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Challenging his opponents, Montazeri has stated that he was the one who originally wrote the velayat-e faqih doctrine and no one can match his authority on this matter.
Simultaneously, in a letter to Mohammad Khatami, the regime's new president,
Montazeri wrote: "You are a weak administrator. While you cannot run the
country, ... and safeguard its security, how are you going to hold the
summit of the leaders of Muslim countries?... Have you thought about guaranteeing
their safety?"
Rafsanjani Defends Khamenei's Supremacy,
Agence France Presse,
November 28
TEHRAN - Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday
defended the supremacy of leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against recent
challenges, saying his power was in the best interests of the country.
"Our dear leader has had a truly shining performance. He took control of a wrecked country eight years ago and has made it into a prosperous and strong state," Rafsanjani said in a speech at Tehran University.
"Let's not raise questions about the essence and strong pillar
of the revolution and make our enemies happy," said Rafsanjani. He was
responding to recent challenges posed to Velayat-Faqih, the post of
supreme Islamic ruler occupied by Khamenei.
"Let's not try to find faults and create a sense of anxiety in
the society. We need Velayat in the future," he warned.
[Commenting on Rafsanjani's remarks, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President
of the NCR, said: Neither Rafsanjani's support for Khamenei, nor Khamenei's
threats against Montazeri and dissident clergymen, can alleviate the regime's
crises. The crises will further aggravate, just as the shah's schemes in
the final months of his rule only expedited the overthrow of his regime.]
Police Arrest Loosely Veiled Women In Tehran,
Agence France Presse,
November 30
TEHRAN - Police rounded up a number of women in the Iranian capital
on Sunday after accusing them of failing to conform to the Islamic dress
code in force since the 1979 revolution, witnesses said.
In the northern district of Vanak, several young women wearing
colorful scarves and light makeup were forced to board a police bus waiting
outside a shopping mall to take them to a special center which deals with
"social vices."
Overview
The officials said they had identified more than 200 Iranian agents who they believe have quietly and methodically insinuated themselves into Bosnian Muslim political and social circles. Their aim appears to be both gathering information and thwarting Western interests in Bosnia...
According to the officials, the Iranian agents are collaborating closely with a pro-Iranian faction within Bosnia's intelligence service. In separate interviews, six current and former officers of the Bosnian agency described a struggle within their organization over whether to forge closer links with Iran...
But Western intelligence officers in Bosnia are much more alarmed. They say many of the Iranian agents are already working to turn Bosnia's Muslim political and religious leaders against the West. The Iranian agents, they said, would be helpful in planning terrorist attacks against NATO forces or targets in Europe.
And European diplomats said that even a few well-placed agents in the program could easily sow dissension between Muslim and ethnic Croat officers...
Western officials say Iran's intelligence operations go well beyond the training program, and appear to be aimed at influencing a broad range of Bosnian institutions. The agents are being discreet for the moment, the officials said, dispersed as ordinary orkers among charities, news agencies and even a chain of hamburger shops controlled by the Iranian intelligence service. "This is a classic intelligence program," said a NATO military intelligence officer. "Most of them are getting into place, waiting for the moment to be more active."
Western intelligence officials say the second in command of the Iranian spy network is Abbas Asaysh, the Bosnian bureau chief of Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency.
In an interview, Asaysh said his bureau had only five journalists. But NATO press officers say they have issued credentials to 19 Iranians assigned to the bureau. The Western officials said they are confident in their identification of Asaysh as an Iranian intelligence officer...