last weekend, only days after Majles members had forced him to resign as deputy foreign minister for administrative and financial affairs. Malekzadeh had been appointed to the post early last week by Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi, but was forced to submit his resignation only three days later following strongly critical reactions from Majles members, who went as far as to threaten to impeach the foreign minister in protest of the appointment. The Majles members claimed that Malekzadeh was suspected of involvement in economic corruption affairs.
Also arrested in recent days were Ali Asghar Parhizkar, head of the Arvand Free Trade Zone on the Persian Gulf coast; and Ali Reza Moghimi, head of the Aras Free Trade Zone in East Azerbaijan province.
Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh
Fars News Agency reported that Parhizkar was accused of abusing his status to transfer funds towards the activity of the "deviant faction”. According to the news agency, the senior official was also involved in running a company engaged in illegal economic activity, also with the purpose of promoting the economic interests of those affiliated with the political faction (Fars, June 26). Moghimi, who was appointed as head of the Aras Free Trade Zone by Hamid Baqa’i, the president’s top advisor, is also accused of being involved in economic corruption (Fars, June 25).
In recent weeks, the Iranian media reported that nearly 30 people close to Ahmadinejad have been arrested. In addition, a growing number of voices are calling to arrest Masha’i himself. This week judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohsen Eje’i announced the possibility of further arrests of government officials involved in corruption affairs being investigated by the judiciary. In an interview given to Mehr News Agency, Eje’i noted that the affairs under investigation involve the high Council of Iranian Expatriates’ Affairs and the Free Trade Zone Organization (Mehr, June 26).
The conservative daily Javan defined the recent arrests as a new stage in the legal struggle waged against the "deviant faction”. An editorial published by the daily said that Malekzadeh and Parhizkar had attempted to take advantage of their status to expand the influence of the "deviant faction”. The daily argued that the faction had tried to prevent Malekzadeh’s arrest by appointing him as deputy foreign minister. According to Javan, the arrests of these officials and the exposure of their involvement in economic corruption will likely exacerbate the predicament and isolation of the "deviant faction” (Javan, June 26).
Commenting for the first time on the wave of arrests of his allies, President Ahmadinejad said that the arrests were motivated by political interests and designed to put pressure on the government. Speaking at a press conference held Wednesday, the president said that while he had remained silent on the arrests of his allies until now, he would utilize his legal powers to protect his supporters in case of an attempt to act against members of his government (Mehr, June 29).
Media affiliated with the president’s critics in the conservative bloc reported that the president had disregarded established protocol and was conspicuously absent from a meeting held earlier this week between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai (www.digarban.com, June 26).
Meanwhile, Hojjat-ol-Eslam Mojtaba Zolnour, who retired last week from his post as the Supreme Leader’s Revolutionary Guards representative, argued that members of the "deviant faction” began preparing for the Majles elections slated for early 2012, and that the preparations include contacts with reformist opposition elements and large investments. He noted that the "deviant faction” espouses religious ideas that go against the concept of "rule of the religious jurisprudent”, and that it is more dangerous than all the political factions that have operated since the Islamic revolution, including the Nationalist-Religious faction, the reformists, the Mojahedin-e Khalq, and the Hojjatiyeh faction (Khabar Online, June 26).
18 political prisoners end hunger strike
A hunger strike staged by 18 political prisoners held in two prisons in Tehran ended on Sunday night, June 26. The hunger strike was launched by twelve political prisoners held in Evin Prison’s ward 350 on June 18, and joined several days later by 6 political prisoners held in Raja’i Shahr Prison.
The hunger strike began as a protest over the deaths of two members of the Nationalist-Religious opposition movement, Haleh Sahabi and Reza Hoda Saber. Sahabi, the daughter of Ezatollah Sahabi, one of the leaders of the Nationalist-Religious movement, died from a heart attack in early June at her father’s funeral in Tehran. According to the opposition activists, her death was caused by violence employed by the security forces at the funeral. Saber died at Tehran’s Modarres Hospital on June 10, having suffered a heart attack after a hunger strike he had staged in protest of Sahabi’s death.
Earlier this week, two of the hunger striking political prisoners, Qurban Behzadian-nejad, who served as reformist opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s election campaign chief, and Mehdi Karimian-Eghbal, member of the reformist Participation Front, were transferred to Modarres Hospital as their physical condition deteriorated. Mohsen Aminzadeh, who served as deputy foreign minister in former president Mohammad Khatami’s government, had to be taken to a hospital as well after his condition deteriorated.
Before the hunger strike was called off, senior reformist opposition officials and top reformist clerics had called on the political prisoners to end it. Iran’s former president Mohammad Khatami expressed concern for the prisoners’ health and called on them to end the hunger strike. At the same time, Khatami called on the authorities to release all political prisoners.
The hunger striking prisoners from Evin Prison (www.kaleme.com)
Top reformist clerics Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Mohammad Dastgheyb and Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani joined the call. Ayatollah Dastgheyb expressed his hope that the Iranian authorities would heed the voice of the people and comply with the rightful demands of the citizens, saying he was displeased with the continuing house arrest of the two reformist opposition leaders, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi. Ayatollah Zanjani addressed the political prisoners in a telephone conversation with Mohammad Javad Mozaffar, deputy chairman of the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights and one of the twelve hunger striking prisoners from Evin Prison, who had been released for several days to attend his mother-in-law’s funeral. Zanjani noted that ending the hunger strike was mandatory under Islamic religious law, and that the country needed the arrested political prisoners to achieve freedom.
The call to end the hunger strike was also joined by the children of opposition leaders Mousavi and Karoubi; the family of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, a top reformist cleric who had passed away in late 2009; and a group of over 100 Iranian journalists (Kaleme, June 25).
The families of the hunger striking prisoners addressed a letter to Ahmed Shaheed, the former foreign minister of the Maldives, recently appointed by the UN to investigate the issue of human rights in Iran. In the letter, the families expressed their concern over the deteriorating physical condition of their loved ones, and called on Shaheed to come to Iran as soon as possible to examine their situation and the detainment conditions of the other political prisoners in Iran.
Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, spokesman for the Green Path of Hope Coordinating Committee, considered the leadership of the reformist opposition since Mousavi and Karoubi were put under house arrest, also sent a letter to the UN special rapporteur calling on him to immediately address the issue of political prisoners in Iran.
A memorandum of opinion published by the political prisoners after their hunger strike said that their decision to end it did not mean the end of the civil protest against human rights violations in Iran.
In view of the hunger strike and the considerable media attention it gained worldwide, the conservative daily Keyhan referred to the strike staged by the political prisoners as a "media game” played by the reformist opposition to attract Western public opinion and step up international pressure against Iran. Keyhan argued that opposition activists also expressed misgivings about the use of the hunger strike for propaganda needs (Keyhan, June 26).
Iranian press voices criticism of Turkey over its stance towards Syrian regime
Iranian media have recently taken a critical stance on the change in Turkey’s policy towards Syria following the riots that had broken out in that country.
This stance could be seen in a number of commentary articles published on the Iranian media, strongly criticizing Ankara’s approach towards the developments in the Arab world in general and Syria in particular.
The conservative daily Keyhan said that, by distancing itself from the Islamist approach, Turkey is facing considerable domestic and regional challenges as a result of the part it plays in the regional "American jigsaw puzzle” and its anti-Syrian policy.
The daily criticized Turkey’s attitude on the developments in Syria and its attempts to exert pressure on Hamas to recognize Israel as part of the internal Palestinian dialogue in Cairo.
According to the daily, Turkey cannot play an independent major role in the Islamic world since the religious centers of the Muslim world are located in Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, and because the unpleasant memories from the Ottoman era are still lingering for the Arab nations. To influence regional developments, therefore, Turkey must cooperate with Iran and Egypt. Attempts to gain the approval of the U.S., Europe, and Saudi Arabia will not help Ankara affect the developments in the region, and breaking away from the Islamic approach will not help it achieve the support of the Muslim nations.
The daily argued that Turkey’s regional policy is cause for considerable discontent among the minorities living in the country: the Shi’ites in Turkey would like to see it tighten its relations with Iran and Syria, while the Kurds are dissatisfied with the disagreements between the governments in Ankara and Baghdad.
Keyhan warned that, unless Turkey changes its attitude, it will have to deal with considerable resistance from Iran, Iraq, and Syria. This will compromise Turkey’s position since it depends on cooperation with those countries to entrench its regional influence (Keyhan, June 27).
The daily Hemayat also strongly criticized Turkey’s policy towards Syria and even accused it of helping the U.S. set the stage for a military intervention in Syria. The daily claimed that Turkey has fallen into the trap set by the enemies of the resistance front, warning it that they are interested not just in hitting the resistance but also in compromising Turkey’s position in the region (Hemayat, June 28).
The website Khabar Online also brought up doubts over the Turkish involvement
in the Arab world, arguing that Turkey’s involvement reflects a scenario prepared
by Saudi Arabia to weaken Iran’s regional influence.
The website wondered how Turkey, a secular country with a long-standing determination to join the EU, could now reach out to the Arab world. According to Khabar Online, Turkey has realized that, despite its unique position in the region, it cannot easily influence the developments in the Arab world due to the secular policy of its past leaders. Accordingly, Saudi Arabia has laid the groundwork for improving Turkey’s image using PR activities and investments. The widely-publicized conflict between Erdogan and President Shimon Peres, which turned Erdogan into the "Rambo” of the Middle East, and the sending of the aid ship to the Gaza Strip, were designed to create an impression that would make it possible for Turkey to broaden its influence in the Arab world. These events gave Turkey a chance to intervene in the revolutions of the Arab world and help itself to a piece of the "Arab pie”, as shown by its involvement in the events in Syria.
According to the website, Turkey seeks to take advantage of the developments in the Arab world for its own interests, and has made no considerable change in its positions. If Turkey changed its stance towards the Palestinians, for example, it would have to cut off its ties with Israel and open a Palestinian embassy in Ankara (Khabar Online, June 25).
Press TV, an Iranian English-language website, has also condemned Turkey’s policy towards the events in Syria, going as far as to accuse it of being responsible for the riots in that country and claim that the weapons used by the demonstrators had been smuggled to Syria from Turkey (Press TV, June 9).
Iran skeptical over President Obama’s announcement
on U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan
U.S. President Barack Obama’s announcement on his intention to pull out American forces from Afghanistan in the coming years was met with considerable skepticism in Iran.
Speaking at a meeting with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai at an international anti-terrorism conference held in Tehran this week, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that Obama’s announcement was geared towards U.S. domestic interests and warned about America’s intention to establish permanent bases in Afghanistan for its forces to use. According to Khamenei, the presence of foreign military forces in Afghanistan has caused a great deal of suffering to the Afghan people, and it will be impossible to achieve true security in that country as long as U.S. troops remain there.
Khamenei noted that the international status of the U.S. has weakened to a considerable degree, and that its leaders are attempting to cure their weakness in the region, at which they will not succeed. He added that Iran is willing to help develop and build Afghanistan, and provide it with the necessary technical know-how for its rehabilitation (IRNA, June 25).
Last week, the joint Iranian-Afghan security committee convened in Tehran to discuss regional cooperation between the two countries. At the same time, Iran’s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi held a two-day visit to Afghanistan during which he met with Afghanistan’s president and defense and interior ministers. During the visit, Vahidi strongly condemned the U.S. policy in Afghanistan, claiming it aims to establish permanent military bases in that country to tighten its hold over the region.
The reaction of the Iranian press to President Obama’s announcement was similarly dismissive. The conservative daily Jomhuri-ye Eslami argued that the president’s announcement should be considered a tactical measure, a deception meant to serve America’s domestic propaganda and political needs.
Due to its geopolitical situation, Afghanistan is highly important for the West, and the events of September 11 provided the West with an excuse to invade the country to take control of it. However, it soon became a quagmire for the U.S. and its allies. After ten years, not only did the West fail to achieve its objectives in Afghanistan, but was forced to admit that the country became a quagmire even deadlier than Vietnam once was for the U.S.
President Obama is well aware that the ongoing U.S. presence in Afghanistan may jeopardize his standing in the coming election, and it is in this context that his announcement should be understood. The overall strategic goal of the U.S. is a long-term occupation of Afghanistan; however, the current conditions in that country pose a threat to the Obama administration. The president’s announcement was designed to neutralize the devastating effects of the Afghanistan crisis on his re-election prospects. Having somewhat improved his position with the announcement on Bin Laden’s killing, Obama now hopes to create the right conditions for re-election using his new tactics in Afghanistan. His announcement should therefore be seen as no more than a PR stunt. The Americans invested considerable funds and incurred heavy casualties in Afghanistan, and will therefore not withdraw willingly. This reality makes the job of the Afghan people to liberate their land even more difficult, Jomhuri-ye Eslami said (Jomhuri-ye Eslami, June 27).
The conservative daily E’temad also argued that the sole purpose of the plan to pull out the Western military forces was to please Western public opinion. The situation in Afghanistan is so complicated that the withdrawal of the Western forces cannot be expected to solve the severe problems facing the country. The Western countries have failed in their obligations to help Afghanistan, and it is irrational to expect the Afghans to become self-sufficient by 2014 or the local forces to provide security to a country locked in perpetual warfare for many decades (E’temad, June 26)
Pictures of the week: Revolutionary Guards’ "Great Prophet-6” military exercises
