The Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Guards announced yesterday that 50,000 members of the Guards Corps and the paramilitary Bassij would be holding a "combat encampment" in East Tehran for three days beginning on Wednesday, August 4.

"The exercises are aimed at strengthening the security of Tehran, raising combat readiness to take on any threat from enemies of the Islamic revolution... and to disappoint the internal and external enemies," Safavi said.

In another development, the chief of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Courts vowed yesterday that more arrests were underway, while saying that in Tehran alone 1,500 people had been arrested during the uprising. Gholamhossein Rahbarpour said: "Those who made speeches and issued communiqués to incite and instigate riots and disturbed the peace of the public will be summoned to the court as accused and they will be investigated." Paving the way for more arrests, Rahbarpour said that "all the detainees who have been released so far may be rearrested."
 
 

Clerics' Supreme Leader and President in Full Accordance Over Demonstrations, Reuter, July 30

TEHRAN - Iran's supreme leader on Friday blamed the "hidden hands" of the United States for this month's pro-democracy unrest.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told worshippers at Friday prayers that the suppression of six days of protests in Tehran showed that Iran would not bow to U.S. attempts to restore its influence.

He also dismissed talk of serious differences in the leadership, widely seen as divided into reformers grouped around Mohammad Khatami and conservatives surrounding the institution of supreme clerical rule, represented by Khamenei.

The Iranian establishment, shaken by some of the worst unrest since the revolution, has largely blamed the troubles on isolated student leaders acting at the behest of hostile powers.

A series of televised confessions have painted a picture of student demonstrations hijacked by outside agitators seeking an end to Iran's Islamic system.

Khatami has so far largely endorsed that view, dismissing many of the protesters as "deviant elements" and backing the crackdown on public dissent.

"They tried to say that there is an ongoing political power struggle in Iran. I can absolutely assure you there is no such thing… The political stances of all the heads of the branches of government, specifically the president, are approved and supported 100 percent by me. I am resolutely supporting the heads of the three branches, and the president personally," Khamenei said.

Under Iran's Islamic system, the elected president has limited powers. He lacks final control over foreign relations, the armed forces or the police and security apparatus. His election must be endorsed by the leader, who is appointed by senior clerics.
 
 

More Deaths From Unrest, Reuter, August 1

TEHRAN - A man wounded during a police attack on a student dormitory in Tehran in July has died in hospital, an Iranian newspaper reported on Saturday.

Mahmoud Khabasian, a businessman in his 50s, died in hospital from a gunshot to his head, the daily Khordad said.

Khabasian, who was passing-by the dormitory complex, had been in critical condition at a Tehran hospital.

Khabasian's brother suffered a stroke and died when told of his brother's death. Both brothers were buried in their hometown of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran on Thursday.

Another man wounded by gunfire during six days of Iranian social unrest has died in hospital, the newspaper reported on Sunday.

Khordad said Faraj-zadeh, a 53-year-old laborer, was shot in the neck on July 13 in Tehran's business district and died after seven days in hospital.

The daily Sobh-e Emrooz on Saturday quoted students as saying at least 12 of their classmates had gone missing during and after the police attack.
 
 

Mullahs Resort to Political Extortion Again, German Businessman Back in Jail, Reuter, August 1

TEHRAN - A German businessman, on bail after being charged with having illicit sexual relations with a Moslem woman, was returned to prison on Sunday.

His return to prison follows the announcement last week that German authorities had arrested an Iranian national for allegedly spying on Iranian dissidents in Germany.

Germany had been Iran's biggest trading partner until 1996, when a German court in Berlin found that Iranian officials had ordered the murder of Iranian Kurdish dissidents in a local restaurant.

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