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WASHINGTON - The exiled son of a top Iranian official slammed the leadership of his native country and told Voice of America radio that Tehran continued supporting international terrorist activities.
Ahmad Rezai, son of former commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezai, told VOA's Persian-language broadcast late Thursday that Iran was "sponsoring terrorism around the world".
"Sometimes Iran gives them (parties in Lebanon) money and they purchase the weapons themselves and other times Iran -- through coordination at border posts in Turkey and Syria -- sends them weaponry," Rezai said according to a translation of the transcript.
[Commenting on this issue, a Mojahedin press spokesman stated that Reza'i's exposure of a glimpse of the crimes and corruption within the regime reflects the vast dimensions of the ruling mullahs' plunder of the Iranian people's wealth.
[The spokesman noted: The fact that the son of the ex-commandant general of the Guards Corps who in the last 19 years has been one of the top officials responsible for the mass killings, warmongering and export of terrorism beyond Iran's borders, has sought asylum is one more indication that the ruling theocracy is faltering and devoid of any future. It is also reminiscent of the last phase of the shah's regime.]
Official's Son Denies He Was Kidnapped, Agence France Presse, July 4
WASHINGTON - The son of a top Iranian official denied Saturday claims by the official Iranian news agency that he was "kidnapped" and forced to criticize the Iranian government.
Speaking on the Voice of America (VOA), Ahmad Rezai, 21, also said there was "no truth" to the report carried by IRNA, the Iranian government news agency, that he had phoned his brother in Tehran.
"The US had nothing to do with my coming here," he said. "I went through a lot of hardship to get to Austria, and there I could get asylum for entry to America."
Ahmad Rezai accused the Iranian government of grasping for a way to explain his fleeing the country to the Iranian people.
[Reuters has quoted Rezai as saying: "The (Iranian) regime is exploiting the people and they try to mislead the nation by misusing the religion, God and prophets and using Islam as a toy making many people hate Islam." "This is a dirty regime, chaining the Iranian citizens, keeping them hungry. People are weak and oppressed," he added.]
Ruling Faction Launches Another Attack on Khatami, Reuter, July 5
TEHRAN - Iranian conservatives have launched a broad attack on President Khatami's political agenda, saying Iran's economic crisis must be addressed first.
"Today political development is of fourth or fifth degree of importance. Economic problems are of primary importance," Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, head of the judiciary, said on Friday.
"Political development has its own place, but the state of our society's economy is most important right now," Yazdi said.
His comments were echoed on Sunday by Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, the speaker of parliament.
"Today our real problems are inflation, low oil prices and unemployment," Nateq-Nouri said.
Neither Yazdi nor Nateq-Nouri criticized the popular president by name, but their attacks on "political development" left no doubt among pro-Khatami forces just what is at stake.
Recent weeks have seen the political factionalism break into the open, with the Tehran mayor's corruption trial, the recent impeachment of the president's interior minister and pressure to close some newspapers.
Khatami: Opposing Velayat-E Faqih Is Opposing the System's Raison D'être, Iran Zamin News Agency, July 5
In an obvious retreat in the face of attacks by Khamenei's faction, mullahs' president Mohammad Khatami stressed the need to conform to the principle of velayat-e faqih (supremacy of religious leadership), yesterday.
Khatami reiterated on the state-controlled television yesterday that "velayat-e faqih is the axis and pillar of the state," adding, "velayat-e faqih is the raison d'être of our state. As such, opposing it... is to oppose the fundamentals and pillar of the state." "No state would tolerate assaults on its principles and pillars," he said.
Khatami also condemned slogans in recent weeks by different sectors of society, including students, against the totality of the regime and especially against the leaders of the ruling faction. He said: "I really find slogans in different gatherings, including at the Friday prayer congregations, religious seminaries or university centers ... as being very dangerous... All attitudes and tendencies should work to safeguard and strengthen the state and secure the sanctity of its leader and pillars."
Khatami's comments yesterday reaffirm that he is part and parcel of the ruling theocracy.