Iran’s presidential elections hit by turmoil over U.S. support

05/21/2013

WND

By: REZA KAHLILI

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, were disqualified from the race.

Iranian media earlier has speculated that would happen, with reports that Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei would be rejected by the council that approves candidacies.

Ahmadinejad has warned that if his handpicked successor, Mashaei, was rejected, he will release a tape that proves his 2009 re-election was fraudulent.

In a May 15 exclusive, WND reported 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.

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 indicating support from both the White House and the Saudi monarch.

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.

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“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.

Fars News Agency, the media outlet run by the Revolutionary Guards, published Rafsanjani’s denial under a big headline: “I did not receive a secret message from the U.S. Secretary of State.”

Jamnews, a regime media outlet, not only put up the WND report in full but partly translated it into Farsi.

Another regime outlet, Yjc.ir (Young Journalist Club), also run by the Revolutionary Guards, not only fully translated the WND piece but said the news of U.S. support for Rafsanjani was published at a time when other U.S. officials had stated that Rafsanjani’s candidacy would be their best scenario for the June 14 presidential election.

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 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, but his promises then and after continued to be hollow as he bought time for the regime to progress in various fields.

Rafsanjani, who portrays himself as a moderate, announced his candidacy just before the May 11 registration deadline, drawing harsh reaction by the hardliners in Iran, who requested that authorities bar him from the election.

Rafsanjani played a major role in the 2009 election by supporting Mousavi, who actually won the vote against Ahmadinejad, whose victory was assured under orders by the supreme leader to add millions to his tally. That fraud touched off days of rioting in which thousands were arrested and many imprisoned or executed and led to the Green Movement, angering the hardliners.

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

As also reported, Ahmadinejad had promised to release a tape that would prove the 2009 election was fraudulent if his handpicked candidate, Mashaei, was denied a spot in the presidential election. That WND report also caused a firestorm in Iran.

The Guardian Council, which must approve candidates, had said its decisions would be announced Wednesday. The source who provided the information both on Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani to WND said security forces have been stationed around Tehran in anticipation of possible rioting should one candidate or another be rejected.

The source said the WND reports have not only touched off a furor in Iran but have caused grave complications for the regime, which is now confused about what to do in its approval process, fearing instability as the elections nears.

WND’s reports have continuously unnerved the regime in ways that no other reports have done, the source said. This only benefits the Iranian people, he said, who as a majority “want nothing to do with this regime and the so-called moderates (Rafsanjani) who are as much of a criminal as the other officials of the Islamic Republic, whose only goal is for the survival of the regime for a bit longer.”

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).

• Activists held and campaigners targeted as elections near
• Guardian launches database of Iran’s prisoners of conscience

• Saeed Kamali Dehghan
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 May 2013 14.39 BST

Still image from Guardian database of Iran’s prisoners of conscience

By Ladane Nasseri - May 21, 2013 7:02 AM PT

bloomberg.com

Former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani waves as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election at the interior ministry in Tehran on May 11, 2013. Photographer: Behrouz Mehri/AFP via Getty Images

Iran’s political leaders face the choice of blocking Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s late bid for the presidency, or allowing him to run and wrecking a carefully crafted field of loyalists.

The ex-president, who kept his plans to himself until minutes before registration closed, stole the limelight from the more consensual candidates favored by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to analysts. If his candidacy was approved, it would “mobilize people to participate, whether for or against him,” said Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor of Middle East politics at Qatar University.

There were signs that it may not happen. Mehr news agency, citing “hearsay” from its correspondent, said Rafsanjani would be excluded from a final shortlist of eight candidates, due to be announced by May 23. Iran’s Guardian Council is vetting more than 650 applications for the June 14 vote, and usually narrows the field to less than a dozen.

With an economy feeling the strain of international sanctions imposed to halt its nuclear program, and Israel and the U.S. threatening military action, Iran’s leaders have signaled they prefer a presidential contest less divisive than the last one. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election triggered allegations of ballot fraud to defeat a reformist candidate, and street protests that were violently crushed.

Security Tightened

Security in Tehran has been tightened in the past 24 hours as the deadline approached, with anti-riot units and other police deployed at several of the capital’s main squares.

Rafsanjani challenged the 2009 crackdown, urging respect for the opposition and the release of detainees. That helped sideline him politically, and in the past year two of his children were jailed on charges of inciting unrest.

This year, only politicians who “in their hearts have a belief” in the Islamic Republic will be approved, said the council’s spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei. He added: “Perhaps some errors have been committed in the past.”

Some say letting Rafsanjani run would be another error.

Rafsanjani is backed by supporters of “sedition,” the editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper, appointed by Khamenei, wrote on May 13. The same word was used in a letter to the Guardian Council by about 100 lawmakers, calling for Rafsanjani to be excluded from the vote. Other top officials in recent days have hinted at oppositions regarding his candidacy.

The Shark

Kadkhodaei said yesterday that the Guardians won’t allow candidates to run if they’re not physically fit enough for the job, a possible reference to Rafsanjani, who was born in 1934. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the Guardian Council, said on May 17 that the president must “lead a simple life” in order to empathize with poor people, another indirect jab at Rafsanjani, who’s known for his wealth.

There may be repercussions, though, from rejecting such a prominent figure, analysts said.

Rafsanjani is one of the republic’s founders and was president from 1989 to 1997. He ran again in 2005, when he lost to Ahmadinejad. He heads the Expediency Council, a top advisory body, and has been chairman of the Assembly of Experts, which nominates the supreme leader. His political nickname is “the Shark.”

Barring Rafsanjani would “provoke a frenzy within the system,” Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy, said in a phone interview. “To suggest that he doesn’t meet the qualification to run for president would call into question the credibility of institutions that he has engaged with.”

‘Rock the Boat’

Rafsanjani has been endorsed by Mohammad Khatami, who as president until 2005 eased restrictions on the press and on women’s clothing, making him a figurehead for reformists. Yet he’s really a “pragmatic conservative” with a foot in both camps, said David Hartwell, a Middle East analyst for IHS Jane’s. “He’s not one who’s going to rock the boat.”

There’s also an advantage, as well as risks, for Khamenei if Rafsanjani engages more of the public, according to Hartwell.

Iranian leaders cite voter turnout as a gauge of the system’s legitimacy. Khamenei on May 15 urged Iranians to participate, saying an “exciting and populous” election would display support for the Islamic Republic and thwart its enemies.

The supreme leader wants “a contest that has legitimacy.” Hartwell said. The ruling elite “would like to organize that without having Rafsanjani in the contest. But if having him will boost the legitimacy and the credibility of the results, they may choose to allow him to stand.”

Ahmadinejad Protege

Another high-profile candidate is even less likely to make it through the Guardians’ vetting, according to analysts.

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is a confidante of Ahmadinejad, who has backed him for the post. Mashaei portrays himself as a nationalist, tapping a current of anti-clerical feeling, and he’s been charged with representing a “current of deviation” by critics. Mehr said he was excluded along with Rafsanjani from the shortlist.

“There’s no possibility they would want someone in this election who they’ve defined as an enemy of the system,” Maloney said.

Ahmadinejad has an increasingly fractious relationship with the Iranian establishment, engaging in public disputes with senior officials and earning a rebuke from Khamenei.

He’s also been criticized for his handling of the economy. Inflation (IACIGY) has surged as sanctions deprived Iran of hard currency and pushed oil output to the lowest levels since the 1980s.

RadioZamaneh

Mehdi Khazali

Mehdi Khazali, a prominent Iranian political prisoner, has ended his hunger strike after 140 days following the announcement of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s decision to run for president.

Kaleme reports that Khazali’s son quoted his father saying that he was convinced to end his hunger strike as soon as he was informed that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani had agreed to join the presidential race.

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani was reluctant to join the race after four years of attacks from the conservative camp. Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, had condemned Hashemi’s support for those who challenged the result of the 2009 presidential election and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory.

However, Ahmadinejad has also fallen out of favour with the Supreme Leader in the past few years, raising the possibility that the reformists could return to the political scene.

Khazali’s son reported that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani had sent a message to his father in prison, urging him to end his hunger strike, and he has apparently agreed to do so in view of the moderate cleric’s candidacy.

Mehdi Khazali was arrested with a group of writers last November as part of the government crackdown on reformists. While all the detainees from that day have been released, Khazali has remained behind bars.