Majid Mohammadi, an Iranian Sociologist Refutes Neocons on Iran Intentions in Iraq

NEWS ANALYSIS / The Iranian factor in Iraq insurgency / Country is influencing rebellion, U.S. says -- analysts not so sure: ""Iran is seeking security, regional influence ... and a market for (its) production," said Majid Mohammadi, an Iranian sociologist who is currently a resident in the Democracy, Development and Rule of Law project at Stanford University.

Critics also see Iran's influence in the drafts of Iraq's new constitution, which calls for Islamic Shariah law to be the main source of legislation and requests that Shiite clerics be granted special status, paving the way for Iraq to become an Iran-like theocracy.

"They want to have control over Iraq," said Michael Leeden, a consultant to the National Security Council under former President Ronald Reagan, and now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "Their favorite way of doing it would be to create an Islamic republic," said Ledeen, who has urged the overthrow of the Iranian regime.

But other analysts warn that Iran needs to be cautious in its policy toward its neighbor, with whom it waged a bitter, eight-year war in the 1980s that cost more than a million lives.

Wayne White, a former deputy director for Middle East and South Asia in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, said Iran's interests in Iraq should more closely coincide with those of the United States.

"Iran should have concerns over instability inside of Iraq because if Iraq fails and there's a civil war, Iran has a major mess on its western frontier that it should not want," said White.

However, Milani, of the Hoover Institution, says Tehran wants to see American troops bogged down in Iraq, because of fears of a possible U.S. attack on Iran -- an option President Bush raised last week when he said, in remarks about Iran's nuclear program, that "the use of force is the last option for any president and you know, we've used force in the recent past to secure our country."

"The U.S. forces are so deeply entrenched (in Iraq) that the possibility of taking on another war -- with Iran -- is simply untenable," said Milani.

There is also the financial factor. The instability in the Persian Gulf region, combined with Iraq's weakened ability to pump oil, has kept the price of crude above $65 a barrel, "and that has been a godsend for the mullahs," he said.

"Tehran is very much interested in controlled chaos."

That chaos could easily get out of control, warn some analysts, especially if Iraq splits up. An independent Kurdish state in the north, for example, would encourage Iran's own 4 million Kurds to demand independence, said Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan.

But such concerns are "small potatoes" for Iran compared to the opportunity to wield greater power over the Persian Gulf region, argued O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.

"Iran's situation is pretty good," he said. "But if they want to aim more ambitiously, I suppose they could try to splinter Iraq into three pieces, in the belief that a Shia country in the south would be too small to threaten them."

A smaller Shiite Arab state in the region could also provide Tehran with "potentially a kindred spirit on various matters," O'Hanlon said.

Despite Iran's denials, it is possible that the Islamic Republic is sending weapons to Iraq -- but to the Shiite militias in the south, such as the Badr Brigade, said Noyes.

Mohammadi agreed.

"Iran does not really need to send weapons to Sunni insurgents; they have enough," he said. "Iran is and has been willing to interfere with Iraq, but through (its) friends," such as the two biggest Shiite political factions, SCIRI and the Dawa party, Mohammadi said.

Yet, there is always the possibility that certain Iranian groups are supporting the insurgency in Iraq without the government's authorization, said O'Hanlon. One of them, analysts say, could be the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's militantly anti-American paramilitary force.

"You could also imagine Iranian hardliners saying: 'Let's go for broke,' " O'Hanlon said.

E-mail Anna Badkhen at abadkhen@sfchronicle.com."

Unrequited Love Source of US Policy on Iran - Rice Got Dumped

Iran News - 'Unhappy love affair explains Rice view on Iran': " 'Unhappy love affair explains Rice view on Iran'

Thursday, June 30, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com

LONDON, June 30 (IranMania) - Perplexed by the vitriol of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's attacks on Iran, one lawmaker believes he has uncovered the secret of her enmity -- that she was spurned by an Iranian boyfriend at college, according to ISNA.

"The reason that the US secretary of state attacks Iran is because she had her heart broken by a young man from Qazvin while they were students," a confident Shokrollah Attarzadeh was quoted by the ISNA agency as saying.

Somewhat mysteriously, he added: "This is the result of an investigation by a woman MP, who cannot be named."

Qazvin is an unremarkable city 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Tehran, hitherto not known for playing a major role Iran-US relations, which have been frozen for a quarter of a century.

Attarzadeh did not offer any other details on the alleged affair or, for that matter, any interesting new proposal on how ties between the two arch-enemies could be warmed up.

Surprising as it may be, amorous explanations for diplomatic machinations are nothing new here.

It was rumoured last year that German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer hardened his tone towards Iran after acquiring a girlfriend who supports the exiled opposition.

The alleged leniency of International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohammad ElBaradei towards Iran's nuclear programme has also been explained by ... him having an Iranian wife."

Iranian daily advises president-elect to heed lessons of past polls

Iranian daily advises president-elect to heed lessons of past polls: "Media Monitor

Iranian daily advises president-elect to heed lessons of past polls
Jun 26, 2005, 15:10 GMT

Text of unattributed editorial: "The secret of an election!", published by the Iranian newspaper Aftab-e Yazd web site on 26 June

The 3 Tir [24 June presidential] elections have surprised everyone. A little reflection however can turn our amazement into belief, and our beliefs into experience for the future.

Within six weeks, Dr Mahmud Ahmadinezhad will take charge of the executive branch. He can, and must, do much. But if his supporters and rivals fail to correctly understand the message of the 3 Tir elections, the country will suffer the same fate Iran and Iranians have suffered because certain victors of the [May 1997] elections and their rivals failed to understand the message of those polls.

Without the support of the right-wing faction, and without even the unified support of the dailies that claim to represent values and principles, Ahmadinehzad won more than 17 million votes, and is now Iran´s president-elect. While still challenged by the non-participation of some 30 million eligible voters, he can with his acts ensure that he will not only keep his 17 million votes but instill regret in many of the 30 million who did not vote for him. To attain those conditions, we would have to correctly analyse the elections, and ensure certain people do not hijack the polls for themselves and proceed to use them to settle scores and vent their frustrations. This writer would first congratulate the new president, then remind him of certain points, and ask him to carefully consider these points, to prevent anyone exploiting the nation´s startling vote.

1 - Aftab-e Yazd has been among Mr Rafsanjani´s most serious critics in past years. But in past days, it saw evidence indicating that he was stepping into the electoral arena with a new determination, and with changed programmes. This evidence prompted us to prefer him over his rival in the second round of elections. We stated in our editorial on [21 June]: "If Hashemi-Rafsanjani is precisely the same as in the so-called reconstruction period, then we cannot support him. But a look at his supporters and his programmes gives one the hope that one may look forward to a new period, when reformist views and efforts to resolve the people´s problems will come to have a suitable place in the presidential office."

But the reality is that what we believed was not accepted by a great many people, or there was an insufficient opportunity to convey that sense to the majority of the people. Or perhaps, as Mr. Rafsanjani claimed, a systematic campaign to discredit him, costing billions from the public purse, contributed to the situation. Whatever the case, people showed on 3 Tir that most politicians, political groups and papers have an inaccurate impression of their ability to make an impact on the people, who prefer their own convictions to the subjective interpretations of politicians.

On 3 Tir, the people did not for whichever reason accept the counsels and guarantees of Left and Right-wing politicians, national-religious activists, or cultural personalities on the efficacy of Mr Rafsanjani´s new programmes. Even the breadth of the range of Mr Rafsanjani´s new supporters, going from [the poet] Mahmud Dowlatabadi to Ayatollah Javadi-Amoli, could not change many people´s previous perceptions of the president of the reconstruction period.

In other words, faced on 3 Tir with two persons, one who had already shown his mettle and of whose record many were critical, and another with little experience of government but whose campaign proved attractive, voters chose the latter.

The election on 3 Tir showed that when people develop a negative perception of a politician, and when his supporters perhaps spend more time denigrating rivals than making sincere efforts to answer doubts and questions, people find enough of a motivation to ensure victory for his rival. That is what happened on 3 Tir. About 12 million people who had not voted for Ahmadinezhad in the first round, went to the polls with determination, and concerned at the possible repetition of certain past events, and presented him with their votes.

This happened before, though differently, on 2 Khordad 1376, when people showed that they rejected those who were doing everything to place their man in the presidential office. Now, the failure to understand the real reason for that startling vote for Khatami has made many of his supporters, who backed Rafsanjani this round, suffer the fate of their former rivals.

2 - If Dr Ahmadinezhad seeks success, he should accept that however competent and suitable he considers himself, his abilities had yet to be evidenced for many, and he only won [in the first round] the votes of 5.7 million people. We wrote earlier that even certain Tehran legislators from the Developers [and Ahmadinezhad allies] had yet to be convinced of the feasibility of Ahmadinezhad´s programmes and his ability to implement them. They preferred Qalibaf, Larijani and Rafsanjani in the first round to Ahmadinezhad. Even in the second round, some of these people, who had supported his conservative rivals in the previous round, did not directly support him, and Ahmadinezhad now owes his victory mostly to those who did not, for whichever reason, want Rafsanjani´s re-election.

A factor that can turn this negative vote to a positive and affirmative vote, is if Ahmadinezhad does behave the way he did on his television programme, which many voters found attractive.

Likewise he can study the programmes of rivals that also attracted the attention of voters, and turn concerns at the election of unwanted candidates into hopeful hearts at the end of the first round and the start of his work. He may thus turn those voters into supporters backing constructive programmes for the country´s future.

3 - Four years ago, many conservatives who today support the president-elect, expressed concern at the non-participation of some 14 million voters in elections for Mr Khatami´s second term. They said nothing about the absence of twenty-something million voters in the seventh parliamentary elections, and seem disinclined today to comment on the absence of 20 million or so in the two rounds of the present elections. Ahmadinezhad is now the president of all Iranians, including the 30 or so million people who did not vote or did not vote for him. His conduct can turn them into 40 million or more, or encourage them to reconsider their electoral conduct.

4 - Iran´s political groups have in turn faced a difficult test. They must realize that a four-year presidency will neither give them everything for ever, nor wipe off the face of life and history. Events of the past quarter century have shown that if people believe that politicians have changed, they will overlook their past or adjust their prejudices and once more place their trust in them, and correspondingly vote out more recently elected officials. Thus politicians can reconsider their past actions and those of rivals without fascination or resentment, and help people make a better choice in the future. Otherwise as in the past, people will again vote for those they believe have a less negative record. We shall write more on the recent elections.

Source: Aftab-e Yazd web site, Tehran, in Persian 26 Jun 05, pp1,2

BBC Mon ME1 MEPol kasz"

FT.com / Middle East & Africa - Rumsfeld casts doubt on legitimacy of Iran poll

FT.com / Middle East & Africa - US casts doubt on legitimacy of Iran poll: " casts doubt on legitimacy of Iran poll
By Guy Dinmore in Washington and Gareth Smyth in Tehran
Published: June 26 2005 18:56 | Last updated: June 26 2005 18:56

The Bush administration on Sunday cast doubt on the legitimacy of Iran's newly-elected president, setting the stage for a more intense confrontation over the future of the Islamic state's nuclear programme and the direction of democracy in the Middle East.

Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, denounced the landslide victory of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, regarded by US officials as a hardline fundamentalist, as the result of a “mock election”.

Speaking on Fox News, Mr Rumsfeld admitted he did not know much about “this young fellow”.

“But he is no friend of democracy. He's no friend of freedom. He is a person who is very much supportive of the current ayatollahs, who are telling the people of that country how to live their lives. And my guess is over time, the young people and the women will find him, as well as his masters, unacceptable,” Mr Rumsfeld said.

The consolidation of power of all branches of the Iranian government in the hands of hardliners has been mirrored by a parallel struggle over policy inside the Bush administration. Washington's “hawks”, including Mr Rumsfeld and Elizabeth Cheney, who is in charge of state department policy on promoting democracy in the Middle East, have emerged on top.

Members of the US Congress who want the Bush administration to adopt a more forthright policy of “regime change” are likely to step up their efforts to reduce foreign investment in Iran.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, reflecting conservative suspicion over the motives of foreign investors, declared at his first press conference on Sunday: "In all fields, including oil, priority will be given to local investors.”

Mohammad Sadeq Kharrazi, Iran's ambassador to Paris who is involved in nuclear negotiations with the European Union, told the FT the new president would not bring “fundamental change” in either Iran's stance or the make-up of its negotiation team.

Patrick Clawson, senior analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that although key decisions in Iran remain with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the election of a hardline president would add to US concerns that Iran could not be trusted with anything short of complete cessation of its uranium enrichment programme.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad reiterated Iran's right to produce nuclear fuel for electricity generation.

EU leaders repeated their long-stranding demand that Iran should permanently end uranium enrichment, which it has suspended as a 'goodwill gesture' since October 2003.

Jack Straw, the UK foreign secretary, said there had been “serious deficiencies” in the elections, which had further damaged “an already flawed” process.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad said diplomatic relations with Washington, suspended since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, could be reopened only if the US “gives up its hostility”. But he added that Iran “did not have considerable need for the US”.

This contrasted with campaign promises of improved relations made by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president defeated by Mr Ahmadi-Nejad on Friday.

Additional reporting by Carola Hoyos"

POLITICS-US: Bush and Hawks Try Pre-Emptive Strike Vs. Iran Vote

POLITICS-US: Bush and Hawks Try Pre-Emptive Strike Vs. Iran Vote: "POLITICS-US:
Bush and Hawks Try Pre-Emptive Strike Vs. Iran Vote
Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Jun 18 (IPS) - A familiar clutch of hardline U.S. hawks who led the march to war against Iraq have tried to carry out yet another pre-emptive strike. But this time it wasn't military.

As millions of Iranians prepared to vote for the successor to Pres. Mohammed Khatami Friday, the group, helped along by a strong denunciation by Bush himself, mounted what could only be described as an orchestrated public-relations campaign to discredit the elections even before they took place.

”Today Iran is ruled by men who suppress liberty at home and spread terror across the world,” Bush declared in a statement issued by the White House Thursday afternoon. ”Power is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained power through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy.”

Bush's statements, which were echoed by National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, and to a somewhat less categorical extent by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, offered some reassurance to the hawks, particularly some prominent neo-conservatives outside the administration who have pressed their own longstanding campaign for ”regime change” in Teheran with growing intensity.

At the same time, however, their own efforts to discredit the election at the eleventh hour highlight their growing concern that a new president in Iran may actually be someone with whom, as Margaret Thatcher first observed about incoming Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev 20 years ago, the West might actually be able to do business.

That concern rose sharply late last month when State Department officials quietly urged both the Republican Congressional leadership to hold off action on the Iran Freedom Support Act that would impose new sanctions on Iran pending ongoing negotiations between the so-called EU-3 -- Britain, France, and Germany -- and Iran over its nuclear programme.

”These guys want regime change,” said one knowledgeable source who asked not to be identified, ”and they're very worried about anything that could divert from that. They want to ensure that the White House won't get any funny ideas about making a deal with a new Iranian government.”

Thus, the hawks' mantra Thursday on the eve of the balloting, was that the elections won't make any difference because hardline elements led by the unelected supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, and the Guardian Council, which did so much to hobble outgoing Pres. Mohammed Khatami and the reformists, will continue running the country regardless of who wins.

”Any normal person familiar with the Islamic republic knows that these are not elections at all...,” wrote Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in an article headlined ”When Is an Election Not an Election?” posted on National Review Online (NRO) Thursday morning.

”They are a mise en scene, an entertainment, a comic opera staged for our benefit. The purpose of the charade, pure and simple, is to deter us from supporting the forces of democratic revolution in Iran.”

That theme was echoed in a series of events and other columns published Thursday, including one, by Kenneth Timmerman in NRO (and reprinted Friday by the Washington Times) entitled ”Fake Election, Real Threats” in which he predicted that no more than five percent of eligible voters in Teheran would turn out.

Another appeared in the Washington Times by Nir Boms, vice president of the new Centre for Freedom in the Middle East and previously vice president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and Elliott Chodoff entitled ”Facing the Iranian Elections,” and a third in the New York Times by AEI vice president Danielle Pletka, entitled ”Not Our Man in Iran,” a reference to the front-runner, former President Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, whose presumed victory, she wrote, was due to the ”machinations of the mullahs.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Sam Brownback, a Christian Right leader close to both hard-line neoconservatives and Iranian-American followers of Reza Pahlevi, the ambitious, U.S.-based son of the former Shah, charged in a floor speech that the elections were ”bogus,” while at AEI headquarters across town, a discussion on the elections featured a presentation by founder of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohsen Sazegara of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who predicted, ”No matter who wins the presidential elections, there will be no real changes in Iran's domestic or foreign policy.”

Despite the certainty with which these views were expressed, many U.S.-based Iran specialists, while agreeing that powers of Khameini and the Guardian's Council clearly circumscribed what an elected president could do, said that the depiction of the election as a sham was simplistic at best, a deliberate distortion at worst.

Contrary to Pletka's assertion that Rafsanjani was chosen by the mullahs, said Gary Sick, an Iran expert at Columbia University, ”Those who are closest to the actual election process have stated repeatedly that Rafsanjani was seen as dividing the mullahs and was not-so-subtly opposed in his candidacy by Khamenei.”

That view was echoed by Abbas Milani and Michael McFaul, directors of the Project on Iranian Democracy at the conservative Hoover Institution in California, in an article in Friday's International Herald Tribune. Rafsanjani and Khamenei, they wrote, ”now àare at each other's political throats,” signaling ”clear division within the ruling elite” of the kind that could well presage ”the beginning of political liberalisation.”

What's more, according to Milani and McFaul, Rafsanjani and Mostafa Moin, a reformist who is tipped to be Rafsanjani's likely rival in a run-off Jul. 1, have both gone further than Khatami ”in challenging the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic and its current leadership” and in advocating improved relations with the United States.

A close reading of the hawks themselves also disclosed serious inconsistencies. While insisting, for example, that ”millions of 'officially cast' ballots (were) manufactured weeks ago, to ensure the right guy wins and that enough votes will have been cast,” Ledeen confessed that even he didn't know who would win.

Like Pletka, Ledeen had assumed ”that Rafsanjani would walk away with it.” But since Khameini overruled the Guardian Council so that Moin (”a nasty pseudo-reformer”) could join the field, he was no longer so sure. Moin ”might be more convincing as he plays that most difficult role,” Ledeen went on: ”the moderate face of islamofascism.”

To some Iran specialists, such speculation serves only to demonstrate that, as in the run-up to the war in Iraq, some hard-liners are trying to fit the facts into their preferred policy.

”Michael Ledeen has never been to Iran; he speaks no Persian,” said Brown University Professor William Beeman, who observed the campaign in Teheran during the past week. ”He has minimal credibility in assessing the Iranian elections, or evaluating the political situation there.

”It is clear that the neo-cons are desperate to deny any credibility to the Iranian people in this election àby continuing to promulgate the image of helpless Iranians cowering under tyrannical rule -- the better to justify some kind of attack leading to 'regime change,”' Said Brown, author of a forthcoming book, ”The 'Great Satan' vs. the 'Mad Mullahs:' How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other.' (END/2005)"

Iran press: Guardian Council qualification process 'not political' - spokesman

Iran press: Guardian Council qualification process 'not political' - spokesman: "Iran press: Guardian Council qualification process 'not political' - spokesman
Jun 7, 2005, 16:46 GMT

Political Affairs Desk: Referring to the way the Guardian Council is reviewing the qualification of candidates in the presidential elections, the Guardian Council spokesman announced: "The council's decision-making process is not at all political."

Gholamhoseyn Elham said: "From among the 1,014 people who have registered to participate in the elections, the Guardian Council initially determined who qualified as a "political dignitary," and in a second review determined whether they are religious and political dignitaries based on their record and what has been indicated in their dossiers. Later these candidates were discussed in the Council's meeting, where reports by official bodies, such as the State Inspectorate General Organization and the Judiciary, concerning the functions of some of them who have held executive responsibilities, which were taken into consideration. Overall, an independent, written, and secret vote was held in regard to every one of these individuals."

Likewise, the Guardian Council spokesman stressed that the Guardian Council is duty-bound to guarantee the qualities specified in Article 115 of the Constitution; therefore, in this case, disqualification is not mooted and what is relevant is whether the candidate qualified or not. Likewise, the Guardian Council spokesman considered that the law has determined the authority to establish qualifications, and by stating the status of the Expediency Council, as well as the eminent leader in determining the expediencies of the system, it pointed out: "If everyone were to want to become an authority in this regard, it will prove problematic for us."

Criticizing the views being propounded concerning the council's approach concerning the review of qualifications and the fact that at times this institution is introduced as a sector that is responsible for helping the principle-ists (osulgarayan) to reach consensus, and at other times, after the announcement of the names of those who have qualified, it is considered as an element responsible for bringing consensus in the reforms front and at yet another time it is introduced as the element responsible for damaging public participation, Elham said: "lf these demonstrate that the council's function is not influenced by political considerations."

In continuation, in regard to the fact as to whether or not the Guardian Council has interpreted the eminent Leader's letter to this council as a state decree, the Guardian Council spokesman said: "The council considers this letter as a state decree."

Likewise, concerning the Guardian Council's response to objections by those who have been disqualified by this council, by pointing to the careful measures taken by the council concerning the review of the qualifications of the 1014 registered candidates, which has been conducted based on their records and dossiers, he reiterated: "The law has made no mention of publicly stating the reasons as to why candidates have not obtained qualification."

Likewise, in regard to the reasons for not granting qualification to candidates who had obtained qualification in previous terms, the Guardian Council spokesman said: "The criterion for granting qualification is the current status of candidates and their record has influenced the decision-making process."

According to a report by ISNA [Iranian Student News Agency], in response to a question concerning the accuracy of the report related to the selection of the heads of supervisory boards of two townships from among the armed forces, Elham said: "The law does not forbid the presence of military forces in executive and supervisory areas." Regarding the fact as to whether there is the possibility of reconsidering the qualification of candidates, and should they commit a violation at this juncture, he said: "Usually this does not happen, but if the candidates' qualification is seriously compromised, according clause 58 of the election law the council can reconsider the qualification of candidates, but we hope that the need for this would not arise."

Further on in his remarks, in response to criticisms made concerning the way the Guardian Council announces the list of names of candidates who have gained qualification, the Guardian Council spokesman remarked: "The Guardian Council has the duty to announce the names of candidates who have gained qualification to the interior ministry and after this announcement by the council this ministry is obliged to inform the public of the names of candidates, on the basis of which the period determined for publicity officially begins."

Source: Iran website, Tehran, in Persian 29 May 05
BBC Mon ME1 MEPol lr
Copyright 2005 BBC Monitoring Service distributed by United Press International "

Iran Daily: First Vice President Aref greets the visiting Leader of Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim

Iran Daily: "Unity Will Help Form Popular Iraqi Gov't

First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref (l) greets the visiting Leader of Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim in Tehran, June 15. (IRNA Photo)

TEHRAN, June 15--First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said on Tuesday religious authority and national unity will be effective in forming a popular government.
Aref made the remark during a meeting with the visiting Leader of Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, IRNA reported.
He said the Iraqi nation and government are able to handle their own affairs and achieve stability and independence. Aref added that security and stability of regional countries are inter-linked, adding that Iraq's stability will affect the whole region, including Iran.
"The two countries can cooperate in different fields such as economy, oil, railway and pilgrimage," he said, adding that the establishment of a joint commission would pave the way for assisting the Iraqi nation and promoting economic cooperation. For his part, Hakim appreciated the Islamic Republic's policies toward Iraq.
He hailed the massive turnout of Iraqis in election and also briefed Aref on Iraq's latest developments and problems, particularly in the fields of economy and reconstruction. Hakim said Iran enjoys cultural and religious privileges that other states are deprived of."

Iran Daily: Big Vote From the Minorities - Christians, Armenians, Nomads and Tribal Peoples and Sunni Vote in big numbers

Iran Daily: "Rafsanjani, Moin Better Placed

Ahmadinejad Leading Rightist Vote
Heavy Turnout Belies Predictions
Second Round Imminent
Scenes of voting underway in Tehran on Friday (ISNA Photos)

TEHRAN, June 17--Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Friday a vote for any of the candidates of the ninth presidential election is a vote for the Islamic system, as widespread and heavy voting belied predictions that voter turnout will not exceed 50 percent.
Speaking to reporters after casting his vote at Imam Khomeini Mosque in northern Tehran, the leader said, "When we come to the polling stations to cast our votes according to the constitutions, it means that we are voting for the Islamic system."
The leader hoped that the next president would be able to solve the problems of the country and meet its requirements.
Referring to the mischievous moves of some western states to prevent Iranians from voting, Ayatollah Khamenei said such measures have nothing to do with the concept of Western democracy.
Preliminary reports of the voters' choice reveal that Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was the top choice for president and Mostafa Moin ranked second. Among the rightist candidates, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a better position compared to his rightist rivals.
In East Asia and in countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, North Korea, South Korea and Japan, the following has been reported so far:
Moin tops the list with 575 votes while Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Ali Larijani, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Mehralizadeh followed with 492, 117, 90, 73, 42 and 23 votes respectively.
Although voters in the tribal belt surprisingly showed their enthusiasm for Moin, the breakdown of votes in different cities is expected to be diverse.
And by all indications, the presidential election will most likely enter the second round for the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Also on Friday, President Mohammad Khatami said after casting his vote that the negative propaganda of dissidents has had no impact on the people's wide presence in the election.
"The level of people's participation in election is satisfactory, despite the high volume of negative propaganda preceding the election," he said.
According to IRNA's correspondent at the Interior Ministry's Election Headquarters, President Khatami told Iranian and foreign reporters, "Those whose hearts beat for the grandeur and prosperity of Iran agree that the path toward grassroots democracy is lengthy and the process toward that end is gradual."
The president noted that in moving from a despotic, dependent society to an open, democratic one relying on religious and cultural norms, some people do not find the resulting developments to their liking and boycott the election, "which is their democratic right".
"I hope the dynamic presence of all eligible men and women voters in this election would ease the tough path toward institutionalizing democracy in this country, that is the fruit of the Islamic Revolution," he said.
Asked by a foreign reporter whether the outcome of this election would help promote democracy in Iran, Khatami said, "Elections are essentially the manifestations of democracy and I hope this one, too, would strengthen the foundations of democracy here."
He expressed hope that as in previous elections, the president would be elected during the first round of election.
Meanwhile, Zoroastrians of Yazd also joined hands with their compatriots to participate in the ballot exercise.
Khosrow Khosrawi told IRNA that voting is the duty of all citizens.
"Zoroastrians consider it to be their national duty to vote. We live in complete freedom in the Islamic system and we choose our president vigilantly," he said.
Esfandiyar Pirouzmand said, "It is our duty to participate in the vital undertaking. Voting is the indisputable duty of all Iranians who love their motherland."
Ardekan Electoral Headquarters designated a special ballot box for the comfort of Zoroastrians celebrating 'Nik Banou' (literally meaning Fine Lady) rituals at Chak Chak Temple. Some 10,000 people are participating in the five-day ritual that began on Tuesday.
About 6,000 Zoroastrians live in Yazd, Ardekan and Taft.
In another development, governor of Bandar-e Turkman said a large number of Sunnis showed up at polling stations in the early hours of Friday.
Members of the Armenian minority group turned out massively to cast their votes.
Christians throughout the country, along with their Muslim compatriots, took part in the election.
The Interior Ministry earlier announced 46,786,418 people are eligible to participate.
AFP reported that Iranians living abroad trickled to voting stations on Friday amid apathy, protests and calls by exile opposition groups to boycott Iran's presidential election.
An estimated 3 million Iranians live abroad, more than one-third of them in the United States and several hundred thousand in Europe."

Iran Daily: Israel Apologizes to US Over China Arms Sale

Iran Daily: "Israel Apologizes to US Over China Arms Sale

BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, June 19--Israel publicly apologized to the United States on Sunday over arms exports to China that have drawn criticism from Washington and strained US-Israeli security ties, Reuters reported.
"It is impossible to hide the crisis between Israel and the United States with regard to the security industries. We are doing everything possible to put it behind us," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Israel Radio.
The dispute centers on Israel's sale of Harpy attack drones and other advanced technology to China that the Pentagon fears could tilt the balance of power and make it difficult to defend Taiwan, which Beijing deems a renegade province.
"If things were done that were not acceptable to the Americans then we are sorry but these things were done with the utmost innocence," Shalom said in comments that coincided with a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"The United States is our biggest ally and none of the things that were done with the intention of harming US interests," Shalom added.
The dispute has strained security ties between Israel and the United States, its main ally and provider of about $2 billion in annual defense aid, at a time when it seeks US assistance to help implement its planned withdrawal from Gaza.
Commenting on the arms dispute ahead of her trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Rice said Israel should be "sensitive" to US concerns on arms sales to China particularly given its close defense cooperation with Washington.
"We have had some very difficult discussions with the Israelis about this. I think they understand now the seriousness of the matter and we'll continue to have those discussions," Rice said.
An Israeli official is negotiating an agreement which would likely enable the United States to supervise Israeli arms sales to countries that Washington deems problematic, including China and India.
Washington torpedoed Israel's multi-billion dollar sale of Phalcon strategic airborne radar systems to China in 2000, citing concerns it could upset the regional balance of power.
US displeasure over the Harpy deal played a role in a decision in April to suspend Israel from involvement in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter project."

Curt Weldon Book Warns of Iran (Curt Put Your Tinfoil Hat Back On The Aliens Are Controlling You)

Lawmaker's Book Warns of Iran: "Lawmaker's Book Warns of Iran
Weldon Accuses CIA, Colleagues of Ignoring Secret Information

By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 9, 2005; Page A08

Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), whose flair for drama has included lugging around a replica of a suitcase-size nuclear bomb, alleges in a new book that Iran is hiding Osama bin Laden, is preparing terrorist attacks against the United States, has a crash program to build an atomic bomb and, as a Shiite country, is the chief sponsor of what is a largely Sunni-directed insurgency in Iraq.

In "Countdown to Terror: The Top-Secret Information that Could Prevent the Next Terrorist Attack on America . . . and How the CIA Has Ignored It," Weldon accuses the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and his colleagues on the House and Senate intelligence committees of ignoring his trove of information.

These secrets, he says, come from "an impeccable clandestine source," whom Weldon code-names "Ali," an Iranian exile living in Paris who is a close associate of Manucher Gorbanifar. Gorbanifar is a well-known Iranian exile whom the CIA branded as a fabricator during the 1980s but who was used by the Reagan White House as a middleman for the arms-for-hostages deal with Iran.

Switch Iran for Iraq, and Gorbanifar for Ahmed Chalabi -- an Iraqi exile whose claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction were distrusted by the CIA but were embraced by the Defense Department and the White House -- and Weldon's book reads like the conservative argument for the invasion of Iraq.

Weldon, who has become a leading conservative voice on weapons of mass destruction and other defense issues, acknowledges this upfront, in a way: "The intelligence community may be avoiding Ali like the plague, despite his excellent intelligence, because they want to avoid, at all costs, drawing the United States into a war with Iran." But, of Ali's tip that Iran was planning a terrorist attack against a U.S. nuclear reactor that would destroy Boston, he says that "this alone is a reason for a military response, a legitimate casus belli."

The CIA and former intelligence officers vehemently dispute Weldon's charges.

"The CIA thoroughly pursued this issue and did so on more than one occasion," said CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise.

Other U.S. intelligence sources, who declined to speak on the record because, they said, Weldon is an influential member of Congress who might retaliate against the agency, said Ali is actually Fereidoun Mahdavi. His allegations and connections to Gorbanifar and Weldon were laid out in the April 1, 2005, issue of the American Prospect, a liberal magazine.

Weldon, who according to his book publicist was not available to give a comment yesterday, asserts in his book that the CIA first ignored Mahdavi and then threatened him.

Bill Murray, the former CIA station chief in Paris, said that, after interviewing Mahdavi on several occasions and investigating his claims, the CIA determined he was lying. Mahdavi never gave the CIA anything specific about Iran's weapons capability, terrorist activities or any of the other charges.

"He peddled the same stories to several other governments," Murray said. "He is a fabricator."

The CIA set up a clandestine channel of communications for Mahdavi, which he was supposed to use for talking with the agency and for sending information, said several former intelligence officials. He used it only twice, once to repeat vague information he had already supplied, and a second time to try to persuade the CIA to participate in his plot to overthrow the Iranian government.

"We tried to vet the information and never found anything that was credible," said Murray, who recently retired from the agency. He said he agreed to respond on the record because the allegations in Weldon's book are so absurd.

Mahdavi "wanted $150,000 to start," Murray said. "I gave him a cup of coffee. The American taxpayers work hard for their money. . . . I wasn't going to give him any of it."

Weldon's book is filled with "Dear Curt" memos from Mahdavi. One of his most urgent allegations is that terrorists were plotting to fly a hijacked Canadian airliner into the Seabrook Nuclear Reactor, which is four miles outside Boston. Weldon credits Mahdavi with thwarting the attack and points to the August 2003 arrest in Toronto of 19 men, most of whom were Pakistani and who were initially thought to make up a sleeper cell.

Within a month, however, the Toronto arrests were downgraded to a case of routine immigration fraud. Seven of the men remain in Canada and have applied for refugee status, arguing that the terrorist label they now have makes it impossible for them to return safely to Pakistan.

The chairmen of the Senate and House intelligence committees, as well as the House leadership, were briefed on the CIA's reports on Mahdavi, sources said. The lawmakers were not spurred to investigate the matter further.

A man who answered the phone yesterday at Mahdavi's residence in Paris said Mahdavi, 74, is very ill and could not respond to questions about Weldon's book."

Iran: Rice angry about Kharrazi's 'successful' Iraq visit - Irna

Iran: Rice angry about Kharrazi's 'successful' Iraq visit - Irna: "Iran: Rice angry about Kharrazi's 'successful' Iraq visit Tehran, June 3, IRNA
9th Presidential Election-Rice
Iran reacted Friday to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's comments on IRI Presidential elections, arguing, "Ms. Rice is 'actually' angry about IRI foreign minister's successful visit of Iraq.

IRI Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi added, "Rice feels belittled due to comparing IRI Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamal Kharrazi's successful visit with her own (almost simultaneous) visit of Iraq, that was ridiculed even in US media."
According to a Friday report by Information and Pres Bureau of the IRI Foreign Ministry, Assefi added, "Iran is, beyond doubt, not moving in line with the imposed plans drafted by the united States for the region, believing that the regional nations are politically mature enough to decide their own fates."
The comment was a response to US secretary of state's accusation that Tehran is not in line with US policies for the region Denouncing Rice's comments on Iran's Presidential Elections, Assefi said, "Her comments are not only undiplomatic since they are interference in Iran's domestic affairs, but also not to the point, due to her lack of knowledge about the way different organs have taken shape in Iran and their legal functions."
Foreign Ministry spokesman emphasized, "Vast participation of our people at upcoming presidential elections would be a resolute and to the point answer to US officials."
Rice had said in an interview that the United States' picture of the upcoming Iranian elections is bleak due to vast disqualification of hopefuls."