Back to Brief on Iran
Tehran—Iran's hard-line newspapers broke two days of silence Wednesday over their president's call for a dialogue with the American people, pouring scorn on the United States.
One newspaper said the United States was Iran's No. 1 enemy. Another said President Mohammad Khatami's remark did not signal a change in Iran's anti-Western policy.
"There are no grounds for the improvement of relations with the United States," said the Jomhuri Islami newspaper, the mouthpiece of hard-liners opposed to the moderate Khatami….
The hard-line press did not respond immediately to Khatami's remark. Previously it had branded anyone calling for better relations with the United States a traitor.
On Wednesday, Jomhuri Islami reaffirmed the conventional line with a headline that said: "The United States remains the No. 1 enemy of the Iranian nation."
The English-language Kayhan International, meanwhile, said Khatami's proposal was neither new nor did it indicate a policy shift….
Skeptical Ayatollah Faces Treason Charge,
International Herald Tribune, December 17
QUM, Iran—Clerical authorities are hinting that they intend to press treason charges against Ayatollah Ali Montazeri, a prominent theologian who challenged the credentials of Iran's religious leadership, signaling that they will not yield any of their power despite the hopes raised last spring when a moderate was elected president.
A prominent theologian in this holy city of Qum, Ayatollah Montazeri issued the challenge by questioning the credentials of an old rival who now leads the religious establishment….
His challenge in November set off days of demonstrations here and across Iran as conservative Iranians rallied behind his rival, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, now the supreme leader.
Ayatollah Khamenei and his allies have since directed their supporters to end the protests, perhaps hoping to veil signs of internal tensions at least during the recent summit meeting of Islamic countries in Tehran.
But they have also indicated that they intend to try Ayatollah Montazeri on treason charges. Some of their criticisms have been echoed even by backers of President Mohammed Khatami….
Conviction of treason carries a maximum penalty of death, and its very mention appears intended to drive home the message that no one should dare threaten the supremacy of Ayatollah Khamenei, 58….
…Already, in response to Ayatollah Montazeri's statements, a special court dealing with crimes committed by clerics has closed offices maintained by him and his followers in the holy city of Meshed, in northeastern Iran….
Iran's Power Battle Intensifies, Daily
Telegraph, December 16
…The [arrest of Ibrahim Yazdi] appeared to be an attempt by hard-liners to undermine the new Iranian president's policy of improving ties with the West. The semi-tolerated Iran Freedom Movement said last night that Ibrahim Yazdi, its leader, was called in on Sunday for questioning by prosecutors of the Revolutionary Court….
Observers believe that the challenge
came directly from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader, who
is engaged in an increasingly bitter power struggle with his own president.
Since August, Iran's police force has been removed from the control of
the country's interior minister, an appointee and key ally of the president,
and is now thought to be under the control of Ayatollah Khamenei. Under
Iran's Islamic constitution, final authority rests with the leader, rather
than with the president….
Plans To Build "Unconventional Warfare" Tank, Jane's Defence Weekly, December 17
Iran will soon start producing a new light tank and its navy plans to build three multi-role destroyers and a small submarine, according to the country's senior military officers….
Brig Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) ground forces, said that the new light tank, the Towsan (meaning `Wild Horse'), was armed with a 90mm gun and an advanced fire-control system.
He said the tank was designed for "unconventional warfare" but did not elaborate….