… The question goes to the heart of the Islamist controversy: is Islam, in its fundamentalist, political form, compatible with democracy?…

Nowhere could this controversy be more definitively settled than in Iran. The Islamic republic may not have arisen democratically, but it was an expression of popular will. But, like the Shah, the republic, or rather the reactionary clique of mullahs who run it, has become deeply unpopular…

… It has become clear the conservatives never intended to cede power, not even to the moderate Islamists of the Khatami school, let alone the secularists. Moreover, they are ideologically and organizationally ready for anti-democratic violence, coercion and intimidation.

"We must not," said Muhammad Reza Tarraqi, a conservative MP, "make a new religion of elections. If they help strengthen Islam they are good. If they weaken it they are evil."…

Is censorship, repression and assassination part of an unfolding design that will culminate in a coup to depose Khatami and ensure the reformists never enter an elected legislature?

That is what the reformists fear - and the conservatives have been preparing the ideological ground for such a drastic step. What, asked the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Rahim Safavi, was the reformist victory but a coup in 'non-violent, parliamentary' guise?…

So they [conservatives] face a choice: accept that Islam can accommodate democracy and forfeit their ascendancy peaceably and constitutionally; or continue to insist it cannot, and thereby trigger a popular counter-violence that could lead to the downfall of the republic, moderates and extremists alike.
 

Disarray In Khatami's Cabinet, Tehran Times (State-controlled daily), May 16

… Some observers believe that President Seyed Mohammad Khatami is not satisfied with some members of his cabinet.

According to one source, Khatami held three cabinet meetings last week and, in one of the meetings, he got angry about something and abruptly left the session.

The same source told the Tehran Times that in a cabinet meeting, Khatami told the Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani that you were busy with the 'Lavasanat business'. The source said that, at this moment, another minister tried to interfere, but the president snubbed him.

According to another source, Mohajerani has also tried to muster support for his own presidential candidacy next term, but has so far failed.
 

Khatami's Rivals Step Up Campaign Against Press, Agence France Presse, May 16

TEHRAN - The Iranian courts embarked Tuesday on a fresh offensive against the press, closing the Ham-Mihan daily and summoning the head of Mohammad Khatami's press office, who launched a daily last week.

The suspension of Ham-Mihan, run by former Tehran mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi, brings to 13 the number of dailies shut down since April, the vast majority of them close to Khatami.

Another five periodicals have also been closed.

The court said 17 complaints had been laid against the paper, including "spreading false information about the Revolutionary Guards, the Bassiji Islamic militia, the police, the judicial system and the intelligence ministry," the official IRNA news agency reported, quoting a statement by the Tehran Justice Department.

Meanwhile Khatami aide Said Pur-Azizi, who launched the daily Bahar on May 8, has been summoned to appear before the press court.
 

Official Angered By "Speculation" Over Verdict In Spy Trial, Agence France Presse, May 16

TEHRAN - A top court official hit out Tuesday at speculation about the verdict that will be pronounced in the trial for espionage of 13 Iranian Jews.

"Different circles should refrain from speculating about the verdict and wait for the decision of the judge," said Hossein-Ali Amiri, spokesman for the Shiraz court.

Amiri's statement followed indications that none of the Jews would receive the death penalty at the end of the closed-door trial. He again slammed "political pressure" in the case.
 

Will Rafsanjani Go Through Second Round Vote?, Agence France Presse, May 16

TEHRAN - Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani will have to go through a second round of voting if he wants a seat in the next parliament, a newspaper said Tuesday.

The pro-Khatami daily Bahar said Rafsanjani had failed to win one of the constituency's 30 seats outright in the first round, along with two other candidates. 

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