Back to Brief on Iran
Despite the regime's year-long effort to ensure maximum participation in the OIC summit, the majority of heads of Islamic states are expected to stay away from the Tehran summit. 18 foreign ministers did not attend the foreign ministers’ meeting, scheduled to begin yesterday morning but delayed until the afternoon.
Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, welcomed the non-participation of many of the heads of Islamic states. He called on other Islamic leaders to boycott the summit as a show of solidarity by the Islamic world with the Iranian people who are under the yoke of the mullahs' anti-Islamic regime.
The Tehran summit coincides with a fierce power struggle at the highest leadership levels and while society is in an explosive state. The regime's officials are so concerned about the security of the conference and of the guests that they have assigned Tehran's security to the Guards Corps and taken the unprecedented measure of imposing a de facto curfew on the capital.
The clerical regime has publicly ordered all taxi drivers in Tehran to report the names, routes and destination of all foreign passengers, especially journalists, to the authorities. This is a bid to deny foreign reporters free access to different parts of the capital.
In addition to the Guards Corps, the regime has brought in 4,000 members of the State Security Forces from other cities to thwart the outbreak of protests in Tehran. It has deployed a considerable number of helicopters to patrol the capital. The regime has also set up Guards bases throughout Tehran to prevent any form of gathering, even of three people.
Power Struggle Behind A Facade of Unity on Eve of
Summit, Reuter, December 7
Behind a facade of unity on display to welcome Islamic world leaders to Iran this week, a power struggle over the future of this Islamic republic is waiting to erupt again.
It has sought to keep a lid, at least for the duration of the conference, on internal political and religious tension over challenges to the authority of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In a surprise development, conference spokesman Zarif announced overnight that Khamenei would inaugurate the summit, rather than new President Mohammad Khatami. Khatami controls government ministries but not the police. His speeches are sometimes censored by state television.
Schools, universities and most offices
in Tehran have been closed for the week. Revolutionary Guards put in charge
of security, including bodyguards, policing and air cover, have also beefed
up security in other major cities including Mashhad, Isfahan and Shiraz.
Iran Looks To Score Points At Summit, Associated Press, December 6
TEHRAN - Delegates from 55 Islamic nations across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia will gather next week to discuss issues including trade, relations among member countries and whether to denounce the United States, Israel or Muslim nations with ties to Israel.
However, with key U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey participating, Iran is unlikely to get the support it would need for a denunciation of the United States.
A senior Iranian cleric, however, said Muslims worldwide expect participants to unite against America and Israel. "The two greatest problems of the Muslim world are Israel and the United States," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told tens of thousands attending Friday prayers.
Signs of Iran's fervor remain. Down the street from the conference hall, a sign read, "Islam humiliates and downgrades the superpowers."
And Saturday's editorial in the hard-line Jomhuri Islami newspaper derided Egypt, Jordan and Morocco as "official lackeys of the United States and tools of the Zionists."
Moslem Leaders to Test Mullahs’ "Charm Offensive",
Reuter, December 5
KUWAIT - Some of Iran's critics in the Gulf have responded favourably to its recent "charm offensive." Others say Khatami has only made positive statements but taken no real steps to ease fears over Tehran's ambitious armament programme.
"Yes, he (Khatami) is a moderate but a moderate within an Iranian context. He is a clergyman from within the system," said an Arab diplomat.
A Gulf-based Western diplomat said despite some slight improvement in ties, including those with Saudi Arabia, "let us not kid ourselves, there is always going to be tension and the two sides will not fully embrace and resolve all their issues."
He added, Gulf states "have to remember who they are improving ties with -- a country which backs terrorism, is developing mass destruction arms and has a terrible human rights record. Are these the people you want to be friends with?"
"What have the Iranians done so far? ...A lot of good words, and we appreciate the words, but no real steps. Khatami is living in an amorphous power structure where he does not have absolute power. The West needs concrete public steps," the Gulf-based diplomat said.