Back to Brief on Iran
BAGHDAD - The past year was "a year of successive failures" for Tehran, the Iranian Resistance said in a statement marking the Iranian New Year Saturday.
"At least 216 student demonstrations, workers’ strikes and popular uprisings and sit-ins took place over the last year," Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi said in the statement received here.
The group had organized "two series of nationwide activities in June and October covering 181 cities in the first and 238 cities in the second round with their publicity campaigns," he said.
"Two thousand parliamentarians and 1,500 distinguished personalities from 18 countries issued declarations in support" of the Iranian opposition, he said.
Tehran’s "violations of human rights and export of terrorism were condemned in 51 resolutions and statements by various international bodies," he said.
Rajavi said that mid-term parliamentary elections earlier this month had been "fully boycotted by Iranians."
He said that even Tehran admitted that it "did not have any plans for confronting the catastrophic conditions of the economy, and this will further prepare the grounds for more uprisings and protests."
The statement said that the opposition leader had addressed members of the group’s military wing at a New Year’s Eve party Friday night at one of its camps on the Iraqi border.
The Iranian Resistance maintains a series of military camps in the central part of the Iran-Iraq border.
Rafsanjani Appeals for Calm in Factional Fighting,
Agence France Presse, March 20
TEHRAN - Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday appealed for calm in raging factional quarrels in the Islamic republic, warning that the disputes could be misinterpreted abroad.
"Free debate and criticism is a good and constructive thing. It makes a society progress," Rafsanjani said in a speech before the weekly Moslem prayers at Tehran University.
"But let’s avoid nervous controversies. We have to know our limits and abide by the general norms of political courtesy," added the former president, who is still influential as a top advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Wednesday, a conservative MP slapped
another deputy during a session of parliament in which Interior Minister
Abdollah Nuri had been summoned to explain why he allowed a memorial service
to be held for a late opposition leader.
Low Oil Prices Hurt Some Economies, Associated Press, March 22
Plummeting crude prices have begun to wreak havoc in the economies of the world's oil-producing nations.
Governments are slashing budgets, companies are scrapping investment and citizens from Quito to Tehran are preparing for hard times.
"Our economy is built on oil, so we are bracing for a real depression," said an Iranian businessman.
Iran has said it loses $1 billion a year for every $1 drop in the price of oil. Saddled with nearly $17 billion in foreign debt, the government has doubled import duties to slow foreign purchases. Omid Rostamani, the businessman, said his civil engineering firm has canceled projects. "Just about all businesses have begun to retrench," he said.
Iran's "Enemies" Behind Oil Price Fall - Khamenei,
Reuter, March 20
TEHRAN - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday blamed enemies and "uninformed friends" for plummeting oil prices that have spiraled to nine-year lows, Iran's official news agency (IRNA) said.
"One such act has been the reduction in the price of oil...The plot has been truly by our enemies, but then, too, our enemies have also been aided by uninformed friends," Khamenei said in an address to the nation on the eve of Iran's new year.
Khamenei said these "uninformed friends...adopted wrong decisions, and of course they were aided and abetted by our enemies."
Khamenei did not say who the friends or enemies were. But Iranian analysts had said Khamenei and other senior officials blame last December's OPEC decision to raise its production ceiling for the plummeting oil prices.
Growing dissatisfaction over the economy -- plagued by looming recession, inflation, and high unemployment -- was exacerbated by worries over the price of oil, analysts said.
Khamenei attempted to dispel concerns that tighter spending and consumption could lead to economic austerity.
"This is not to invite the people to any period of economic austerity. We are not compelled to do that," Khamenei said.
Last week Iran's president, Mohammad Khatami, said Iran faces the new year with "a sick economy."
He said Iran's economy suffered from major income disparities, a tendency towards speculative activities rather than production and over-reliance on oil exports.
Basic shortages of goods and rising prices have been frequent complaints in recent weeks, Iran's media has reported.