The head of the clerical regime’s highest state body admitted in Tehran’s Friday prayers today that the series of uprising in Tehran and other Iranian cities were "an unprecedented calamity in our society." Rafsanjani likened the uprising to the National Liberation Army’s biggest offensive in 1988, which took it to the gates of Kermanshah (western Iran). "The counter-revolutionaries’ move this time was like the (Mojahedin’s operation in 1988)," said Rafsanjani.

The head of the State Expediency Council said: "In any case, we suffered a loss. Political groups suffered losses, even the sacred institution of the Supreme Leader suffered losses."

Rafsanjani underscored the complicity of Khamenei and Khatami in the bloody suppression of pro-democracy protests and uprising, adding: "We must give the highest marks for containing these (demonstrations) to the Leader and then to the Supreme National Security Council headed and led by President Khatami, which worked very effectively."

Rafsanjani said: "The repercussions of (the uprising) may be long-term. Politically, this is a minus mark for us on the international scene. Economically, we may lose a lot. The specter of instability will force investors, especially long-term investors, to hold back. It reduces foreign and domestic investment and the world will see Iran as a higher-risk category."
 
 

Iran Dailies Face Court for Issuing "Secret" Letter, Reuter, July 24

TEHRAN - The head of Tehran's judiciary has summoned the directors of two Iranian newspapers to appear in court for publishing a classified letter critical of Mohammad Khatami, newspapers reported on Saturday.

The justice department head, Ali Razini, on Thursday ordered directors of the hard-line daily Kayhan and the head of the youth daily Javan to appear within three days.

A third publication which carried the letter, the conservative Jomhuri-ye Eslami, was not summoned because it is headed by a cleric, and any action would have to be heard before the Special Court for Clergy, daily Arya said.

On Wednesday, the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry forwarded complaints against the newspapers after they carried a Revolutionary Guards' letter.

The ministry argued the letter was an internal document.

Earlier this month, the hard-line Special Court for Clergy closed the daily Salam for publishing what the court said was a classified document outlining a plan by conservatives to muzzle the pro-Khatami press.

In the Revolutionary Guards' letter to Khatami, 24 commanders warned that their patience with any challenge to Iran's Islamic system was running out.
 
 

Hard-Line Movement Demands Weapons, The Washington Times, July 25

TEHRAN - The Ansar-e Hezbollah, a movement of hardline zealots that is feared by many Iranians, has issued a call to arms to protect the Islamic system.

The group, widely seen as working hand-in-glove with the security services to crush this month's pro-democracy protests, says the time has come to provide the movement with arms and "revolutionary" powers to finish off "liberals" who question the supreme rule of the clergy.

"The recent events show that it is completely necessary to strengthen the Basij [Islamic militia] and the Hezbollah. This is a strategic necessity for the system," the group declared in the current issue of Ya Lesarat al-Hosein, its monthly organ….

The Ansar-e Hezbollah -- or Supporters of the Party of God -- also demanded special powers to enter homes, businesses and offices in pursuit of counter-revolutionary forces.

"We are now facing the best opportunity to relieve our revolutionary people of those evil elements who are better dead than alive. We must not miss this opportunity," the unsigned essay said….
 
 

Iranian Arrested in Berlin on Spy Charges Against Exiles, Associated Press, July 24

BERLIN - Prosecutors have arrested an Iranian man accused of infiltrating Iranian opposition groups in Germany, a magazine reported Saturday.

The man, a former student, was arrested in mid-July in Berlin and is being held on spy charges, Der Spiegel said, without citing sources.

The magazine said German officials had intercepted radio transmissions from the agent to his employer in Iran. It said prosecutors had also brought charges early this year against another suspected "mole" in the Iranian exile opposition movement.

Both cases were being handled discretely to avoid further straining German-Iranian ties, which soured after a Berlin court ruled in 1997 that Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and then-President Hashemi Rafsanjani had ordered the 1992 murders of four opposition figures in a Berlin restaurant.

Back to Brief on Iran