"The Revolutionary Guards showed their alertness in the case of the assassination attempt against Mr. Hajjarian. They cooperated with the Ministry of Intelligence and the State Security Council in the discovery and arrest of the perpetrators of the assault and proved their effective and valuable role in defending the firm basis of the Islamic Republic," Khatami said.
Khatami's profuse praise of the Revolutionary Guards, the backbone of the ruling religious, terrorist dictatorship, comes despite the fact that a number of Guards commanders were directly involved in the assault on Hajjarian. Three of them were sent abroad after the attack in a bid to prevent any disclosure of the chain of command of the masterminds and perpetrators of the assault.
The Iranian Resistance has reiterated in the past that Guards' Deputy Commander in Chief Bagher Zolqadr and several other RG senior commanders cooperated closely with the Intelligence Ministry in the serial political murders. A Tehran daily revealed yesterday that some of the perpetrators of the assassination attempt against Hajjarian were members of the Revolutionary Guards' special division in charge of the protection of Khatami's office. (Fat'h daily, March 29)
By exculpating the Revolutionary Guards of their involvement in the attack on Hajjarian, Khatami is betraying even his closest aide. When Abdollah Nouri was convicted and sent to prison, Khatami said about the trial and conviction of his top lieutenant: ÒThe fact that this was an open trial with the presence of a lawyer was a sign of the maturity and strength of the Islamic Republic regime.Ó (State television, Dec. 12, 1999)
In a letter to Intelligence Minister Ali Younessi on March 26, Khatami tried to whitewash the role of the Revolutionary Guards in the assault by praising Òthe selfless children of our nation working in the security and intelligence agencies such as the Ministry of Intelligence, the State Security Forces and especially the Revolutionary Guards.Ó Khatami has been trying to exonerate the Guards after Khamenei, warned him in an open letter on the eve of the Iranian new year that he must not drag the Guards into this issue.
In his meeting with the Guards commanders, Khatami called on clerical factions to "stage a common confrontation with the new security phenomenon" which he called "our most important need for the stability and security of the country." He thus revealed the ruling mullahs' fears of instability.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
March 30, 2000
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