Speaking this morning before members of "Islamic" councils on the anniversary of his election, mullahs' president Khatami again underscored the need to defend the ruling religious dictatorship.

He said: "What we have achieved... has been with the blessing of Imam [Khomeini's] leadership. If God forbid, the foundations of this monument [velayat-e faqih system] are loosened or slip, the whole monument would collapse. We must carefully and vigilantly take care of it to preserve our achievements."

Khatami added: "The state, the Islamic Republic must not be brought under question... If principles are undermined, nothing would remain about which we could have a debate."

Khatami's remarks reveal his fear of the clerical regime being overthrown. They also demonstrate that he is not a man of reform but some one who is desperately trying to gain a greater share of power within the framework of this religious dictatorship to prevent the "collapse" and the overthrow of the regime.
 
 

Khatami Warns Against Excesses in Search For Freedom, Reuters, May 23

TEHRAN - Mohammad Khatami on Sunday warned that abuse of freedom could undermine clerical rule in the Islamic republic.

Khatami told 100,000 newly-elected local councilors at Tehran's Azadi stadium Iran was going through a sensitive transitional period, which had produced tensions between his supporters and conservatives.

Khatami gave warnings against excesses in the search for freedom, saying liberties would only be allowed within the framework of the supreme clerical rule established in Iran after the revolution.
 
 

Rally in Tehran Marred by Scuffles, Reuters, May 23

TEHRAN - Hard-liners on Sunday attacked a student rally in Tehran marking the second anniversary of Mohammad Khatami's election victory, witnesses said.

Several hard-liners lunged at the podium in Tehran's Laleh Park, where a leader of the Office to Consolidate Unity was addressing a crowd of around 5,000 people, the witnesses said.

Plainclothes police pulled away the attackers, as the demonstrators shouted "Death to despotism."

The students also denounced some conservative leaders, including judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi and the head of the private Azad Universities, Abdollah Jasbi.
 
 

Khatami Dogged by Economic Failure, Agence France Presse, May 22

TEHRAN - As Mohammad Khatami celebrates the second anniversary of his election Sunday, the huge problems bogging down Iran's economy remain unresolved -- a currency in free fall, high inflation and almost 100 percent dependence on oil.

Khatami, a religious scholar, is no scholar when it comes to figures, and it shows. Nearly half way through his term, he has still not managed to come up with a clear economic policy.

"His government is being pulled in two directions at once, by those who want him to open up to the outside world, and a by left wing that favors state control as decreed in the 1980s," a Tehran-based Western businessman told AFP.

The climate of indecision and the deterioration of the economic situation are a gift for the conservatives in their attacks on the government.

"Since Mr. Khatami's election, no laws dealing with the economy have been submitted to parliament, apart from the annual budget," Mohammad Reza Bahonar, one of the conservative heavyweights, said in parliament recently.

Bahonar lambasted Khatami's government for being "active in the cultural and political fields, and asleep as far as the economic sector is concerned."

"It seems the cultural and political ministers are setting the agenda and those responsible for economic affairs are simply cheering them on," he said.

Officially unemployment stands at 14 percent, although many experts consider this an underestimate. Every year another 800,000 young people arrive on the job market, which is unable to satisfy the demand.

Inflation, though hard to measure, is presumed to be between 20 and 30 percent at current trends, and personal income is failing to keep up.

While it is true that some large scale contracts have been concluded with oil companies… for offshore deposits in the Gulf, foreign investment is still limited as a result both of Iran's protectionist legislation, and an unwillingness to put money into a country regarded as risky and subject to US sanctions.

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