SHIRAZ - In the wake of two Iranian Jews' televised confessions to spying for Israel, the Jewish minority that has lived in Iran for more than 2,000 years is retreating into isolation, fearing their countrymen will brand them traitors.

Arash Fakhiri, a 20-year-old Jewish shopkeeper in the southern city of Shiraz, where the trial is being held, said his community is demoralized and terrified.

"Some people are treating us like spies. I heard that a Jewish girl at an elementary school was taunted by her classmates, calling her a spy," he said.

Fear has spread through the Jews of Shiraz. Most of the Jewish shop owners on Shiraz's main Zand avenue will not talk to reporters about the trial or give their names. Jewish leaders say the trial has started another exodus, mainly among the young.
 

Khamenei Against Culture Minister, Official Says, Agence France Presse, May 9

TEHRAN - "The leader supports the person of Mr. Khatami and his government, except the culture and Islamic guidance minister," Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of the powerful arbitration body, the Expediency Council, said.

Rezaie warned reformist supporters of Khatami in the May 23 coalition, against failing to distance themselves from unnamed opponents of the Islamic republic's system.

"The infiltrators and their international masters" had been trying to put Khatami in the dilemma of choosing the system or acting against it, Rezaie said.

"Now that he has showed, through his transparent stances, that he is defending the system," those who had been under the wrong impression that they could use Khatami would turn against him, he added.
 

Vote Chaos Warning, Associated Press, May 9

TEHRAN - A pro-Khatami candidate warned Monday that annulling parliamentary vote results in Iran's capital could lead to chaos.

"An annulment would lead to political chaos," Mohsen Armin, one of the top winners in Tehran, warned in a speech at Tehran University on Monday. "Any talk of annulling the results for Tehran is a joke, because the consequences of doing that would be so great that no group or faction can afford it."
 

Warning: Don't Cancel Tehran's Elections! Hammihan (State-controlled daily), May 8

... Any attempt to leave Tehran seats vacant in the 6th Majlis will not only be an unprecedented, unexpected move, but its consequences will implicate the conservatives and their interests more than anyone else, without bringing any benefits...

The possibility of unrest in Tehran and the consequences of using such an event could cause serious problems, for… the capital is the heart of the country, and any event in the capital would quickly resonate in all the corners…
 

Cultural Assault, A Serious Threat to State, Revolution, The Tehran Times, May 9

TEHRAN - Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, here Monday termed an ongoing cultural assault as a "serious threat" to the country and the revolution.

"Today, our war is a cultural war and enemies are attempting to strip us of our religious beliefs, principles and values," Nateq Nouri said.

He said today the enemies of the Islamic Revolution and system are exerting utmost effort to cast a shadow of doubt on religious principles and make the youth passive in order to cut their links to the Imam, the revolution, and its values.

The speaker called for confrontation with those whom he termed as "inside infiltrators," saying attempts at distancing the people from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are being made.

He said: "When the Judiciary closed down some newspapers, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright protested. It is none of their business to interfere in our international affairs and conspire," he said.
 

News Bites

Agence France Presse, May 9: The trial of eight people suspected of carrying out an assassination attempt on Said Hajarian ended Tuesday, after just three hearings, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Reformists alleged that the trial was being rushed through and those really responsible for the attack on Hajarian were being allowed to escape.

Agence France Presse, May 9: Iran's outgoing parliament will debate Wednesday a bill to put the nation's powerful secret service under the watch of another security service, a parliamentary source said.

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