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RFE/RL Iran Report 03/14/2006

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  • RFE/RL Iran Report 03/14/2006

    RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
    _________________________________________ ____________________
    RFE/RL Iran Report
    Vol. 9, No. 9, 14 March 2006

    A Review of Developments in Iran Prepared by the Regional Specialists
    of RFE/RL's Newsline Team

    ******************************************** ****************
    HEADLINES
    * TEHRAN STANDS FIRM ON NUCLEAR AMBITIONS
    * U.S. OFFICIALS STATE FIRM OPPOSITION TO IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
    * RUSSIA STAYS OPPOSED TO SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN
    * LEGISLATORS BRIEFED ON NUCLEAR DOSSIER
    * IRAN NUCLEAR REPORT TO BE CONVEYED TO UN SECURITY COUNCIL
    * IRANIANS HAVE MIXED VIEWS ON NUCLEAR CRISIS
    * AS NUCLEAR CRISIS ESCALATES, ARE DIRECT U.S. CONTACTS
    BECOMING AN OPTION?
    * HAHSEMI-RAFSANJANI REGARDS U.S. DEMOCRACY PLANS AS A
    CULTURAL ONSLAUGHT
    * KYRGYZ MINISTER SAYS U.S. BASE CANNOT BE USED FOR
    OPERATIONS AGAINST IRAN
    * TEHRAN SAID TO HAVE EXTRADITED PKK MEMBERS TO TURKEY
    * SPEAKER SAYS IRAN FAVORS ISLAMIC STATES IN FOREIGN POLICY
    * RUMSFELD SAYS IRAN'S QUDS FORCE OPERATING IN IRAQ
    * MORE BOMBERS ARRESTED IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN
    * SECURITY IN EASTERN IRAN TO BE IMPROVED
    * KURDISH LEGISLATORS IN IRAN DEMAND INQUIRY INTO 'MASSACRE'
    * IRAN MAINTAINS PRESSURE ON DISSENT
    * POLICE INTERVENE AT WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATION
    * EXECUTIVE BRANCH DEFENDS BUDGET
    * IRAN REPORTEDLY AGREES TO HIGHER PRICE FOR TURKMEN GAS
    * IRANIAN, PAKISTANI, INDIAN OFFICIALS TO MEET OVER GAS
    PIPELINE PROJECT
    ****************************************** ******************

    TEHRAN STANDS FIRM ON NUCLEAR AMBITIONS. Supreme National Security
    Council Secretary Ali Larijani said during a March 5 news conference
    that not even the possibility of war would change Iranian nuclear
    policy, state television reported. Larijani asked why Iran should
    suspend its research and development activities, which he defined as
    a right, and the pursuit of knowledge. He added that Iran does not
    object to flexibility in discussions, but the interlocutors should be
    "reasonable" and "logical." "Why should we suspend?" Larijani asked.
    "If we open this road, they may say a few years later that we should
    not teach nuclear physics at our universities because the students
    may learn something and one day become nuclear scientists." A war
    would not eliminate the Iranian knowledge base, he said, adding that
    war would be counterproductive because there would be reduced
    International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision afterward.
    Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi said on March 5
    that an agreement between Iran and Russia or Europe remains possible,
    the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. "The possibility of
    reaching an understanding on nuclear issues with Russia or the
    European states in the next few hours still exists," he said.
    "Everything is possible -- agreement or disagreement." Officials'
    shuttle diplomacy between Tehran, Moscow, and Vienna in recent weeks
    has failed to yield substantive results.
    Larijani said in Tehran on March 7 that "friends and enemies
    should know" that Iran will continue its "peaceful nuclear program"
    and will not "falter in assuring the rights" of Iranians, Fars
    reported the same day. "Iran's future direction is to cooperate
    with the [IAEA] and maintain a stable membership of the NPT [Nuclear
    Nonproliferation Treaty], and we will not forego our evident nuclear
    right," he told a session of the Assembly of Experts, a body of
    clerics tasked with selecting and supervising Iran's supreme
    leader. He said the "West's haste" in reporting Iran's
    dossier to the UN Security Council showed the political motivations
    of Western states that are concerned with Iran's "inherent
    philosophy" which, he said, could attract "all Muslims, both
    Shi'a and Sunni, and other friends of freedom," Fars reported.
    The U.S., he said, is waging a "soft war" against Iran, consisting of
    "sowing discord inside and...pressure from outside to provoke the
    collapse of...unity" inside Iran.
    President Mahmud Ahmadinejad told a crowd in Dorud in the
    western Luristan Province on March 8 that Iran is determined to
    pursue its nuclear program and that "countries currently pressuring
    [Iran] cannot do a thing," IRNA and the Iranian Students News Agency
    (ISNA) reported. He said Iran has followed nonproliferation rules and
    "now we want to safeguard our rights," while adding that there is "no
    evidence [of] Iran's deviation from peaceful nuclear activities,"
    ISNA reported. Western states "are telling us to submit to forceful
    demands" and break "international treaties," he said. Some states,
    Ahmadinejad added, "are not members of the [NPT] and make atomic
    bombs, but these supposedly international bodies pay no attention to
    them," ISNA reported. He was presumably referring to the IAEA, which
    has voted to report Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security
    Council. The IAEA has said it cannot confirm that Iran's program
    is strictly peaceful, as Tehran claims. "You may not want to be
    certain for another 100 years. Is the Iranian nation to fall behind
    100 years?" Ahmadinejad asked.
    He said the same day in Khoramabad, another Luristan town,
    that Iran will respect "the security and peace" of all states,
    "especially neighboring and regional states," but Iranians "will not
    be satisfied" with anything less than the "full use of peaceful
    nuclear-fuel-production technology," IRNA reported. (Vahid Sepehri)

    U.S. OFFICIALS STATE FIRM OPPOSITION TO IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM.
    U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Washington on March
    7 that uranium "enrichment and reprocessing on Iranian soil is not
    acceptable" to Washington, AP reported the same day. She spoke at a
    joint conference after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
    Lavrov to discuss Iran's contested nuclear program, AP reported.
    Lavrov stated that Russia does not have a new proposal for Iran other
    than an original proposal to enrich uranium for Iran in Russia.
    "There is no compromise new proposal," he said. Iran has rejected
    demands to totally abandon all enrichment-related activities, which
    the West fears may allow it to make nuclear bombs.
    Also on March 7, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney told a
    gathering that the United States and "other nations...will not allow
    Iran to have a nuclear bomb," AP reported. He said Iran faces
    "meaningful consequences" if it does not cooperate with the
    international community over its program, while he added that
    Washington is "keeping all options on the table in addressing the
    irresponsible conduct of the regime."
    Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi
    reiterated Iran's right to make scientific progress in Tehran on
    March 7 and accused the U.S. of "surreptitiously" undermining nuclear
    dossier talks between Iran and foreign states "every time it smells
    the possibility of an accord...with the [IAEA], Russia, and other
    states," ISNA reported the same day. He said U.S. efforts intend to
    severely weaken international bodies, block Iran's progress,
    maintain U.S. economic primacy, keep "middle positions for partners,"
    and ensure that "southern" states are dependent on the "energy and
    limited poles of economic power in the world," ISNA reported. He
    rejected charges of Iranian interest in nuclear bombs as "entirely
    ridiculous and baseless." Iran, he said, "will defend its evident
    rights...and will under no condition forego its legitimate right."
    Separately, an unnamed diplomat told AP in Vienna on March 7
    that Iran may suspend full-scale uranium enrichment for two years,
    presumably as a compromise gesture. Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali
    Asghar Soltanieh, told AP the same day, however, that Iran would
    pursue small-scale enrichment for research. (Vahid Sepehri)

    RUSSIA STAYS OPPOSED TO SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN. A new study by the
    influential Foreign and Defense Policy Council (SVOP), a conservative
    Russian think tank, says that Iran could have nuclear weapons within
    five years, Russian media reported on March 3. The report noted that
    some Russian experts think Iran could have such weapons in as soon as
    six months. The study points out that a nuclear Iran would not be
    beneficial for Moscow's interests, but added that "Tehran will
    not use weapons of mass destruction or pass nuclear technology to
    other countries, and certainly not to terrorist organizations." SVOP
    believes that Saudi Arabia and Egypt would seek to acquire nuclear
    weapons if Iran succeeds in securing its own.
    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the United
    Nations headquarters in New York on March 8 that Moscow remains
    opposed to sanctions against Iran following the decision by the IAEA
    to forward its report on Iran's nuclear program to the Security
    Council, news agencies reported. He argued that the international
    community "should act in a way that would not risk losing the IAEA
    capacity and possibility to continue to work in Iran, [and] to
    continue to clarify those questions which relate to the past Iranian
    nuclear program. It is very important for the international community
    and for the [nuclear] nonproliferation regime to get answers to these
    questions." He repeated Russia's position that "that there is no
    military solution to this crisis," and added the same is true of the
    position of the United Kingdom and Germany, "as [has been] publicly
    stated by their ministers. I don't think sanctions, as a means to
    solve a crisis, have ever achieved a goal in the recent history."
    Lavrov said in Algiers on March 10 that Russia has not made a
    secret "compromise" agreement with the Iranian authorities for them
    to enrich uranium on their own territory, Interfax reported. He noted
    that during his recent visit to Washington, "U.S. Secretary of State
    Condoleezza Rice thanked me for briefing her on [the latest
    Russian-Iranian contacts] and complained that the American press was
    abuzz with allegations regarding Russia's [alleged]
    'compromise' proposal on Iran's research program." He
    added that Rice asked him to "deny these allegations...at a news
    conference," which he did. Russia has publicly made an offer to Iran
    to enrich its uranium on Russian territory.
    In related news, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a
    statement on March 9 in which it called on Tehran to cooperate fully
    with the IAEA, which recently decided to forward its report on
    Iran's nuclear program to the UN Security Council. (Patrick
    Moore)

    LEGISLATORS BRIEFED ON NUCLEAR DOSSIER. The head of Iran's Atomic
    Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aqazadeh-Khoi, and Deputy-Foreign
    Minister Abbas Araqchi attended a special session of the
    parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on March
    8 to brief legislators on the state of Iran's nuclear dossier,
    IRNA reported. They reportedly informed the committee that in the
    present IAEA session, "the dossier may be sent to the [UN Security]
    Council in the form of a statement," committee member Kazem Jalali
    told IRNA. The officials, Jalali said, told legislators that Iran
    wants to pursue nuclear research but that "some European states and
    America have tried to give the world the impression that [Iran] is
    engaged in [uranium] enrichment to make nuclear weapons, when Iran
    stresses nuclear research," IRNA reported. (Vahid Sepehri)

    IRAN NUCLEAR REPORT TO BE CONVEYED TO UN SECURITY COUNCIL. IAEA
    Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei said on March 6 that a
    compromise on the Iranian nuclear controversy remains possible,
    Reuters reported. El-Baradei said Iran has offered not to enrich
    uranium on an "industrial scale" for two years, and it may be willing
    to extend that period if it is allowed to enrich uranium on a small
    scale for research. Indicating his optimism, el-Baradei said, "I am
    still very much hopeful that in the next week or so an agreement
    could be reached."
    Anonymous "diplomats" quoted by Reuters asserted that the
    IAEA chief believes that reporting Iran to the United Nations
    Security Council could harden Tehran's stance and strengthen the
    country's political hard-liners. "Confrontation could be
    counterproductive and would not [give] us a durable solution,"
    el-Baradei said.
    El-Baradei announced at a March 8 news conference in Vienna
    that he will report Iran to the United Nations Security Council soon,
    according to the nuclear watchdog's website
    (http://www.ieae.org). "I will convey my report, as requested by the
    February Board, to the Security Council today or tomorrow," he said.
    El-Baradei said it is up to the Security Council to decide how to
    proceed, and he referred to his own action as "simply a new phase of
    diplomacy."
    Subsequent comments by Supreme National Security Council
    official Javad Vaidi were viewed by some observers as a threat. "The
    U.S. may be able to deal a blow to us, but it should also be prepared
    to receive a blow," Vaidi said, according to IRNA on March 8. "If the
    U.S. prefers this option, it is free to choose." "The New York Times"
    and other Western media quoted him as saying: "The United States may
    have the power to cause harm and pain. But it is also susceptible to
    harm and pain. So if the United States wants to pursue that path, let
    the ball roll." Vaidi also said Iran prefers "compromise and
    cooperation" to resolve the nuclear crisis, IRNA reported. He said
    Tehran is trying to determine how to proceed.
    In live broadcasts from Vienna and Tehran, officials
    downplayed the significance of being reported to the Security
    Council, state television reported. "There was no resolution, no
    referral, and there was no consensus," Abdul-Reza Rahmani-Fazli of
    the Supreme National Security Council said, adding that
    el-Baradei's actions are "a purely administrative procedure."
    This state of affairs, he continued, shows the peaceful nature of
    Iranian activities.
    Supreme National Security Council official Ali Asqar
    Soltanieh said in Vienna on March 9 that Iran will continue to
    cooperate with the IAEA, IRNA reported.
    The real reason for opposition to Iran's nuclear program,
    Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the Assembly of Experts in
    Tehran on March 9, is that the United States is trying to retard the
    country's scientific development, state television reported.
    Khamenei warned that if Iran forsakes nuclear energy, "the Americans
    will then start speaking about [a ban on] university research;
    therefore, the issue is not only about nuclear energy, it is about an
    enemy consistently seeking a pretext to prevent the progress,
    strength, and well-being of Iran."
    In Poldokhtar and Kuhdasht in western Iran the same day,
    President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said Iran wants peace and tranquility,
    but it "will never surrender to bullying and unfair decisions of the
    arrogant powers," state radio reported.
    Parliamentary speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said on March 9
    that Iran has cooperated with the IAEA, state television reported. He
    said Iran will not succumb to American pressure, which he said is
    contributing to Iranians' hatred. He also linked the nuclear
    issue with Iranian independence.
    Hussein Shariatmadari, Supreme Leader Khamenei's
    representative at the Kayhan Institute, has called for Iran to
    withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in light of
    the IAEA decision to report his country to the Security Council. In
    his column in the March 9, "Kayhan," Shariatmadari wrote that he
    predicted previously that Washington and its allies are powerless
    versus Iran, and the Security Council cannot act on the U.S. threat.
    Reporting Iran to the Security Council is a violation of IAEA
    regulations and the NPT, he wrote, and the treaty is therefore
    annulled.
    Shariatmadari asked whether continuing membership in the NPT
    is "justified," and added, "Is it not yet time for the nuclear
    officials of our country to leave the NPT on the basis of
    'expediency,' in order to safeguard the country's
    'honor,' by taking a step based on 'wisdom'?" The
    words in quotation marks refer to what Supreme Leader Khamenei
    declared are the state's guiding principles. (Bill Samii)

    IRANIANS HAVE MIXED VIEWS ON NUCLEAR CRISIS. Iranian officials remain
    defiant after the International Atomic Energy Agency sent the
    country's nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council. Both
    Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmud
    Ahmadinejad said a day after the March 8 referral that Tehran will
    resist any pressure to alter its nuclear plans. Iranian officials say
    they have the support of Iranians who are not willing to give up
    their "legitimate right" to nuclear research and development. To find
    out more about what Iranians think, Radio Farda asked its listeners
    to express their views.
    Many Iranians say they are worried that the transfer of
    Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council could lead to
    sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
    Some listeners said that sanctions would only hurt the
    Iranian people, not the government or politicians in general. "The
    politicians have problems among themselves; why should people
    [suffer]? [Politicians] should only think about the people," one
    said.
    One man in Tehran had the same concern: "I would like to say
    that U.S. sanctions do not have any affect on the government, only
    people will be under pressure."
    Bad For The People
    President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said Iran will not be bullied
    into renouncing its pursuit of nuclear energy (see above). This Radio
    Farda listener agrees. He said that Iran should not bow to pressure.
    "I'm calling from Tehran regarding the UN Security Council; I
    think we have to resist," he said. He added that he also believes
    that despite increasing pressure Iran should continue its peaceful
    nuclear activities. "Why does the U.S. speak about the rights of the
    Iranian people such as the right to freedom of expression but it does
    not recognize a peaceful nuclear program as a right of Iran," he
    said. "Why should Israel have nuclear weapons but the Iranian people
    be deprived of having a peaceful program. We should realize that the
    U.S. doesn't want Muslim countries to have access to nuclear
    science."
    Iran says its nuclear activities are solely peaceful but
    Washington accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons.
    Iranian officials have termed the IAEA decision to forward
    the Iranian nuclear case to the UN Security Council as "unjust" and
    said it proves the West's dual attitude "towards nuclear issues
    in the world."
    But some Iranians who contacted Radio Farda believe the
    referral of Iran's case to the UN Security Council is a result of
    the Islamic Republic's "hard-line" policies and stances.
    Against The Hard-Line
    This listener from Lahijan, in northern Iran, seemed to
    understand the international community's concerns: "Unfortunately
    in the last five or six months, instead of trying to gain more
    friends in Europe, we have added to our number of enemies. [Those
    countries in opposition to Iran's nuclear program] say that if a
    country that has for the last 27 years chanted 'death to
    America' and has called for the transfer of another country (eds.
    Israel) to other regions, gains access to an atomic bomb, then it
    will definitely put its slogans into action."
    This man also believes the Iranian government is responsible
    for the new phase of the confrontation with the West. "The Iranian
    establishment claims that nuclear energy is the right of the Iranian
    nation," he said. "Aren't freedom and democracy the right of the
    Iranian people? The oil money is not the right of the Iranian people?
    Why the names of Palestine, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and Syria are
    included in our annual budget? Are they partners in our oil money or
    are they from one of Iran's provinces?"
    Mehdi, from Tehran, told Radio Farda that the Iranian
    government is putting its people at the risk of sanctions or even of
    a military strike. "In my opinion, Iran's nuclear case must have
    been taken to the UN Security Council, because this regime has
    threatened the life of 70 million people with its nuclear ambitions,"
    he said.
    But officials insist that Iranians consider the country's
    nuclear program is a matter of a national right.
    According to a February survey conducted by the state Iranian
    Students Polling Agency (ISPA), some 85 percent of Iranian citizens
    are in favor of a continuation of the country's nuclear
    activities.
    The poll also said that about 75 percent of the citizens
    called for an expansion of nuclear technology, even in the case of a
    referral of Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council.
    Some analysts, however, warn that if sanctions are imposed
    the supportive public opinion could change, as many people will not
    be willing to face the economic pressures. (Golnaz Esfandiari)

    AS NUCLEAR CRISIS ESCALATES, ARE DIRECT U.S. CONTACTS BECOMING AN
    OPTION? As the Iranian nuclear issue reaches crisis proportions and
    the country faces international isolation, some voices in Iran are
    suggesting that it is time to engage directly with the United States.
    Such prodding is in direct contrast with leading state officials'
    open hostility toward the United States and hints at possible
    divisions. Indeed, contact with Washington has always been a
    sensitive issue in Iranian politics and has been used as a weapon in
    domestic power struggles. The United States, meanwhile, appears to
    have elicited a negative response with the adoption of a more active
    approach toward Iran. The developments reveal the difficulties the
    two sides will have in establishing direct relations and reaching a
    modus vivendi.
    Tehran has long sought to portray international concern over
    its nuclear program as a Western effort to retard the country's
    development. That argument is constantly repeated to domestic
    audiences and employed for foreign audiences in the context of "Third
    Worldism" and Islamism; this represents an effort to win support from
    developing countries and the Islamic world, but it does not seem to
    have met with much success. When the International Atomic Energy
    Agency's 35-member governing board voted in early February to
    report Iran to the UN Security Council, only Cuba, Syria, and
    Venezuela voted against the resolution, while Algeria, Belarus,
    Indonesia, Libya, and South Africa abstained.
    There are other forms of isolation facing Iran today, as
    well. Strategically speaking, it is surrounded by the United States.
    Recognition of such isolation was behind Iran's 1988 acceptance
    of UN Resolution 598, the Iran-Iraq War cease-fire. More recently, in
    early 2003, the Iranian Foreign Ministry reportedly proposed direct
    negotiations with Washington to deal with the subjects that concerned
    the United States: support for terrorist groups and the alleged
    nuclear weapons program.
    Now, as Iranian shuttle diplomacy to Moscow, Peking,
    Brussels, and Vienna fails to resolve the nuclear crisis and the IAEA
    hardens its stance, voices in Tehran are again suggesting that
    engagement with Washington might be necessary.
    Kazem Jalali, rapporteur of the legislature's National
    Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said in the 2 March "Aftab-i
    Yazd" that Iran might as well eliminate the intermediaries and
    negotiate directly with the United States. He explained that both the
    Europeans and the Russians appear to be acting in line with U.S.
    desires, and, furthermore, they are taking advantage of the lack of
    alternatives to improve their negotiating position. He said such
    talks would be feasible if the United States accepted the principle
    of Iran using nuclear technology peacefully, but he added that
    Washington seems to take a completely politicized stance on all
    issues.
    Urumiyeh legislator Javad Jahangirzadeh told "Aftab-i Yazd"
    that Iran has already made clear the circumstance under which it
    would talk to the United States, but it is unrealistic to expect that
    Washington would change its behavior. Jahangirzadeh said he did not
    foresee a rift between Washington and the Europeans, and the
    involvement of Moscow and Peking has not helped.
    Akbar Etemad, founder of Iran's Atomic Energy
    Organization and the agency's first chief, announced that the
    Russian uranium-enrichment proposal will not resolve the Iranian
    nuclear standoff, Mehr News Agency reported on 24 February. He
    recommended direct talks with the United States as a solution.
    There has long been disagreement in government circles
    regarding relations with the United States. In 1979, there were
    disagreements pitting revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah
    Khomeini and his Islamist entourage against secular nationalists like
    Ebrahim Yazdi and Abbas Amir-Entezam. Contacts with Washington led to
    the downfall of the Provisional Government of Mehdi Bazargan. The
    Islamists and the student activists who seized the U.S. Embassy in
    1979 used evidence of such contacts against their political
    adversaries.
    U.S. contacts continue to provide political ammunition for
    Iranian political rivalries. Such contacts inevitably start out in
    secret before coming to light and feeding political vendettas, and
    anything but the most overt hostility toward Washington can engender
    a backlash. When then President Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami
    expressed regret over the 1979-80 hostage crisis and invited
    Americans for cultural and educational exchanges in January 1998, the
    hard-line media lambasted him. Khatami is unlikely to have made such
    comments without Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's prior
    approval, but Khamenei felt compelled to iterate that he still saw
    the United States as "the enemy of the Islamic Republic."
    But what one encounters more frequently these days is
    criticism of Tehran's diplomatic efforts. Reformist Ahmad
    Shirzad, a nuclear physics professor who represented Isfahan in the
    sixth parliament (2000-04), was quoted by the Iranian Labor News
    Agency (ILNA) on 3 March as saying that Iran must gain international
    confidence. "Either they should back down and let the arguments to
    end, or they will drag this country through a tedious conflict which
    will definitely bring greater harm," Shirzad said. Iranians knew what
    they were fighting for in the Iran-Iraq War, Shirzad continued,
    adding, "What is our objective now?"
    While in parliament, in November 2003, Shirzad had criticized
    the secrecy surrounding the nuclear program, saying it contributed to
    doubts about its peaceful nature. His colleagues denounced him, the
    press excoriated him, and he was threatened at rallies in his
    hometown. He was accused of backing U.S. accusations against Iran.
    While Iranians consider engagement with the United States,
    Washington is already taking a more active approach toward one of its
    main foreign-policy problems. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
    Rice said during 15 February testimony before the Senate Foreign
    Relations Committee that the administration will reach out to the
    Iranian people directly, according to a fact sheet from the State
    Department spokesman's office. The 2006 U.S. budget allocates at
    least $10 million to support political dissidents, labor leaders, and
    human rights activists, as well as nongovernmental organizations
    (NGOs) that are trying to establish networks in Iran.
    The White House will seek an additional $75 million to create
    a round-the-clock Persian-language television service and to improve
    radio-transmission capabilities; and $5 million will go for
    communication with Iranians through public diplomacy and the
    development of independent Persian television and radio. The White
    House will seek an additional $15 million for work with NGOs and
    democracy-promotion entities, labor unions, and political groups; and
    $5 million for outreach through student and visitors programs. The
    "Financial Times" reported on 3 March that disputes over who will
    control funding for Persian-language television has already erupted.
    The State Department also has created an Office of Iran
    Affairs. The office is one of several Iran-focused initiatives. The
    others are Persian-language designated political and economic
    reporting from Dubai, as well as public diplomacy outreach from
    there, and similar functions in Baku, Frankfurt, Istanbul, and
    London. This is part of an overall effort to reestablish a cadre of
    Persian-speaking foreign-service officers and the State
    Department's Iran expertise to address the Iran challenge.
    Senior officials' frequent criticism of the United States
    suggests no plans for engagement. Iranian state radio quoted
    President Mahmud Ahmadinejad denouncing Washington over its support
    for Israel during a 3 March seminar in Malaysia titled "International
    Challenges and the Role of the Islamic World."
    The same day in Tehran, substitute Friday Prayer leader and
    Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani
    also spoke out against the United States. The bombing of Shi'a
    mosques in Iraq is part of an effort to weaken the development of
    Islamic solidarity, Hashemi-Rafsanjani claimed, "because the Muslims
    feel that the global arrogance, America in particular, intends to
    create problems for the Muslim by promoting the Greater Middle East
    plan."
    Four days earlier, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had
    spoken out against the United States. He told a 27 February meeting
    in Tehran of provincial governors-general that "the clash between the
    Islamic system's criteria and the demands of hegemonic powers"
    means that "Iran's Islamic government has constantly been facing
    a predicted challenge over the past 27 years." Khamenei charged that
    Washington is behind political discord and factional disputes in
    Iran, is trying to create ethnic strife in Iraq in order to weaken
    the country's government, and is responsible for recent the
    publication in a Danish magazine of caricatures of the Prophet
    Muhammad.
    Also in late February, legislator Mohammad Mehdi Mofatteh
    announced the annual passage of a budget item requesting unspecified
    funds to foil "American plots," "Jomhuri-yi Islami" reported. The
    money will be used to support Iranian cases against the United States
    before international tribunals and to counter a purported U.S.
    cultural offensive.
    In light of the long-standing official hostility toward the
    United States and the underlying suspicion of U.S. motives, the State
    Department's measures have been poorly received in Iran.
    Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Musavi-Jazayeri, the Friday prayer
    leader in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, said in a 3 March sermon
    that the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel are behind plots
    in Iran and bombings in the southwest, provincial television
    reported. Musavi-Jazayeri said "the allocation of more than $75
    million for the so-called revival of democracy in Iran by criminal
    America means carrying out such terrorist actions," adding that
    "America must understand that our people will repel their plots
    through their increased vigilance."
    The day after Secretary of State Rice testified, Iranian
    state radio responded. The broadcaster said U.S. support for
    Persian-language media is "aimed at airing anti-Iranian propaganda"
    and "reveals America's failed policies of confrontation and
    compromise against Iran in the last 26 years." State radio claimed
    Iranians trust the country's official media while it said U.S.
    media has failed to convince people of the Iranian government's
    ineffectiveness. "Although spending American dollars will attract its
    stooges living abroad to Washington, it will not, however, further
    America's arrogant policies inside Iran," Tehran radio said.
    An editorial in the official state newspaper "Iran" on 19
    February claimed that the U.S. budget allocation is a sign of
    hostility and runs counter to international law. The Iranian public
    shares this view, "Iran" added. The editorial argued that "all
    Iranian forums and associations, including political, cultural and
    academic personalities, almost unanimously believe that the decision
    about the budget of $75 million is a part of the open and blatant
    hostility and psychological warfare of America against Iran." As for
    exile media outlets, the newspaper accused them of "fighting and
    squabbling against one another since day one of their birth," adding
    that "each of them considers itself to be more deserving and worthy
    of the funds than others." (Bill Samii)

    HAHSEMI-RAFSANJANI REGARDS U.S. DEMOCRACY PLANS AS A CULTURAL
    ONSLAUGHT. Expediency Council Chairman Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani
    said in Tehran on March 8 that the United States' stated plan to
    bring democracy to the Middle East seeks to undermine Islam and
    safeguard U.S. interests "in coming decades," ISNA reported.
    Hashemi-Rafsanjani told the Assembly of Experts, a body of senior
    clerics, that "freedom and human development, women's rights,
    democracy...are some of the slogans they state to attain their"
    regional goals. He called the U.S. plan, "by changing the culture of
    the peoples of Islamic countries" in conformity with "Western
    standards," an effort to "separate people from Islam." Fortunately,
    Hashemi-Rafsanjani said, "the Americans have failed in Iraq and their
    situation is different from what they thought...[Iraqis] want the
    Americans to leave that country and have shown what they want in
    elections." In Afghanistan, too, he said, the constitution has not
    turned out to be "what the Americans intended," ISNA reported.
    Washington, he said, is working to "encircle" Iran and "through the
    nuclear dossier, human rights, Palestine and terrorism to...pressure
    Iran." Before such pressures, he added, unity among Iranians is "not
    an order" but a "duty." Whatever the decision with Iran's
    dossier, he said, "we must do our work." (Vahid Sepehri)

    KYRGYZ MINISTER SAYS U.S. BASE CANNOT BE USED FOR OPERATIONS AGAINST
    IRAN. Foreign Minister Alikbek Jekshenkulov told the BBC's Kyrgyz
    Service on March 3 that the U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan cannot be used
    for offensive action against Iran, akipress.org reported the next
    day. "In accordance with existing agreements, the mandate of the
    Gansi air base extends only to the antiterrorist operation in
    Afghanistan," Jekshenkulov said. "The Gansi air base should not
    present a threat to the countries of the Central Asian region,
    including Iran. Consequently, its capabilities cannot be used for
    military operations against third countries." (Daniel Kimmage)

    TEHRAN SAID TO HAVE EXTRADITED PKK MEMBERS TO TURKEY. Anonymous
    Turkish sources were quoted by the Anatolia news agency on March 6 as
    saying that the Iranian government has extradited seven members of
    the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to Turkey. The seven, one of whom
    is a woman, were reportedly handed over at the southeastern city of
    Hakkari. (Bill Samii)

    SPEAKER SAYS IRAN FAVORS ISLAMIC STATES IN FOREIGN POLICY.
    Parliamentary speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel told Jordanian
    legislators in Tehran on March 7 that Iranian foreign policy will
    prioritize better ties with Arab and Islamic states including Jordan,
    IRNA reported the same day. He said at a meeting of the Iran-Jordan
    parliamentary friendship group that Iran continues to support "the
    Palestine ideal," and denounced Israel as well as the presence of
    U.S. forces in the Middle East, which he said are to assure U.S.
    dominance of "the oil-producing region" and "pressure" Islamic
    states, IRNA reported. Haddad-Adel invited Jordan's parliamentary
    speaker to attend a conference in Tehran next March or April to
    discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Jordanian delegation
    was led by legislator Muhammad Bani Hani, who told Haddad-Adel that
    unity between Islamic states is the only way to confront "the plots
    of the enemies of Islam," and that Jordan supports Iran's "right"
    to a peaceful nuclear program. (Vahid Sepehri)

    RUMSFELD SAYS IRAN'S QUDS FORCE OPERATING IN IRAQ. Donald
    Rumsfeld told reporters at a March 7 press briefing in Washington
    that the Iranian government is "putting people into Iraq to do things
    that are harmful to the future of Iraq." He added: "They're
    putting Iranian Quds Force-type people into" Iraq. Asked if these
    forces are carrying out violence or trying to instigate political
    instability, Rumsfeld replied: "I don't think we could consider
    them religious pilgrims."
    General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
    said that the United States has found some improvised explosive
    devices and weapons that it believes can be traced to Iran. Pace
    added that there has been an influx of "individuals" across the
    Iran-Iraq border but said he does not know if they are backed by the
    Iranian government.
    Rumsfeld, however, said: "Well, of course. The Revolutionary
    Guard doesn't go milling around willy-nilly, one would think."
    Pace said multinational forces are working with Iraqi officials to
    enhance control of the Iran-Iraq border. Rumsfeld said the Iranian
    government may some day view this move as an "error of judgment."
    (Kathleen Ridolfo)

    MORE BOMBERS ARRESTED IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN. Khuzestan Province Deputy
    Governor General Mohsen Farokhinejad announced on March 4 that the
    persons responsible for a bombing at the Saman Bank in Ahvaz on
    January 24 have been arrested, Fars News Agency reported. He added
    that the persons responsible for explosions at governorate buildings
    in Abadan and Dezful have been arrested, too. "With the arrest of 15
    others over the past week, all the perpetrators of the bombings in
    Ahvaz, Abadan and Dezful have been arrested," Farokhinejad said.
    During the course of the arrests, Khuzestan Province Governor
    General Amir Hayat-Moqaddam added, explosives, rifles, ammunition,
    mines, terrorism videos, and books on the Wahhabi faith were seized.
    Hayat-Moqaddam said not all the bombers have been arrested, and added
    that the United Kingdom, United States, and Israel are behind the
    bombings and insecurity in Khuzestan, "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on
    March 5. Hayat-Moqaddam criticized the execution of just two of the
    bombers on March 2, saying all seven should have been executed.
    Ahvaz Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali
    Musavi-Jazayeri said on March 3 that the United States is behind the
    violence in the province, provincial television reported. Referring
    to the mid-February U.S. State Department request for funding for
    Iran-related activities, he said, "The allocation of more than $75
    million for the so-called revival of democracy in Iran by criminal
    America means carrying out such terrorist actions, but America must
    understand that our people will repel their plots through their
    increased vigilance."
    Intelligence and Security Minister Hojatoleslam
    Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei said on March 9 that more than 50 people
    have been arrested in connection with bombings in southwestern
    Khuzestan Province over the last year, IRNA reported. Speaking prior
    to a cabinet session being held in the Luristan Province city of
    Khoramabad, Mohseni-Ejei said the detainees have ties to Iran's
    external enemies.
    Referring to the previous week's execution of two people
    in connection with bombings in Ahvaz, Interior Minister Hojatoleslam
    Mustafa Purmohammadi said this does not bring the issue to a close,
    "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on March 9. He added that the security
    situation in Khuzestan had no bearing on President Ahmadinejad's
    cancellation of a visit there; rather, heavy rains precluded the use
    of helicopters for transportation. Asked about his failure to provide
    evidence of British involvement that he had promised previously,
    Purmohammadi said. "In security and intelligence issues, evidence is
    discussed in intelligence parlance." He added: "That is not a legal
    parlance so that one would dispatch documents. If we have to
    establish the point by using legal parlance, they must allow us to go
    to the area and carry out investigations in order that we can present
    documents that are considered acceptable by a court."
    Purmohammadi's background in the intelligence and security field
    was a cause of concern during his parliamentary confirmation, and his
    comments suggest that he still thinks in those terms. (Bill Samii)

    SECURITY IN EASTERN IRAN TO BE IMPROVED. Speaking at the Mersad
    military base in Kerman Province, Interior Minister Purmohammadi told
    a gathering of police commanders and governors-general from the
    eastern part of the country that the security situation in that part
    of the country will improve soon, "Iran" reported on March 4. "In
    order to provide and develop security, the military, law enforcement,
    security, and service arrangements will change in the eastern parts
    of the country," he said. Iran's eastern provinces have been
    plagued by drug smugglers, and gangs sometimes kidnap people to
    exchange them for imprisoned cohorts or secure ransoms. Sunni Baluchi
    insurgents also are active in the southeast. (Bill Samii)

    KURDISH LEGISLATORS IN IRAN DEMAND INQUIRY INTO 'MASSACRE.'
    Nine Kurdish parliamentarians have protested to President Mahmud
    Ahmadinejad about the violent treatment of demonstrators in the town
    of Maku, ILNA reported on March 4. The legislators' letter said
    the Kurds were protesting peacefully against the treatment of
    co-ethnics in Turkey and also protesting against caricatures of the
    Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper. Men in plainclothes --
    presumably vigilantes -- attacked the demonstrators, killing or
    injuring 35 of them. Many others were arrested and are imprisoned.
    Who is responsible for "these crimes," the letter asked, and what
    government agency authorized such actions? "Why must some people use
    government resources and equipment to settle ethnic scores and to
    subject the Kurdish inhabitants of the town to such a merciless
    killing?" The letter called on the president to identify these people
    publicly and punish them. (Bill Samii)

    IRAN MAINTAINS PRESSURE ON DISSENT. Iran is reportedly maintaining a
    hard line against dissent through prison sentences against students,
    Radio Farda reported on March 7. It reported a two-year suspended
    jail sentence for Mehdi Shirzad, a student activist convicted of
    "acting against national security" by taking part in an unauthorized
    demonstration. He was earlier sentenced to solitary confinement for
    50 days for participating in a student protest in 2003, Radio Farda
    added.
    Separately, Tehran student Peyman Aref is being prosecuted
    for charges including engaging in publicity against "the system,"
    acting against national security, and refusing to obey police orders.
    He told Radio Farda that the latter is not, legally-speaking, a
    criminal offense in Iran.
    Separately, the wife of imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganji,
    Masumeh Shafii, has publicly accused the deputy-chief prosecutor of
    Tehran, Mahmud Salarkia, of telling a "great lie" by claiming that
    her husband is under constant medical care and receives regulated
    visits and food parcels from visitors, Radio Farda reported. She said
    visits were allowed reluctantly, and she was so thoroughly searched
    on jail visits that there was no way she could take Ganji food.
    (Vahid Sepehri)

    POLICE INTERVENE AT WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATION. Iranian police
    forcibly dispersed a gathering to mark International Women's Day
    in Tehran on March 8, while a similar planned rally was banned in
    Tabriz in northwestern Iran, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reported. A
    crowd outside the City Theater in downtown Tehran was broken up when
    "police attacked and started beating the women," a participant told
    Radio Farda. "They dispersed everyone, and the gentlemen attending
    the gathering were severely beaten, and some people were arrested,"
    the source said. One of those beaten was Simin Behbehani, an elderly
    female writer, the witness said. Behbehani was a prominent female
    writer in pre-1979 secular Iran but now enjoys little official favor.
    University authorities separately rejected a request by students at
    Tabriz's Sahand Industrial University to hold a similar rally.
    That event was to include film screenings and be attended by female
    journalists and former legislators, Radio Farda reported.
    Tabriz-based journalist Peyman Pakmehr told Radio Farda that the
    ceremony had been allowed in previous years. (Vahid Sepehri)

    EXECUTIVE BRANCH DEFENDS BUDGET. Although the legislature approved
    the general outlines of the government budget on March 2, questions
    over many aspects of the budget have not disappeared. President
    Mahmud Ahmadinejad said on March 5 in Tehran that the new budget is
    anti-inflationary and will create jobs, IRNA reported. He added that
    the budget complies with the requirements of the fourth five-year
    development plan and the supreme leader's 20-year outlook.
    Vice President for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ahmad
    Musavi said on March 4 that legislators' changes to the budget
    should be minimal because the entire thing was formulated
    systematically, IRNA reported. He said the amount of credit allocated
    for development projects is "unprecedented," and he praised the
    budget's focus on less developed regions, decentralization, and
    the granting of more power to the provinces. (Bill Samii)

    IRAN REPORTEDLY AGREES TO HIGHER PRICE FOR TURKMEN GAS. In a
    telephone conversation with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov on
    March 6, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad gave Iran's consent to pay
    a higher price for Turkmen gas, Turkmen official news agency TDH
    reported. The two sides agreed that Iran will pay $65 per 1,000 cubic
    meters of gas it purchases from Turkmenistan effective February 1,
    2006. Previously, Iran had paid $44 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas.
    The two sides also agreed that Iran will increase its annual gas
    purchases to 14 billion cubic meters in 2007. Iran is set to import 8
    billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan in 2006. DK

    IRANIAN, PAKISTANI, INDIAN OFFICIALS TO MEET OVER GAS PIPELINE
    PROJECT. Officials from Iran, Pakistan, and India are scheduled to
    discuss construction of a natural-gas pipeline connecting those three
    countries in Tehran on March 13-15, IRNA reported, citing "The News"
    from Islamabad. In light of the recent U.S.-India nuclear agreement,
    some Pakistani observers have expressed skepticism that the project
    will come to fruition.
    U.S. President George W. Bush said on March 4 that Washington
    does not object to construction of the pipeline but rather to
    Iran's nuclear ambitions, India's "Financial Express"
    reported. "Our beef with Iran is the fact that they want to develop
    nuclear weapons," Bush reportedly said. "I believe a nuclear weapon
    in the hands of the Iranians would be very dangerous for all of us.
    It would endanger world peace." Bush stressed that he understands
    Pakistani natural-gas requirements.
    The pipeline project was initiated in the mid-1990s but
    construction has not gotten under way, initially due to mistrust
    between Islamabad and New Delhi and later due to disputes over
    eventual gas prices and transfer fees. (Bill Samii)

    ****************************************** ***************
    Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.

    The "RFE/RL Iran Report" is a weekly prepared by A. William Samii on
    the basis of materials from RFE/RL broadcast services, RFE/RL
    Newsline, and other news services. It is distributed every Monday.

    Direct comments to A. William Samii at [email protected].
    For information on reprints, see:
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