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TEHRAN - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Sunday accused some newspapers of distorting recent comments by their commander Yahya Rahim Safavi, who reportedly threatened to crack down on a wave of internal dissent and criticism.
"What has been said in certain newspapers and used by certain political currents to sensitize the atmosphere is a distorted and defective version of a secret and private conversation among the Guards commanders on security issues," the Revolutionary Guards, said in a statement.
Published in Kayhan newspaper, it warned that the information had been leaked "without due attention to the classified and security nature of the exchanges," which took place in the holy city of Qom, last Monday.
Several newspapers published Safavi's alleged comments last week, in which he threatened to "root out anti-revolutionaries wherever they are."
"We have to behead some and cut off the tongues of others. Our language is our sword. We will expose these cowards," he was quoted as saying.
"Do you think the country has no laws and you can say whatever you like," said Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, a former chief prosecutor known as the 'hanging judge' because he ordered many executions after the 1979 revolution.
[According to a report by Reuter from Tehran: One pro-Khatami cleric, Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, a well-known radical, told the daily Salam that the comments "smacked of a coup d'etat."]
Despite its denial of remarks attributed to Safavi, the Revolutionary Guards sounded a warning to "the press and poisonous and suspicious pens that misuse the new atmosphere of tolerance to inculcate their sick and contaminated ideas."
"We warn you to abandon this unseemly trend which seeks to deflect the public opinion from plots and hostile intentions from Iran's sworn enemies and create tension and division in the ranks of the people," it said.
[On May 4, Iran Zamin News Agency reprted that feuding in recent days have caused greater instability within the ranks of the Guards Corps and has expedited the trend of defections within the force. In recent months, the Guards CIC, two members of its General Command and 150 senior officers have quit.
[Reports from Tehran say the vague
stance and implicit retreat by the Guards Corps will not leash the escalating
crisis. The rival faction is said to have obtained a tape recording of
Safavi's remarks, according to IZNA.]
Editor to Face Stoning - Paper, Reuter, May 2
TEHRAN - A prominent Iranian journalist, arrested on spying charges, may face stoning on an additional charge of adultery, a newspaper said on Saturday.
"It is said that the time of the execution of the sentence (stoning) of former Iran News editor Morteza Firoozi has been determined, and with its final confirmation, the sentence is ready to be executed," the daily Qods newspaper said on Saturday.
"The imprisonment sentence for Firoozi's spying for Japan, South Korea and France, and the stoning sentence for his moral corruption have already been issued, but the judiciary officials have not agreed with the carrying out of the sentences yet," the Qods said.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami reportedly intervened in the case in February, a newspaper said.
Iran to Build New Prisons, Agence France
Presse, May 3
TEHRAN - Iran plans to build several new prisons to cope with the soaring number of people arrested on drug-related charges who now make up nearly half of the inmates, newspapers said Sunday.
The decision was announced by the judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, at a meeting Saturday with prison officials and disciplinary experts.
A prison official, who was not identified, said 43 projects were underway to build new prisons and make changes in existing facilities.
He also unveiled plans to transfer
some prisons from cities to the periphery.
Iran Said to Claim Air-to-Air Arm, Associated Press, May 1
LONDON - Iran claims to have adapted U.S.-made surface-to-air missiles for air-to-air combat, a development that, if true, could substantially increase Tehran's missile inventory, Jane's Defense Weekly reported.
The weekly magazine published photos this week of an SM1 Standard missile on an Iranian F-4 Phantom II fighter bomber and a Hawk missile on an Iranian F-14 Tomcat. Both missiles are still used by the U.S. military -- but not for air-to-air operations.
Recent U.S. intelligence reports indicate Iran may be no more than 18 months from testing and fielding two tactical ballistic missiles with ranges of between 500 miles and 800 miles -- a range that could reach both Israel and the Persian Gulf.