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The National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement on Tuesday indicating that the state-controlled press reported that mullah Sadeq Khalkhali had announced he will not run for a seat in the Assembly of Experts.
In an interview with pro-Khatami daily, Kar-o Kargar, Khalkhali said "approving a number of unqualified individuals as candidates for the Assembly of Experts and rejecting others who are qualified," are among reasons for his decision not to run.
Khalkhali executed thousands of people upon Khomeini's orders and is the third mullah close to Khatami who decided not to run for the Assembly of Experts elections.
With the elections only days away, power struggle among the ruling factions has reached a critical point. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has emphasized that participation in the elections is more important than the election of individuals. Rafsanjani and the state radio and television have backed Khamenei and endorsed the performance of the Guardians Council. The rival faction is countering by having several important mullahs withdrawing their nominations to put pressure on the Khamenei faction. In last Sunday's session of the Majlis, several deputies from Khamenei's faction led unprecedented personal attacks on Khatami, whom they blamed for the government's incompetence in dealing with the country's economic woes.
Meanwhile, Khatami continues to maintain complete silence on the "most important election" in the regime. Without mentioning the watchdog Guardians Council by name, Khatami today criticized the Council's partial stance in favor of Khamenei's faction.
Paraguay Nabs Iranian Suspect, Agence France Presse, October 9
ASUNCION—Paraguay's anti-terrorist police caught an Iranian trying to gain access to the Israeli embassy in central Asuncion Thursday, a local newspaper reported Friday.
Tehran-born Muhammad Astaraki, 24, was trying to spy on the movements inside the compound, presumably with terrorist intent, the police told ABC newspaper.
"We don't know his intentions but we suspect that he was trying to check out the premises," said police sources, who admitted that for lack of proof Astaraki would only be expelled from the country after being questioned.
At the time of his capture, Astaraki, who lived in Brazil near the frontier with Paraguay, was holding an Iranian passport issued in Brasilia and tickets to Iran via the Netherlands.
The anti-terrorist police of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil have been working together for months to identify Islamic suspects in the zone where their frontiers meet.
Argentine authorities have attributed the bloody attacks against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 and a Jewish community center there in 1994 to Iranian extremists.
Power Struggle and Rushdie's Case, Reuter, October 14
Khamenei supporters, inflamed by any possible threat to the state's "Islamic" principles, have turned their anger on last month's diplomatic deal with Britain over the Salman Rushdie affair.
An Iranian press report that a religious foundation has upped the price on Rushdie's head to $2.8 million touched off new fears for the author's life despite what British officials earlier billed as an accord that would ensure his safety.
Another group, meanwhile, announced it would collect an additional $333,000, payable to the assassin or, in the event of his death, to his family.
Khamenei's faction have tried to exploit the government's diplomacy to assert their hold on domestic politics. The real issue is not Rushdie but the balance of power between the two factions in today's Iran.
Renewed talk of blood money, however, has set off alarm bells in London, where officials said Foreign Secretary Robin Cook was preparing to meet Rushdie to review the matter.
Kyrgyz Say Seize Iran Arms Train Bound for Anti-Taleban Forces, Reuter, October 13
BISHKEK—Kyrgyzstan's secret police have seized about 700 tons of military ammunition on its way from Iran to Afghanistan's anti-Taleban opposition, National Security Minister Misir Ashirkulov said on Tuesday.
Ashirkulov said a transit train with the cargo had been intercepted on the night of October 10 in the town of Osh in the ex-Soviet state's south.
"Security agents found the ammunition among a humanitarian cargo transiting from Iran to Afghanistan via Kyrgyzstan," he said.
A local daily said its reporters on the scene had seen hand grenades, anti-tank mines, cartridges, cannon shells and mortar bombs.