On Saturday morning, an extensive clash broke out between the Mojahedin and the clerical regime's intelligence, security and police forces in the city of Abdanan, southeast of the city of Ilam. Dozens of enemy forces were killed or wounded.

Dozens of commanders and agents of the two suppressive organs were killed and a greater number wounded.

The state radio and television covered up the extent of the regime's casualties, mentioning only the death of "one of the forces pursuing the Mojahedin."

The local Ilam radio, however, announced in its 4:00 p.m. news bulletin that besides the death of agent of the notorious Intelligence Ministry and the wounding of an agent from the State Security Forces, eight other agents whom it described as "defenseless people," were wounded.
 

Hammer on Their Skulls, The Washington Post, Editorial, April 28

IN FEBRUARY, Iranians once again demonstrated their desire for a more open society, as the overwhelming majority of them supported pro-reform parliamentary candidates allied with President Mohammed Khatemi. Now it is increasingly evident that the conservative theocrats who still control major levers of power in Iran will not easily submit to the people's will. They have ordered the closing of 16 pro-reform newspapers and magazines--a silencing of independent opinion that began shortly after an April 16 statement by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that "if necessary, our enemies, be they small or large, will feel the reverberating impact of the hammer of the Islamic revolution on their skulls."

The first to feel the hammer was Saeed Hajjarian, a journalist seriously wounded in a March 12 assassination attempt that independent Iranian reporters allege was organized within the state security apparatus. The Council of Guardians has annulled 12 provincial elections won by Mr. Khatemi's forces. It is doing a recount in Tehran, which could cost the reformists some of the 29 seats (out of a possible 30) that they won. And it is delaying both the certification of the final vote count from February and the announcement of a date for some 66 runoff elections originally planned for May. Mr. Khatemi seems powerless to stop any of this-- even though Mr. Hajjarian is his close adviser, even though Mr. Khatemi's own culture minister publicly opposed the press crackdown and even though one of the shut newspapers is run by the president's brother, who was also the first-place candidate for parliament from Tehran….
 

Crackdown in Iran, The Wall Street Journal - Europe, International Commentary, April 26

Earlier this month a leading pro-reform editor in Iran was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for "insulting religious sanctities." Last week the country's conservative-dominated outgoing parliament tightened existing press laws to make it easier to prosecute writers and publishers. On Saturday, Akbar Ganji, a journalist famous for investigating the 1998 murders of five dissidents by Intelligence Ministry agents, was arrested and jailed. And on Sunday, 13 leading pro-reform newspapers were shut down by judiciary fiat for "printing material against the lofty Islamic principles and commands."

These moves, which spurred hundreds of Iranian university students to boycott classes yesterday, should come as little surprise… The hard-liners may be trying to stir up enough unrest to justify removing the president from office. And Mr. Khatami seems to fear such an outcome, saying recently that "those who say that reforms are against the principles of the revolution are pushing society toward ruin and creating the grounds for dictatorship."

Such words are especially surprising since Mr. Khatami had thus far shrunk from open confrontation with the hard-line mullahs. He had seemed something of an Iranian Gorbachev, pushing for a slight relaxation of press and social controls but never questioning the regime's foundation in the right of absolute clerical rule. The words of journalist Akbar Ganji, as he was led into the courthouse on Saturday, were notable both for their optimism and their refusal to identify Mr. Khatami with reform. "The future is bright," he said, "No one created the reforms and nobody can stop them."

We can only hope that Mr. Ganji's predictions prove accurate. As events in Iran play out, the West should support only the growing demands of Iranians for democracy and freedom, not particular political factions. Mr. Khatami, after all, was instrumental in quelling last summer's unprecedented student unrest. What Iran really needs is not a Gorbachev but a Yeltsin -- someone to say, in effect, that the Ayatollah has no clothes. But when and whether such a figure will arise is, at this time, anybody's guess.

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