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Uphill Battle in Iran: Trying to Keep '79 Revolution Alive, The New York Times, February 5
TEHERAN, Iran -- These are the "days of dawn," the 10 heady days that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini back from exile, saw the collapse of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's regime and are celebrated this week across Iran in observance of the 20th anniversary of the Islamic revolution…
… But today, disillusioned by a generation of experience and emboldened by new political ferment, millions of Iranians from all walks of life now feel cut adrift, regarding the revolution as no longer relevant to today's problems.
In scores of interviews around Iran in the last two months, those were sentiments voiced by clerks, cleaners, farmers, professionals and others in big cities like Teheran and rural areas in the farmland around the northwestern city of Tabriz…
… Khatami remains part of that establishment, as signified by the black clerical turban without which he almost certainly would not have been elected. And even he has expressed concern that Iranians might be tempted to turn away from the past and to discard cornerstones just 20 years old.
"Poisonous winds are blowing inside and outside the country," Khatami warned in one anniversary address the other day, "and enemies are attempting to separate you from the Islamic Revolution and the system."
The president did not elaborate. But in recent months, Iran has appeared increasingly troubled, as the murders of dissident writers were revealed to have been carried out by rogue intelligence agents, prompting public protests that in turn met with violence from unpoliced thugs. …
To questions about why the revolution took place, Ayatollah Khomenei and others have pointed to corruption under the shah and to what they have suggested was Iran's old place as an outpost of the United States.
Yet no mention is being made of the darker side of a revolution that others remember with horror. More than 10,000 people, including some of Ayatollah Khomeini's own aides, were executed in a wave of terror that followed his return.
Nor has mention been made of the economy's downward turn in the years that followed the revolution, in a country where high oil prices and a much smaller population had created prosperity under the shah.
… in the conversations around Iran
this year, the state of the economy was a constant theme of the many people
who said that on the anniversary of the revolution, they saw little to
celebrate…
Regime's Foreign Minister Cancels Speech in France, Agence France-Presse, February 6
TEHRAN - Iran said Saturday that lax security led Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi to make a surprise cancellation of a speech on the last day of his French trip on Wednesday.
"The fact that French police were unable to ensure security and organizers did not make the necessary preparations led Mr. Kharazi to cancel his speech" to the French Institute of International Relations, the official IRNA news agency said.
IRNA said "eyewitnesses" confirmed that "hostile elements… were there to interrupt the minister's speech."
Dozens protesters, supporters of the main Iranian opposition movement, the People's Mujahedeen, demonstrated outside the institute.
The minister made a last minute cancellation
citing "lack of time," though one of the organizers said the move was "unacceptable."
Iran to Test New Missile, Agence France Presse, February 7
TEHRAN - Iran announced on Sunday that it is to test the motor for a new space rocket, just six months after the successful launch of a medium-range missile sparked concern in the United States and Israel.
The test will be carried out by the armed forces on Tuesday, just two days before 20th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani told a news conference here.
Last July Iran successfully launched the Shahab-3 missile, with a range of 800 miles, prompting acute fears in the United States and Israel which lies within the missile's range.
Shamkhani said that the Shahab-3, which is currently on display at an anniversary exhibition of military equipment at the capital's international fair ground, had given Iran a "real deterrent punch."
He did not specify the nature of the satellite Iran intended to put into space although late last month parliament approved a budget appropriation for the launch of telecommunications satellites.
MPs authorized up to 300 million dollars of foreign loans during the coming financial year starting March 21 to pay for the purchase and launch of a telecommunications satellite.
The borrowing was approved even though most other items of government expenditure were sharply cut as part of an austerity package intended to tackle a mounting economic crisis here sparked by a sharp fall in the price of Iran's main export oil.