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Iranian Presidential Election Turning into a Circus

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani issued a press release Tuesday denying reports that he received a letter from Secretary of State John Kerry that said the United States would support him if he chose to run in Iran’s presidential election next month.

Whether his denial will carry any weight, however, may be moot, as Iranian media is reporting that Rafsanjani and another candidate, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s handpicked successor, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, were disqualified from the race.

In a May 15 exclusive, I reported on WND that a secret message from Kerry was delivered to Rafsanjani of U.S. support, according to a source affiliated with the office of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Over 100 of the regime’s media outlets, including Channel 1 TV, immediately picked up WND’s report, which forced Rafsanjani’s office to post a denial on his official website.

“After the false publication of internal media quoting American WND regarding a secret letter by John Kerry to Ayatollah Rafsanjani and on the threshold of the presidential elections,” Rafsanjani’s press release said, “some vengeful media in Iran, without considering the national interest of the country and with the goal of character assassination, have expanded on news and rumors of anti-revolutionary foreign media.”

The press release said it’s unfortunate that some “internal media,” based on their political tendencies, have chosen to become aligned with WND’s report.

After a warning that Rafsanjani might reveal some official regime secrets, the release asks, “Are (the media) willing to publish reports against all officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran!?”

The release said Rafsanjani’s office regretted this “anti-human and anti-moral” behavior by the “internal media” that have become the “loudspeaker” of the anti-revolutionaries and he reserved the right to take legal action against those in regime media who expanded on the WND report.

Rafsanjani had promised the American administration that once Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution, died, then relations between the two countries could improve, but his promises then and after continued to be hollow as he bought time for the regime to progress in various fields.

My reports of April 30 and May 2 on WND also revealed that Ahmadinejad had been arrested and detained for several hours recently and warned by regime officials to keep his mouth shut.

Earlier, the regime’s media outlet Baztab reported that Ahmadinejad had warned associates that if Mashaei was rejected as a candidate, then Ahmadinejad would reveal recordings confirming that the regime defrauded the voters in the 2009 presidential election.

Our revelation of the news caused a firestorm inside the regime, which then arrested the editor of Baztab for publishing the report. They then attacked WND and me for publishing the report of the arrest and the revelation about the recording, which reportedly quotes officials telling Ahmadinejad in 2009 that they would announce his total winning tally as 24 million votes where, in fact, the actual number was much lower.

The source who provided the information about Ahmadinejad’s arrest then revealed the content of the tape (which is a bit longer than 11 minutes) as being between Ahmadinejad and Vahid Haghanian, the head of the supreme leader’s office. The two discuss the fraud in which Haghanian said election officials added millions of votes to Ahmadinejad’s tally to declare him the winner.

During that phone call, the two argued as Haghanian told Ahmadinejad what Khamenei expected of him. Haghanian told him that they had to add millions of fake votes to declare him the winner despite having all the Guards and Basij personnel voting for him.

The actual results of the election, as provided by the source were:

• Mir Hossein Mousavi won the election with over 19,250,000 votes.
• Ahmadinejad was second with a little over 13,000,000 votes.
• Mohsen Rezaei had approximately 3,700,000 votes.
• Mehdi Karoubi had approximately 3,200,000 votes.

Millions of Iranians took to the streets after the 2009 election results were reported, calling Ahmadinejad’s reported 62 percent tally of voters a fraud and demanding a free election.

Thousands were arrested, with many tortured and executed. Mousavi and Karoubi have been under house arrest ever since.

It will be interesting to see if Khamenei steps in to get both Rafsanjani and Mashaei on the approved list for the presidency and if not what the reaction of the two factions will be but one thing is for sure and that is Khamenei to pick his own candidate out of the hat, as the regime always does, and as they did with Ahmadinejad himself, to keep the clerical regime alive longer.

It is important to point out that, the Iranian presidential election next month will not be free. The candidates have all been selected to run because they are loyal to the Islamic dictatorship.

Most of the candidates are criminals, including three with arrest warrants issued against them by either Interpol or Argentinian courts for the 1994 Jewish Community Center bombing in Buenos Aires: Mohsen Rezaei, the ex-chief commander of the Revolutionary Guards, and two former regime officials, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Akbar Velayati.

Another candidate, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, current mayor of Tehran and former police commander, has said of the 1999 student protests:

“I was the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force at the time. Photographs of me are available showing me on the back of a motorbike, with Hossein Khaleqi, beating them (the protesters) with wooden sticks. … I was among those carrying out beatings on the street level and I am proud of that. I didn’t care that I was a high-ranking commander.”

Recently an audiotape surfaced on the Internet revealing his 2003 speech to the Basij paramilitary forces bragging about his role at the Supreme National Security Council meeting to get the authorization to attack the student protesters: “I spoke very harshly. Didn’t observe proper protocol, and I told them as head of the police, I will demolish anyone who would show up tonight on the campus to protest … with my behavior I intimidated them to get the permission to enter and also to shoot (at protesters).”

Under the Islamic Republic’s constitution, the 12-member Guardian Council decides the eligibility of who can run for office, and anyone with any history of opposing the regime is barred from participation. The council is made up of six Islamic faqihs (experts in Islamic law) appointed by the supreme leader and six jurists nominated by the head of the Judiciary (who is himself appointed by the supreme leader), and then approved by the parliament.

The last report by the source is that the security forces are present in Tehran and wide arrests are underway of associates of Mashaei and Rafsanjani.

The John Batchelor Show

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

The John Batchelor Show

Reza Kahlili, author, A Time to Betray, in re:HEZBOLLAH PREPARING TO ATTACK ISRAEL, COMMANDER SAYS Hezbollah is in the final stage of preparation to attack Israel with sophisticated weapons, according to a high-level commander of the terrorist group.

May 20, 2013

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Assad, Hezbollah, IAEA, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Jihad, Khamenei, Sanctions, Syria, UN

Reports: Iran bars two top figures from June ballot

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Associated Press, Tehran -

Iran’s Guardian Council, which vets candidates, has rejected former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (L) and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (R), a close confidant of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (File Photo: Reuters)

Iranian news websites boosted speculation Tuesday that election overseers have barred two prominent but divisive figures from next month’s presidential ballot, in a move that would eliminate a threat to the country’s hard-liners.

The Tasnimnews.com website said the Guardian Council, which vets candidates, has rejected former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confidant of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The semiofficial Mehr news agency carried the same report.

Mehr said only eight hopefuls, most of them hardliners loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have been approved. The reports are not official. The announcement on the list for the June 14 election is expected later Tuesday or Wednesday.

Rafsanjani’s unexpected entry into the presidential race had re-energized reformist groups that have been under relentless pressure and crackdowns since major protests following Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in 2009. His candidacy scrambled the vote’s equation because of his popularity, reputation and potential to draw voters away from conservatives

If he is indeed barred from the race, it would deal a demoralizing blow to pro-reform groups and dim hopes for a high turnout. It also would boost the chances of a Khamenei loyalist winning the election.

The Iranian media didn’t provide any reason for disqualifying Rafsanjani, but his opponents have claimed that at the age of 78, he is too old to run the country.

On Monday, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for the Guardian Council that vets election candidates, said the council would bar candidates who are limited in their physical abilities, which was widely seen as a jab at Rafsanjani.

Rafsanjani is a founder of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought the clerics to power, and was the closest confident of the revolution’s spiritual leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The country’s current supreme leader, Khamenei, largely owes his position to Rafsanjani’s support.

The head of the Guardian Council, 87-year-old Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, warned Friday that those who did not distance themselves from 2009 turmoil were not eligible to run, referring to the popular protests over the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad as “sedition.”

It was another hint that Rafsanjani, who is viewed as a serious threat to hardliners, could be banned.

A government crackdown in 2009 put an end to street protests, but Rafsanjani remained critical over the way the ruling system dealt with the crisis.

Mashaei’s purported disqualification, meanwhile, is a serious blow to Ahmadinejad, depriving him of levers of power with which to influence the next government. Ahmadinejad cannot run in this election because Iran’s constitution bars him from seeking a third term.

Ahmadinejad has been promoting Mashaei, whose daughter is married to the president’s son, as successor in recent years. But Mashaei is believed to have been at the heart of a messy power struggle between Ahmadinejad and the ruling clerics in recent years, earning him the enmity of Iran’s hard-liners.

Hard-liners accuse Mashaei of being the leader of a “deviant current” that seeks to undermine Islamic rule and compromise the Islamic system. Some critics have even claimed he conjured black magic spells to fog Ahmadinejad’s mind.

According to the unofficial news reports, among those approved for the June ballot are Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, prominent lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf – all top Khamenei loyalists. Former chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaei and a little known former minister have also reportedly been approved.

Of eight, only two of them are pro-reform figures: Former top nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani and former first vice president Mohammad Reza Aref.

Reformers now have the option of rallying behind Aref or Rowhani or boycott the polls altogether.

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Rafsanjani, Revolutionary Guards, Terrorism

Iran electoral watchdog hints at Rafsanjani rejection

Monday, May 20th, 2013

By Yeganeh Torbati

DUBAI | Mon May 20, 2013 8:13am EDT

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. REUTERS/Stringer

By Yeganeh Torbati

DUBAI | Mon May 20, 2013 8:13am EDT

(Reuters) – Iran’s electoral watchdog said on Monday it would bar physically feeble candidates from running for president, in an apparent hint that it could disqualify 78-year-old former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from the race.

Rafsanjani, if he is allowed to run, would be a significant challenge to conservative hardliners who are ultra-loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and who otherwise dominate the field for the June 14 presidential election.

The wily, pragmatic cleric, who has often been close to the heart of power since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, shook up the election contest earlier this month when he joined the race.

But the Guardian Council, a conservative body of clerics and jurists that vets all candidates, may disqualify him, along with Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also registered to run at the last moment.

“If an individual who wants to take up a high post can only perform a few hours of work each day, naturally that person cannot be confirmed,” Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai said on Monday, according to the ISNA news agency.

Kadkhodai did not name Rafsanjani. The council is due to present a final list of approved candidates on Tuesday to the Interior Ministry, which then has two days to announce it.

Hardline legislators demanded last week that Rafsanjani and Mashaie be banned from running.

Rafsanjani earned hardliners’ ire for criticizing the crackdown on opposition protests after Ahmadinejad was re-elected in 2009 in a vote that reformists said was rigged.

Conservatives are suspicious of Mashaie, saying he holds an unorthodox view of Islam and seeks to sideline clerical rule.

Lawmaker Ali Motahari, who is close to Rafsanjani, told reporters on Monday that a rejection of Rafsanjani’s candidacy would put the very principles of the state under question, “because Hashemi (Rafsanjani) had the biggest role in the Islamic revolution”, according to the ILNA news agency.

He derided the idea that Rafsanjani was too old, saying: “How do they know whether Hashemi can run the country or not?”

Motahari also suggested that Khamenei could step in to push the Guardian Council to approve Rafsanjani’s candidacy if it is initially rejected. The body re-qualified two reformist presidential candidates in 2005 after Khamenei intervened.

Parliament proposed age restrictions for presidential candidates last year, but dropped the measure after opposition from the Guardian Council.

Many Iranians would view Rafsanjani’s disqualification on the basis of age as a political pretext – and it might look awkward for Khamenei, who reinstated Rafsanjani as head of the Expediency Council, an advisory body, in 2012.

“It is hard to fathom a justification for Rafsanjani’s disqualification,” said Farideh Farhi, an Irananalyst at the University of Hawaii. “His disqualification on the basis of not being sufficiently committed to the Leader will also challenge the Leader’s judgment.”

(Additional reporting by Marcus George; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Elections, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Rafsanjani, Revolutionary Guards, Terrorism

Iran’s Farhadi And China’s Jia Make Cannes Splash

Saturday, May 18th, 2013

NPR

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 17, 2013 4:14 PM

CANNES, France (AP) — Two directors from countries with tough film censorship brought bold and probing movies to the Cannes Film Festival on Friday — one exploring China’s social problems, the other delving into the mysteries of the human heart.

Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” depicts facets of fast-changing China the government prefers to avoid: corruption, greed, violent crime and the growing gap between economic winners and losers.

“The Past,” by Academy Award-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, is an unsparing tale of domestic upheaval, set in and around Paris and made with a largely French cast.

Both films are competing for Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or — and both have been cleared for release in their homelands, where filmmakers often fall foul of restrictions.

Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has approved “The Past” for screening, and “A Touch of Sin” is due to open in China in the fall.

The two directors are pleased their films will be seen at home, but they gave very different descriptions of working in settings where official censorship is an everyday reality.

“I’m someone who is deeply attached to my creative freedom, and I always do my utmost to ensure I don’t indulge in any form of self-censorship,” said Jia, who has explored China’s rapid transformation throughout his career — from early underground films such as “Unknown Pleasures” to documentaries to the Venice Film Festival prize-winning 2006 feature “Still Life.”

Farhadi, though, said the effect of censorship was more insidious.

“One can try to free oneself of the past, but the past doesn’t let you do that,” he said — both a theme of “The Past” and an observation of his own situation.

“There are two kinds of censorship,” he told reporters. “You have official censorship which works in a certain way. But there is also self-censorship. You impose it on your innermost self.”

Iran’s authorities have long had an uneasy relationship with the country’s filmmakers, and influential clerics have often denounced the domestic cinema as dominated by Western-tainted liberals and political dissenters. Some directors and actors have faced arrest or fled the country.

While Farhadi shot previous films including “A Separation” — the 2012 foreign-language Oscar winner — in Iran, “The Past” was made entirely outside the country. It follows an Iranian man (actor-director Ali Mosaffa), who returns to France to finalize a divorce from his ex (Berenice Bejo, from “The Artist”), but soon becomes entangled again with her, her children and her new love (“A Prophet” star Tahar Rahim).

The film premiered at Cannes on Friday and was hailed as the first Palme d’Or contender of the festival. Critics praised its meticulous and non-judgmental look at the messy effects of relationships and their breakdown, on adults and on children.

Farhadi admitted that he felt “more secure” shooting outside Iran, free of external restrictions — but not of his own inner guidelines. He said he tried to see these “not as an obstacle but as an asset” — part of his creative makeup as a director.

Like his previous work, “The Past” is emotionally revealing but not overtly political. The director said he was happy to keep working on an intimate canvas, exploring the dynamics of personal relationships.

“There is so much suffering and pain attached to a couple, but the suffering and pain is always unique,” he said. “I could spend my whole career exploring this theme without ever exhausting it.”

Farhadi said he doesn’t know what he will make next — or whether it will be in Iran.

“I won’t decide where it will take place,” he said. “It’s history that will decide for me.”

In contrast, “A Touch of Sin” feels strongly political. Made up of four linked episodes focusing on uprooted citizens of the new China, its story lines have been ripped from the headlines. There’s a villager driven to violence by official corruption; an amoral killer roaming the land; a factory worker driven to suicide.

Jia — whose film “24 City” played at Cannes in 2008 — said he became preoccupied by the increasingly frequent stories of violence he saw in the media, and wanted to dramatize the stories for Chinese moviegoers.

“In society people often hear about these violent events, but they quickly forget,” he said. “It’s not by turning your back on violence or hiding violence that you make progress.”

Jia said he didn’t think the topics he depicted “are particularly touchy or secretive in any way, because they were already covered in the Chinese press and on the Internet.”

But the director also was careful to stress — and the censors no doubt happy to hear — that the stories were timeless, not the product of modern politics, economics or technology.

“If these people were alive 100, 200, 300 years ago, at the time of the emperors, their motivation for acting like that would be exactly the same,” he said. “We live in the era of the Internet and high-speed trains, but have people changed?”

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Democracy, Freedom, Hezbollah, Human Rights, Iran, Jihad, Khamenei, Political prisoners, Revolutionary Guards

Source: U.S. taking sides in Iran’s election

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

05/15/2013

WND

By: Reza Kahlili

Says Kerry sent message to ayatollah with Washington’s support

kerry

A secret message from Secretary of State John Kerry was delivered to Iran’s Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani that said the United States would support his possible presidential candidacy, according to a source affiliated with the supreme leader’s office.

The source, who remains anonymous for security reasons and who has provided valuable information before, said that on May 3, Kerry’s letter was delivered via the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh to Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, who arranged through the Saudi Embassy in Tehran to present the message to Rafsanjani.

The message said both the Saudi kingdom and the White House would support Rafsanjani in the June 14 elections and that, the source said, Rafsanjani showed the message to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who agreed that Rafsanjani should announce his candidacy.

The message said that both Washington and Riyadh understood Iran’s political landscape and economic situation, the source said, and that they believe that mistaken policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad both nationally and internationally have taken Iran further away from better international relations. They believe that with Rafsanjani as president, those problems, including the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, could soon be resolved.

Rafsanjani, who portrays himself as a moderate, announced his candidacy just before the May 11 registration deadline, which drew harsh reaction from hard liners in Iran who requested that authorities bar him from next month’s vote.

The source added that the approval of Rafsanjani’s candidacy by the Guardian Council will mean that Khamenei is on board and will use Rafsanjani not only to help turn out those voters who believe Rafsanjani offers an anti-regime candidacy but also to start another merry-go-around with the U.S. to buy more time for its nuclear bomb program. The Guardian Council is set to announce the list of approved candidates next week.

The outreach to Rafsanjani goes back to what led to the Iran-Contra Affair in the 1980s in which a direct channel of communication was established with Rafsanjani, who was then the speaker of the parliament. Rafsanjani had promised the American administration that once Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution, died, then relations between the two countries could improve.

That outreach, as reported before, continued under President George H.W. Bush. At that time Khomeini was dead, and the American administration believed that Rafsanjani, who had become president, could then deliver on what he had promised – normalization of relations – only to find out that the promises were hollow.

Rafsanjani then played a role again in the 2009 elections in a power grab by supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi against Ahmadinejad. Mousavi actually won the popular vote, but on orders from the supreme leader, the election was fraudulently given to Ahmadinejad. That touched off days of rioting in which thousands were arrested and many imprisoned or executed and led to the Green Movement, which angered the clerical establishment.

As reported exclusively on WND on Oct. 4 and in The Washington Times on Oct. 30, a three-person delegation of the Obama administration met secretly in Doha, Qatar, on Oct. 1 with Ali Akbar Velayati, the former Iranian foreign minister and current close adviser to the supreme leader who is also running as a candidate for the presidency next month. Other U.S. and Iranian officials also participated in several similar meetings, which took place from 2009 to 2012 in Turkey, Georgia and Thailand to discuss Iran’s nuclear program as well as regional issues.

The source added that the White House would rather Rafsanjani win than Velayati but has contacts with both. However, he said, to hope that either will change the regime’s policies is delusional because not only are ultimate decisions made by the supreme leader, but that both candidates (and for that matter all those who run for elected office) only serve the interest of the regime and “these games are only to buy time for the system to survive and continue with its evil plans.”

Another source within the Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit, who provided information on Ahmadinejad’s recent arrest and the presence of an audiotape proving fraud in the 2009 elections, informed WND that if Ahmadinejad’s hand-picked candidate to succeed him, close confidant and top adviser Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, was rejected in his attempt to get on the ballot, Ahmadinejad would retaliate. He would not only reveal the tape, causing a major headache for the regime, but also would immediately fire several of his ministers in an effort to disrupt the operation of the government and delay the elections. The sources said that if that did not work, he would resign to further pressure Khamenei before the elections.

Khamenei has warned that no one can delay the elections and that the Guardian Council, the body that approves candidates for office, should not hesitate to reject those not qualified.

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and author of the award winning book “A Time to Betray” (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI).

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, America, Elestions, Hezbollah, IAEA, Iran, Iranian nuclear program, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Sanctions, UN

Election officials extend period for candidate review

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

RadioZamaneh

Thu, 05/16/2013

Abbas Kadkhodayi

Iran’s Guardian Council has given itself five extra days to determine the eligibility of presidential hopefuls, saying it will announce the eligible candidates on May 21.

ISNA reports that the five-day extension has been reported to the Interior Ministry as required by regulations.

The Guardian Council is looking at more than 600 applications from candidates for the 11th presidential race.

The issue of eligibility is specifically controversial regarding Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the moderate cleric who’s gathering reformist support, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, the preferred candidate of current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Many conservative figures have called for both of these candidates to be disqualified.

Abbas Kadkhodayi, the council spokesman, emphasized that its criteria is based on the law, and public statements cannot change those criteria.

The presidential election is scheduled for June 14.

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Democracy, Freedom, Hezbollah, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Terrorism

Recent government projects: election advertising or environmental threats?

Monday, May 13th, 2013

RadioZamaneh

Mon, 05/13/2013

By: Bijan Rohani

The Iranian government has proposed new projects such as building infrastructure in Shahrood’s Abr Forest and opening up oil development in Kavir National Park by issuing exploration permits, and the government’s national development plan promises to donate 2,000 square meters of public land to Iranian families. However, each of these announcements has triggered waves of criticism against the government’s choices. Some critics have described the news as mere propaganda in view of the approaching election, but others are concerned that implementing such projects could do lasting harm to the country’s environment.

During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s trip to Semnan Province, it was announced that a permit for oil exploration has been issued to a Chinese company. The agreement, which was reportedly signed with Sinopec seven years ago, has not been implemented so far due to resistance from Iran’s Environment Organization. Sinopec is a major Chinese petroleum and chemical corporation with annual revenues that rank it fifth-largest in the global market.

The CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company accompanied the government delegation on its trip to Semnan and announced that oil exploration operations in the Kavir National Park, which had met some environmental obstacles, have now been approved and soon will commence. Environmental groups have criticized the Environment Organization’s approval of the project.

The Kavir National Park, a protected region of Iran, has been the habitat of the Persian Zebra and panther, both highly endangered species. The region is also the habitat for leopards, eagles and sand cats.

National parks are supposed to be under government protection, with any form of development activity strictly forbidden. The exploration of oil fields, which comes with explosions and the construction of various plants, will have a devastating effect on the natural landscape of this pristine area and damage its animal habitats and ecosystems.

According to the guidelines of the Environmental Protection and Improvement Act, national parks are protected in order to preserve the natural conditions and create an optimum environment for the reproduction and breeding of wild animals and vegetation in completely natural surroundings. Provision 8 of the act prohibits cutting down trees and even shrubs, considering it detrimental to the flora and the region’s ecosystem. Provision 9 of the act prohibits the renewal or issuance of exploration permits as well as mining exploitation activities in the area. However, the agreement with Sinopec maintains that if commercial oil fields are discovered in Kavir National Park, it will also be handed the Garmsar block development project.

Is road building really going to begin in Abr Forest?

The government’s trip to the province of Semnan brought unpleasant news for Abr Forest. The Abr Forest in Sharoud is one of the oldest hyrcanian forests and is one of Iran’s unique natural areas. In recent years, a plan has been approved to build a road across this forest, which has met with strong resistance from environmental activists, members of Parliament and journalists, who have prevented this plan from going forward so far. On his visit to Semnan in April, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: “The Abr Forest road has an environmental glitch which has been overcome and, God willing, the plan will go ahead.”

The news triggered a fresh wave of concern among environment supporters. However, Kamaleddin Pirmoazen, an MP and a member of the environmental faction in Parliament, told the Mehr News Agency that such statements are mere publicity stunts aimed at picking up votes for the presidential election. Primoazen stressed that Parliament’s environmental faction would never allow such unprofessional plans to be implemented.

Promises of 2,000 square metres of lands

In Kurdistan Province, at the launch of provincial development projects, the government delegation announced another piece of news that involved Iran’s natural zones. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that the state can easily “donate more than 2,000 square metres of land to each household so that they can practice agriculture in addition to building luxurious and beautiful houses.”

Earlier, Ahmadinejad had supported a plan promising land to Iranian families to build villas and gardens. The plan was opposed by the Supreme Leader, and Parliament’s research centre announced the plan would lead to abuse by land developers eyeing national and natural land resources and would damage agricultural lands that were operating as the lungs of the cities.

Now that Ahmadinejad has reintroduced the plan during his provincial visits, experts once again insist that not only is it impossible to donate 2,000 square metres of land to every Iranian family, which means this can only be a publicity stunt, but that such a plan is an outright violation of Iran’s environmental and natural resources.

Mohammad Khosroshahi, a professor and the chairman of the Forests and Rangelands Research Institute, says all the land surrounding the cities has been developed into residential areas. Last year’s census reported more than 21 million Iranian households. If the president plans on giving even half of these families 2,000 square metres of land, we would need a minimum of 2 million acres of undeveloped land. The development of infrastructure for such areas would take decades, while the possibility of agriculture as promised by the president would be impossible without water.

Analysts predict that as the presidential race approaches, various candidates might begin making promises to advance their own interests at the cost of Iran’s natural and environmental resources.

[translated from the Persian original ]

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Elections, Hezbollah, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards

Conservative MP to speak for moderate candidate

Monday, May 13th, 2013

RadioZamaneh

Mon, 05/13/2013

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani

Now that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsajani, the chairman of the Expediency Council, has entered the race for president, conservative MP Ali Motahari has announced he will serve as spokesman for that campaign.

The Mehr News Agency reports that campaign organizers for the moderate cleric had their first meeting yesterday.

Motahari said that he had been meeting Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani since December, urging him to run in the elections and use his influence on groups and political figures to “return balance to the country.”

Hashemi had declined at first but finally put his name forth as a candidate in the final hours of registration on Saturday May 11.

Later, reformist candidate Mohammad Shariatmadari announced that he will withdraw in favour of Ayatollah Rafsanjani. Hassan Rohani and Mohammadreza Aref had also said that if the moderate cleric entered the campaign, they would withdraw in his favour.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani is quoted as saying: “The government is for the people. It is not possible for someone to do whatever they want and not allow the people to protest. The people own the government… if the government is forced on the people, the people will not collaborate with it, and no dictatorship can succeed in the world.”

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah, Iran, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Terrorism

Iran’s Ahmadinejad could face 74 lashes over election ‘violation’

Monday, May 13th, 2013

Monday, 13 May 2013

Eman El-Shenawi – Al Arabiya

Iranian presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie (L) with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran (Photo courtesy: EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh)

After accompanying his former chief of staff to register for June’s presidential vote, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may face punishment if charged with breaking electoral rules.

On Sunday, the country’s electoral watchdog attracted worldwide media attention after pointing out Ahmadinejad may face a punishment of “74 lashes” for accompanying and appearing to endorse election entrant Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie.

Iranian electoral law bans individuals from supporting candidates in an official capacity, while the use of state resources on behalf of or against any candidate is also banned.

A conviction could bring a maximum punishment of six months in jail or 74 lashes, according to Iranian press reports.

But analysts have brushed off “hyped” claims that Ahmadinejad would be penalized, and even if he were to be lashed or imprisoned, it may not be anytime soon.

“There will be no lashing; the news is hyped and ridiculous,” Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh, the director of the Centre for Arab & Iranian Studies in London, told Al Arabiya English on Monday.

“Yes, there would be a punishment if this were in a country that runs by law and order, with a strong judiciary that ensures laws and punishments are followed through.

“But in Iran, most people break the rules, from the Ayatollah to the man on the street,” Nourizadeh said.

The president had accompanied Mashaie on Saturday to register at the Interior Ministry. Photographs in the Iranian media showed them making peace signs.

Mashaie said the president had accompanied him on “a day off” from work; a claim Nourizadeh says would be Ahmadinejad’s “innocent response” if ever he were questioned as to why he went.

But a report by Iranian online news site, Khabar, on Monday stated the president had “introduced an individual [Mashaie] as an election candidate.”

A spokesman for the Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodai, said the council’s supervisory board unanimously agreed “the…actions of the president in introducing an individual as an election candidate constituted a violation and were criminal,” according to Khabar.

“We reported the facts to the judiciary,” Kadkhodai said.

The Guardian Council, a body of clerics and jurists, vets all candidates for elections.

“If President Ahmadinejad had trespassed the electoral process, it’s up to judiciary to decide and not the Guardian Council,” Iranian political analyst and writer Camelia Entekhabifard told Al Arabiya English.

A warning to Ahmadinejad

However, the move by the Guardian Council could be a tactic to ward off the president from future interference in the elections.
Ahmadinejad cannot run for a third term on constitutional grounds in the June 14 presidential polls.

“Even if he is officially charged [over an electoral violation], he cannot be convicted before a trial. In this case, I think the Guardian Council wants to prevent the president from further interfering in the election in favor of his friend Mashaei,” Entekhabifard added.

According to the Mehr news agency, Kadkhodai said election violations could affect the Guardian Council’s vetting process, suggesting Mashaie’s candidacy could be under threat.

Iran’s ruling conservatives believe Ahmadinejad is trying to maintain influence through Mashaie assuming office, accusing him of pushing towards a more nationalistic doctrine and sidelining clerical powers in the country.

“The only mistake Ahmadinejad made [while accompanying Mashaie] was raising Mashaie’s birth certificate in front of a reporter, implying not only that he is the president’s choice, but also that they are one – the same ‘type,’” Nourizadeh said.

Although this may not lead to a “lashing” as such, Ahmadinejad may be forced to publicly back away from Mashaie, so as to not put his candidacy in jeopardy, added Nourizadeh.

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Elections, Hezbollah, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Terrorism

All eyes on Rafsanjani after registration

Monday, May 13th, 2013

Ex-president’s last-minute decision to stand for office again has made waves on the Iranian political scene

Written by : Asharq Al-Awsat

on : Monday, 13 May, 2013

In this Saturday, May 11, 2013 photo, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, waves to media, as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, while his daughter Fatemeh, smiles at second right, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iranians remember the 2009 presidential election for the massive protests and unrest that followed after the results were announced. However, this year’s presidential election is proving to be controversial even prior to the election starts and the final list of candidates is published.Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the former president of Iran, registered for the June 14 election in the last half hour before the deadline for nominations expired on Saturday. Since he repeatedly said that he did not see any need to take part in the election, his decision to register came as a shock to the Iranian parties and political experts.

Rafsanjani’s daughter told Iran’s Shargh newspaper that “my father did not intend to register for the election up until the last hour. My brother and I joked about it and discussed it with him seriously that his decision to not take part in the election is going to disappoint many people.”

Fatemeh Hashemi told the paper that a single phone call had been pivotal in changing her father’s mind: “It was around 17:15 that my father received a phone call. He answered the call from his room. It was a very short conversation. After he hung up, he walked out of the room and told us about his decision.

“I do not know who called and what was said. But my father looked at us and said ‘Bismillah, let’s go.’ It seems that my father was worried about something and that phone call sorted out his concerns.”

Rafsanjani’s decision came as a pleasant surprise to so many people, especially among Iran’s fractured reformist movement. The reformist candidates from the previous election, Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, remain under house arrest, and the movement lacks a high-profile figure to rally around. As a relative moderate, Rafsanjani represents a credible alternative to the more conservative candidates, and is seen as less likely to be excluded from the race by the authorities.

A crowd gathered at the Interior Ministry to welcome the veteran politician, chanting slogans of support. The news of his registration overshadowed that of many other candidates, while a number of others—former first vice-president Mohammad-Reza Aref, former minister of commerce Mohammad Shariatmadari and former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rouhani—announced they would withdraw in favor of Rafsanjani.

Despite the fact that his candidacy is yet to be approved by the Guardian Council, which is tasked with vetting all candidates, a wave of attacks against Rafsanjani has already begun, originating from the ranks of Iran’s conservative politicians.

Conservative lawmaker Alireza Zakani said: “Rafsanjani could not find a coalition to join and is now trying his chances by himself. Even if the Guardian Council closes their eyes to his role in the 2009 unrest, people will not approve him on the June 14 election.”

“Hashemi knows he does not have many votes and is frail. [Former president] Khatami only wants to save the reformist party from death,” Mehdi Taeb, a hard-line cleric affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semiofficial Fars news agency on Sunday.

Iran’s Guardian Council will make its decision on the applications by May 16. Its members are then scheduled to take another five days to review appeals from rejected applicants, before announcing its final list of approved candidates to the Interior Ministry on May 21.

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Elections, Hezbollah, Iran, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Terrorism

Council slams Ahmadinejad for candidate endorsement

Sunday, May 12th, 2013

RadioZamaneh

Sun, 05/12/2013

Mashai & Ahmadinejad

Iran’s Guardian Council has spoken out against the fact that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accompanied Esfandiar Rahim Mashai as he registered to run in the presidential race.

Abasali Kadkhodayi told the Tasnim News Agency on May 12 that the president’s presence at the Interior Ministry yesterday, May 11, has been unanimously deemed a violation. He added that the issue has been forwarded to the judiciary, which will process the matter.

Yesterday, on the last day of registration for presidential candidates, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai arrived at the Interior Ministry together with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who strongly promoted him as his successor.

Kaskhodayi added that the gatherings of supporters of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashai at the ministry could also be regarded as advertising ahead of the official campaign, which is illegal. He said the issue would be considered by the Guardian Council as it determines who is eligible to run.

Two MPs also condemned the president’s presence at the Interior Ministry. Nader Ghazipour called it “inappropriate and unwise and not befitting the dignity of the presidency.”

Ahmad Tavakoli, another MP, said the president was acting like “despotic rulers” who choose their own successors. He added that Ahmadinejad has desecrated the presidential oath.

Mahmoud Ahamdienjad told the gathered crowd yesterday that he was taking a day off for the first time in his eight years as president in order to accompany Mr. Mashai, adding that: “Mashai means Ahmadinejad, and Ahmadinejad means Mashai.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has fallen out of favour with the conservative factions that supported him in the last election.

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah, Islam, Jihad, Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards, Terrorism