Rafsanjani Watch

Iran Moves to Curb Hard-Liners: Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Granted Major New Power

2005-10-10T11:32:00.000-04:00

Iran Moves to Curb Hard-Liners: "Iran Moves to Curb Hard-Liners
Power Given to Relatively Moderate Body Led by Rafsanjani

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, October 8, 2005; Page A13

ISTANBUL, Oct. 7 -- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Shiite Muslim cleric who holds ultimate authority in Iran, has altered the country's power structure by granting a relatively moderate panel new authority to supervise an elected government increasingly dominated by religious hard-liners.

Khamenei expanded the authority of the Expediency Council, an appointive body whose longtime chairman, former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is a fixture of Iranian politics and invariably described as wily insider. Rafsanjani lost last June's presidential election, but Khamenei's new decree, made public Oct. 1, gives Rafsanjani at least nominal supervision over the administration put in place by the winner, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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The council also was given supervisory authority over the Iranian parliament, despite the squawks of lawmakers who accused the council of a power grab. Previously, the council was only empowered to settle disputes between the parliament and the Guardian Council -- another, more influential appointive body -- and to advise Khamenei.

"The adjudication of the Expediency Council is the final word," council secretary Mohsen Rezai told reporters in Tehran, the capital, this week. "And even if other state sectors do not agree with it, it is the final word and they have to accept it."

The practical effect of the change remains to be seen. The structure of Iran's theocratic government is complex and its operations are opaque.

But analysts found significance in the timing of the change, which had been proposed to Khamenei years earlier. Coming now, the expansion of the Expediency Council's power was widely viewed as, at minimum, a gesture intended to restore some prestige to Rafsanjani. He played a key role in elevating Khamenei to the position of supreme religious leader after the 1989 death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 revolution that installed Iran's religious government.

Others also saw an effort to balance the rise of hard-liners who control Iran's elective branches of government, as well as the judiciary and the Guardian Council. Control of parliament shifted to conservatives last year in an election the Guardian Council closed off to anyone else.

Ahmadinejad took office in August after a more credible victory -- a landslide fueled by a populist economic appeal. But he has had a shaky start. His cabinet selections proved controversial, and his confrontational approach to critics of Iran's nuclear program has been questioned even in Tehran.

"This is more than symbolic. This is the leader saying, 'We're moving too far right,' " said Karim Sadjadpour, who follows Iran for the International Crisis Group, a research group based in Brussels. "I'm loath to call Rafsanjani moderate, but in the current context, he is a voice of moderation."

Iran's government is united in defending its long-secret nuclear program, which it insists is intended only to generate electricity. But foreign diplomats said Iran's cause was hurt by the strident tone of the address that Ahmadinejad, a novice at foreign relations, delivered at the United Nations last month. U.S. diplomats seized on it to successfully lobby the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran to the Security Council.

Rafsanjani, 71, appeared to join in the criticism of Ahmadinejad at Friday prayers a week ago in Tehran.

"You need diplomacy and not slogans," said Rafsanjani, who is both a cleric and a millionaire businessman. "This is the place for wisdom, the place for seeking windows that will take you to the objective."

Ahmadinejad's cabinet nominations also drew criticism, and some ridicule. Parliament rejected four of his choices, including the nominee for Iran's vital oil ministry. The candidate had claimed to have a doctorate from an American college that turned out to be an on-line degree.

"Ahmadinejad has already shown that he needs a lot of supervision," said a professional political analyst in Tehran, who asked not to be named because his employer had not authorized his remarks. "Just last week his government sent two 'double urgent' bills to the parliament. He gets so excited."

Parliament approved his choice for interior minister, Mustafa Pourmohammadi, only after grilling him on his tenure as a top official in the Intelligence Ministry in the mid-1990s, when its agents were executing government critics in their homes. Two other ministries are headed by veterans of Iran's security services, and five more by veterans of the Revolutionary Guards, whose influence in government has steadily grown in recent years.

"The new guys are from a relatively dark place in the Islamic republic," said Ray Takeyh, an analyst for the Council on Foreign Relations based in Washington.

Sadjadpour said generational politics appeared to play a role in expanding the powers of Rafsanjani's council. Along with Khamenei, 66, Rafsanjani lived through the trauma of the Islamic revolution's early years, when the broad-based uprising against the U.S.-backed monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, soon splintered into bloody factional fighting. That was followed by a bloody eight-year war with Iraq.

"They go back three or four decades, and they've been through a lot together," Sadjadpour said. "I think Khamenei is tending domestically to his power base, and he does want to avert an international crisis.""

IRAN: WOMEN'S SPORTS CHIEF SPEAKS OUT AGAINST GOVERNMENT

2005-09-21T11:49:00.001-04:00

"IRAN: WOMEN'S SPORTS CHIEF SPEAKS OUT AGAINST GOVERNMENT

Rome, 21 Sept. (AKI) - Ahead of the Islamic Women's Games tournament scheduled to kick off in Tehran on Thursday, the president of the Iranian women's sports federation, Faezeh Hashemi, has launched a scathing attack against the country's new president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who triumphed over her father Hashemi Rafsanjani in elections in June.

"The games will take place despite radical political change in the country" said Hashemi, warning that "some forces currently in power would like women to abandon sports" - a clear reference to Ahmadinejad and his radical Islamist supporters.

Her remarks come amid a decision by the Iranian volleyball federation to withdraw its women's team from the competition and accusations by many Iranian sports offcials that Hashemi's Muslim Women's Sport Foundation (MWSF) is squandering government funds.

Some 254 teams from 48 countries are expected to participate in the Islamic Women's Games which will feature 18 sports disciplines from football and basketball to golf and athletics. To date 2,000 athletes have arrived in Tehran, including a team from Britain and an American athlete.

Competition will take place under strict dress codes with athletes obliged to wear headscarfs or the hijab in all the events except for the swimming races from which male spectators will be banned.

With photojournalists only allowed to cover the golf, clay pigeon shooting and archery competions most of the media attention will focus on the opening ceremony and the prize-giving ceremonies. Mobile telephones equipped with photo cameras will be banned.

The absence of media coverage has made it difficult for the tournament to attract sponsors througout its 12-year history. The Islamic Women's Games were launched in 1993 to give female athletes from Muslim countries an opportunity to play sport at an international level, while not violating Sharia law by competing in front of men in inappropriate attire.

Ever since its creation the games have been held in Tehran. Other Muslim countries have asked to host them but "only Saudi Arabia could qualify," specified Hashemi, since it is the only other Muslim country which strictly applies the customs such as the wearing of the hijab."

IRAN: WOMEN'S SPORTS CHIEF SPEAKS OUT AGAINST GOVERNMENT

2005-09-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

Ayatollah Sistani's envoy confers with Rafsanjani in Mecca - Irna

2005-09-19T21:17:00.000-04:00

Ayatollah Sistani's envoy confers with Rafsanjani in Mecca - Irna: "Ayatollah Sistani's envoy confers with Rafsanjani in Mecca Mecca, Sept 20, IRNA
Rafsanjani-Sistani-Envoy
Ayatollah Sistani's Envoy Hojatoleslam Shahrestani conferred here Monday with Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Chairman of Iran's influential Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani referring to Iraq's crisis said, "Current problems in Iraq have caused concern in the Islamic world and world Muslims should try to establish stability and security there.

He described the fundamentals of Iraqi constitution as "good" and said, the Iraqis' enemies are using intimidation, dispersion and dispute methods against that dictatorship and war-stricken nation.

Rafsanjani said, Iraqi people's obligation to Islamic principles and their adherence to imitating their sources of jurisprudence would guarantee that country's independence and territorial integrity.

He also expressed hope that the occupation period of Iraq would end soon.

Shahrestani, too, presented an analysis of the current political, and social situation, adding, " Now, the internal conditions in Iraq have direct effects on general status of the Islamic world".

Concerning the western countries trouble making for Iran in its peaceful nuclear energy program, Ayatollah Sistani's envoy said, " the arrogant powers do not want a powerful and free Iran to emerge as a pattern for the whole Islamic world."

EC Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani praises efforts of Khatami administration

2005-07-30T16:29:00.000-04:00

Description of Selected News: "EC praises efforts of Khatami administration

TEHRAN (MNA) -- Members of the Expediency Council (EC) expressed their appreciation for the efforts of outgoing President Mohammad Khatami during their weekly session on Saturday.

At the meeting, EC Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani lauded the measures taken by Khatami for political, economic, and social development and for the expansion of international ties.

Rafsanjani presented a rare copy of the Holy Quran to Khatami during the session, which was also attended by the heads of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

For his part, Khatami praised Rafsanjani and thanked the EC for its close cooperation with the government over the past eight years.

Khatami called Rafsanjani a great asset of the Islamic Revolution whose advice is always required by the ruling system.

The president also said that Rafsanjani is an experienced personality whose advice is always effective, particularly in times of crisis.

"His views helped settle problems in all situations, and he was generous enough to share his expertise with me. The Expediency Council plays a crucial role in resolving difficulties and discrepancies. Given its high status, the council does not allow the administrators of the community to face deadlocks," Khatami added.

He praised Rafsanjani’s leadership during the post-war years, when the national economy had suffered great losses, and said that, owing to his efforts, the cornerstones of national development and reconstruction were laid down.

"The reconstruction plans and the government’s efforts for economic reform minimized Iran's reliance upon foreigners, so that today we are in a position to attract foreign expertise, technology, and investment.

"Iran's current self-reliance has been gained under the light of the efforts made during Rafsanjani's presidential terms," he added.

Khatami noted that Iran is now able to formulate a national 20-Year Outlook Plan (2005-2025) with high objectives.

Saying that Iran is about to make a major economic leap, he noted that if the current trend continues, the goals set by the 20-Year Outlook Plan will be attained.

The president also said that he owes the positive achievements of his government to the sincere efforts of his colleagues and the members of his cabinet.

"I believe that without Rafsanjani, the government would have faced more problems. The Expediency Council provided excellent support for the establishment of understanding and congeniality as well as in helping solve social problems," he observed."

Rafsanjani calls for Ganji's release

2005-07-29T23:29:00.000-04:00

Description of Selected News: "Rafsanjani calls for Ganji's release

Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Thursday called for the release of jailed journalist Akbar Ganji.

"I regret what is happening. This question can be resolved," Rafsanjani told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting on the First National Assembly of the Youth.

"I have spoken with Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi (Judiciary chief) and made some proposals for rectifying the problem and I hope it will come to be," Rafsanjani said.

Addressing the First National Assembly on the Youth, Rafsanjani also said that the young people should move in line with national and reformist values.

He called on the assembly to find a journal that would raise people’s knowledge by publishing transparent and accurate information.

The EC chairman also proposed that the assembly appoint advisors in governmental centers around the country.

Rafsanjani said that he would certainly assist president-elect Mahmud Ahmadinejad in his new post.

“Everyone with any post has to help the president,” he noted.

Rafsanjani called the 20-Year Outlook Plan, a plan for the youth, adding it should be enhanced and implemented by the country’s young people.

“In fact, the spirit of the 20-Year Outlook Plan is for the youth to get involved in various decision-makings,” he observed."

Pro MKO Iran Focus-News - Tries to Draw Rafsanjani into firestorm over alleged election fraud

2005-07-19T14:42:00.000-04:00

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Iran�s Rafsanjani renews firestorm over election fraud: "Iran’s Rafsanjani renews firestorm over election fraud Tue. 19 Jul 2005

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jul. 19 – The losing candidate in Iran’s recent presidential elections, Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, strongly condemned “the way ballots were swapped” and “the gross irregularities in the recent elections” in this week’s meeting of a top arbitration body that he heads, according to Iranian officials.

Rafsanjani’s comments first surfaced in an article by Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, a cleric who was outgoing President Mohammad Khatami’s deputy for legislative affairs before he resigned in October. Another Iranian official, who was active in Rafsanjani’s campaign, provided more information on the meeting to Iran Focus. Abtahi’s article was posted on his weblog on Monday.

Rafsanjani’s remarks came in reaction to comments made by Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Tavassoli, a former chief of staff of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in this week’s session of the State Expediency Council.

Before the council began its formal deliberations on Saturday, the elderly Ayatollah Tavassoli delivered a blistering speech against the ultra-conservative faction. He attacked the “fraudulent and despicable” way the faction’s leaders, who include Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had crowned their own man as Iran’s new president.

Rafsanjani did not interrupt Tavassoli’s seemingly impromptu assault on the ultra-conservative faction, despite objections from several leading allies of the Supreme Leader who sit on the council, including Guardian Council Chairman Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati.

The former president said he agreed with much of Tavassoli’s remarks.

“I have a lot to say about the way this election was conducted and ballots were swapped”, Rafsanjani was reported to have said without further elaboration. “But if I speak out about these issues, some people will make reverse propaganda and things will get worse”.

Much of Tavassoli’s attack was focused on Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, a chief ideologue of the ultra-conservative camp and the mentor of President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Ayatollah Tavassoli was incensed at the statement by Mr. Mesbah, who said that Iran has not had a truly Islamic government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution”, Abtahi wrote.

“Mr. Tavassoli voiced alarm that the leaders of Hojjatieh group were now practically in control of the executive branch and the Revolutionary Guards, and that the new President-elect was under their domination”, the pro-Rafsanjani official, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said.

Hojjatieh was a semi-clandestine religious and political group that was set up in the early 1950s in Iran by Sheikh Mahmoud Tavallai, popularly known as Sheikh Halabi, an extremist Shiite cleric who founded the group to eradicate members of the Baha’i faith.

The group became prominent after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, as many of its members rose to influential positions. Halabi nominally dissolved the group in 1983 to conform with Ayatollah Khomeini’s decree against “partisan politics” in the Islamic Republic, but Hojjatieh members retained their network and the group remained a player within the theocratic regime.

The official told Iran Focus that Rafsanjani and his allies were worried by the strong influence that extremist clerics such as Mesbah Yazdi and Rasti Kashani exert on Abadgaran and Issargaran, two ultra-conservative groupings whose members are expected to make up the bulk of the new cabinet. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a leading figure in Abadgaran and a member of the six-man central council of Issargaran.

Some analysts see the speech by Tavassoli and the subsequent remarks by Rafsanjani as a counter-attack on the Supreme Leader, engineered by the former president. In recent days, allies of Ayatollah Khamenei in the Majlis and among senior clerics have been pressing the authorities to investigate corruption charges against Rafsanjani’s sons in a bid to further weaken the man once widely expected to regain the presidency.

“Khamenei has badly wounded Rafsanjani, but this will not end here”, said Ahmad Gorbani, a Dubai-based financial analyst, in a telephone interview. “As we say in Persian, a wounded enemy is a far more dangerous foe. You will see that the power struggle in Tehran will get much more nasty”.

Despite the growing acrimony within Iran’s clerical leadership, Gorbani, like most other observers, believes that Khamenei’s rivals stand little chance of mounting a serious challenge to his authority in the present circumstances.

“As long as Khamenei can count on the Revolutionary Guards’ loyalty and the huge oil revenues, he will be able to deal with dissent within the theocracy”, Gorbani said."

Iran Focus-News/MeK Makes Attack on Rafsanjani

2005-07-10T22:32:00.000-04:00

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Attack on Rafsanjani signals rising strife in Iran theocracy: "Attack on Rafsanjani signals rising strife in Iran theocracy Sun. 10 Jul 2005

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jul. 10 – The son of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was heard as saying back in April that “we are going to be using the funds of Fuel Efficiency Organization and money obtained by the lease of 400 gas stations to finance my father’s election campaign”, a parliamentary deputy closely allied with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the state-run news agency Fars.

The deputy, Elias Naderan, said he had obtained the agreement of the parliament’s leadership committee to have the Minister of Intelligence and Security investigate corruption, bribery and embezzlement by the Rafsanjani family, including accusations that Rafsanjani’s son had accepted bribes from Norway’s state-owned oil company, Statoil.

Naderan had said earlier that Rafsanjani’s campaign had handed out bribes worth five million dollars to most local newspapers for favourable coverage of their candidate, while the money came from state oil funds.

Naderan complained that despite repeated requests, the Minister of Intelligence and Security, Ali Younessi, had refused to show up to answer his questions either in a parliamentary committee or in the full session of the Majlis.

In a separate development, hours after an open letter from Mehdi Karroubi, one of the defeated candidates in the recent presidential elections, complaining of serious vote fraud in favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surfaced in Tehran, a top Majlis deputy lashed out at Karroubi and outgoing President Mohammad Khatami.

“It’ll be very good if Mr. Khatami could respond to Mr. Karroubi’s request and issue a report on how 50,000-toman travellers’ cheques were dished out to buy votes by a certain candidate”, Moussa Ghorbani told the state-run Fars news agency, alluding to Karroubi’s method of getting more votes.

“Mr. Khatami himself said in his statement before the second round of the elections that one of the two candidates was incompetent. This was an affront to the Iranian people and Mr. Khatami must explain whether or not he was himself involved in the defamation campaign against Mr. Ahmadinejad”, Ghorbani said.

Analysts see the rising venom in the tone of attacks in the factional bickering in Iran as a sign of growing internal strife at the top of the Iranian theocracy, as the Supreme Leader and his ultra-conservative allies have effectively shut the other factions out of power."

Iran News - Iran's Khamenei defends 'reputable' Rafsanjani

2005-06-29T08:25:00.000-04:00

Iran News - Iran's Khamenei defends 'reputable' Rafsanjani: "Iran's Khamenei defends 'reputable' Rafsanjani

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com

LONDON, June 29 (IranMania) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defended defeated presidential election candidate Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani following his bitter attack on alleged rigging in the vote.

However Iran's number one also dismissed as "enemy" propaganda allegations that the hardline Basij militia was involved in illegal interference in the election, which saw Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad storm to a stunning victory, according to AFP.

"There was some unjust and unfair defamation of some candidates such as the reputable and experienced character of Mr Rafsanjani, which did not happen out of negligence," state television quoted Khamenei as telling a public meeting.

"The judiciary must find and prosecute these elements."

Rafsanjani reacted bitterly to his defeat, which leaves him facing an uncertain political future, alleging that tens of millions of dollars was used in an orchestrated smear campaign to defame him and his family.

"All the means of the regime were used in an organised and illegal way to intervene in the election," Rafsanjani fumed in a statement released hours after the results were announced at the weekend.

"I do not intend to file a complaint to jurists who have shown that they cannot or do not want to do anything," Rafsanjani added.

Many observers saw Rafsanjani's election bid as a challenge to the overwhelming power of Khamenei, the regime's undisputed number one, even though the two publicly insist they are close friends.

Rafsanjani has also led accusations from three defeated candidates that the ultra-conservative Ahmadinejad's victory in the election was backed illegally by well-financed regime elements, including the Basij.

But state television quoted Khamenei as saying: "Some have unfortunately questioned the dearest sections of this country, the pious Basij, which is not true... these are attempts by enemies to provoke disturbances."

Khamenei added that none of the seven candidates who lined up for the vote were to blame for a smear campaign or the allegations against the Basij, which he said were down to elements that "had no interest in any of the candidates."

He urged the judiciary to make arrests and "expose the enemies' hand in this to people", according to state television."

Rafsanjani reacts furiously

2005-06-26T23:52:00.000-04:00

Rafsanjani reacts furiously: "Rafsanjani reacts furiously
25/06/2005 18:37 - (SA)

Tehran - Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani reacted furiously on Saturday to his shock election loss, pointing the finger at a hardline institution and a vast "illegal" operation aimed at turning voters against him.

In his first public reaction to his surprise defeat to hardline Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad, the moderate cleric alleged "all the means of the regime were used in an organised and illegal way to intervene in the election".

"I do not intend to file a complaint to jurists who have shown that they cannot or do not want to do anything. This I will leave to God," he was quoted as saying.

It was a clear reference to the Guardians Council, a hardline-controlled political and electoral watchdog.

"I entered this election uniquely to serve the revolution, Islam, Iran and the people," said the 70-year-old cleric, a regime veteran and former two-term president who is now facing an uncertain political future.

"Those who weakened a competitor chose to weaken the revolution," Rafsanjani said, also condemning "those who spent hundreds of billions of rials of the people's money to defame me and my family".

"I hope the country will be cleared of these enemies and profiteers who are without logic or faith," the statement said.

Rafsanjani nevertheless said that "everyone must help" president-elect Ahmadinejad."

CNN.com - Rafsanjani lashes out at clerics - Jun 26, 2005

2005-06-26T23:48:00.000-04:00

CNN.com - Iran loser lashes out at clerics - Jun 26, 2005: "Iran loser lashes out at clerics

Sunday, June 26, 2005; Posted: 7:27 a.m. EDT (11:27 GMT)

Iran's President Ahmadinejad, right, shares a laugh with speaker of Iran's Parliament Gholamali Haddad Adel.
Image:

Manage Alerts | What Is This? TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Banner headlines in Sunday newspapers hailed Iran's new president as a man of the people while his defeated opponent lashed out at the country's ruling clerics, accusing them of illegally interfering in polling.

"My opponents used all means within the ruling establishment and facilities of the regime in an organized and illegal way to intervene in elections (and) damage my credibility," defeated candidate Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani said in a statement released on his Web site and carried in Sunday's newspapers, including the government-run Iran Daily.

Rafsanjani said he would not file a formal complaint, saying Iran's judges either wouldn't or could not independently investigate his charges.

"I have no intention of complaining to judges, who have shown either they don't want or they cannot do anything," Rafsanjani said in his statement. "I only complain to God."

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry told Europe Sunday not to prejudge its new president and to drop any expectations of a change in Iran's nuclear policy.

"Europeans should avoid making any judgment before the new president begins his job," ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi told a news conference. "In fact the vote on Friday provided the government with a greater ability to face challenges."

He did not elaborate. Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was seen as the favorite of Iran's powerful ruling clerics, who have the final say on most political issues, and certainly on Iran's nuclear policy.

Assefi reiterated that Iran's nuclear policy remains unchanged. Iran has already said it will restart its uranium enrichment program, but maintains its program is for peaceful purposes to provide cheap energy.

The reform-minded Iran News headlined its Sunday edition with a statement from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: 'U.S. Humiliated by Election."

Ahmadinejad's calls for unity and promises to heal divisions caused by the hotly contested elections were featured prominently.

Ahmadinejad, who is expected to hold a news conference Sunday to outline his plan for the nation, issued a brief statement Saturday saying his ambition was to make Iran a "powerful and Islamic" model for the world, borrowing the style of the hard-line ruling clerics who backed him in his landslide victory. He called for unity between opposing camps in the election.

But in his brief radio address he did not mention his views on the future for Iran's growing social freedoms -- leaving liberal critics still fearing the worst.

It was an ironic twist that Iran's first non-cleric to reach the country's highest elected office since the 1979 Islamic Revolution was more religiously hard-line than the cleric he defeated, former President Rafsanjani.

Ahmadinejad's victory gives conservatives control of Iran's two highest elected offices -- the presidency and parliament.

Ahmadinejad won Friday's runoff race by a healthy 61.6 percent of the vote over Rafsanjani's 35.9 percent. The rest of the ballots were deemed invalid.

Nearly 28 million ballots were cast, or more than 59 percent of Iran's approximately 47 million eligible voters. In last week's election, the turnout was close to 63 percent.

Ahmadinejad hasn't revealed the makeup of his Cabinet, but his deputy campaign manager told The Associated Press that a 200-member team cobbled together during the presidential campaign has been pouring over names and resumes.

"The only requirement is a willingness to serve the people," said 32-year-old Abdulhasan Faqih, a soft-spoken doctor who helped to steer Ahmadinejad's spectacularly successful campaign.

There were shortlists for some key positions, Faqih said.

"We are looking at everyone who is now in the government, and any official who changes his tendencies and begins serving the people may stay at his post and continue to work with Ahmadinejad," Faqih said.

He named only two within the current administration who qualified: Mehdi Chamran, a deeply conservative Tehran Municipal Council chairman who is the brother of one of Iran's cherished war heroes and who has close ties to the Revolutionary Guard; and the 60-year-old parliament speaker, Ghulam Ali Haddad-Adel, described as a moderate conservative with good relations with both the hard-line and the reformist movements.

Ahmadinejad's campaign headquarters, a modest two-story concrete house tucked away in a narrow alleyway in the heart of Tehran's downtown, had the unassuming and humble appearance that reflected the image cultivated by the new president, qualities voters embraced in large numbers.

"God willing things will be better with Ahmadinejad," said Tala Shabani, a woman worker at a welfare organization in the city. "I'm the only one earning for my family. Ahmadinejad is a humble man. Let's see what he can do."

Outgoing President Mohammad Khatami had introduced reforms and social changes but was often stymied by the ruling clerics.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed."

Iran News - Rafsanjani, Servant of the People

2005-06-09T15:18:00.000-04:00

Iran News - Rafsanjani, master of reinvention in Iran: " Rafsanjani, master of reinvention in Iran

Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, June 8 (IranMania) - A devoted pillar of a hardline regime, or a pragmatic deal-maker ready to save Iran from extremism and steer it out of international isolation? A lofty cleric, or a man in touch with the people?

According to AFP, these may be seen as contradictory traits in Iranian politics, but leading presidential election contender Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is managing to come across as a man who is all of the above.

In campaigning to take back the Islamic republic's number-two job, which he held from 1989 to 1997, the 70-year-old ayatollah has proved himself a master of reinvention, rising above Iran's bitter left-right divide and espousing both Islamic revolutionary values and their overhaul.

So far, the strategy appears to be paying off: a string of informal opinion polls carried by the Iranian press all put Rafsanjani at the front of the pack of eight contenders.

The wily politician is seen as one of the few figures strong enough to tackle the rise of the right-wing, push through economic liberalisation and ease relations with the outside world -- even though his detractors accuse him of corruption and of killing dissidents.

He has also been a central pillar of the Islamic regime throughout its 26-year history -- serving two terms as president before moving on to head the Expediency Council, Iran's top political arbitration body.

Widely seen as Iran's de facto number-two behind supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in recent years he nevertheless managed to duck and dive through the damaging tensions between reformists and hardliners.

Analysts say that is a major draw for voters of all stripes, tired of the paralysis of the reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami.

The son of a pistachio farmer, Rafsanjani went on to become an early follower of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and a leading figure in the 1979 revolution. He studied theology in the Shiite clerical nerve centre of Qom at the age of 14, participated in the anti-monarchy movement during the 1960s and was frequently arrested by the shah's secret police.

His revolutionary credentials -- which include a bullet wound to the stomach -- have therefore provided him with more room for rhetorical manoeuvre, and unlike other candidates he is at ease tackling sensitive issues head on.

In his campaign, he has called on the regime to radically rethink its relationship with a burgeoning youth population, whose support he desperately needs to win.

"The situation is changing rapidly. To respond to the legitimate demands of this new generation, new solutions are necessary," he said.

In an attack on hardline dogma, he even said that "nobody should think that we can act by employing the same literature, the same policies or the same attitudes that we had at the beginning of the revolution."

Although Rafsanjani asserted that "the objectives of the revolution are rooted in our culture and beliefs", he added that Iran needed "new conditions at home" and "a new form of interaction with the world".

In effect, Rafsanjani has seized the vacant political centre ground. He is offering something for everyone -- committed supporters of the regime and those who want its reform -- and with political clout to boot.

He has also driven the debate on the issue of relations with the United States, still something of a taboo, but in a way that still asserts Iran's desire to be a regional superpower -- and be a strong negotiator amid tensions over the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.

This is something he feels permitted to do, given his background and past dealings with Washington to exchange arms for US hostages in Lebanon -- the so-called "Irangate" scandal.

In his campaign, the charismatic cleric has stated his desire to "solve" a quarter of a century of estrangement from Washington -- even though he once described US President George W. Bush as a "bird-brained dinosaur" and can still rally the hardcore.

On the home front, he may have been hostile to the rapid pace of social reform that Khatami had been pushing for, but he has also promoted the role of women. His daughter, Faizeh Hashemi, is a prominent champion of women's rights.

But all is not rosy in Rafsanjani's past.

His presidency was marked by a string of grisly murders and assassinations of dissidents and regime opponents at home and abroad. On the economic front, he did preside over a post-war boom, but also damaging inflation and mounting foreign debt.

Rafsanjani also remains dogged by gossip over his alleged wealth. He is rumoured to control assets ranging from hotels to automobile factories, grocery stores to pistachio plantations. He has recently been forced to deny being rich.

But these do not appear to be chipping away at his lead in the race.

Ask many Iranians why they want to vote for Rafsanjani, and the most common response is "We need a strong leader"."

Iran News - Iranians increasingly well informed: Rafsanjani

2005-06-08T11:12:00.000-04:00

Iran News - Iranians increasingly well informed: Rafsanjani: "Iranians increasingly well informed: Rafsanjani

Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, June 7 (IranMania) - Iranian Presidential nominee, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iranians are increasingly becoming averse to blind imitation and hegemonic relationships.

In a meeting with members of the Notary Public Center, Rafsanjani said thanks to their growing awareness and knowledge, today Iranians are capable of determining their fate by making the right decisions.

“With the help of their faith, our people can decide for themselves and refuse to be mistreated,“ IRNA quoted him as saying.

Noting that the country is at a critical and sensitive juncture, the former president noted “the present conditions call for all strata of society to join hands to make Iran proud and successful in all spheres.“

Iran is a resources-rich country, he said, adding that by optimizing its potentials and capabilities, the nation can play a significant role in global interactions.

Appropriate infrastructures exist which if used efficiently can help the country fight for its rights and regain its status both in the region and beyond, the front-runner in the June 17 elections told the meeting."

Economist.com | Paul Klebnikov Journalistic Hatchet Man Murdered at 41

2005-05-28T16:35:00.000-04:00

Economist.com | Obituary: "Paul Klebnikov

Jul 15th 2004
From The Economist print edition
Paul Klebnikov, American journalist, died in Moscow on July 9th, aged 41

PAUL KLEBNIKOV thought that Russia had changed, that grievances there were no longer pursued by recourse to contract killings and that investigative journalists therefore had no cause to fear for their safety. Even as he lay dying last Friday, he could name no one who might have given the order to the gunmen who had just fired a volley of shots at him as he left his Moscow office. Even so, plenty of Russians had reason to dislike, or fear, him.

Mr Klebnikov had always been something of a daredevil. As a small child, he would never refuse a mission, no matter how foolhardy, from an older brother or sister. He enjoyed swimming in hurricanes, and particularly liked to bring in the new year with a dip in the sea off Long Island. Yet the man of action was also reflective. Indeed, he was an idealist, who revelled in political discussion.

If the combination sounds Russian, no wonder: Mr Klebnikov, though born and brought up in America, came from a family of Russian émigrés with a long military tradition on both sides, and a bit of a political one too. His mother's grandfather had been an admiral in the White Russian fleet—he was assassinated by Bolsheviks during the revolution in 1917—and his father's forebears included at least two generals. The main political inheritance came from a great-great-great-grandfather, Ivan Pouschine, who was exiled to Siberia for his role in the Decembrist uprising against Tsar Nicholas I in 1825. All this helps to explain Mr Klebnikov's general interest in Russia, his choice of Pyotr Stolypin, the reformist Russian prime minister murdered in 1911, as the subject of his doctoral thesis at the London School of Economics, and his subsequent decision to go to work as a journalist in the land of his forebears.

Journalism was a natural choice for someone with interests as wide as Mr Klebnikov's: it allowed him to write and talk about everything from philosophy to, recently, architecture and urban design. But most of his work involved politics and business, and he was especially good at probing the murky world of post-Soviet Russia where these two intersected and where, in a few months in 1995, a few men managed to grab privatised assets on a scale hitherto unimaginable anywhere.

One such was Boris Berezovsky, about whom Mr Klebnikov wrote an article for Forbes, the American magazine for which he had reported since 1989, entitled “Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the Looting of Russia”. Mr Berezovsky was the richest of the seven “oligarchs” who, according to the (no doubt exaggerated) boast of one of them, controlled about half the Russian economy in the second half of the 1990s. They were known as oligarchs not just because they were few in number but because they were assumed to be, if not actually rulers themselves, at least close to those who were. Mr Berezovsky, for instance, had a senior post in the Security Council. He did not care for Mr Klebnikov's article. Indeed, he took Forbes to court in London in a case that was settled only last year. By that time, though, Mr Klebnikov had published an entire book about the plutocracy and Mr Berezovsky was living in self-imposed exile in Britain.

Capitalist tools
For in 2000 the oligarchs' fortunes had changed: Vladimir Putin had become president with the declared intention of bringing them to heel, an objective that has proved hugely popular among Russian voters in subsequent elections. Yet Mr Putin's hostility to tycoons has not made him a friend to the media, which he seems to see merely as the instrument of his political opponents. NTV, the last national television station to show any independence of spirit, has in effect been taken over by the state. Its programme “Freedom of Speech”, the only balanced political talk-show on Russian television, was given its final airing a few hours before Mr Klebnikov's killing. Neither has Russia become safer for journalists: 15 have now been killed since 2000. No one has been brought to book for any of their murders.

Though several oligarchs have fled Russia or, like Mikhail Khodorkovsky, face trial there, others remain at large and indeed prosper. In May, in the second issue of Forbes's Russian edition, which he edited, Mr Klebnikov published a list of Russia's 100 richest people, adding that Moscow had more billionaires (36) than any other city. Some of them could have done without the publicity. So, too, perhaps, could some of the people that Mr Klebnikov had written about in other contexts: an investigative tale in the April edition may well have caused annoyance in the Kremlin. Some of his sources, perhaps current or past members of the security services, may have thought Mr Klebnikov knew too much. Some of the people he may have planned to write about could also have been worried. And Mr Klebnikov's final book, “A Conversation with the Barbarian”, in which he made a passionate appeal to Europeans to defend Christian civilisation against Islamic extremism, can have earned him no friends in Chechnya.

In short, the array of possible suspects in Mr Klebnikov's murder is long, reflecting not just the range of his inquiring mind but also the extent of greed, theft and violence in a society still groping for an accommodation between capitalism and the rule of law. His death is Russia's loss."

Attack on Rafsanjani - The Forbes Lies Page 1

2005-05-28T16:24:00.000-04:00

Forbes.com: Millionaire Mullahs: "On The Cover/Top Stories
Millionaire Mullahs
Paul Klebnikov, 07.21.03

A nuclear threat to the rest of the world, Iran is robbing its own people of prosperity. But the men at the top are getting extremely rich.
It's rumble time in Tehran. At dozens of intersections in the capital of Iran thousands of students are protesting on a recent Friday around midnight, as they do nearly every night, chanting pro-democracy slogans and lighting bonfires on street corners. Residents of the surrounding middle-class neighborhoods converge in their cars, honking their horns in raucous support.

Suddenly there's thunder in the air. A gang of 30 motorcyclists, brandishing iron bars and clubs as big as baseball bats, roars through the stalled traffic. They glare at the drivers, yell threats, thump cars. Burly and bearded, the bikers yank two men from their auto and pummel them. Most protesters scatter. Uniformed policemen watch impassively as the thugs beat the last stragglers.

These Hell's Angels are part of the Hezbollah militia, recruited mostly from the countryside. Iran's ruling mullahs roll them out whenever they need to intimidate their opponents. The Islamic Republic is a strange dictatorship. As it moves to repress growing opposition to clerical rule, the regime relies not on soldiers or uniformed police (many of whom sympathize with the protesters) but on the bullies of Hezbollah and the equally thuggish Revolutionary Guards. The powers that be claim to derive legitimacy from Allah but remain on top with gangsterlike methods of intimidation, violence and murder.

Who controls today's Iran? Certainly not Mohammad Khatami, the twice-elected moderate president, or the reformist parliament. Not even the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a stridently anti-American but unremarkable cleric plucked from the religious ranks 14 years ago to fill the shoes of his giant predecessor, Ayatollah Khomeini, is fully in control. The real power is a handful of clerics and their associates who call the shots behind the curtain and have gotten very rich in the process.

The economy bears more than a little resemblance to the crony capitalism that sprouted from the wreck of the Soviet Union. The 1979 revolution expropriated the assets of foreign investors and the nation's wealthiest families; oil had long been nationalized, but the mullahs seized virtually everything else of value--banks, hotels, car and chemical companies, makers of drugs and consumer goods. What distinguishes Iran is that many of these assets were given to Islamic charitable foundations, controlled by the clerics. According to businessmen and former foundation executives, the charities now serve as slush funds for the mullahs and their supporters.

Iran has other lethal secrets besides its nuclear program, now the subject of prying international eyes. Dozens of interviews with businessmen, merchants, economists and former ministers and other top government officials reveal a picture of a dictatorship run by a shadow government that--the U.S. State Department suspects--finances terrorist groups abroad through a shadow foreign policy. Its economy is dominated by shadow business empires and its power is protected by a shadow army of enforcers.

Ironically, the man most adept at manipulating this hidden power structure is one of Iran's best-known characters--Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has been named an ayatollah, or religious leader. He was the speaker of parliament and Khomeini's right-hand man in the 1980s, president of Iran from 1989 to 1997 and is now chairman of the powerful Expediency Council, which resolves disputes between the clerical establishment and parliament. Rafsanjani has more or less run the Islamic Republic for the past 24 years.

He played it smart, aligning himself in the 1960s with factions led by Ayatollah Khomeini, then becoming the go-to guy after the revolution. A hard-liner ideologically, Rafsanjani nonetheless has a pragmatic streak. He convinced Khomeini to end the Iran-Iraq war and broke Iran's international isolation by establishing trade relations with the Soviet Union, China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In the 1990s he restarted Iran's nuclear program. He is also the father of Iran's "privatization" program. During his presidency the stock market was revived, some government companies were sold to insiders, foreign trade was liberalized and the oil sector was opened up to private companies. Most of the good properties and contracts, say dissident members of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, ended up in the hands of mullahs, their associates and, not least, Rafsanjani's own family, who rose from modest origins as small-scale pistachio farmers.

"They were not rich people, so they worked hard and always tried to help their relatives get ahead," remembers Reza, a historian who declines to use his last name and who studied with one of Rafsanjani's brothers at Tehran University in the early 1970s. "When they were in university, two brothers earned money on the side tutoring theological students and preparing their exam papers."

Discontent Unveiled
Disaffected, denied opportunity and just plain bored, Iran's youth have taken their frustrations with the clerics' regime to the streets.

Iran U.S.

Population 67 million 283 million
Percent under 25 65% 35%
GDP per capita $1,800 $37,000
Inflation 25% 2%
Unemployment 18% 6%

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; U.S. Department of Labor; Atieh Bahar Consulting; Forbes estimates."

Attack on Rafsanjani - The Forbes Lies Page 2

2005-05-28T16:23:00.000-04:00

Forbes.com: Millionaire Mullahs: "On The Cover/Top Stories
Page 2 of 4 from Millionaire Mullahs
Paul Klebnikov, 07.21.03

The 1979 revolution transformed the Rafsanjani clan into commercial pashas. One brother headed the country's largest copper mine; another took control of the state-owned TV network; a brother-in-law became governor of Kerman province, while a cousin runs an outfit that dominates Iran's $400 million pistachio export business; a nephew and one of Rafsanjani's sons took key positions in the Ministry of Oil; another son heads the Tehran Metro construction project (an estimated $700 million spent so far). Today, operating through various foundations and front companies, the family is also believed to control one of Iran's biggest oil engineering companies, a plant assembling Daewoo automobiles, and Iran's best private airline (though the Rafsanjanis insist they do not own these assets).

None of this sits well with the populace, whose per capita income is $1,800 a year. The gossip on the street, going well beyond the observable facts, has the Rafsanjanis stashing billions of dollars in bank accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg; controlling huge swaths of waterfront in Iran's free economic zones on the Persian Gulf; and owning whole vacation resorts on the idyllic beaches of Dubai, Goa and Thailand.

But not much of the criticism makes its way into print. One journalist who dared to investigate Rafsanjani's secret dealings and his alleged role in extrajudicial killings of dissidents is now languishing in jail. He's lucky. Iranian politics can be deadly. Five years ago Tehran was rocked by murders of journalists and anticorruption activists; some were beheaded, others mutilated.

Some of the family's wealth is out there for all to see. Rafsanjani's youngest son, Yaser, owns a 30-acre horse farm in the super-fashionable Lavasan neighborhood of north Tehran, where land goes for over $4 million an acre. Just where did Yaser get his money? A Belgian-educated businessman, he runs a large export-import firm that includes baby food, bottled water and industrial machinery.

Until a few years ago the simplest way to get rich quick was through foreign-currency trades. Easy, if you could get greenbacks at the subsidized import rate of 1,750 rials to the dollar and resell them at the market rate of 8,000 to the dollar. You needed only the right connections for an import license. "I estimate that, over a period of ten years, Iran lost $3 billion to $5 billion annually from this kind of exchange-rate fraud," says Saeed Laylaz, an economist, now with Iran's biggest carmaker. "And the lion's share of that went to about 50 families."

One of the families benefiting from the foreign trade system was the Asgaroladis, an old Jewish clan of bazaar traders, who converted to Islam several generations ago. Asadollah Asgaroladi exports pistachios, cumin, dried fruit, shrimp and caviar, and imports sugar and home appliances; his fortune is estimated by Iranian bankers to be some $400 million. Asgaroladi had a little help from his older brother, Habibollah, who, as minister of commerce in the 1980s, was in charge of distributing lucrative foreign-trade licenses. (He was also a counterparty to commodities trader and then-fugitive Marc Rich, who helped Iran bypass U.S.-backed sanctions.)"

Attack on Rafsanjani - The Forbes Lies Page 3

2005-05-28T16:22:00.000-04:00

Forbes.com: Millionaire Mullahs: " On The Cover/Top Stories
Page 3 of 4 from Millionaire Mullahs
Paul Klebnikov, 07.21.03

The other side of Iran's economy belongs to the Islamic foundations, which account for 10% to 20% of the nation's GDP--$115 billion last year. Known as bonyads, the best-known of these outfits were established from seized property and enterprises by order of Ayatollah Khomeini in the first weeks of his regime. Their mission was to redistribute to the impoverished masses the "illegitimate" wealth accumulated before the revolution by "apostates" and "blood-sucking capitalists." And, for a decade or so, the foundations shelled out money to build low-income housing and health clinics. But since Khomeini's death in 1989 they have increasingly forsaken their social welfare functions for straightforward commercial activities.

Until recently they were exempt from taxes, import duties and most government regulation. They had access to subsidized foreign currency and low-interest loans from state-owned banks. And they were not accountable to the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance or any other government institution. Formally, they are under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Leader; effectively, they operate without any oversight at all, answerable only to Allah.

According to Shiite Muslim tradition, devout businessmen are expected to donate 20% of profits to their local mosques, which use the money to help the poor. By contrast, many bonyads seem like straightforward rackets, extorting money from entrepreneurs. Besides the biggest national outfits, almost every Iranian town has its own bonyad, affiliated with local mullahs. "Many small businessmen complain that as soon as you start to make some money, the leading mullah will come to you and ask for a contribution to his local charity," says an opposition economist, who declines to give his name. "If you refuse, you will be accused of not being a good Muslim. Some witnesses will turn up to testify that they heard you insult the Prophet Mohammad, and you will be thrown in jail." The Cosa Nostra meets fundamentalism.

Other charities resemble multinational conglomerates. The Mostazafan & Jambazan Foundation (Foundation for the Oppressed and War Invalids) is the second-largest commercial enterprise in the country, behind the state-owned National Iranian Oil Co. Until recently it was run by a man named Mohsen Rafiqdoost. The son of a vegetable-and-fruit merchant at the Tehran bazaar, Rafiqdoost got his big break in 1979, when he was chosen to drive Ayatollah Khomeini from the airport after his triumphal return from exile in Paris.

Khomeini made him Minister of the Revolutionary Guards to quash internal dissent and smuggle in weapons for the Iran-Iraq war. In 1989, when Rafsanjani became president, Rafiqdoost gained control of the Mostazafan Foundation, which employs up to 400,000 workers and has assets that in all probability exceed $10 billion. Among its holdings: the former Hyatt and Hilton hotels in Tehran; the highly successful Zam-Zam soft drink company (once Pepsi); an international shipping line; companies producing oil products and cement; swaths of farmland and urban real estate.

Theoretically the Mostazafan Foundation is a social welfare organization. By 1996 it began taking government funds to cover welfare disbursements; soon it plans to spin off its social responsibilities altogether, leaving behind a purely commercial conglomerate owned by--whom? That is not clear. Why does this foundation exist? "I don't know--ask Mr. Rafiqdoost," says Abbas Maleki, a foreign policy adviser to Ayatollah Rafsanjani.

A picture emerges from one Iranian businessman who used to handle the foreign trade deals for one of the big foundations. Organizations like the Mostazafan serve as giant cash boxes, he says, to pay off supporters of the mullahs, whether they're thousands of peasants bused in to attend religious demonstrations in Tehran or Hezbollah thugs who beat up students. And, not least, the foundations serve as cash cows for their managers.

"It usually works like this," explains this businessman. "Some foreigner comes in, proposes a deal to the foundation head. The big boss says: ‘Fine. I agree. Work out the details with my administrator.' So the foreigner goes to see the administrator, who tells him: ‘You know that we have two economies here--official and unofficial. You have to be part of the unofficial economy if you want to be successful. So, you have to deposit the following amount into the following bank account abroad and then the deal will go forward.'"

Today Rafiqdoost heads up the Noor Foundation, which owns apartment blocks and makes an estimated $200 million importing pharmaceuticals, sugar and construction materials. He is quick to downplay his personal wealth. "I am just a normal person, with normal wealth," he says. Then, striking a Napoleonic pose, he adds: "But if Islam is threatened, I will become big again.""

Attack on Rafsanjani - The Forbes Lies Page 4

2005-05-28T16:21:00.000-04:00

Forbes.com: Millionaire Mullahs: "On The Cover/Top Stories
Page 4 of 4 from Millionaire Mullahs
Paul Klebnikov, 07.21.03

Implication: that he has access to a secret reservoir of money that can be tapped when the need arises. That may have been what Ayatollah Rafsanjani had in mind when he declared recently that the Islamic Republic needed to keep large funds in reserve. But who is to determine when Islam is in danger?

As minister of the Revolutionary Guards in the 1980s, Rafiqdoost played a key role in sponsoring Hezbollah in Lebanon--which kidnapped foreigners, hijacked airplanes, set off car bombs, trafficked in heroin and pioneered the use of suicide bombers. According to Gregory Sullivan, spokesman for the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau at the U.S. State Department, the foundations are the perfect vehicles to carry out Iran's shadow foreign policy. (One of them offered the $2.8 million bounty to anyone who carried out Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa to kill British author Salman Rushdie.) Whenever suspicion of complicity in a terrorist incident--in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Argentina--turns to Iran, the Tehran government has denied involvement. State Department officials suspect that such operations may be sponsored by one of the foundations and semiautonomous units of the Revolutionary Guards. If anyone in Iran is aiding al Qaeda, that may be the best place to look.

Iran's foundations are a law unto themselves. The largest "charity" (at least in terms of real estate holdings) is the centuries-old Razavi Foundation, charged with caring for Iran's most revered shrine--the tomb of Reza, the Eighth Shiite Imam, in the northern city of Mashhad. It is run by one of Iran's leading hard-line mullahs, Ayatollah Vaez-Tabasi, who prefers to stay out of the public eye but emerges occasionally to urge death to apostates and other opponents of the clerical regime.

The Razavi Foundation owns vast tracts of urban real estate all across Iran, as well as hotels, factories, farms and quarries. Its assets are impossible to value with any precision, since the foundation has never released an inventory of its holdings, but Iranian economists speak of a net asset value of $15 billion or more. The foundation also receives generous contributions from the millions of pilgrims who visit the Mashhad shrine each year.

What happens to annual revenues estimated in the hundreds of millions--perhaps billions--of dollars? Not all of it goes to cover the maintenance costs of mosques, cemeteries, religious schools and libraries. Over the past decade the foundation has bought new businesses and properties, established investment banks (together with investors from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), funded real estate projects and financed big foreign trade deals.

The driving force behind the commercialization of the Razavi Foundation is Ayatollah Tabasi's son, Naser, who was put in charge of the Sarakhs Free Trade Zone, on the border with the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan. In the 1990s the foundation poured hundreds of millions of dollars into this project, funding a rail link between Iran and Turkmenistan, new highways, an international airport, a hotel and office buildings. It even paid $2.3 million to a Swiss firm to erect a huge tent for the ceremonies inaugurating the Iran-Turkmenistan rail link.

Then it all went wrong. In July 2001 Naser Tabasi was dismissed as director of the Free Trade Zone. Two months later he was arrested and charged with fraud in connection with a Dubai-based company called Al-Makasib. The details of the case remain murky, but four months ago the General Court of Tehran concluded that Naser Tabasi had not known that he was breaking the law and acquitted him.

Few receive even a slap on the wrist. A rare exception: Hard-line cleric Hadi Ghaffari, who specialized in seizing expropriated properties, like Star Stockings (maker of sexy lingerie), and reselling them at a nice profit. He was convicted of embezzlement in the early 1990s.

Iran's most distinguished senior clerics are disgusted by the mullahcrats. Ayatollah Taheri, Friday prayer leader of the city of Isfahan, resigned in protest earlier this year. "When I hear that some of the privileged progeny and special people, some of whom even don cloaks and turbans, are competing amongst themselves to amass the most wealth," he said, "I am drenched with the sweat of shame."

Meanwhile the clerical elite has mismanaged the nation into senseless poverty. With 9% of the world's oil and 15% of its natural gas, Iran should be a very rich country. It has a young, educated population and a long tradition of craftsmanship and international commerce. But per capita income today is actually 7% below what it was before the revolution. Iranian economists estimate capital flight (to Dubai and other safe havens) at up to $3 billion a year.

No wonder so many students turn to the streets in protest. The dictatorship tells them what to think, what to wear, and what to eat and drink. It has also been robbing them of their future."

Wired News | FACTBOX-Facts about Iran's Rafsanjani

2005-05-19T09:49:00.000-04:00

Wired News | FACTBOX-Facts about Iran's Rafsanjani: "Thursday, May 19, 2005 8:51 a.m. ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative who leads opinion polls for Iran's June 17 presidential election, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday he wanted to repair relations with the United States but Washington must make the first moves.

Here are some facts about Rafsanjani:

- A mid-ranking cleric, aged 70, he heads the powerful Expediency Council, which arbitrates on legislative disputes and which has sought constitutional change in favor of private enterprise.

- Rafsanjani was president from 1989 to 1997 and has also served as parliamentary speaker and armed forces commander. He made a failed attempt to become parliament speaker again in 2000.

- A pragmatic dealmaker, Rafsanjani favors economic liberalisation and detente with the West, while keeping Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's system of clerical rule.

- A central figure since the 1979 revolution, he had a key role in decisions during the 1980-88 war with Iraq and in covert arms-for-hostages deals with Washington in the 1980s.

- He is distrusted by hard-liners and liberals alike for his flexible political style and has faced accusations of opportunism, corruption and human rights abuses.

- Before the Islamic revolution he was tortured under the Shah. He left home at 14 to study under Khomeini in Qom.
"

Iran News - Tehran Metro chief unaware of rumors

2005-05-15T22:37:00.000-04:00

Iran News - Tehran Metro chief unaware of rumors: "Tehran Metro chief unaware of rumors

Sunday, May 15, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, May 15 (IranMania) - Managing director of Tehran Subway Company (Metro) said no machination is needed for reforming Tehran Metro’s management.

Mohsen Hashemi told IRNA he has heard nothing about rumors related to management changes in Tehran Metro.

“Managerial changes in Metro take place with a majority vote of Metro’s board members and the company’s assembly, each of which comprises five members,“ he said.

Asked whether he will welcome changes in Tehran Subway Organization, Hashemi responded that it does not make any difference to him and he will accept any changes. Print media reports recently indicated Tehran Municipality intends to replace the incumbent metro chief with another manager.

Meanwhile, Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad said Metro’s board of directors will decide about managerial changes in Tehran Subway Company."

EC chairman Rafsanjani inspects Imam Khomeini International Airport - Irna

2005-04-29T10:55:00.000-04:00

EC chairman inspects Imam Khomeini International Airport - Irna: "EC chairman inspects Imam Khomeini International Airport Tehran, April 28, IRNA

Imam Airport-EC Chairman
The Chairman of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani inspected Thursday Imam Khomeini
International Airport (IKIA).

Rafsanjani, accompanied by Minister of Roads and Transportation Mohammad Rahmati, inspected various parts of the airport and was briefed on the construction process of the biggest airport in the country.

Rafsanjani, a possible candidate for the 9th presidential election, took part in a briefing session of the administrative managers of IKIA.

In the meeting, he termed displacement of passengers as one of the most important problems in the airport, saying that construction of a metro line could remove this problem.

He also underlined the need for construction of green areas around the airport which is the most prestigious airport in Iran.

The civil aviation authorities announced Wednesday that Iran is set to finally reopen its biggest airport here Saturday which was closed down by armed forces in last May due to some security concerns.

According to civil aviation authorities on Wednesday, Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) will handle all flights on the route between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

"All flights of domestic and foreign companies from Tehran to the United Arab Emirates and vice versa will be carried out from the Imam Khomeini International Airport, effective April 30," the statement said.

Iran's armed forces closed down Imam Khomeini International Airport on May 8, 2004, citing security concerns, just after it was officially inaugurated with the landing of a foreign aircraft.

Officials have said that the IKIA will eventually be able to handle 40 million passengers a year, making Tehran a regional transport hub."

Rafsanjani calls strong parties requirement of democracy

2005-04-26T01:21:00.000-04:00

Rafsanjani-Dem ocracy-Univers /POL/ - Irna: "Rafsanjani calls strong parties requirement of democracy
Tehran, April 24 IRNA -- Expediency Council (EC) chairman, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here late Sunday that strong political parties are factors required for democracy. Meeting separately with 30 Islamic-political student groups of Islamic Azad University and a number of university administrators, he added political student groups are of great importance in the absence of strong parties.

"People in any post can express their idea within the frameworks of law and no one can prevent them from doing so," he said, stressing the role of research and study in promoting the quality of universities.

Referring to women participation in political and social arenas especially in scientific and research sectors after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the senior official noted that Iranian women had changed the negative attitude of public opinion regarding women in society.

He added Iranian women had demonstrated their success in real competitions showing they were not inferior to men in terms of science and knowledge.

Rafsanjani pointed to the development of women under the Islamic Revolution and said the future belonged to competent people.

Analyzing current situation of the region and threats against the Islamic Republic and other countries in the Middle East, he said neither America nor any other power can resist the unification of informed nations.

Asked about his candidacy in the 9th presidential election, Rafsanjani answered "we had expected groups, parties and figures to reach consensus taking into consideration national interests and expediencies of the system.

He further thanked those who have nominated themselves for presidential election based on the sense of responsibility, adding If current situation continue, I will become a candidate for president as a national and Islamic duty."

Tavakkoli Slings Mud in the Majlis

2005-04-24T13:07:00.000-04:00

US fighting Islam under cover of globalization, Rafsanjani - Irna

2005-04-24T09:41:00.000-04:00

US fighting Islam under cover of globalization, Rafsanjani - Irna: "US fighting Islam under cover of globalization, Rafsanjani Tehran, April 24, IRNA
Iran-US-Rafsanjani
The Expediency Council Chief Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Sunday the US embarked on campaign against Islam under the cover of its globalization policy.

He made the remarks in the inauguration ceremony of the 18th International Conference on Islamic Unity.

He urged the Islamic states to truly understand their significant position in today world to be able to confront the US policy.

He believed the current situation in the Islamic world was a sensitive and particular one because the Muslim states were subject to a serious menace.

Saying that following the September 11 incident the real attitude of the hegemonic powers manifested itself in the remarks of the American President George W. Bush who termed the Islamic world as the cradle of terrorism and horror, Rafsanjani added the enemies of Islam with the criminal US on top of the list were manipulating the motto of fighting terrorism and establishing democracy as an excuse to intervene in the internal affairs of the regional countries.

However, he went on to comment, the enemies would fail to achieve their desired goals due to the contradictions they face in their decision makings.

Touching upon the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said the enemies were working under the pretext of advocating democracy while once people take the authority through democratic means they will try to push Americans out of their homes as 'occupiers'.

Referring to the attempts to re-structure the United Nations, he said that many proofs indicated that the hegemonic powers, by proposing the plan, were after consolidating their position in the UN rather than stop their discriminatory attitude and mandatory actions.

The EC chairman recommended the Islamic states to use the opportunity to make their 58 votes in the UN as an influential tool in decision makings.

On Lebanese issue, he criticized the indifferent attitude of the Islamic world towards foreign interventions in Lebanon, the Zionist activities in Palestine and attempts to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rafsanjani noted that the US was pressing Iran in a brutal manner as the focal point of the resistance by the Islamic world and regretted that certain foolish people in the region helped the US in this connection ignorant of the fact that they would be most seriously damaged if Iran is harmed.

The 18th International Conference on Islamic Unity opened here on Sunday on the occasion of the auspicious birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the 6th Imam from his infallible household, Imam Ja'far Sadeq (AS).

The conference is sponsored by the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought and is attended by 120 prominent scientific and cultural personalities of the Islamic World from 34 countries.

Denmark, the United States of America, Britain, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Australia, Qatar, Thailand, Oman, Bahrain, China, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Libya, Kenya, Morocco, Gambia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Senegal, Sudan, Palestine, Jordan and Azerbaijan are among the countries participating at the three-day conference.

Meaning of proximity and its objectives, fundamentals of proximity, world forum for proximity of Islamic schools of thought prophecy and future prospective, background of proximity,
fundamentals, values and policies aimed at proximity and approaches to promotion of proximity are among the subjects to be discussed by the researches and thinkers at the conference.

1424/1416"

Iran's Rafsanjani blames Khatami Government for dissident killings

2005-04-15T15:40:00.000-04:00

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Iran's Rafsanjani blames Khatami for dissident killings: "Iran's Rafsanjani blames Khatami for dissident killings Fri. 15 Apr 2005

Iran Focus

Tehran, Apr. 15 – Iran’s former president Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani accused Mohammad Khatami’s government of having a hand in the 1998 dissident serial murders.

Speaking to a gathering of students north of Tehran, Rafsanjani said, “A crime occurred for which the present government is responsible. They should have answered for it”.

Rafsanjani, who also heads Iran’s State Expediency Council, which arbitrates between the watchdog Guardian Council and the Majlis (Parliament), was answering a question about who was responsible for the chain murders.

At least 120 politically-motivated killings were carried out in Iran in the 1990s. Authorities at the time blamed the gruesome murders on "rogue agents" from Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).

The agents who were allegedly involved in the killings were tried behind closed doors, in what was widely seen as a whitewash by the theocratic regime. The main suspect, Saeed Emani, who was the Deputy Intelligence Minister at the time, was reported to have “committed suicide” in prison."