Khatami calls for more stringent repression and "security at all costs"

The clerical regime's President Mohammad Khatami, addressing the "annual nation-wide conference of county governors" in Tehran, warned the Interior and Intelligence ministries today that they "must be serious about the outbreak of incidents detrimental to the country's security and must find out the roots of these issues through mutual cooperation and coordination and with the help of the State Security Forces."

"Security is very important for us and must be preserved at all costs," Khatami said. "This country needs stability and security."

In another part of his speech, Khatami said: "We must deal decisively with those who are trying, in public and in secret, to tarnish the international prestige and image of the Islamic Republic of Iran and pretend that the country's security has been undermined."

In his speech, Khatami once again revealed the ruling mullahs' anxiety over the possible recurrence of popular uprising like the one in mid-July in Tehran. At the same time, he paved the way for further repression and more executions. At another meeting with the para-military Bassij commanders on Thursday, Khatami had said: "The Bassij is the guarantor of our country's security."

Khatami also referred to the flurry of harsh attacks by different factions within the regime on the report put out by his fact-finding committee on the repressive agencies' attack on Tehran University's student hostel. He said: "The Supreme National Security Council is responsible for the country's security and the fact-finding committee was appointed by the SNSC. To undermine this pillar is to undermine the foundations of the state."

By emphasizing that the report had been cleared by mullahs' Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei before publication, Khatami tried to dampen pressures by his rival faction.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
August 21, 1999

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