Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - Tag Search

A couple of Iranian contacts tell us that Internet access has been greatly restricted in Iran ahead of tomorrow's expected pro-democracy protests. E-mail services, in particular, have been targeted, with many Iranians forced to use proxy servers to get around the restrictions. Reformist Web sites have also been blocked.

Internet access will be totally shut off tomorrow, as will mobile phone service, according to a telecommunications ministry official who spoke to Reuters.

The BBC reports that foreign press permits have been revoked from Dec. 7-9; reporters are barred from leaving their offices on those days.

Congress could move ahead with economic sanctions against Iran in a matter of weeks, with a final bill passing before the winter recess, according to recent reports.

That sanctions bill could include a gasoline embargo, a move that might be perceived by Iran as an act of war (and which at least one oil company CEO says is unworkable).

Iran has clearly spent the last week baiting the West to take exactly this step. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered his nuclear scientists to draft a plan for building ten new uranium enrichment facilities. Several lawmakers threatened to back out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Ali Larijani, the parliament speaker, said Iran would reconsider its diplomatic relations with the countries that supported last week's IAEA censure resolution -- which Ahmadinejad has dubbed illegal.

3:18 p.m.: The flow of news from Iran has slowed considerably -- makes sense, because it's almost midnight in Tehran. #iranelection is still trending on Twitter, but there's very little new information being shared.

We'll keep an eye on the situation throughout the evening (U.S. time) and keep you posted.

Here's the White House's reaction to Ahmadinejad's Holocaust-denying speech:

The president's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said that by denying that the Holocaust took place was "ignorant, hateful and would isolate Iran further from the world."

"Obviously, we condemn what he said," Mr. Gibbs told reporters.

I'll post some wrap-up thoughts on the protests later tonight.

1:08 p.m.: Not Qods Day-related, but Ahmadinejad plans to bring all five of Iran's religious minority MPs to the U.N. General Assembly meeting next week. Iran has Jews! And Christians! (No gays, though.)

12:54 p.m.: Tehran Bureau explains how the regime kept protesters away from Tehran University, where Friday prayers were being held:

To prevent the Green Movement's supporters from penetrating Tehran University, public buses had been used to block all the streets around the campus. Security forces, the Basij militia, and plainclothes agents used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the demonstrators.

Friday is Qods (Jerusalem) Day in Iran, an annual day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. My Iranian sources tell me it will be a big day for the opposition, which plans to use the annual rally as a vehicle for launching another anti-regime protest.

And that has the regime increasingly worried. You'll remember that Khamenei used his Friday prayer sermon last week to warn the regime against staging any protests. And now Robert Worth reports on a last-minute clerical change in Tehran.

Apparently Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, said Iran is open to talks with the West "based on mutual respect" and without preconditions. The media are giving this statement a lot of play; the BBC says Iran would "welcome" nuclear talks.

Let's not get carried away. The Iranian government makes similar statements every six months or so. Here's Ahmadinejad from February:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he would welcome talks with the US as long as they were based on "mutual respect".

Or Rafsanjani, from May of 2008:

... Rafsanjani, in a meeting with [the] Austrian ambassador to Tehran, said Iran is ready to cooperate and continue talks with the European Union 'under the condition of mutual respect.

These statements didn't lead to dialogue, of course, just a lot of excited headlines.

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's last Friday prayer sermon, on July 17, was fairly restrained -- but it did criticize the regime for "losing the peoples' trust" and called for the release of political prisoners. It was also marked by sizable anti-regime protests.

He was supposed to deliver another sermon this Friday -- but decided against it today.

... Rafsanjani has decided not to lead Friday prayers this week to avoid "political abuse" of the event, an official said on Monday.

[...] "We have been informed that he has decided to leave it to another prayer leader in order to prevent any political, unconventional and unacceptable abuse of the occasion."

Rafsanjani, as we've noted before, is hardly a reformist; he's very much part of the Iranian regime, even though he has made occasional statements criticizing it since the election.

Here's your morning fix; blogging will be slow for a few hours while I go do some interviews for my real job.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term as president today. In a speech outlining his second-term plans, Ahmadinejad promised to resist "oppressive powers" -- namely the West. About 240 of Iran's 290 members of parliament attended the ceremony. But prominent opposition leaders, like Mousavi and Rafsanjani, did not show up.

More than 1,000 police and Basij militiamen sprayed pepper gas at demonstrators outside the ceremony.

Ahmadinejad now has a two-week deadline to create a new cabinet.

... and nobody showed up?

Khamenei formally blessed Ahmadinejad's second term this morning, and many prominent Iranian politicians snubbed the ceremony. Rafsanjani wasn't there, nor was Khatami. (Mousavi and Karrubi, needless to say, also had other plans.)

There was also a slightly awkward moment when Khamenei offered Ahmadinejad his hand to kiss. Ahmadinejad obviously wanted to kiss the supreme leader's cheek; he wound up planting an awkward peck on Khamenei's shoulder.

Whatever Ahmadinejad says about their "father-son" bond, it's obvious that the two men have a strained relationship.

From a few hours ago, via the blog Pedestrian, apparently written by a Tehranian:

Iranian state TV is currently broadcasting via its five channels:

1. a discussion on havij bastani (an Iranian desert with carrots and ice cream)
2. a 1986 Japanese cartoon
3. an Indian movie
4. an even cheesier Iranian movie
5. a documentary on the Iran-Iraq war

I've had almost every Friday lunch I can bring to memory listening to the Friday sermon playing in the background. IRIB1 made sure to start the live program a full hour before the sermon began to showcase the environment and the "revolutionary spirit of our people."

Apparently the spirit was a no-show this time as there is no sign of it on TV.

It's hard to find transcripts of Rafsanjani's speech, which makes sense, given that there appear to have been problems televising it and broadcasting it over the radio. And by problems, I mean I've read that the feeds to his speech were cut. Not sure if that's confirmable.

Anyway, I've found two rough transcripts of Rafsanjani's speech. This one, hosted at Anonymous Iran, was apparently provided by someone listening to Rafsanjani's speech and summarizing/translating it over the phone to someone else. Another translation, at Revolutionary Road, seems more detailed, but the two versions differ in some respects so it's hard to say which is right.

Update, 10:26 a.m.: Tehran Bureau has some good updates on the sermon and the security presence in Tehran. Their witnesses saw helicopters flying overhead, and uniformed members of several security services.

Tough to estimate the size of the crowds today, but by all accounts they were big -- larger than anything this month.

Update, 9:51 a.m.: More excerpts from this morning, via NIAC's blog.

The trust of the people must be restored. This must be our priority. Everyone is within the framework of the law. We must proceed within the framework of the law. We should follow the legal paths. Restoring the peoples trust will not happen over night. Everyone should be able to say their words. IRIB and radio should give everyone a chance.

As NIAC observes, this is not a revolutionary speech. Rafsanjani is laying out a path for the opposition movement to follow, but he's making it clear that the opposition will not challenge the political framework in Iran.

Update, 9:16 a.m.: A photo of Mousavi at the prayer service today. He sat in the front row.

Update, 9:12 a.m.: Worth mentioning: Iranian state television did not air today's Friday prayer as it normally does. Instead it aired -- among other things -- Japanese cartoons, Indian movies, and a documentary on the Iran-Iraq war.

More video from today's prayer/protests, this time of a tear gas attack. Earlier video is here.

It sounds like Rafsanjani's sermon at today's Friday prayer was fairly restrained, at least according to initial reports.

Rafsanjani, who is giving the sermon for the first time since June's disputed presidential election, urged people "not to contaminate the position and the sanctuary of Friday prayers by [inappropriate] comments and slogans".

Rafsanjani also called for the release of political prisoners arrested since the election last month. The protesters themselves, though, were less restrained.

Security forces used tear gas and batons to break up crowds of opposition demonstrators chanting slogans at Tehran University during the Friday prayer ceremony, Reuters reported. At least 15 protesters were arrested.

Most news sources say the crowds were "unusually large," and that more than 10,000 Mousavi supporters gathered near the university before the prayer. That would be by far the largest pro-Mousavi demonstration we've seen in weeks.

We're trying to find a transcript of Rafsanjani's remarks; we'll post it as soon as we do.

Hmm....

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, has resigned and his resignation has been accepted by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the ISNA news agency reported Thursday.

ISNA didn't say why Aghazadeh resigned; other news sources are speculating that he has ties to "the opposition." Interesting story and worth keeping an eye on.

Two other Iran-related developments: The interior ministry might block Mir Hossein Mousavi from creating his own political party; and Ahmadinejad is taking a trip to Mashhad tomorrow, likely to avoid being in Tehran for Friday prayers, which will be led by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (with Mousavi in attendance).

According to this report from Al-Arabiya (عربي), former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will lead Friday prayers in Tehran, and Mousavi will attend. Mehdi Karroubi, the other reformist candidate, will also attend; Mousavi and Karrubi have avoided Friday prayers since the election.

Rafsanjani, you'll recall, has been a behind-the-scenes Mousavi supporter -- and occasionally a public one.

This creates a difficult situation for the regime: Many pro-democracy supporters are expected to attend, turning the prayer into a demonstration of sorts -- one the regime can't exactly shut down.

The report also says the Iranian government is stepping up its efforts to confiscate satellite dishes -- illegal in Iran, but readily available on the black market.

Former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has made some seemingly contradictory statements over the last few weeks. Sometimes he comes out strongly in support of Mousavi; other times he appears to be retreating.

Today he came out with a carefully-worded statement -- but one that nonetheless gives strong support to the pro-democracy protesters.

"People from across the country participated in the elections, with excitement," ILNA quoted Rafsanjani as saying in Saturday's story. "But unfortunately the events that occurred after that and the difficulties created for some left a bitter taste, and I don't think that any wakened consciousness would be satisfied with the resulting situation."

We reported yesterday on some remarks Rafsanjani made that suggested he was withdrawing his support from Mousavi. The National Iranian American Council offers a contrarian take on its blog this morning:

Rather, Rafsanjani said that he supported Khamenei's decision to extend the Guardian Council's time (by 5 days) to consider complaints of election fraud. In some ways this is only confirming that he thinks there was fraud and complaints need to be heard. Coming as no huge surprise, the 12 member Guardian Council confirmed today, after a partial recount, that the election was legal and Ahmadinejad is still President.

A valid point. I still think Rafsanjani's talk of "cooperation and solidarity" undercuts Mousavi; if nothing else, the regime can distort those remarks to drive a wedge between the two men. Still, the NIAC analysis is worth a read -- as are the rest of the Iran updates on their blog.

The New York Times reports that Iran's Guardian Council - the half-cleric, half-lawyer group that holds key power in the country - has extended its deadline for investigating election fraud by five days.

As the Times notes, this decision seems like blatant maneuvering to sap the energy of the opposition protests, which are now entering their third week. The end game here for the regime is a slow, vice-like asphyxiation of dissent (often using brute force), combined with layers of approval bestowed on the election results by the government.

And the regime can only be emboldened by the success of their repression thus far: protests have shrunk in size and power, foreign media have all but abandoned the country, and even Mir Hossein Mousavi's erstwhile allies might be slinking away.

Juan Cole has a translation of an Iranian news report that suggests Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former Iranian president, is retreating from his support for Mousavi. The key paragraph:

Rafsanjani said: "We should all make a step with cooperation and solidarity to remove the obstacles and solve the problems." He also said: "We should always end the election results with solidarity. If every election would result in discord - we have an election once a year - and there would be hatred and fighting, then there will be nothing left."

Khamenei has been calling for "solidarity" and "cooperation" since the election -- in other words, demanding other political figures defer to his judgment. If Rafsanjani is invoking those themes, it means he's decided to accept Khamenei's decision on how to handle the electoral controversy.

Is Rafsanjani urging Mousavi to mount a political challenge to the supreme leader?

A political party affiliated with Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the former president and key member of the Iranian regime, on Sunday called on Mir-Hossein Moussavi, the opposition leader, to form a "political bloc" that would pursue a long-term campaign to undermine the "illegitimate" government.

Rafsanjani didn't directly criticize Khamenei -- that's still off-limits for a major Iranian political figure. But Khamenei has backed the election results and the Ahmadinejad government, and that makes him part of the "illegitimate" regime.