Israeli Submarine Crosses Suez Canal, With Eye on Iran

JERUSALEM: An Israeli submarine crossed through the Suez Canal last month as a part of a military training exercise, defense officials said on Saturday.

The move is believed to have been made as a warning to Iran of the Jewish state's capabilities and and to show that Israel and Egypt, are cooperating against a shared threat. The two countries share a peace agreement but have had cool relations for years.

By using the Suez, an Israeli submarine could reach the Persian Gulf off Iran in a matter of days, compared wiith weeks to sail around the southern tip of Africa.

The submarine participated in naval maneuvers in the Red Sea last month, said Israeli defense officials who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. They did not giive further details.

Israel owns three dolphin-grade submarines, which can carry nuclear warheads. Israeli defense officials do not discuss the type of missiles that can be fired from the submarines, nor their range.

Israeli officials have a long-standing policy of neither confirming nor denying its nuclear arsenal and would not comment on Saturday. It is believed, however, to have the world's sixth-largest stockpile of atomic arms, including hundreds of warheads.

The maneuvers took place before the Iranian presidential election that set off a wave of protest demonstrations. Israeli officials believe that Iran intends to acquire the ability to build nuclear weapons regardless of who leads the country.

Iran is under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze its uranium enrichment program - an activity that Tehran insists is meant to generate nuclear fuel but which can also be used to produce fissile material for nuclear warheads.

Iran's nuclear program is particularly worrying for Israel because of Tehran's belligerent stance toward the Jewish state. Egypt also has tense relations with Iran which it believes is trying to spread its radical brand of militant Islam through the region.

The Jerusalem Post reported this was the first time Israeli vessels had crossed the Egyptian canal since 2005.

Egypt's relations with Iran worsened after Egyptian officials arrested members of the Lebanese Shiite guerrilla group Hezbollah in Egypt, accusing them of operating in its territory. Hezbollah is bankrolled by Iran, and Egypt accuses it of being a proxy to obtain Mideast regional influence.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Israeli...how/4738323.cms

Footballers Backing Hooligans

Yes, Karimi, Mahdavikia, and Hashemian were past their prime and would probably get kicked off the team before the next Asian cup anyway. And Kabi is just a dirty player who became famous for kicking Figo in the face.Their gesture attracted worldwide comment and drew the attention of football fans to Iran's political turmoil. Now the country's authorities have taken revenge by imposing life bans on players who sported green wristbands in a recent World Cup match in protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.

According to the pro-government newspaper Iran, four players " Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 “ have been "retired" from the sport after their gesture in last Wednesday's match against South Korea in Seoul.

They were among six players who took to the field wearing wristbands in the colour of the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, which has been adopted by demonstrators who believe the 12 June election was stolen.

Most of the players obeyed instructions to remove the armwear at half-time, but Mahdavikia wore his green captain's armband for the entire match. The four are also said to have been banned from giving media interviews.

The fate of the other two players who wore the wristbands is unknown. None of the team members were given back their passports upon returning to Tehran after the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw “ a result that ended Iran's hopes of qualifying for next year's tournament.

Karimi is one of Iranian football's best-known stars, having played for the German club Bayern Munich. Ka'abi played for Leicester City for several months during the 2007/8 season. Hashemian and Mahdavikia play for the German teams Bochum and Eintracht Frankfurt.

The gesture acutely embarrassed Iranian officials. The team's chief administrative officer, Mansour Pourhiedari, initially claimed the wristbands had been intended as a religious tribute to a revered Shia figure in the hope that it would deliver a victory on the pitch.

Iran's hardline media have since linked the protest to the arrest on Saturday of Mohsen Safayi Farahani, who headed the country's football governing body under the former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. He is one of several dozen opposition politicians, intellectuals and journalists to have been detained.


Hezbollah, a pro-Ahmadinejad website, accused Farahani, a member of the pro-reform Islamic participation front, of bribing the players to wear the symbols. Farahani was one of several prominent figures accused by Ahmadinejad of corruption during the recent election campaign.

Ahmadinejad, a known football fan, has taken a close interest in the sport's affairs. In 2006 Iran was banned from international competition by the world governing body Fifa after claims of improper interference by his government. The ban was later lifted.

This year the national team coach Ali Daei was sacked, reportedly on Ahmadinejad's orders, after a 2-1 home defeat by Saudi Arabia

Destabilization 2.0

Soros, the CIA, Mossad and the new media destabilization of Iran

Source: The Corbett Report - James Corbett

It's the 2009 presidential election in Iran and opposition leader Mir-Houssein Mousavi declares victory hours before the polls close, insuring that any result to the contrary will be called into question. Western media goes into overdrive, fighting with each other to see who can offer the most hyperbolic denunciation of the vote and President Ahmadenijad's apparent victory (BBC wins by publishing bald-faced lies about the supposed popular uprising which it is later forced to retract). On June 13th, 30000 "tweets" begin to flood Twitter with live updates from Iran, most written in English and provided by a handful of newly-registered users with identical profile photos. The Jerusalem Post writes a story about the Iran Twitter phenomenon a few hours after it starts (and who says Mossad isn't staying up to date with new media?). Now, YouTube is providing a "Breaking News" link at the top of every page linking to the latest footage of the Iranian protests (all shot in high def, no less). Welcome to Destabilization 2.0, the latest version of a program that the western powers have been running for decades in order to overthrow foreign, democratically elected governments that don't yield to the whims of western governments and multinational corporations.

Ironically, Iran was also the birthplace of the original CIA program for destabilizing a foreign government. Think of it as Destabilization 1.0: It's 1953 and democratically-elected Iranian leader Mohammed Mossadegh is following through on his election promises to nationalize industry for the Iranian people, including the oil industry of Iran which was then controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The CIA is sent into the country to bring an end to Mossadegh's government. They begin a campaign of terror, staging bombings and attacks on Muslim targets in order to blame them on nationalist, secular Mossadegh. They foster and fund an anti-Mossadegh campaign amongst the radical Islamist elements in the country. Finally, they back the revolution that brings their favoured puppet, the Shah, into power. Within months, their mission had been accomplished: they had removed a democratically elected leader who threatened to build up an independent, secular Persian nation and replaced him with a repressive tyrant whose secret police would brutally suppress all opposition. The campaign was a success and the lead CIA agent wrote an after-action report describing the operation in glowing terms. The pattern was to be repeated time and time again in country after country (in Guatemala in 1954, in Afghanistan in the 1980s, in Serbia in the 1990s), but these operations leave the agency open to exposure. What was needed was a different plan, one where the western political and financial interests puppeteering the revolution would be more difficult to implicate in the overthrow.

Enter Destabilization 1.1. This version of the destabilization program is less messy, offering plausible deniability for the western powers who are overthrowing a foreign government. It starts when the IMF moves in to offer a bribe to a tinpot dictator in a third world country. He gets 10% in exchange for taking out an exorbitant loan for an infrastructure project that the country can't afford. When the country inevitably defaults on the loan payments, the IMF begins to take over, imposing a restructuring program that eventually results in the full scale looting of the country's resources for western business interests. This program, too, was run in country after country, from Jamaica to Myanmar, from Chile to Zimbabwe. The source code for this program was revealed in 2001, however, when former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz went public about the scam. More detail was added in 2004 by the publication of John Perkin's Confessions of an Economic Hitman, which revealed the extent to which front companies and complicit corporations aided, abetted and facilitated the economic plundering and overthrow of foreign governments. Although still an effective technique for overthrowing foreign nations, the fact that this particular scam had been exposed meant that the architects of global geopolitics would have to find a new way to get rid of foreign, democratically elected governments.

Destabilization 1.2 involves seemingly disinterested, democracy promoting NGOs with feelgood names like the Open Society Institute, Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy. They fund, train, support and mobilize opposition movements in countries that have been targeted for destabilization, often during elections and usually organized around an identifiable color. These "color revolutions" sprang up in the past decade and have so far successfully destabilized the governments of the Ukraine, Lebanon, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, among others. These revolutions bear the imprint of billionaire finance oligarch George Soros. The hidden hand of western powers behind these color revolutions has threatened their effectiveness in recent years, however, with an anti-Soros movement having arisen in Georgia and with the recent Moldovan "grape revolution" having come to naught (much to the chagrin of Soros-funded OSI's Evgeny Morozov).

Now we arrive at Destabilization 2.0, really not much more than a slight tweak of Destabilization 1.2. The only thing different is that now Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media are being employed to amplify the effect of (and the impression of) internal protests. Once again, Soros henchman Evgeny Morozov is extolling the virtues of the new Tehran Twitter revolution and the New York Times is writing journalistic hymns to the power of internet new media...when it serves western imperial interests. We are being asked to believe that this latest version of the very (very) old program of U.S. corporate imperialism is the real deal. While there is no doubt that the regime of Ahmadenijad is reprehensible and the feelings of many of the young protestors in Iran are genuine, you will forgive me for quesyioning the motives behind the monolithic media support for the overthrow of Iran's government and the installation of Mir-Houssein "Butcher of Beirut" Mousavi.

Iranian Elections: The ‘Stolen Elections’ Hoax, by Prof. James Petras

“Change for the poor means food and jobs, not a relaxed dress code or mixed recreation... Politics in Iran is a lot more about class war than religion.”
Financial Times Editorial, June 15 2009

Introduction

There is hardly any election, in which the White House has a significant stake, where the electoral defeat of the pro-US candidate is not denounced as illegitimate by the entire political and mass media elite. In the most recent period, the White House and its camp followers cried foul following the free (and monitored) elections in Venezuela and Gaza, while joyously fabricating an ‘electoral success’ in Lebanon despite the fact that the Hezbollah-led coalition received over 53% of the vote.

The recently concluded, June 12, 2009 elections in Iran are a classic case: The incumbent nationalist-populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (MA) received 63.3% of the vote (or 24.5 million votes), while the leading Western-backed liberal opposition candidate Hossein Mousavi (HM) received 34.2% or (13.2 million votes).

Iran’s presidential election drew a record turnout of more than 80% of the electorate, including an unprecedented overseas vote of 234,812, in which HM won 111,792 to MA’s 78,300. The opposition led by HM did not accept their defeat and organized a series of mass demonstrations that turned violent, resulting in the burning and destruction of automobiles, banks, public building and armed confrontations with the police and other authorities. Almost the entire spectrum of Western opinion makers, including all the major electronic and print media, the major liberal, radical, libertarian and conservative web-sites, echoed the opposition’s claim of rampant election fraud. Neo-conservatives, libertarian conservatives and Trotskyites joined the Zionists in hailing the opposition protestors as the advance guard of a democratic revolution. Democrats and Republicans condemned the incumbent regime, refused to recognize the result of the vote and praised the demonstrators’ efforts to overturn the electoral outcome. The New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, the Israeli Foreign Office and the entire leadership of the Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations called for harsher sanctions against Iran and announced Obama’s proposed dialogue with Iran as ‘dead in the water’.

The Electoral Fraud Hoax

Western leaders rejected the results because they ‘knew’ that their reformist candidate could not lose…For months they published daily interviews, editorials and reports from the field ‘detailing’ the failures of Ahmadinejad’s administration; they cited the support from clerics, former officials, merchants in the bazaar and above all women and young urbanites fluent in English, to prove that Mousavi was headed for a landslide victory. A victory for Mousavi was described as a victory for the ‘voices of moderation’, at least the White House’s version of that vacuous cliché. Prominent liberal academics deduced the vote count was fraudulent because the opposition candidate, Mousavi, lost in his own ethnic enclave among the Azeris. Other academics claimed that the ‘youth vote’ – based on their interviews with upper and middle-class university students from the neighborhoods of Northern Tehran were overwhelmingly for the ‘reformist’ candidate.

What is astonishing about the West’s universal condemnation of the electoral outcome as fraudulent is that not a single shred of evidence in either written or observational form has been presented either before or a week after the vote count. During the entire electoral campaign, no credible (or even dubious) charge of voter tampering was raised. As long as the Western media believed their own propaganda of an immanent victory for their candidate, the electoral process was described as highly competitive, with heated public debates and unprecedented levels of public activity and unhindered by public proselytizing. The belief in a free and open election was so strong that the Western leaders and mass media believed that their favored candidate would win.

The Western media relied on its reporters covering the mass demonstrations of opposition supporters, ignoring and downplaying the huge turnout for Ahmadinejad. Worse still, the Western media ignored the class composition of the competing demonstrations – the fact that the incumbent candidate was drawing his support from the far more numerous poor working class, peasant, artisan and public employee sectors while the bulk of the opposition demonstrators was drawn from the upper and middle class students, business and professional class.

Moreover, most Western opinion leaders and reporters based in Tehran extrapolated their projections from their observations in the capital – few venture into the provinces, small and medium size cities and villages where Ahmadinejad has his mass base of support. Moreover the opposition’s supporters were an activist minority of students easily mobilized for street activities, while Ahmadinejad’s support drew on the majority of working youth and household women workers who would express their views at the ballot box and had little time or inclination to engage in street politics.

A number of newspaper pundits, including Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times, claim as evidence of electoral fraud the fact that Ahmadinejad won 63% of the vote in an Azeri-speaking province against his opponent, Mousavi, an ethnic Azeri. The simplistic assumption is that ethnic identity or belonging to a linguistic group is the only possible explanation of voting behavior rather than other social or class interests.

A closer look at the voting pattern in the East-Azerbaijan region of Iran reveals that Mousavi won only in the city of Shabestar among the upper and the middle classes (and only by a small margin), whereas he was soundly defeated in the larger rural areas, where the re-distributive policies of the Ahmadinejad government had helped the ethnic Azeris write off debt, obtain cheap credits and easy loans for the farmers. Mousavi did win in the West-Azerbaijan region, using his ethnic ties to win over the urban voters. In the highly populated Tehran province, Mousavi beat Ahmadinejad in the urban centers of Tehran and Shemiranat by gaining the vote of the middle and upper class districts, whereas he lost badly in the adjoining working class suburbs, small towns and rural areas.

The careless and distorted emphasis on ‘ethnic voting’ cited by writers from the Financial Times and New York Times to justify calling Ahmadinejad ‘s victory a ‘stolen vote’ is matched by the media’s willful and deliberate refusal to acknowledge a rigorous nationwide public opinion poll conducted by two US experts just three weeks before the vote, which showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin – even larger than his electoral victory on June 12. This poll revealed that among ethnic Azeris, Ahmadinejad was favored by a 2 to 1 margin over Mousavi, demonstrating how class interests represented by one candidate can overcome the ethnic identity of the other candidate (Washington Post June 15, 2009). The poll also demonstrated how class issues, within age groups, were more influential in shaping political preferences than ‘generational life style’. According to this poll, over two-thirds of Iranian youth were too poor to have access to a computer and the 18-24 year olds “comprised the strongest voting bloc for Ahmadinejad of all groups” (Washington Porst June 15, 2009).

The only group, which consistently favored Mousavi, was the university students and graduates, business owners and the upper middle class. The ‘youth vote’, which the Western media praised as ‘pro-reformist’, was a clear minority of less than 30% but came from a highly privileged, vocal and largely English speaking group with a monopoly on the Western media. Their overwhelming presence in the Western news reports created what has been referred to as the ‘North Tehran Syndrome’, for the comfortable upper class enclave from which many of these students come. While they may be articulate, well dressed and fluent in English, they were soundly out-voted in the secrecy of the ballot box.

In general, Ahmadinejad did very well in the oil and chemical producing provinces. This may have be a reflection of the oil workers’ opposition to the ‘reformist’ program, which included proposals to ‘privatize’ public enterprises. Likewise, the incumbent did very well along the border provinces because of his emphasis on strengthening national security from US and Israeli threats in light of an escalation of US-sponsored cross-border terrorist attacks from Pakistan and Israeli-backed incursions from Iraqi Kurdistan, which have killed scores of Iranian citizens. Sponsorship and massive funding of the groups behind these attacks is an official policy of the US from the Bush Administration, which has not been repudiated by President Obama; in fact it has escalated in the lead-up to the elections.

What Western commentators and their Iranian protégés have ignored is the powerful impact which the devastating US wars and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan had on Iranian public opinion: Ahmadinejad’s strong position on defense matters contrasted with the pro-Western and weak defense posture of many of the campaign propagandists of the opposition.

The great majority of voters for the incumbent probably felt that national security interests, the integrity of the country and the social welfare system, with all of its faults and excesses, could be better defended and improved with Ahmadinejad than with upper-class technocrats supported by Western-oriented privileged youth who prize individual life styles over community values and solidarity.

The demography of voting reveals a real class polarization pitting high income, free market oriented, capitalist individualists against working class, low income, community based supporters of a ‘moral economy’ in which usury and profiteering are limited by religious precepts. The open attacks by opposition economists of the government welfare spending, easy credit and heavy subsidies of basic food staples did little to ingratiate them with the majority of Iranians benefiting from those programs. The state was seen as the protector and benefactor of the poor workers against the ‘market’, which represented wealth, power, privilege and corruption. The Opposition’s attack on the regime’s ‘intransigent’ foreign policy and positions ‘alienating’ the West only resonated with the liberal university students and import-export business groups. To many Iranians, the regime’s military buildup was seen as having prevented a US or Israeli attack.

The scale of the opposition’s electoral deficit should tell us is how out of touch it is with its own people’s vital concerns. It should remind them that by moving closer to Western opinion, they removed themselves from the everyday interests of security, housing, jobs and subsidized food prices that make life tolerable for those living below the middle class and outside the privileged gates of Tehran University.

Amhadinejad’s electoral success, seen in historical comparative perspective should not be a surprise. In similar electoral contests between nationalist-populists against pro-Western liberals, the populists have won. Past examples include Peron in Argentina and, most recently, Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia and even Lula da Silva in Brazil, all of whom have demonstrated an ability to secure close to or even greater than 60% of the vote in free elections. The voting majorities in these countries prefer social welfare over unrestrained markets, national security over alignments with military empires.

The consequences of the electoral victory of Ahmadinejad are open to debate. The US may conclude that continuing to back a vocal, but badly defeated, minority has few prospects for securing concessions on nuclear enrichment and an abandonment of Iran’s support for Hezbollah and Hamas. A realistic approach would be to open a wide-ranging discussion with Iran, and acknowledging, as Senator Kerry recently pointed out, that enriching uranium is not an existential threat to anyone. This approach would sharply differ from the approach of American Zionists, embedded in the Obama regime, who follow Israel’s lead of pushing for a preemptive war with Iran and use the specious argument that no negotiations are possible with an ‘illegitimate’ government in Tehran which ‘stole an election’.

Recent events suggest that political leaders in Europe, and even some in Washington, do not accept the Zionist-mass media line of ‘stolen elections’. The White House has not suspended its offer of negotiations with the newly re-elected government but has focused rather on the repression of the opposition protesters (and not the vote count). Likewise, the 27 nation European Union expressed ‘serious concern about violence’ and called for the “aspirations of the Iranian people to be achieved through peaceful means and that freedom of expression be respected” (Financial Times June 16, 2009 p.4). Except for Sarkozy of France, no EU leader has questioned the outcome of the voting.

The wild card in the aftermath of the elections is the Israeli response: Netanyahu has signaled to his American Zionist followers that they should use the hoax of ‘electoral fraud’ to exert maximum pressure on the Obama regime to end all plans to meet with the newly re-elected Ahmadinejad regime.

Paradoxically, US commentators (left, right and center) who bought into the electoral fraud hoax are inadvertently providing Netanyahu and his American followers with the arguments and fabrications: Where they see religious wars, we see class wars; where they see electoral fraud, we see imperial destabilization.

Source here.

Iran Ex-Monarch's Son Urges Israel to Back Rioter

The ousted Shah of Iran Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi's son urges Israel to support post-election riots in Iran to bring down the government of Tehran.

Reza Pahlavi, who is seen as a promising figure in pushing for a change of the government in Iran, told Maariv that Israel should back up recently sparked riots in Iran following the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the next president of the country.

The very existence of the ruling government in Iran could lead to a nuclear Holocaust, the former crown prince said but warned against an Israeli attack on the country.

Under the accusation that Iran poses an 'existential threat' to Israel, Tel Aviv, the Middle East's sole possessor of nuclear warheads, has repeatedly threatened Tehran with a military attack over its nuclear work.

Reza Pahlavi said that any military attack against Tehran could prompt the Iranians to stand by the government instead and therefore it would shatter hopes of any resumption of ties between Iran and Israel.

Iran and Israel had close ties before the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew the US-backed monarchy in Iran. The two cut off all relations following the revolution with Iran refusing to recognize Israel as a state.

Post-election unrests were sparked after the Interior Ministry declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner of the presidential election.

The capital, Tehran, and other cities have been the scene of illegal rallies in protest to the election results. The rallies have provoked unprecedented disorder in Iran over the past nine days.

Calm has, however, returned to Tehran after the Police warned against any illegal gatherings on Saturday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi criticized certain Western countries for their meddling in the country's internal affairs.

Iranian officials have blamed US and British media outlets for the recent post-election turmoil across the country.

"Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are state-funded channels and not privately-run. Their budgets are ratified in the US Congress, as well as the British Parliament. The two channels serve as mouthpieces of their respective governments," Qashqavi stated on Saturday.

Iran says the two media outlets have been dramatizing the situation in Iran by providing extensive coverage of the country's developments and provoking the post-election violence.

Over the past few weeks, the US and a certain number of European countries have expressed dismay over the recent political process in the country.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned the ambassadors from Britain, France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Canada to warn them against interfering in the internal affairs of the country.

Source here.

Enough Mousavi!

by Kaveh L Afrasiabi (source: CASMII)
Monday, June 22, 2009

As the dust settles it has become patently obvious to me that Mr. Mousavi badly misplayed his card and is simply a sore loser. The Interior Ministry has published the results in every single area and has provided the following explanation that has missed US media's attention:

1. Mr. Mousavi had some 40,676 representative at voting centers, a minimum of 2 at more than 95 percent of all the centers;
2. Mousavi was initially alloted some 45000 representatives and some were not accredited due to very late submission and insufficient information, missing photos, etc.
3. At each center, 14 observers including the candidates' observers oversaw the entire process, including inspection of empty boxes at the outset and their sealing at the end, with four locks, and then all signed a certificate of proper election, i.e., Mousavi's own men have certified the clean process.
4. the number of excess voting form 22 was actually 3 percent down compared to the previous election.
5. The official final results were announced at 4 pm the next day, 16 hours after the closure of voting. (all the other projections subject of so much media focus don't really count --KA).
5. due to summer travel/weekend, in some 50 places, mostly in resort areas of Caspian Sea, the voter turn out was more than 100 percent. There is nothing unusual about this and the official cites specific figures from a number of past elections including parliamentary elections to corroborate this. case in point, he says that in towns of Zorgan and Morv, the votes in the past presidential elections were 200 times more. Some of those areas Mr. Mousavi actually won. There were more than 60000 voting centers and therefore 50 such places is very miniscule.

Unfortunately, some US media including the CNN have made a mountain of this mole by citing "official admission of discrepancy." Fact is that this all pales in comparison with how Mousavi abused the process by calling himself the definite winner one hour after closing of votes and then calling on his followers to "stage resistance."

As someone who fully sympathizes with the basic demands of the democratic movement, I am appalled by the implicit US support for the hooligans who have torched hundreds of banks, some 300 buildings, etc., in the name of civic disobedience. US has failed to make any distiction and has one-sidedly criticized government's heavy-handed approach. Finally, the US media has come down hard on Khamenei, who consented to unique open and competitive elections only to see the egregious abuse of process by a self-declared reformist -- who is nothing but an unreconstructed Stalinist with atrocious record on free press and who in my opinion whose ego would not let him concede defeat. The media's Khamenei-bashing and romanticization of Mousavi and street mobs leaves a lot to be desired. None of this should be misinterpreted as condoning excessive violence by authorities however.

Source here.

Supporters of Mir Houssein Mousavi: What Do They Really Want

mr.mousavi is protesting in tehran and asking question that: "where are my votes",
while mr.mousavi has already won in tehran city,
as figures shown below:

Tehran city:
Mirhossein moussavi 2,166,245
Ahmadinejad 1,809,855

Shemiranat:
Mirhossein Moussavi 200,931
Ahmadinejad 102,433

so, does it make any sense that while he...mr.mousavi, has already won in tehran, is asking "where are my votes"

is it logical???
is it even reasonable???

instead, he should go zanjan province or semnan province or etc, for the protest where he has lost by large margins,

what is he doing in tehran?
fulfilling enemy agendas???

What are you doing on the street?
-i am protesting,

For what?
-I do not see my vote,

How do you want to see your vote?
-I voted for mousavi and mousavi didn’t win,

Yes! Not only you but millions of Iranians voted for mousavi,
-and mousavi didn’t win, that’s why I call it fraud,

But, how can you call it fraud?
-because, mousavi didn’t win,

My Dear supporter of Mr. Mousavi, there are also people who voted for ahmadinejad, so how can you reject their votes?
-I don’t know, mousavi has won the election,

How mousavi has won the election?
-mousavi has told us,

Have you ever analyzed that how mousavi has claimed such a victory without proof?
-mousavi has proof,

What proof?
-people have voted him in majority,

Is this a proof?
-some reliable sources have told mousavi that he has won the election,

Do you know such reliable sources?
-No,

Why such reliable sources want to keep themselves behind the curtain?
-I don’t know,

Is it good to believe on rumors?
-No,

Have such reliable sources provided Mr.Mousavi with some proofs about their claims of victory?
-No,


Without having any proof, do you believe on any claims?
-Yes…No…but,

My Dear Supporter of Mr.Mousavi, suppose, if Mr.Mousavi got the chair of presidency through threatening and blackmailing tactics, and then ahmadinejad’s supporters go on the street to protest in the same your style, then?
-I don’t know,

Who will suffer in that case? You or mousavi or ahmadinejad or the whole Iranian nation?
-whole Iranian nation,

You remember Imam Ali’s judgment? An infant who was being claimed by two women as their baby. The decision was forwarded to Imam 'Ali. When the Imam found both women insisting on their claim, he ordered that the infant be cut into two, and each woman be given one half. What was the reaction of the real mother and the fake mother? The fake mother decided to go along with the decision even if it meant cutting the baby into two halves whereas the real mother announced her readiness to give up the child. Mr.Mousavi wants to attain presidency at any cost even if by cutting nation into two? Do you know this?
-Yes, its quit clear,

Should you keep continue your violent protests?
-absolutely not…but…,

My dear supporter of Mr.Mousavi, mr.mousavi has been ruling the country during 1980 to 1988, so why now the administration will rig the election to keep him out of power?
-because, he talks about change,

My dear, Mr.Mousavi has ruled for 8 years, then Mr.Khatami also has been ruling for 8 years, why then they brought change?
-I don’t know, but this time mr.mousavi says he will bring change,

What is change in your view?
-we need freedom,

What is freedom in your view?
-we are denied certain websites…

So, you have burned down that public bus to the ground costing half a million dollars, just because you do not have access to certain websites?
-Yes…No, but, we have other issues,

What issues?
-we need change. We need our rights,

What are your rights?
-we need the same rights as westerners have,

Do you know that there are some basic differences between westerners and Iranians?
-No, there is no difference,

Yes, there are. For example: 80% westerners drink wine, while 80% Iranians do not. For example: 80% westerners are not religious, while 80% Iranians are. Etc…?
-Yes, that’s true,

So, how and why this kind of freedom can you install in iran?
-we will do our best under the leadership of mousavi,

Suppose, even if, you successfully removed the whole current system and installed a western type govt, then how long can you sustain with such system??? People are not so simple now. The revolution has contributed a high level of awareness in people. Now, more than 85% people are literate. They can read and analyze things, so how long can you sustain that newly installed system?
-really, I don’t know,

By doing such thing, aren’t you inviting another revolution just at the end of current decade …and this time…the most toughest one???
-oh, I don’t know,

You should know this Mr. Supporter of Mousavi. You are clear-cut at the path of destruction of the whole iran. How many percentage of Iranians live in western countries and usa?
-a very large quantity,

No, you are wrong, only less than 2% Iranians live in western countries and usa, so how these people can change more than 98% of Iranians? How can they?
-Mousavi has plans,

You also have some brain. Why don’t you think about it? Do you want to repeat same old game. The king tried to enforce western style in iran, so he faced a fatal opposition and ultimately destroyed himself along with his kingdom. Do you want Mr.Mousavi repeat those actions this time under the slogan of democracy and freedom? Is it even possible?
-I really don’t know…

My dear, the simple thing is: you can never change more than 80% people of iran, then why you insist a western style minority rule over majority of Iranians? Why you don’t respect the majority of people of iran? Isn’t it very simple for you to understand that if you tried to impose your minority thoughts over majority, then there will definitely be a reaction and that will lead the whole country into bloodshed and chaos as you see in Pakistan, Afghanistan, iraq, Mogadishu and etc… do you like such ugly situation for your own motherland Iran?
-No…Never,

My dear, today iran is the most peaceful country in the whole middle east and Africa, isn’t it a fact?
-Yes, there is no doubt about it,

So, where your protests may lead the whole iran?
-Yes, I understand you now. It seems very dangerous path,

Isn’t it better to keep patience, peace and vigilance and follow the law, atleast, until iran is surrounded by foreign forces. Nations never die. You can re-start your protests for change when iran is safe from all borders. You can do it later. Isn’t highly dangerous to destabilize the whole country. You know? Destabilization is the first condition of slavery and invasion as we witnessed in Afghanistan and iraq, didn’t we?
-you are right. I see sincerity in your advise,

Oh supporter of mousavi, please go and try to convince mousavi and beg him to not endanger the future and dignity of peaceful land of iran and peaceful nation of iran.

Who Put the ‘Green’ In the Green Revolution?

by Daniel McAdams on June 19, 2009 05:35 AM

The United States, of course.

As in the previous “color revolutions” that seem to tirelessly capture the romantic imagination of US journalists, elites, and the propagandized population, the warm embrace of the US empire is firmly guiding the “spontaneous” Iranian uprising against last week’s election results. While I do not and should not– nor should any other American — care in the slightest who rules a country some seven thousand miles away, when the fingerprints of the US empire show up on these dramatic events overseas it is very much my business.

Several commentators have already dredged from the memory hole press reporting at the time on a presidential “finding” on Iran, which is the formal method for the president to initiate covert actions against another country. Back in 2007 — plenty of lead time for this election — the president met with the Congressional Star Chamber, the “gang of 8″ House and Senate leaders, and was granted the authorization to use some $400 million for among other things, as the Washington Post reported, “activities ranging from spying on Iran’s nuclear program to supporting rebel groups opposed to the country’s ruling clerics….”

Arch neo-conservative Kenneth Timmerman spilled the beans on activities of the other arm of US meddling overseas, the obscenely mis-named National Endowment for Democracy, in a piece written one day before the election, stating curiously that “there’s the talk of a ‘green revolution’ in Tehran.” Interesting. I wonder where that “talk” was coming from. Timmerman did not appear to be writing from Iran.

Timmerman went on to write, with admirable candor and honesty, that:

“The National Endowment for Democracy has spent millions of dollars during the past decade promoting ‘color’ revolutions in places such as Ukraine and Serbia, training political workers in modern communications and organizational techniques.

“Some of that money appears to have made it into the hands of pro-Mousavi groups, who have ties to non-governmental organizations outside Iran that the National Endowment for Democracy funds.”

Yes, you say, but what does a blow-hard propagandist like Timmerman know about such things? Well, he should know! His very spooky Foundation for Democracy in Iran has its own snout deep in the trough of NED’s “open covert actions” against the Iranian government.

How does the “Foundation for Democracy in Iran” seek to “promote democracy” in Iran with our tax dollars? Foundation co-founder Joshua Muravchik gives us a hint in his subtly-titled LA Times piece, “Bomb Iran.”

Frankly, what I find more disturbing than the fact that the US government continues meddling in this new magical era of Obama is how many in the United States continue to be taken in by these events color-coordinated from afar. Pundits have turned their websites green in “solidarity” with this “green revolution.” Self-described “libertarians” have thrown all critical thinking aside to embrace their inner green. As if hoping, somehow, that this time it will all be true. That the “people power” really is on the march. That it is a binary world where there are evil incumbents — the old guard — oppressing thrusting “reformers” who are Twittering away toward the bright tomorrow of a world where everyone wants to be just like us! Democracy!

At times like these, I turn to the great Matt Taibbi, who has written the best piece of all time on how the US has morphed into the USSR:

“Modern observers look back at the early Soviet days and wonder how it is that people could possibly have believed those fantastic tales they read about in the state papers–the lurid descriptions of fascist terrorists and wreckers who conspired to poison reservoirs and turn up rails and put broken glass in sausage in the most faraway, seemingly irrelevant places in Siberia and the far north. The answer probably is that they wanted to believe them. Because that was what was in their hearts. It wasn’t a lie that was being put over on them. It came from them.”

And on it goes…

Source here.

National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Behind Mousavi Green Revolution

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

A number of commentators have expressed their idealistic belief in the purity of Mousavi, Montazeri, and the westernized youth of Terhan. The CIA destabilization plan, announced two years ago (see below) has somehow not contaminated unfolding events.

The claim is made that Ahmadinejad stole the election, because the outcome was declared too soon after the polls closed for all the votes to have been counted. However, Mousavi declared his victory several hours before the polls closed. This is classic CIA destabilization designed to discredit a contrary outcome. It forces an early declaration of the vote. The longer the time interval between the preemptive declaration of victory and the release of the vote tally, the longer Mousavi has to create the impression that the authorities are using the time to fix the vote. It is amazing that people don’t see through this trick.

As for the grand ayatollah Montazeri’s charge that the election was stolen, he was the initial choice to succeed Khomeini, but lost out to the current Supreme Leader. He sees in the protests an opportunity to settle the score with Khamenei. Montazeri has the incentive to challenge the election whether or not he is being manipulated by the CIA, which has a successful history of manipulating disgruntled politicians.

There is a power struggle among the ayatollahs. Many are aligned against Ahmadinejad because he accuses them of corruption, thus playing to the Iranian countryside where Iranians believe the ayatollahs' lifestyles indicate an excess of power and money. In my opinion, Ahmadinejad's attack on the ayatollahs is opportunistic. However, it does make it odd for his American detractors to say he is a conservative reactionary lined up with the ayatollahs.

Commentators are "explaining" the Iran elections based on their own illusions, delusions, emotions, and vested interests. Whether or not the poll results predicting Ahmadinejad's win are sound, there is, so far, no evidence beyond surmise that the election was stolen. However, there are credible reports that the CIA has been working for two years to destabilize the Iranian government.

On May 23, 2007, Brian Ross and Richard Esposito reported on ABC News: “The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert “black” operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell ABC News.”

On May 27, 2007, the London Telegraph independently reported: “Mr. Bush has signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for a propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilize, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs.”

A few days previously, the Telegraph reported on May 16, 2007, that Bush administration neocon warmonger John Bolton told the Telegraph that a US military attack on Iran would “be a ‘last option’ after economic sanctions and attempts to foment a popular revolution had failed.”

On June 29, 2008, Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker: “Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership.”

The protests in Tehran no doubt have many sincere participants. The protests also have the hallmarks of the CIA orchestrated protests in Georgia and Ukraine. It requires total blindness not to see this.

Daniel McAdams has made some telling points. For example, neoconservative Kenneth Timmerman wrote the day before the election that “there’s talk of a ‘green revolution’ in Tehran.” How would Timmerman know that unless it was an orchestrated plan? Why would there be a ‘green revolution’ prepared prior to the vote, especially if Mousavi and his supporters were as confident of victory as they claim? This looks like definite evidence that the US is involved in the election protests.

Timmerman goes on to write that “the National Endowment for Democracy has spent millions of dollars promoting ‘color’ revolutions . . . Some of that money appears to have made it into the hands of pro-Mousavi groups, who have ties to non-governmental organizations outside Iran that the National Endowment for Democracy funds.” Timmerman’s own neocon Foundation for Democracy is “a private, non-profit organization established in 1995 with grants from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), to promote democracy and internationally-recognized standards of human rights in Iran.”

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

So Who Behind Mir Hussein Mousavi?

Thursday, June 11, 2009 10:16 AM

By: Kenneth R. Timmerman

As the wildest campaign of the past 30 years winds down, Iranians are worried that their votes won't decide the result of the election Friday. Instead, they fear, the unelected officials at Iran’s Interior Ministry in charge of counting those votes will sway the outcome.

With no reliable opinion polls, and published polls varying wildly, the candidates and their supporters have been hurling accusations of fraud at each other at a furious rate.

Supporters of “reformist” candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, with the backing of the Persian Service of Voice of America, claim to have discovered a secret “fatwa” or religious ruling issued by a radical cleric close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They contend that it encourages bureaucrats at the Interior Ministry to do “whatever it takes” to get their man elected.

Revolutionary Guards Gen. Sadeq Mahsouli runs the Interior Ministry, which runs the elections and counts the votes. Ahmadinejad appointed him, and Mahsouli is fiercely loyal to the president.

The “fatwa” was revealed in an open letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei from a pro-Mousavi group of Interior Ministry officials, who asked him to intervene to keep the election fair.

Of course, “fair” in Iran still means having to vote for candidates who have the approval of the Council of Guardians, the seat of clerical power, and who all support the doctrine of velayat-e faghih, or absolute clerical rule.

While the supporters of different candidates clashed in the streets of Tehran on Wednesday evening, the supreme leader and the state-run media — and the Voice of America — urged Iranians to go to the polls no matter what.

“Time to vote,” headlined the Tehran Times.

Several times during this election campaign, Khamenei urged Iranians to vote for the candidate of their choice. (While pretending to keep his own choice secret, few observers believe there can be any doubt that the supreme leader prefers keeping Ahmadinejad in power).

Voting is the how the people “show their support” for the regime, Khamenei said.

The interior ministry says it has prepared ballot boxes to handle 46 million votes. It has set up more than 300 polling places for expatriate Iranians living in Iraq, and another 35 for Iranian-Americans.

Expediency Council Chairman Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani stated that anything over 40 million votes cast will “guarantee the survival of our regime for the next four years,” while anything below 40 million votes will cast a pall on the regime’s legitimacy.

Hard-line cleric Askar Oladi made the point explicitly. “All four major candidates are in line with the system,” he told an election rally last month. “So we do not feel concerned about who will be our next president. We should make sure we can maximize the turnout because that high turnout can ensure and secure the future of our system.”

The only thing the regime fears is a massive boycott of the polls. And that is precisely what opposition groups — inside Iran, in the United States, and elsewhere — have been trying to organize.

Well-respected parties, including the Iran Nation’s Party, the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, Marze Por Gohar (Glorious Frontiers), and others have called for a boycott. But in recent weeks, editors and supervisors at the Voice of America’s Persian Service have banned them from the airwaves.

“It would be one thing if they just closed their eyes,” Roozbeh Farahanipour, a spokesman for Marze Por Gohar, told Newsmax. “But it’s as if the State Department and Voice of America had become campaign advisers to Mousavi.”

Some Iranians believe that has happened.

Saeed Behbehani, the owner of Mihan TV in suburban Washington, D.C., says he recently spoke with a well-known Iranian-American businessman who boasts of his ties to the State Department and who just returned from a trip to Dubai. The businessman said he met with Mousavi’s campaign manager, Mehdi Khazali.

“The day after they met, VOA put Khazali on the air,” Behbehani said.

Some of the VOA broadcasters themselves are upset at how slanted the U.S.-taxpayer funded network has become.

“People have apologized to me for disinviting me,” said Farahanipour, who was scheduled to talk about an election boycott on VOA last week. “They told me they were given instructions by their bosses to beat the drum of participation.”

Rep. Gus Bilrakis, R-Fla., is circulating a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing concern that Iranian government officials or their proxies may be violating U.S. law by renting 35 polling locations across the United States and officiating at the balloting.

“Any Iranian official allowed to travel to any of the 35 polling places throughout the United States would be violating the Immigration and Nationality Act, and, therefore subject to arrest,” he wrote to Clinton.

“As such, I ask that you monitor these polling sites vigilantly and remove Iranian diplomats illegally traveling throughout the United States.”

And then, there’s the talk of a “green revolution” in Tehran, named for the omnipresent green scarves and banners that fill the air at Mousavi campaign events.

The National Endowment for Democracy has spent millions of dollars during the past decade promoting “color” revolutions in places such as Ukraine and Serbia, training political workers in modern communications and organizational techniques.

Some of that money appears to have made it into the hands of pro-Mousavi groups, who have ties to non-governmental organizations outside Iran that the National Endowment for Democracy funds.

Reza Saraj, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, warned ominously on Monday that the Guards would intervene forcefully if they see the situation get out of hand.

“In all those countries where they have had ‘color’ revolutions, they didn’t have a Revolutionary Guards Corps,” he told the Fars News Agency. “We do.”

If Mousavi is declared the winner in the election, the Guards will “storm Parliament and occupy it,” he said.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly denied that there has been any attempt to influence Voice of America’s coverage of the Iranian elections, insisting that there is a “firewall” to guarantee the “journalist independence” of Voice of America and other U.S. government broadcasting outlets.

“The Department of State respects the journalistic independence of [Broadcasting Board of Governors] journalists, including VOA,” he said in response to a reporter’s question at the daily briefing on Wednesday.

Source here.

Analysis of Iran’s Presidential Elections, by Zafar Bangash

By Zafar Bangash [Well known Sunni Muslim journalist and Imam in Toronto]

Iran’s presidential elections held on June 12 in which the incumbent, President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, retained his post with a wide margin over his nearest rival Mir Hussain Mousavi has provided the Muslim-hating West another opportunity to spout its anti-Islamic venom. Through its corporate-controlled mouthpieces, the media, they had already declared Mousavi the winner even before the people of Iran had had an opportunity to cast their vote. When the result turned out to be contrary to their expectations, it was immediately denounced as “rigged”. It seems even Mousavi had fallen for this propaganda because as soon as the polls closed, he told a press conference in Tehran that he had “won”. How he could make such a claim when no results had come in?

When the first results started to trickle in late on Friday June 12 and showed Ahmedinejad leading by a wide margin, the Western media, led by the BBC News World Service started to question their authenticity. Others followed suit. Soon there was a flood of accusations that there must have been massive rigging otherwise how could Ahmedinejad be ahead by such a wide margin. This was based on the Western media’s own wishful thinking of Mousavi’s victory. Part of the reason for their failure to accurately read the mood in Iran is due to the fact that Western journalists stay at Five-Star hotels—Isteqlal, Azadi and others—located in North Tehran. It is in this is part of the city that the taghutis and other parasites of Iranian society live. Physically, these people may live in their mansions in North Tehran but mentally they are in Europe or North America—destinations they visit frequently. Such people feed their prejudices to Western reporters who need little prodding, based on their equally jaundiced view of the Islamic Republic, to reflect the most negative stereotyped images of Iran.

Some examples may help explain the point. In the weeks leading to the June 12 election, the overriding theme in Western media reporting was that most people would “boycott” the polls because they have “no faith” in the system. As the election campaign generated excitement, especially with televised debates between candidates, the Western media’s tune changed; their coverage started to focus on the “huge crowds” Mousavi was attracting and deliberately ignored the even larger crowds attending Ahmedinejad’s rallies. Media outlets that bothered to report Ahmedinejad’s rallies dismissed them as “rented crowds”. The largely ignorant Western public did not know the difference; besides, they had little interest in Iran’s elections. Their knowledge of Iran is based on the drivel fed to them by their own media: it is “building” a nuclear bomb and Ahmedinejad has threatened to “wipe out Israel”. Such prejudices are reinforced by the Iranian expatriate community that is largely opposed to the Islamic revolution, hence their decision to live outside Iran. Supporters of the revolution went back to Iran to help the Islamic Republic.

Western media reports started to speculate that Mousavi would win. Besides, their hatred of Ahmedinejad, the plucky Iranian President who drew rings around them with his masterful interviews, did not allow them to see that he may have support among the Iranian masses. President Ahmedinejad has maintained a level of modesty and simplicity that has earned him respect not only among Iranians but also Muslims worldwide. They saw in him a truly Islamic leader. The more the West hated and ridiculed him, the more the ordinary people of Iran admired him. But his popularity was not merely based on sentiment; he had promised during his first presidential campaign in 2005 that he would put Iran’s oil wealth on the tables of the poor. And this is what he did. He delivered this wealth to the Iranian masses in the rural areas where the majority resides. This majority had been ignored and dismissed by the liberals, reformists and other Western-doting Iranians. But they made the mistake of being taken in by the hangers-on from within the taghuti crowd in Tehran. Regrettably, it appears even Mousavi’s campaign has been infiltrated by such people despite the fact that during his tenure as prime minister (1981-1989), Mousavi was liked by the people because of his modest demeanour and able handling of the economy. It must also be pointed out that Mousavi was never elected to public office; he was appointed prime minister by Imam Khomeini (at that time, there were two offices: that of president and prime minister. Only the president was elected who then appointed the prime minister). In a constitutional amendment in 1989, the prime minister’s post was abolished and all executive powers were united in the office of the president.

Mousavi’s supporters have questioned the wide margin of Ahmedinejad’s victory. They were expecting that there would be a run off election because no single candidate would garner the 50 percent plus one vote as required by the constitution. This was again based on wishful thinking and the fact that Mousavi drew huge crowds in Tehran. Two days before elections, Ahmedinejad cancelled an appearance at one of his campaign rallies in Tehran because the crowd was so massive that he feared people might get killed in a stampede. Few media outlets reported this nor did they report the huge victory rally Ahmedinejad held on June 14 in Tehran. Instead, the media focussed on Mousavi’s rally on June 15. This was preceded by rumours that he and his supporters had been arrested; when this turned out to be false, their tune changed: the authorities had refused to give permission for his rally, they alleged. When this, too, turned out to be untrue, then the media changed its tack again: they said Mousavi’s supporters had defied the ban and the authorities were forced to “retreat”.

There was no interference from the authorities to disrupt the rally despite people setting fire to buses, smashing store windows and causing damage to property. At the end of the rally, some people tried to storm the Basij offices in Tehran. It was at this stage that shooting occurred that resulted in seven deaths. By nightfall, calm had returned. Both camps announced rallies for June 16 but only one—that of Ahmedinejad supporters—was held as they arrived at the rally site ahead of the opposition group and seemed to take control. Also, the Guardian Council announced on June 16 that it would hold a recount of those polling stations where the opposition said irregularities had occurred. This was rejected by Mousavi’s supporters who demanded that the June 12 election results be annulled and fresh ones held, a demand unlikely to be met.

Amid all the hype about rigging, some basic facts must be kept in mind. President Ahmedinejad may be unpopular in the West because of his outspoken views but he enjoys widespread support in Iran. His support base includes the rural population, the urban poor as well as the religious. This constitutes the overwhelming majority of Iran’s population. The urban educated middle class is a minority and is generally confined to the northern parts of Tehran. Their children are able to go to university, they drive expensive cars and frequent five-star hotels. It is this group that has largely coalesced around Mousavi. It would be unfair, however, to accuse Mousavi of egging the rioters to indulge in violence but there is little doubt that there are agent provocateurs within his group that are bent on creating chaos in Iran.

Ahmedinejad’s supporters are largely poor; most do not speak English, hence their inability to convey their feelings to Western reporters who in any case are not interested in their point of view, but they are solidly behind the revolution and know where their interests lie. It is this class of people that made the greatest sacrifices in defence of the revolution during the brutal Iraqi-imposed war in 1980-1988. This is not mere conjecture. In an article jointly authored by Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty and published in the Washington Post on June 15, 2009, the two writers revealed that Ahmedinejad’s 2 to 1 margin was actually confirmed by their own survey of public opinion conducted in Iran three weeks earlier. “While Western news reports from Tehran in the days leading up to the voting portrayed an Iranian public enthusiastic about Ahmadinejad’s principal opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, our scientific sampling from across all 30 of Iran’s provinces showed Ahmadinejad well ahead.

The poll undertaken by two US non-profit organizations—Terror Free Tomorrow: The Center for Public Opinion, and the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation—from May 11 to May 20 was the third in a series over the past two years. It was conducted by telephone from a neighbouring country (probably Dubai); field work was carried out in Farsi by a polling company whose work in the region for ABC News and the BBC has received an Emmy award. The polling was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and thus had nothing to do with the government of Iran or with Ahmedinejad.

In recent media coverage, much has been said about Iranian youth with the automatic assumption that they all oppose the Islamic government. This is not true, as the US-led survey found. The misconception has emerged because Western reporters only talk to north Tehran-based, university educated youth. These rich, spoiled youth do not represent the entire country. Nor is the Internet the harbinger of change, as made out by media reports. The poll by Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty found “that only a third of Iranians even have access to the Internet, while 18-to-24-year-olds comprised the strongest voting bloc for Ahmadinejad of all age groups.”

There was an even more startling revelation made by the poll. Some reports have questioned how Ahmedinejad could win in the home province of Mousavi. Here is what the Ballen and Doherty survey found. “The breadth of Ahmadinejad’s support was apparent in our pre-election survey. During the campaign, for instance, Mousavi emphasized his identity as an Azeri, the second-largest ethnic group in Iran after Persians, to woo Azeri voters. Our survey indicated, though, that Azeris favoured Ahmadinejad by 2 to 1 over Mousavi.” It is not difficult to see why. Ahmedinejad had gone out of his way to help the poor and dispossessed in Iran. They in turn came out to vote with their feet. The survey also confirmed what we have said already: Mousavi’s “support came primarily from university students and graduates, and the highest-income Iranians.” These are people that are well-connected and are able to convey their thoughts and ideas to Western reporters, hence the kind of images of Iran created abroad.

There is one final point that needs to be made. Some people have argued that in Iran people make up their mind only in the last two weeks of elections. Again, this is true only for the urbanized elites; the rural population knows who their friend or supporter is. Besides, the vote can swing either way: both toward and against Ahmedinejad and it is inaccurate to assume that all the swing votes would have gone to Mousavi. Ballen and Doherty reported that when their survey was conducted, “almost a third of Iranians were also still undecided. Yet the baseline distributions we found then mirror the results reported by the Iranian authorities, indicating the possibility that the vote is not the product of widespread fraud.”

Finally, one must make a quick comparison with what happened in the June 7 elections in Lebanon. Tens of thousands of people of Lebanese origin were flown from abroad, all expenses paid by the Saudis, to vote for the March 14 group led by Saad Hariri. The Saudis also paid each person $500 for pocket money. Despite this massive fraud, Hariri’s group got 68 seats in parliament (two less than they had in the previous one) while the Hizbullah-backed alliance got 57 seats (one less than in the earlier one). There were three independents. Hizbullah Secretary General did not complain that the election was rigged. He told his supporters to accept the result and move on.

There was little or no mention in the Western media about Lebanese vote rigging; the only thing one heard was that Hizbullah had been “defeated”.

Wassalam

Mousavi's Big Blunders

In the current post-election turmoil, when the reformist challenger to Ahmadinejad has petitioned the relevant authorities to void the presidential elections results and hold new elections, it is easy, too easy, to jump to conclusions about who is right or wrong in Iran today, as if Mousavi and the other reformist candidate Mehdi Karrubi, have the final say on the fraudulent nature of the elections results, hotly contested in the streets of Tehran and a number of other Iranian cities today.

The western media has adopted at face value Mousavi's allegation of rigged elections and the stream of images from Iran, showing the defiant mostly young Iranians battling the riot police, etc., has showered us with the tendency to dismiss any suggestion that the Mousavi camp bear some blame for what has transpired in Iran, that is, a major political crisis. Here is one plausible explanation:

Initially, the ruling elite had no intention of any "election engineering" and, in fact, lowered its guards by allowing a fiercely competitive race that galvanized the public attention through the TV debates, unfettered campaigns, etc. but then as we got closer and closer to the June 12 appointed hour, it became patently obvious that the reformist camp was pushing the envelope to new, and from the vantage point of system coherence, intolerable heights that, in turn, required a stern reaction.

With respect to Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is today appealing to the spiritual leader and pledging loyalty to the principle of rule of jurisprudence, velayat-e faghih, it is noteworthy that throughout the campaign Mousavi showed no deference whatsoever to the leader and, in fact, crossed the red line when he showed his secularist true colour in his speech at Tehran University, which can be seen on youtube, where he explicitly called on the clergy to not get involved in politics and maintain their independence from government.

During his long absence, Iran has been much transformed and, per the words of a University political scientist, a "regional power house under the leadership of ayatollah Khamenei" has emerged that, perhaps, Mr. Mousavi has no keen knowledge of, in light of his vitriolitic attacks on the regime's foreign policies, calling Iran's foreign policy a "disaster."

Ayatollah Khamenei was quick to respond to Mousavi's mostly unfounded criticism, by issuing a statement that questioned the views that claim Iran has been "isolated." Ahmhadinejad himself aptly rebuffed Mousavi in their TV debate, when he pointed at the 60 world leaders who have visited Iran during his term, adding that 118 nations of the Non-Aligned Movement have been supporting Iran.

That is true, and sadly neither Mousavi nor Karrubi ever showed any understanding of the country's dynamic foreign policy, e.g., the fact that Iran today is at the forefront of the NAM movement and its regional power and influence has substantially increased. Instead of constantly trashing Iran's foreign achievements, a fair opposition candidate would have praised the positive while criticising the negative and, yet, there was a conspicuous lack of balance in Mousavi's assessments of Iran's foreign policy performance.

Nor was Mousavi consistent all the time. Case in point, while in his Farsi speeches he criticised Ahmadinejad's hitherto unanswered letter to Obama, in his latest interview with an Arabic satellite channel, he sang a different tune by referring to the letter as a sign of Iran's proactive diplomacy. Also, he would defend Iran's program without ever giving Ahmadinejad any credit for the strides that Iran has taken in its nuclear program in the past four years. "We had three centrifuges when I came in and we have over 7000 now," Ahmadinejad pointed out during the debate, to Mousavi's oblivious ears.

How did a man known previously as an unreconstructed leftist, who is still so enamored of planned economy, with no ties whatsoever to the Second Khordad reformist movement end up at the helms of this movement and, now, with his great refusal to accept the elections' verdict without showing much evidence of voter fraud, has thrown that movement in a crisis of survival? That is surely a question for future historians to ponder, for at the moment with passions running high in Iran, Mousavi is simply viewed as a symbol of resistance to religious tyranny.

But what about the tyranny of simplistic and distorted portrayal of Iran's achievements and his tacit questioning of the highest religious authority, that is a prerequisite for candidacy in today's Iran, aforementioned? Mr. Mousavi may be right about some voter irregularities but to remain steadfast on his wild claim on June 12, before the vote count had began, that he is the "definite winner," leaves a lot to be desired.

In conclusion, a more prudent politician would try to utilize the millions of votes cast on his behalf into bargaining chips for influence and even policy input in the next administration, instead of wearing the hat of a martyristic hero and thus basking in the glow of regime-bashing, a regime that has done much to empower the ordinary Iranians and enhance Iran's power in the international arena.

By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

Source: Middle East Online

Link here.

Ahmadinejad Won. Get Over It — Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett

JUNE 16 — Without any evidence, many US politicians and “Iran experts” have dismissed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election on Friday, with 62.6 per cent of the vote, as fraud.

They ignore the fact that Ahmadinejad’s 62.6 per cent of the vote in this year’s election is essentially the same as the 61.69 per cent he received in the final count of the 2005 presidential election, when he trounced former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The shock of the “Iran experts” over Friday’s results is entirely self-generated, based on their preferred assumptions and wishful thinking.

Although Iran’s elections are not free by Western standards, the Islamic Republic has a 30-year history of highly contested and competitive elections at the presidential, parliamentary and local levels. Manipulation has always been there, as it is in many other countries. But upsets occur — as, most notably, with Mohammed Khatami’s surprise victory in the 1997 presidential election. Moreover, “blowouts” also occur — as in Khatami’s re-election in 2001, Ahmadinejad’s first victory in 2005 and, we would argue, this year.

Like much of the Western media, most American “Iran experts” overstated Mirhossein Mousavi’s “surge” over the campaign’s final weeks. More important, they were oblivious — as in 2005 — to Ahmadinejad’s effectiveness as a populist politician and campaigner. American “Iran experts” missed how Ahmadinejad was perceived by most Iranians as having won the nationally televised debates with his three opponents — especially his debate with Mousavi.

Before the debates, both Mousavi and Ahmadinejad campaign aides indicated privately that they perceived a surge of support for Mousavi; after the debates, the same aides concluded that Ahmadinejad’s provocatively impressive performance and Mousavi’s desultory one had boosted the incumbent’s standing. Ahmadinejad’s charge that Mousavi was supported by Rafsanjani’s sons — widely perceived in Iranian society as corrupt figures — seemed to play well with voters.

Similarly, Ahmadinejad’s criticism that Mousavi’s reformist supporters, including Khatami, had been willing to suspend Iran’s uranium enrichment programme and had won nothing from the West for doing so tapped into popular support for the programme — and had the added advantage of being true.

More fundamentally, American “Iran experts” consistently underestimated Ahmadinejad’s base of support. Polling in Iran is notoriously difficult; most polls there are less than fully professional and, hence, produce results of questionable validity. But the one poll conducted before Friday’s election by a Western organisation that was transparent about its methodology — a telephone poll carried out by the Washington-based Terror-Free Tomorrow from May 11 to 20 — found Ahmadinejad running 20 points ahead of Mousavi. This poll was conducted before the televised debates in which, as noted above, Ahmadinejad was perceived to have done well while Mousavi did poorly.

American “Iran experts” assumed that “disastrous” economic conditions in Iran would undermine Ahmadinejad’s re-election prospects. But the International Monetary Fund projects that Iran’s economy will actually grow modestly this year (when the economies of most Gulf Arab states are in recession).

A significant number of Iranians — including the religiously pious, lower-income groups, civil servants and pensioners — appear to believe that Ahmadinejad’s policies have benefited them.

And, while many Iranians complain about inflation, the TFT poll found that most Iranian voters do not hold Ahmadinejad responsible. The “Iran experts” further argue that the high turnout on June 12 — 82 per cent of the electorate — had to favour Mousavi. But this line of analysis reflects nothing more than assumptions.

Some “Iran experts” argue that Mousavi’s Azeri background and “Azeri accent” mean that he was guaranteed to win Iran’s Azeri-majority provinces; since Ahmadinejad did better than Mousavi in these areas, fraud is the only possible explanation.

But Ahmadinejad himself speaks Azeri quite fluently as a consequence of his eight years serving as a popular and successful official in two Azeri-majority provinces; during the campaign, he artfully quoted Azeri and Turkish poetry — in the original — in messages designed to appeal to Iran’s Azeri community. (And we should not forget that the supreme leader is Azeri.) The notion that Mousavi was somehow assured of victory in Azeri-majority provinces is simply not grounded in reality.

With regard to electoral irregularities, the specific criticisms made by Mousavi — such as running out of ballot paper in some precincts and not keeping polls open long enough (even though polls stayed open for at least three hours after the announced closing time) — could not, in themselves, have tipped the outcome so clearly in Ahmadinejad’s favour.

Moreover, these irregularities do not, in themselves, amount to electoral fraud even by American legal standards. And, compared with the US presidential election in Florida in 2000, the flaws in Iran’s electoral process seem less significant.

In the wake of Friday’s election, some “Iran experts” — perhaps feeling burned by their misreading of contemporary political dynamics in the Islamic Republic — argue that we are witnessing a “conservative coup d’état,” aimed at a complete takeover of the Iranian state.

But one could more plausibly suggest that if a “coup” is being attempted, it has been mounted by the losers in Friday’s election. It was Mousavi, after all, who declared victory on Friday even before Iran’s polls closed. And three days before the election, Mousavi supporter Rafsanjani published a letter criticising the leader’s failure to rein in Ahmadinejad’s resort to “such ugly and sin-infected phenomena as insults, lies and false allegations.” Many Iranians took this letter as an indication that the Mousavi camp was concerned their candidate had fallen behind in the campaign’s closing days.

In light of these developments, many politicians and “Iran experts” argue that the Obama administration cannot now engage the “illegitimate” Ahmadinejad regime. Certainly, the administration should not appear to be trying to “play” in the current controversy in Iran about the election. In this regard, President Barack Obama’s comments on Friday, a few hours before the polls closed in Iran, that “just as has been true in Lebanon, what can be true in Iran as well is that you’re seeing people looking at new possibilities” was extremely maladroit.

From Tehran’s perspective, this observation undercut the credibility of Obama’s acknowledgment, in his Cairo speech earlier this month, of US complicity in overthrowing a democratically elected Iranian government and restoring the Shah in 1953.

The Obama administration should vigorously rebut any argument against engaging Tehran following Friday’s vote. More broadly, Ahmadinejad’s victory may force Obama and his senior advisers to come to terms with the deficiencies and internal contradictions in their approach to Iran. Before the Iranian election, the Obama administration had fallen for the same illusion as many of its predecessors — the illusion that Iranian politics is primarily about personalities and finding the right personality to deal with. That is not how Iranian politics works.

The Islamic Republic is a system with multiple power centres; within that system, there is a strong and enduring consensus about core issues of national security and foreign policy, including Iran’s nuclear programme and relations with the United States. Any of the four candidates in Friday’s election would have continued the nuclear programme as Iran’s president; none would agree to its suspension.

Any of the four candidates would be interested in a diplomatic opening with the United States, but that opening would need to be comprehensive, respectful of Iran’s legitimate national security interests and regional importance, accepting of Iran’s right to develop and benefit from the full range of civil nuclear technology — including pursuit of the nuclear fuel cycle — and aimed at genuine rapprochement.

Such an approach would also, in our judgment, be manifestly in the interests of the United States and its allies throughout the Middle East. It is time for the Obama administration to get serious about pursuing this approach — with an Iranian administration headed by the re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. - www.politico.com

Flynt Leverett directs The New America Foundation’s Iran Project and teaches international affairs at Pennsylvania State University. Hillary Mann Leverett is CEO of STRATEGA, a political risk consultancy. Both worked for many years on Middle East issues for the US government, including as members of the National Security Council staff. The views expressed are their own.

Iranian Interior Ministry Releases Provincial Vote Count

Iran's Interior Ministry has provided Press TV with the detailed list of votes cast in each province in the country's 10th presidential election held on Friday, June 12.

Ardabil Province

Total votes: 642,005
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 325,911
Mehdi Karroubi: 2,319
Mohsen Rezaei: 6, 578
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 302,825
Spoiled ballots: 4,372

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the cities of Ardabil with 140,582 to 137,220, Pilehsavar with 13,186 to 12,310, Pars-Abad with 48,521 to 31,453 and Garmi with 24,192 to 20,020.

Bushehr Province

Total votes: 493,989
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 299,357
Mehdi Karroubi: 3,563
Mohsen Rezaei: 7,607
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 177,268
Spoiled ballots: 6,193

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the city of Ganaveh with 24,885 to 23,995.

Chaharmahal Bakhtiari Province

Total votes: 495,446
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 359,578
Mehdi Karroubi: 4,127
Mohsen Rezaei: 22,689
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 106,099
Spoiled ballots: 2,953

East-Azerbaijan

Total votes: 2,010,340
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 1,131,111
Mehdi Karroubi: 7,246
Mohsen Rezaei: 16,920
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 837,858
Spoiled ballots: 17,205

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the city of Shabestar with 39,182 to 37,099.

Fars Province

Total votes: 2,523,300
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 1,758,026
Mehdi Karroubi: 16,277
Mohsen Rezaei: 23,871
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 706,764
Spoiled ballots: 18,359

Gilan Province

Total votes: 1,483,258
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 998,573
Mehdi Karroubi: 7,183
Mohsen Rezaei: 12,022
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 453,806
Spoiled ballots: 11,674

Golestan Province

Total votes: 869,453
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 515,211
Mehdi Karroubi: 10,097
Mohsen Rezaei: 5,987
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 325,806
Spoiled ballots: 14,266

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the cities of Aqqala with 25,144 to 23,303, Bandar Torkaman with 36,794 to 18,577, Kalaleh with 28,740 to 23,894 and Maraveh Tappeh with 14,865 to 5,943.

Hamadan Province

Total votes: 1,019,169
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 765,723
Mehdi Karroubi: 12,032
Mohsen Rezaei: 13,117
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 218,481
Spoiled ballots: 9,816

Hormozgan Province

Total votes: 843,024
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 482,990
Mehdi Karroubi: 5,126
Mohsen Rezaei: 7,237
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 241,988
Spoiled ballots: 5,683

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the cities of
Bastak with 21,607 to 8,407, Parsian with 11,882 to 6,752, Khamir with 14,943 to 8,263 and Qeshm with 27,884 to 23,020.

Ilam Province

Total votes: 312,667
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 199,654
Mehdi Karroubi: 7,471
Mohsen Rezaei: 5,221
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 96,826
Spoiled ballots: 3,495

Isfahan Province

Total votes: 2,637,482
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 1,799,255
Mehdi Karroubi: 14,579
Mohsen Rezaei: 51,788
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 746,697
Spoiled ballots: 25,162

Kerman Province

Total votes: 1,505,814
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 1,160,446
Mehdi Karroubi: 4,977
Mohsen Rezaei: 12,016
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 318,250
Spoiled ballots: 10,125

Kermanshah Province

Total votes: 983,422
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 573,568
Mehdi Karroubi: 10,798
Mohsen Rezaei: 11,258
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 374,188
Spoiled ballots: 13610

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the cities of Paveh with 12,114 to 8,841, Javanroud with 11,888 to 10,775, Dalaho with 15,104 to 8,384 and Ravansar with 10,662 to 8,544.

Khorasan Razavi Province

Total votes: 3,181,990
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 2,214,801
Mehdi Karroubi: 13,561
Mohsen Rezaei: 44,809
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 884,570
Spoiled ballots: 24,240

In the city of Khaf, Moussavi won over Ahmadinejad with 30,835 votes over 28,493.

Khuzestan Province

Total votes: 2,038,845
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 1,303,129
Mehdi Karroubi: 15,934
Mohsen Rezaei: 139,124
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 552,636
Spoiled ballots: 28,022

Kohkilouye & Boyerahmad

Total votes: 368,707
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 253,962
Mehdi Karroubi: 4,274
Mohsen Rezaei: 8,542
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 98,937
Spoiled ballots: 2,311

Kurdistan Province

Total votes: 610,757
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 315,689
Mehdi Karroubi: 13,862
Mohsen Rezaei: 7,140
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 261,772
Spoiled ballots: 12,293

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the cities of Baneh with 23,745 to 16,552, Saqqez with 49,519 to 24,523 and Marivan with 29,902 to 20,404.

Markazi Province

Total votes: 785,961
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 572,988
Mehdi Karroubi: 4,675
Mohsen Rezaei: 10,057
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 190,349
Spoiled ballots: 7,889

Mazandaran Province

Total votes: 1,919838
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 1,289,257
Mehdi Karroubi: 10,050
Mohsen Rezaei: 19,587
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 585,373
Spoiled ballots: 15,571

North Khorasan Province

Total votes: 464,001
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 341,104
Mehdi Karroubi: 2,478
Mohsen Rezaei: 4,129
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 113,218
Spoiled ballots: 3,072

Qazvin Province

Total votes: 692,355
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 498,061
Mehdi Karroubi: 2,690
Mohsen Rezaei: 7,978
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 177,542
Spoiled ballots: 6,084

Qom Province

Total votes: 599,040
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 422,457
Mehdi Karroubi: 2,314
Mohsen Rezaei: 16,297
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 148,467
Spoiled ballots: 9,505

Semnan Province

Total votes: 383,308
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 295,177
Mehdi Karroubi: 2,147
Mohsen Rezaei: 4,440
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 77,754
Spoiled ballots: 3,790

Sistan-Baluchistan Province

Total votes: 982,920
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 450,269
Mehdi Karroubi: 12,504
Mohsen Rezaei: 6,616
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 507,946
Spoiled ballots: 5,585

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the cities of Iranshahr with 50,971 to 33,802, Chabahar with 62,564 to 21,185, Khash with 47,762 to 9,945, Zaboli with 14,869 to 5,897, Zahedan with 140,118 to 120,978, Saravan with 47,620 to 13,258, Sibsouran with 18,314 to 7,456, Konarak with 18,467 to 9,089 and Nikshahr with 47,661 to 25909.

South Khorasan Province

Total votes: 383,157
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 285,983
Mehdi Karroubi: 928
Mohsen Rezaei: 3,962
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 90,363
Spoiled ballots: 1,920

Tehran Province

Total votes: 7,521,540
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 3,819,945
Mehdi Karroubi: 67,334
Mohsen Rezaei: 147,487
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 3,371,523
Spoiled ballots: 115,701

In the cities of Tehran and Shemiranat, Moussavi beat Ahmadinejad with 2,166,245 votes to 1,809,855 and 200,931 to 102,433 votes respectively.

West-Azerbaijan Province

Total votes: 1,334,356
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 623,946
Mehdi Karroubi: 21,609
Mohsen Rezaei: 12,199
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 656,508
Spoiled ballots: 20,094

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the cities of Oshnavieh with 12,690 to 8,967, Bukan with 35,833 to 16,481, Piranshahr with 24,486 to 11,270, Sardasht with 18,654 to 16,737, Salmas with 47,276 to 43,652, Showt with 13,872 to 11,130, Mako with 28,451 to 13,884; Mahabad with 38,579 to 19,999, Miandoab with 55,739 to 55,575 and Naghadeh with 32,415 to 26,419.

Yazd Province

Total votes: 609,856
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 337,178
Mehdi Karroubi: 2,565
Mohsen Rezaei: 8,406
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 255,799
Spoiled ballots: 5,908

Mir-Hossein Moussavi won over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the cities of
Ardakan with 23,675 to 19,389, Sadooq with 11,399 to 10,755 and Yazd with 148,090 to 133,792.

Zanjan Province

Total votes: 585,721
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 444,480
Mehdi Karroubi: 2,223
Mohsen Rezaei: 7,276
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 126,561
Spoiled ballots: 5,181

PKH/TE/HGH

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=98177...ionid=351020101

Ayatullah Rafsanjani: The Truth Behind Iranian Presidential Election and The Riots After Ahmadinejad Won

Detailed report of the activities of the wealth and power Mafia reads as follows:
We are addressing our noble and beloved people that the 10th presidential election is a turning point and a determining moment in our beloved country, Iran.

On one hand, success of the so called the mafia (The Kargozaran-e Sazandegi Party officials and the dynasty of Mr Hashemi) can take the country backward and threaten our national interest. On the opposite, their failure can give promises of hope for a better future, particularly for the youth.

Accordingly, with a sense of duty and with an aim of protecting our national interest, we attempted to bring to your attention a revealing report, particularly on the so called power thirsty eminences and the wealth and power mafia (dynasty of Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani). We hope that we could play a small part in preventing from the creation of monopoly by notifying the people about the threat of this disgraceful and deadly tumor.

Mafia is the term used to describe highly influential groups which work hidden and acts like an octapos which controls the country's networks of finance, trade and industry.

Mafia groups incessantly intend to gain wealth. In order to gain and to hold on to the wealth, they necessarily need to have power as well. Mafia with its infinite wealth, through supporting some politicians, first, it attempts to impose its will on them. As such, the wealth network will enjoy the backing of the politicians.

If these horrific and horrendous groups do not face any obstacles on their way, they will attempt to climb the ladder of power in order to accelerate the process of gaining and preserving their wealth on one hand, and to create a multi layer impenetrable immunity for them on the other.

Mafia groups that are also described as "Shadow cabinet" will do everything to reach their targets and to obtain their objectives. Threatening and blackmail, insult and attacking people's dignity, as well as physical elimination are some methods used by Mafia in confronting with their rivals and for removing any obstacle on their way.

Iran is no exception. Over the past few years and particularly in the years following the war between Iran and Iraq, an extremely large mafia has come to existence in our country which seeks to gain wealth and expand its power through enjoying numerous governmental privileges. The so called Kargozaran-e Sazandegi Party circle and dynasty of Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani is a clear example of this mafia network. In these series of articles, we will try to introduce them and mention their activities under two separate titles of "power thirsty eminances" and "wealth and power mafia".

The "power thirsty eminances", the first article of which has been published, deals with introducing the elements of the Kargozaran-e Sazandegi Party officials as well as their mafia activities. The "Wealth and power mafia" will expose the Hashemi Rafsanjani dynasty. We hope that our loved people and particularly our young generation will like it.

Enforcing power to turn the environmental lands to Villas

In 2001, through enforcing his influence and power, Mr Mohammad Hashemi, Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani's brother, took possession of several hectares of land which belonged to the National Resources Lands, number 24, named as Lalan, located in the town of Shemiranat (In Fasham)[Northern Tehran].

1. Director of the National Resources Lands in Tehran Province, Gholam-Abas Abdi-Nejad wrote in the letter 67/11697 to the Notary Office 539 in Tehran, dated 16 July 2004, requesting them to register and confirm the transfer of 12450 square meters of the lands belonging to the National Resources Land, number 24, named as Lalan, to Mr Mohammad Hashemi, in accordance with the license 2321/5, dated 28 May 2001, issued by the Head of National Organisation of Forests and Pastures. Before the above document's transfer to Mr Mohammad Hashemi was completed, he took action to sell or to make fake contracts for transferring some parts of the land to his close relatives.

2. Prior to the above measures in item 1, Mohammad Hashemi established 'Kosar-e-Pars' Company, registered with number 202662, at the name of Hamidreza Nazari, his brother-in-law, born in 1966, birth certificate number 1342. He registered 492295 squared meters of the above lands, numbered as minor 1066 and major 24, at the name of this company.

3. The Cultural Complex of 'Revealers' which belongs to Mohammad Hashemi, sold a tract of land from the land number major 24, Lalan (In Fasham), of 562 squared meters to a lady named as Tahereh Golkar.

It is noteworthy that Mr Mohammad Hashemi has built two cottage complexes named as Fadak and Reyhaneh in a part of the lands which he took possession of. So far, around 18 units of the cottages have become ready and been sold each for 2,800,000,000 to 3,000,000,000 Rials (285,947 to 306,372 US Dollars). The agency which is responsible for Units' sale has made the following note: "At present, there are 18 separate units of Villa houses measured as 150 to 350 square meters in foundation and 400 to 2250 square meters in surface. Each unit has a separate heating centre, custodianship, two water supply pipelines, one power line and a telephone extension. The complex also has private security and a private road.

Organisation for the Improvement of the fuel Consumption and the dynasty of Mr Hashemi

Organization for the Improvement of the Fuel Consumption is totally dominated by the wealth and power mafia. In addition to earning huge incomes through this organization, the mafia exploits it as a cover up for organizing and giving financial backing to its activities and deeds.

Presently, the concession of construction, repairing, maintenance and renting of the congested natural gas (CNG) distribution centers has been granted to the members of this family through the Organization for the Improvement of the fuel consumption.
The family of Mr Hashemi uses this privilege to finance 100 local and provincial newspapers for 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 Rials and several national newspapers for 1,000,000,000 Rials in order to build up the public opinion to comply with the policies of the wealth and power Mafia.

Foundation of Special Diseases donates for the election campaign

Documents present at the Foundation of Special Diseases indicate that in 1995, a fund of 2,000,000,000 Rials from this foundation which is run by Mrs Faezeh Rafsanjani (Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter), has been donated to the election campaign of Kargozaran (Affiliated with Rafsanjani). Considering the present conditions, it is quite probable that funds of the Foundation of Special Diseases will be similarly misused in the coming election.

Conspiracy by the Hashemi family in the foreign oil contracts

A revealing letter by the resigned director of Stat-oil Company illustrates one example of bribery by the Hashemi family in oil contracts. Mr Hubart (The resigned director of Statoil) has described in a letter to the executive committee of the company that he had annually paid a commission of 1,500,000 US Dollars for ten years to Mr Mehdi Hashemi (Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani's son).

The wealth and power mafia uses its influence in municipal office

Following an application to the municipal office for sale license by Ms Farzin, owner of a tract of garden of 2270 square meters which is located adjacent to Jamshidieh Park, the license was not issued due to a joint conspiracy of Mr Ali Hashemi (Nephew of Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani) and Karbaschi (Mayor of Tehran at the time).

The excuse for not issuing the license was an expansion plan for Jamshidieh Park. The owner was pressurized, threatened and intimidated by the municipality and Ali Hashemi as the representative of the municipality purchased the garden at the name of his wife, Maryam Hashemi Nejad Kashkooyi, for a very reduced price of 90,000,000 Tomans.

Few months later, having removed the sale obstacles as well as the elements which reduced the price, he sold the garden for 1,900,000,000 Rials. Ali Hashemi paid 350,000,000 Rials bribe to Karbaschi (Mayor of Tehran at the time) to annul the magnificent plan for the expansion of Jamshidieh Park which could encompass the above garden and hence did not allow its sale, and also to cease the plan for widening of Jamshidieh Road which could encompass 500 meter of the above garden for water way.

Such wrong economical policies of the so called Construction government (Under Hashemi Rafsanjani as the president) has brought harmful consequences to the country including the class difference and the gap between the rich and the poor. Regretfully, during these years, this gap has reached 70 to 1. As such, while a rich person earned 700,000 Rial, a poor person earned 10,000 Rials.

Creation trend of wealth and power mafia

As mentioned above, a very complicated mafia has been created in Iran and the dynasty of Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani play a very important and worthy role in its leadership. In this article, we will review the trend of the creation of this Mafia network.

Emergency conditions during the war with Iraq had created a situation in which the government monopolized the economy. Thus, when the war ended and the emergency conditions ceased, privatization of the economy was brought to the attentions. The new conditions in the field of economy provided some government managers as well as families of a number of officials with economical privileges. Amongst all, dynasty of Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani was the one which, for various reasons, enjoyed the privileges most. However, this was not the end. Rather it was just the beginning. Those who enjoyed privileges in the fields of power and politics combined together and as a result, mafia network known as Kargozaran emerged.

Having spent few golden years, this party aimed at legalizing as well as maintenance of these privileges. Thus they decided, on one hand, to safeguard their active and prominent presence in the law making centers and on the other hand, to maintain Mr Hashemi as the president and they thought this would bring them more shinning days in future.

Announcement of the Kargozaran-e Sazandegi Party at the 5th run of the parliamentary elections aimed at materializing the described objectives. Failure to obtain its desires in both mentioned fields, made the wealth and power mafia bring about new conditions which did not fit their political circumstances. At present, having lost their foot hold on some privilege making centres, this mafia trend finds its existence as well as its gaining wealth and expansion of power threatened. Hence, by bringing Mr Hashemi to the scene, it aims at victimizing him in return for protecting its interests.

The free region of Kish has been exclusively given to the dynasty of Hashemi

According to the present documents, at least around 200,000 square meters of the most expensive lands in the free trade region of Kish, have been exclusively given to the relatives of and aides to Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani, and they have made enormous investments in this region. This gang recognize itself as the owner and master of Kish and has grasped its economy in a manner that all the foreigners who come to Kish for trade, have to pay a considerable amounts of commission to the children of Mr Hashemi under different pretexts like donations to charities etc.

In addition to all other activities, this mafia trend has established a landing ground for private planes in Kish through which they are able to directly import their commodities to Iran.

Giving away the public fund

According to the documents, Mr Mohammad Hashemi (Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani's brother) had annually received a part of the presidential budget in order to donate them to those he wishes. In this relation, he has delivered to the administrative financial office of the presidential institution, a list of 30 pages which consists of names of those who have supposedly received gold coins of 'Spring of Freedom' and money as gift from him in 2004. It is said that most of the names in that list are false.

Mohamamd Hashemi (Brother of Hashemi Rafsanjani) along with his family, Mehdi Hashemi and family, and also Marashi family traveled to Mecca in a private Jet on the Iranian new year's day of 1384 (March 21, 2005).

This is while the commoners have to wait for months for their turn to be able to go to Mecca for the religious rituals.

Faezeh Rafsanjani's business activities in Canada

A close contact to Faezeh Rafsanjani (daughter of Hashemi Rafsanjani) explains a few facts concerning her business activities in Canada:

"Faezeh owns the largest and well-equipped building construction companies in Canada, which is building housing units and holiday Villas in the more secluded natural resources of Canada".

She then adds; "Parallel to this, Faezeh transfers original outlines of the construction designs to Iran. In this way she receives a 2 fold profit from the designs".

"Faezeh also has an active business company involved in export and import of goods and has invested largely on working closely with the mafia groups working on export of Make-up productions to the world".

Millions in profit through Mafia groups

Mr. Mohammad Hashemi (Brother of Hashemi Rafsanjani) managed to illegally change the laws concerning his piece of land , which was categorized by the 7th article Commission supervised by Karbaschi (the Mayor at the time) in 1356 to be filed as "cultivation land bearing fruit" with the area of 2283 square meters, to be categorized as " ordinary land".

It is notable that the aforementioned piece of land is conventionally registered under the name of Hashemi's wife's name "Khadije Nazari" and their children with the reference 838/3.The address is Esfandiari, Moahmoudi Street, Martyr Bahonar Avenue.

After this change was routed, the next step was to verify and officially render the ownership of the land (to pave the way for a single ownership). This was carried out illegally by Mr. Karbaschi . The agreement with the Mayors office was to charge 400,000,000 Rials for this process. The sum was reduced to 120,000,000 as a reduction and favor to Hashemi and was never paid later.

According to experts, the value of this land has leaped to 5,000,000,000 Rials, usurped by Mr. Mohammad Hashemi.

Influence over the Mafia groups in Iranian Aeronautical industry

One other area of interest of the Hashemi clan is the Aeronautical Industry of the country.

This clan has extensive influence over most flight companies and some time has bought major stocks in various companies and has privatized them.

Apart form this, Hashemi children are controlling sales of Aeronautical Industry parts in various countries and pocket distinguished amounts of interest though brokering the sales.

Hashemi Rafsanjani's influence in Mashahd University

According to available documents, Mr. Hashemi's daughter (Brother of Hashemi Rafsanajani) transferred her files from Kerman University by paying a bribe of 40,000,000 Rials immediately after receiving her diploma expertise in that University. The so called "construction government" (referring to Khatami's governing slogan during his presidency) managed to heighten state debts to a mere 40,000,000,000 dollars by borrowing International loans. This extreme debt only inflicted more pressure on the poor sectors and the middle class.

The Mafia supremacy of wealth

Establishing absolute control over the main routs of profit of the State was one main objective of the ruling mafia clan.

This supremacy would of course force the government to play within the interests of the Mafia group and on the other hand give them the ability to paralyze and choke any defiance to their control.

According to this objective, the mafia of wealth has operated to establish major control over major infrastructure of the State.

Unfortunately, after eight years, this expansion lead Mr. Khatami's government into a position which left him no means to react to heaps of expectations mainly by the new generation.

This essay is an attempt to review the scope of infiltration by the Mafia of wealth and power in Iran.

Tehran City Hall; the monopoly of Power and Wealth Mafia

After coming to power of the "constructive government" and reaching to executive and financial posts of the power and wealth Mafia, with the selection of Gholamhossein Karbaschi as Tehran's Mayor, the influence of this band reached to the Greater Tehran and this band continued to misappropriate public funds more than before. In previous sections we referred to a small portion of this misappropriation of funds.

That includes:

1- Using city budget to advance partisan and personal benefits
2- Changing Greater Tehran's plans for personal gains

In continuation of this process, the following points are worth noting.

A) Changing the route of Niavaran highway to gain partisan benefits
In 1992, study for the continuation of Niavaran highway was placed on city's agenda and on November 30, 1992 the consulting engineers of the technical unit of Tehran's city hall approved the continuation of Niavaran highway from Shahid Seyyed Kazem Mousavi Street towards Pasdaran Street.

At the same time it becomes known that a property of 10,000 sq. meters in Pasdaran area (2nd Narenjestan) belonging to Mr. Karbaschi (under his wife's name, Kheir-o-nessa Asgarian), Abdullah Nouri (under his son's name Mohsen Nouri) and children of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani (Mehdi, Mohsen and Fatemeh) is located in the above mentioned plan.

They became aware that with the existence of this plan, they can not do anything with this property. Therefore under the order of Karbaschi on August 26, 1993, the said plan was re-routed through a non-professional and tortuous road. Following that order, an order to severe the said property (without any cost) and to change the zoning to residential, was issued and the partner owners benefited immensely from that.

Among the partners only Mohsen Hashemi built a house there. Change of plan for Niavaran highway has equally made that area one of the most accident full area of Tehran.

With the expropriation of part of Chitgar park to build an equestrian club for Yasser Hashemi (Hashemi Rafsanjani's son) during Karbaschi's tenure as Tehran's Mayor, he used his influence in the city hall to name 45000 sq. m of the park was used as the Equestrian federation.

Subsequently another 30,000 sq. m of the park was expropriated. This is while that no document was signed between the city and Yasser Hashemi.

Mr. Yasser Hashemi has used the property to train horses and create an equestrian club with pool, sauna and Jacuzzi for the horses.

Smuggling goods and antiques

Yasser Hashemi is very active in smuggling underground antiques and cultural assets. One of his activities in this regard is smuggling cultural assets of the city of Ghouchan. Yasser Hashemi's trips to Ghouchan and his relationship with the US antiques' smuggler(Hassan Sabet Baktash) is no secret to anyone.

Besides Yasser Hashemi's influence in customs and ports, and his huge bribes in exporting and importing goods, he works in the area of smuggling goods too.

Yasser Hashemi, with the aid of his own proxies has bought and rented few cargo boats in Imam Khomeini port and uses them to transport goods.

Monopoly of influence in the country's ports and customs by the wealth and power Mafia

One of the centers under the control of the wealth and power Mafia, is the customs and ports of Boushehr, Imam Khomeini, Chabahar and Astara. For example, besides the fact that Mr. Hashemi family's affairs in the customs are done expeditiously, evaluating personnel consider special discount for their goods and customs clearance is very fast for them.

This is while the customs is known to give hard time to ordinary people and sometimes they have to wait for months for smallest issues and have to pay huge fines.

Monopoly of trade in pistachio

Export of pistachio in Iran is the monopoly of the wealth and power Mafia. A number of Iranian merchants outside the country have said that the world's major companies who work in the pistachio field can only trade through this Mafia in Iran and others are not permitted to enter this field. This trade is the monopoly of Mr. Hashemi's family.

Effort to bring on board a high volume magazine

Mr. Mehdi Hashemi (Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani's son) has done tremendous effort to bring on board the "Green Family" (Khanevadeh Sabz) magazine. This magazine has a circulation of 500,000 and Mr. Hormoz Shojaee Mehr is its publisher. It has major influence on families.

News suggests that after Mr. Mehdi Hashemi's failure to do that, he tried to exert pressure on Mr. Hormoz Shojaee Mehr.

Surveys have concluded that the main characteristics of the Iranian youths are justice seeking, fighting injustice, principle bound, … With this in mind, do Iranian youths accept the rule of the wealth and power Mafia?

Relationship between the wealth and power Mafia and Freemasonry

Without a doubt the freemasonry is the most widespread and secretive Mafia current in the world. This huge network consisting of 25000 lodges and 5,000,000 members apparently sets its goal as fighting superstitions but its true goal is to fight religions specially Islam.

Currently this network is dominated by international Zionism and has attracted some of the political and cultural elites and media in the world to suppress local economy and culture of the countries. The wealth and power Mafia has been linked to the Masonic Mafia and practically has served for their economic, political and cultural goals.

In this article we try to highlight parts of the relationship between the wealth and power Mafia and the Masonic Mafia. That is why we introduce Mr. Hossein Sabet Baktash, Mohsen Safaian and Abdollahi as symbols of Freemasonry in today's Iran and their relationship with the wealth and power Mafia.

A) Hossein Sabet Baktash

Hossein Sabet Baktash, son of Esmail, was born in 1934 in Mashhad. He went to Germany in 1975 and graduated from Berlin University in Electrical Engineering. His wife is German and one of his brothers works in the antiques' smuggling field. He worked as a teacher in German schools after his graduation. He later was engaged in rug trade with the capital coming from an Iranian lawyer (?!) and gained huge income. He later went to Canary Island (one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world) and built a chain of nine hotels in this island. He currently manages one of the largest hotel chains in Spain.

Mr. Hossein Sabet Baktash was introduced to Mr. Yazdanpanah (former president of Kish free zone) in 1993 by the Kargozaran party (Hashemi's family). By their recommendation, a lot of 770,000 sq.m land (4000 tomans for every square meter totaling 3,080,000,000 tomans) was given to him but in the contract it was written that the agreed upon price be paid after development of the land.

Presently various plans including dolphin pool and three hotels including Grand hotel of Dariush are being built there. The above lot with its current installations has been appraised at 40,000,000 Rials per square meter totaling 3,080,000,000,000 Rials whilst the original amount has not yet been paid.

With the recommendation of Kargozaran Party members and Hashemi's family, Mr. Baktash got $5M loan to develop the land from London branch of the Sepah Bank. He also tries to expand his projects to one third of Kish Island with the backing of the wealth and power Mafia. To this end, Baktash has recently bought Helia, Tamasha, Paeez and Aryan hotels (~ 90,000,000,000 Rials) and started to build a direct, independent road from the airport to his properties.

According to obtained figures, he has so far billed 1,800,000,000,000 Rials in Kish.
It has to be noted that recently Prof. Sameei (resident of Germany) intended to build a large and public hospital in Kish named "Kish Hospital" but with the interference from Mr. Sabet – with the excuse that he has to personally do this project – and influence of the wealth and power Mafia, it was decided to give the license of this big project to Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter and it is said that Sabet Baktash would be a partner.

There are many other important points about Mr. Sabet that include:

- Relation with the ambassadors of the UK, Germany, Canada and Spain and their support for him
- Participation in the receptions of foreign embassies in Iran
- Belief in the need to have good relationship between the occupying Zionist regime and the Islamic Republic of Iran
- Special relation with Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani's children and secret meetings with them abroad including in Saudi Arabia.
- Brokering between the wealth and power Mafia in Iran and Masonic Mafia abroad.
- Close cooperation of Mr. Sabet Baktash's brother (Hassan Sabet, resident of Germany) with Yasser Hashemi (Hashemi Rafsanjani's son) in smuggling antiques
- Reciprocal support between Sabet Baktash and Hashemi's family
It was mentioned in previous revelations that the wealth and power Mafia considers itself as the owner and master of Kish Island and investors in Kish have to pay loyalties and cooperate with them.

That is why the large volume of investment (180 billion tomans) of Baktash in Kish shows his close relationship with them. On the other hand Baktash has been one of the biggest supporters of this family in large investment in countries such as Britain, Germany and Canada and is one of the brokers in their investments.

Mohsen Safaian

Mohsen Safaian who is linked to the Masonic Mafia is resident of the US and for 12 years has accompanied Mr. Mehdi and Mohsen Hashemi in their foreign travels as s translator. During the directorship of Mehdi Hashemi at Naval Installations Company of the Ministry of Oil, he established a company in the field of naval installations in the UK. Mehdi and Mohsen Hashemi were the stakeholders. Using Mehdi Hashemi's influence in the Ministry of Oil, Safaian arranged several contracts with this ministry.

C) Mr. Abdollahi

Before the revolution he owned several companies including Iran's Wood Industries. Due to his linkage to the Freemasonry and monarchy, he fled the country during revolution. With the help of some people within the wealth and power Mafia, he came back to Iran and managed to retake some of his properties back. Mr. Abdollahi donated a six storey building in Vali Asr Street (past Abbas Abad intersection) to Kargozaran party in 1998.

He has always supported Kargozaran party and it is said that Karbaschi has met him during his travel to Canada. The wealth and power Mafia, by empowering a team of 10 people from Freemasonry current in Hamshahri institute (during Mr. Karbaschi's tenure), created a welcoming situation for them. Also contacts between some of Hashemi's family with the office of Farah Pahlavi, Naini, Iraj Mosta-an, Iraj Jamshidi, etc. who all have linkages to Freemasonry current, can be mentioned.

Relation between the wealth and power Mafia with monopoly and totalitarianism
In previous issues it was mentioned that the wealth and power Mafia needs to climb the ladder of power in order to create more wealth. Power from their perspective can serve the following goals:

1) Reaching to bigger wealth
2) Removing limiting elements
3) Creating impunity to protect wealth and power

The above points cause the Mafia current to always follow totalitarianism and monopolist views.

The effort of Kargozaran party and Mr. Hashemi's family to capture the majority in the fifth Parliament and extension of Mr. Rafsanjani's presidency is testament of totalitarianism and monopolist behaviour of these power hungry Sirs.

Now in the new round of totalitarianism, the wealth and power Mafia has tried to not only fully control the executive power of the country, but also to add an addendum to have control over Expediency Council.

Mr. Atrianfar quoted Mohammad Hashemi as saying that first Mr. Hashemi would not lose the Expediency Council and then we would add an additional addendum and finish up the work.

It is obvious that imposition of totalitarianism and monopoly will have dire consequences:

- Annihilation of logical government-people relationship and extinction of accountability and control
- Ruling based on relationship versus merit and creation of bad phenomena of 1000 families
- Lack of using the experts in development process
- Termination of the circulation of the experts within the power structure
- Subversion of the balance of powers within the regime
- Reducing the pace of transformation and creating conservatism in the executive power
- Unbalanced distribution of wealth
- Ignoring national interests and giving priority to Mafia interests
Collusion of Mr. Hashemi's family in foreign oil contracts

We have previously written about the revealing letter of now resigned director of Stat Oil company about bribery of Mr. Hashemi's family in oil contracts and it was noted that Mr. Hobart (resigned director) in his letter to the board of directors of the company has elaborated on giving $1.5M loyalty for 10 years to Mr. Mehdi Hashemi ( Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani's son).

The intelligence service decided – based on its responsibility – to counter Mehdi Hashemi. But because of widespread influence of the wealth and power Mafia, not only this file suddenly gets closed, but also Abbas Yazdanpanah (one of the detainees in the case) who had made important confessions about Mehdi Hashemi, got a new identity card and passport and fled to the UK.

It has to be noted that he is one of the main backers of Mehdi Hashemi in foreign contracts and in this regard Mehdi Hashemi has wired him $2M to Yazdanpanah's credit card for contracts with Total, Elf and Norikway.


Expulsion of a journalist from the electoral headquarter of Mr.Hashemi

According to some one close to Mr.Mehdi Hashemi ( son of Mr.Hashemi Rafsanjani) who is active in the electoral headquarter of Mr.Hashemi, Ms.Hengameh Sh.who has been working in this office has been expelled from his post due to her refusal to give in to illicit demands from Mehdi Hashemi.

According to this source, Ms.Sh intends to make a complaint to the judiciary authorities against Mr.Hashemi's behaviour.

Seizure of power by misappropriation of public properties

Following repeated misuses of public properties by the Kargozaran Party and Mr.Hashemi's clan in order to acquire power , Mr.Mehdi Hashemi ( son of Mr.Hashemi Rafsanjani) using his own influential power, on 3/3/84 (May, 25, 2005) submits a request of 15000 piles of highest quality papers to the ministry of commerce.

A meticulous calculation of the above order which is just one example of such cases would signify some 67/5 million of sheets. That would basically mean that the Mafia of power and wealth would use at least one sheet per each Iranian for their electoral campaign!

Therefore, we must expect extreme extravagance propaganda by their Excellencies of the Kargozaran Party. That is at the time when books in the recent years have been very expensive. The low level of purchase of books from the book exhibition by the students and educated people of the society cites as an example of this situation.


Further efforts of the Mafia of power and wealth to obtain power

According to some source near to Mr.Hashemi;s family, since one year ago, this family has been active in electoral propaganda to make grounds for Mr hashemi to launch his presidential campaign. In this respect, they have made contacts with influential authorities in different ministries and governmental organizations to ensure them of their posts being reinstated. These meetings have usually been taking place in Esteghlal hotel.

This person also states that even thought the party headquarter provided all banners and bill boards for this elections, the Hashemis in each province have spent 10/000/000/000 Rials on transport, boarding and other expenditures which amounts to 300/000/000/000 Rials.

Abuse of governmental facilities in the new range of efforts to grab the power

The clan of Mr.Hashemi in their renewed efforts to over take the executive power uses its utmost influence in governmental institutions.

Some examples in this regard are as follows:

1) Taking over a seven story building that is located in Niyavaran Ave, besides foreign affaires ministry hotel for elections purposes. This has been taken place by coordination with Mr.Jasebi to exert influence over the Open University.
2) Taking control of a building situated in Abbas abad Avenue ( Mahnaz Square) belonging to the Ministry of sciences and technology,
3) Holding a building located in Jahan koodak square which is owned by Oil Ministry,
4) Making use of building, sites and facilities of the regime's Expediency Council for Mr.Hashemi's elections affaires.
5) Using the site and facilities of the regime's Centre for strategic studies (affiliates to the regime's Expediency Council) for the same purposes,

Foreign investments of the Mafia of power and wealth

The Mafia movements across the world by indulging to illegal and illicit activities such as bribery, economic collusion, money laundering, smuggling…can gather lucrative income and immense amount of capital.

They never show any interest in any investments in their own countries. They usually transfer their capita to a third country and make their investments abroad.

The Mafia in Iran too is not an exemption and pursues the same rule. Like their counterparts in other parts of the world, they too are reluctant to make any domestic investments. Understanding the crux of the matter of this phenomenon is of vital importance.

In the first place, it seems that this might be for some immunity objectives and preventive measures against confiscation of their capital. But in a deeper analysis of the matter, some other aspects will be revealed.

One of the major permanent worries of Mafia groups is the enlightenment of the public awareness with regard to their deeds and acts. The domestic investments by such groups can on the one hand expose the extent of their wide scope of economic activities and on the other hand may instigate public minds to raise doubts and demand explanations and justifications concerning the means and the ways of making such incredible investments.

Revealing the scope and bulk of such illegal activities and the origin of these illegitimate investments can result to public outrage which in turn can obviously prevent them from winning power, especially in elections fields.

Establishment of a tourism centre for foreign VIPs

After having purchased a plot of land of 100,000 square meters along side the forest in the north of Toronto', Hashemi's family has established a huge and beautiful tourism and amusement centre very well equipped with all kinds of recreation facilities even a helicopter band which is quite unique in the world. 49 percent of this park belongs to this family and the rest to Canadian tourism commission. This centre is obviously meant for highly influential authorities and very rich tourists.

Hashemi clan's Highway in Canada

Some other investments of Mr. Hashemi and his family in foreign countries are construction projects, like bridges, highways etc…. These contracts are usually drawn with the help of one of the powerful firms of those foreign countries.
One of these highly profitable projects is a 150 Km highway in Toronto. This highway enjoys a very suitable situation with various entrances and exits to all parts of the city and is known by the local people as Hashemi highway!

According to some reliable sources, Bank SBS has helped Hashemi's clan to build this highway. The tolls are a huge bulk of income derived from this highway for this family. It is ironic that according to Iranian official sources, there are more than 1000 hazardous points in roads network in Iran.

Construction of luxurious villas abroad

Members of Hashemi family have bought lots of large plots of lands besides forests in some very beautiful vicinity in Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. They have constructed several modern and fashionable large villas of 10 to 20 thousand sqm furnished with the most advanced facilities and equipments. These luxurious villas costs millions of dollars and are amongst the most beautiful ones in Canada.

Founding of oil company and construction of villas in the UK

According to above said information, Mehdi and Mohsen Hashemi (Mr.Hashemi Rafsanjani's sons) own an oil equipments company in the UK. Considering the previous positions of Mehdi Hashemi in the Oil Ministry and his influence on this ministry, his company enjoys one of the highest and most important statuses in oil tenders in Iran and Middle East.

The general manager of this company is named Mohsen Safaeian (residing in the USA) who for 10 years has been working as translator for this family in their foreign trips .He has managed to build many luxurious villas in the best locations in the UK for this family.

How has this Mafia become so rich?

Although the aforementioned cases are just the tip of ice burg of incredible extent of foreign investments of this Mafia, but they raise a simple question over the source and origin of financing these enormous investments abroad.

At the end of this article, some minor instances of sources of such credits are presented:

- Abuse of power by Mehdi Hashemi in order to import foreign made buses with special import levy concessions.

- Abuse of power by the same person in economic and political institutions in order to obtain information on the stock market, something which is described as informative rent in Iran.

- receiving high percentage commissions from the $10/000/000/000 agreements to purchase airbus planes,

- Obtaining $150/000/000 commission from $1/000/000/000 oil contract with Swiss Zuig company

- Collecting a lucrative lump sum commission from Italian company BNTI in the course of reaching agreement for executing $3/000/000/000 projects in Mobarekeh steel , chador melo and Khuzestan.

Mehdi Hashemi uses his strings and pulling in Oil Ministry to achieve the tenders and bids in very big contracts of Oil ministry with the Engineering Company to build Iran's marine sites ( owned by Hashemi clan),

Yaser Hashemi another son of Hashemi too, has collected huge commission from the director of Orland French company to buy tactical Jeep for Iran, Something that has been confessed by the French director as well.

Receiving $1,000,000 commission by Mehdi Hashemi in order to export buses to Libya,
Collecting $150,000,000 commission by Mahmoud Hashemi in the course of making contract with Iran Metro Company and Norinko Comp,

- Mostafa Davarizadeh a close relatives of Mr. Hashemi acquires some $1,500,000 as commission for the purchase of electronic and land items from Bob Green company,
In another case Mostafa Davoudzadeh received 600/000 German marks for repairing Polish tanks.

Secret dealings of wealth and power mafias

Operating in secret and working in shadows are among the significant and unique characteristics of mafia groups. This factor has a direct link to their survival, transforming these groups into highly complicated and frightening networks.

Despite this fact, however, the unavoidable comings and goings of mafia figures can be one of the most important areas for investigating and gaining knowledge about these notorious groups.

In general, and for various reasons, mafia groups have no choice but to travel to different countries. Among these reasons are:

– Establishing relations and coordinating with foreign mafia network
– Acquiring illegitimate and illegal income
– Investing outside their home country
– Recreation and leisure

The travels of the wealth and power mafia in Iran is not an exception to this rule. It can be analyzed within the confines of the aforementioned general features.

In this issue, the wealth and power mafia will be examined and analyzed with respect to foreign travels and secret relations so that other aspects of these high-flying individuals’ dark houses can be exposed. Our hope is to contribute to the enlightening of public opinion.

Mr. Hashemi’s family breaks record in foreign travel

According to one source close to Mr. Hashemi’s family, in the past several years, ten members of this family (including sons and daughters, wife, and brothers of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani) have traveled abroad on 750 separate occasions in total. Among these instances, the repeated trips of Mehdi Hashemi (close to 260 times) and Fatemeh Hashemi (about 200 times) must be looked at more closely than the others.

Evidence and experience indicate that during these recurrent trips, suspicious meetings have taken place with officials of the Pahlavi regime, people affiliated with the mafia abroad, and even elements tied to spy agencies. Some of these are alluded to below:

– Secret dealings of Mehdi Hashemi with Changiz Farnezhad, former chief of the anti-spying office of SAVAK;
– Secret relations of Mehdi Hashemi with Nakhoda Kamal Darvish, who cooperates with the British MI6 intelligence service;
– Mehdi Hashemi’s secret talks with an American diplomat on a plane during a trip to Saudi Arabia (which was pre-planned);
– Mehdi Hashemi’s negotiations with about 200 Arab entrepreneurs in Dubai;
– Secret relations of Mr. Hashemi’s family with foreign news agencies and publications for the purpose of spreading extensive propaganda in support of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani;
– Setting up a post office box in London to receive secret letters.

On this basis, if we calculate the cost of 2-way tickets alone for every trip to be (at least) $3,000, the total cost of tickets for these trips would amount to roughly $225,000. Considering the long duration of these trips and the enormous travel fees involved, the total costs would certainly be much higher.

Traveling abroad for medical check up

On October 6, 2004, Mohammad Hashemi traveled to Switzerland along with his wife and father-in-law for a medical check up. After spending 11 days there, he returned to Tehran on October 17, 2004.

It has been reported that the said individuals intended to go to Switzerland through Germany, but because of a number of issues (!?), they had a stop over at Dubai instead. For the route change, they incurred an extra cost of $2,000.

Business relations with a hated official

In the course of closing business deals, Mahmoud Hashemi (Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s brother) had extensive trades with a company manged by Colin Powell. This is while many European and other credible companies were also active in this field.

It should be mentioned that Colin Powell was a commander of the US navy warship Vincennes during the Iran-Iraq war.

On July 4, 1988, he ordered a missile attack against an Iran Air Airbus over the Persian Gulf. In this unprecedented and ruthless act, 290 of our countrymen, including innocent men, women and children were martyred.

After this vicious act, Powell received a medal of honor from the American president at the time.

Meetings with the chief Rabbi of the occupying regime in Jerusalem

Ms. Faezeh Hashemi headed an Iranian delegation to Bucharest to attend an international congress. On the sidelines of the congress, she met with “HaRav Meir Lau” (HaRav is the title of the chief rabbi of the Zionists).

The Zionist regime’s channel 2 TV confirmed the report and broadcast two pictures from this meeting, in which Ms. Faezeh Hashemi was cheerfully carrying on a warm conversation with HaRav Meir Lau.

Moreover, HaRav Meir Lau confirmed this report during an interview on the occasion of Yom Kippur (important Jewish holiday).

It is worth noting that despite the fact that the reports of the meeting were confirmed by Zionist sources, both parties refrained from talking about the content of the talks.

Scamming Arab sheikhs

As was pointed out in previous reports, Mehdi Hashemi (Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s son) has extensive relations with Arab sheikhs. During a deal with one of the sheikhs, Hassan Anani, Mehdi Hashemi did not act in accordance with the agreements, thus engaging in a multi-million fraud after receiving $3,000,000 from Anani (despite giving a promissory note to him).

Following this incident, Anani sued Hashemi. But, he passed up on the opportunity to pursue the case, fearing for the safety of his investments in Iran after Mehdi Hashemi confronted him with threats.

It is worth noting that Hassan Anani was one of the largest shareholders of the Noushab company in Iran during the time he was doing business with Mehdi Hashemi.

He said: I want to vote for the Executives of Kargozaran Party (i.e. the power grabbers and wealth and power mafia).

I asked: Why?!

He responded: They have embezzled so much that they are too content now and so they may not even take government and public funds.

I laughed and said: Incidentally, the reverse is true. Haven’t you heard the old adage, “Take from the hungry and give to the fat”? These individuals are hungrier than everybody else.

The power and wealth mafia and lack of transparency

Operating in the shadows, secret deals, acquiring illegitimate and illegal income, on the one hand, and deceitful propaganda to obtain or maintain power, on the other, have transformed mafia groups into the most opaque movements in contemporary societies.

On this basis, mafia groups engage in clandestine diplomacy and opaque deal makings, and when it comes time to grab power, they bring their lack of accountability and lack of transparency into the political fold.

The conduct of the wealth and power mafia in Iran should naturally be analyzed in the abovementioned context. These high-flying individuals were in charge for 8 years during the so-called construction period without being held accountable. They forced the nation of Iran into debt from foreign banks, left projects incomplete and created a painful gap between the rich and the poor. In addition, during the reformist government, they were placed into the central arrangements, and while upsetting the structure’s balance, they reduced Seyyed Mohammad Khatami government’s accountability to incredibly low levels.

There are speculations about the reasons for the lack of accountability and transparency of the mafia, one of which can be mentioned here.

The power-thirsty individuals work in rooms with opaque windows and try to prevent people (as judges and observers) from becoming aware of their secret and complex relationships. This is because transparency would destroy the popular acceptability of the mafia and would cut their hands from the seat of power.

In this regard, in a proposal (which points to the lack of transparency of these high-flying individuals), Mr. Atrianfar has said to one of Mr. Hashemi’s staff, that: Bring together a strong journalistic team made up of people like Shamsolvaezin, Ghouchani, Saeed Leylaz, Mahmoud Sadri, and others, so that they can form beautiful and vague expressions for Mr. Hashemi’s TV spot. In that program, he must not talk about the things we have done. He should just mention in general that we led a construction period for 8 years and now we want to work out the current challenges.

In 1990, Moussavi explained about the conduct of the Executives of Construction Party in an analysis by referring to them as “power-thirsty.”

Hashemi family’s pledge to resolve famous high-rise developer’s legal issues

Recently, Mr. Jalil Makinehchi, one of the famous high-rise developers and entrepreneurs, who has transferred his wealth from Iran to Dubai, dedicated an expensive seven-story building (with blue-tainted glass exterior) located on the Nejat Elahi Street to the election team of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani.

It is worth mentioning that Mr. Jalil Makinehchi received a permit from the Tehran municipality (when Mr. Karbaschi was mayor) to develop high-rises and destroyed a lot of gardens in violation of legal codes.

It has also been reported that the said individual has a large legal case at the Judiciary for a number of legal infringements. An individual by the name of Judge Movahed is presiding over the case.

On this basis, Mr. Rafsanjani’s family has promised Makinehchi to follow up and resolve his legal dilemmas in exchange for the latter’s financial support for Mr. Hashemi’s election campaign for future elections and victory.

It is worth noting that currently Mr. Tah Hashemi and a number of other power-thirsty people (members of the Executives of Construction Party) are based, and conduct activities, in this building as part of the “office of provincial affairs of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani.”

Using public funds at Mr. Hashemi’s campaign headquarters

According to one source close to the campaign headquarters of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mr. Hosseini (one of the officials responsible for administering the finances of the presidency, who has budgets outside the confines of laws relating to public accounting) has been appointed as the person in charge of finance and support for Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s headquarters.

It is worth noting that the budgets outside the confines of this appointment point to the misappropriation of the presidency’s resources, equipment, and budget for the benefit of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s campaign headquarters.

Moreover, as a continuation of the wealth and power mafia’s misappropriation of public resources during elections, one can point to the presence of ten female staff of the Expediency Council working at Mr. Hashemi’s campaign headquarters.

The maritime fleet of the wealth and power mafia

As mentioned previously, Mr. Hashemi’s family on the one hand enjoys extensive influence in the country’s ports and customs, while on the other hand, it has also acquired some private enterprises in the maritime industry. This has led to the friends and families of these people to expand their reach in order to form a naval fleet and get involved in building ships.

Obviously, one of the advantages of controlling ship building and forming a maritime fleet is that it makes smuggling more effortless. We can also consider the following points which are worth noting:

… shares in the “Farasahel” company belongs to Mr. Mehdi Hashemi (Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s son). The company originally operated as the builder of naval commodities and structures, beginning its work in the southwestern naval industries of Bandar Abbas. But, after a while, in view of Mehdi Hashemi’s extensive influence in the Oil Ministry (as former head of the naval facilities of the Oil Ministry and current head of the organization in charge of fuel efficiency), its operations turned into the smuggling of diesel fuel under the guise of exporting diesel oil, stone, sand, and gravel.

One of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s sons owns two units of the platform affiliated with the Sadra company. The first is beside the marine facilities of Bushehr while the second one is located in Asalouyeh, South Pars.

Mr. Hashemian (Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s nephew) owns Ferdos 1, 2, 3 of the Ferdos fleet, which owns 10 ships.

Even though the Ferdos fleet operates under the name of Sayyadi, Hashemian uses these three ships, along with the Ferdos ship, to smuggle commodities. Participating in the Sayyadi operation is considered to be a cover for this.

Dr. Fatehian, who is one of the close associates of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s family, owns three ships called Hani, Kasra, and Setareh Jonoub.

The Kavian 2 ship belongs to a person identified as Sarrafzadeh, who is connected with and closed to Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s family.

Handing out of satellite phones by Mr. Hashemi’s campaign headquarters

Recently, Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s campaign headquarters (which incorporates his family and members of the Executives of Construction Party), distributed 1,000 satellite phone lines operating outside the data network of the country to its campaign staff throughout Iran.

In view of the high cost of satellite phone use ($0.55/minute) and the price of its line and device (about $1,100), this question comes into mind that (aside from the source of the money) what objectives is the mafia really pursuing?

Story 1: The Executives of Kargozaran Party election campaign headquarters cancelled campaign travels due to lack of financial resources.

Story 2: The Kargozaran Party campaign headquarters paid $30,000,000 as operational capital to its provincial offices (aside from costs of setting up offices and ad campaigns).
Story 3: The Kargozaran Party campaign headquarters paid $15,000 for a single poster of their candidate.

Mr. Hashemi's clan wealth over precious horses

Horse riding is one of the sports favored most by Rafsanjani clan, and has brought much squandering of wealth.

All members of the Rafsanjani clan have in possession expensive horses.

Yasser Rafsanjain has for example bought a very expensive horse at 3,200,000,000 Rials, now worth 5000,000,000 Rials.

Faezeh Rafsanjani also has a horse worth 2,500,000,0000 Rials.

Faezeh Rafsanjani and Karbaschi along with a couple of other officials initiated a horse riding club in Lavasan with numerous high breed horses. The locals in the area have in many occasions expressed dissatisfaction over the activities of the club and compared Faezeh Rafsanjani's luxury life with that of the former Farah and Ashraf Pahalavi (Spouse and sister of the former Shah).

Daily expenses for feeding and caring for the horses reach 10,000,000 Rials. For example the daily diet of the horses which contains fresh water melons reaches a high amount of 100,000 Tomans.

Receiving loans from the Presidential office

In 1996 Yasser Rafsanjani – head of the Horse riding Federation and advisor to Mr.Forouzesh in the Ministry of Jihad for Reconstruction- used his brother's influence in as the presidents head of office-Mohsen Rafsanjani, and managed to obtain a loan of 1,5000,000,000 Rials without going though legal procedures, from the savings interests of Jihad Ministry.

He also received a loan of 400,000 dollars on 75/5/21 (Aughust 11, 1996) (from the Ministry of Jihad for Reconstruction – still though illegal means. It is said that the sum was to cover the costs of importing horses from Russia. Later research proved that the import never occurred.

Usurping land through bullying

Some time ago, Yasser Rafsanjani tried to take over a ranch named "Sarin Darkia " in Fasham district -4,000,000 square meter.

This ranch belonged to a rancher who owned cattle (1500 sheep) with his brother, and who was very much against handing his land to Rafsanajani. In this regard, Yasser Rafsanajani while threatened this person had said: "Give up this ranch since I am resolved to get this from the government".

Sharing imports and exports with Aunty
Mrs. Faezeh Rafsanjani along with her aunty – Mrs. Bahremani- who is 70 years old bought a land 30,000,000 (equal to 3000 hectares) in FirousKooh plane to construct a horse riding club. The price of the land was 45,000,000,000 Rials.

We have to remind our readers that Mrs. Bahremani's main interest lies with petrol exports. She is a main partner to Faeze Rafsanajani.

Organization of EMDAD Tourism under Rafsanjani clan

Yasser Rafsanjani ( Rafsanjani's son) established an organization called " Emdad Jahangardi". This organization's mandate was to provide with on-road repairs as a partner to "Iran Khordo" company (A car manufacture company).

This new organization was to receive 40,000 Rials for each product of "Iran Khodro" company for its services to the company. This amount is of course apart from the projected amount due to services provided on the road.

In view of the high manufacturing rate of Iran Khodro Company – production line reaches 400 thousand cars- annual interest of this company for providing services would reach a charming figure of 400,000 (annual production rate of Iran Khodro) times 40,000 (amount received for each production ) would equal to……….

Building a Lake

Yasser Hashemi initiated a business for repair and reconstruction on the lake in Boushehr at high cost of 30,000,000,000 Rials.

It is worth noting that near the aforementioned lake there are two other repair companies at work at the moment, belonging to the Navy.

In order to prevent collision of interest, the Navy had proposed Yasser Rafsanjani, hiring the companies, which was not accepted.

Running a separate lake for repair would constitute a parallel work supervising services to ships that carry smuggled goods.

Rafsanjani Behind The Riot?

' Iran: Rafsanjani's Wife Calls for Street Protests if Cheating Occurs in Election
unattributed article: "It seems;" Subheaded 'If Musavi does not become president, people should protest in the streets!'
Javan, Saturday, June 13,
Document Type: OSC Translated Text

While four days ago, Hashemi-Rafsanjani had indirectly threatened street riots in a letter to the Supreme Leader, after having cast her vote in a ballot box in Jamaran's Hoseynieh, Rafsanjani's wife claimed that if there is no cheating, Musavi will become president and if there is cheating, people should pour into the streets in protest.

Having cast her vote, Effat Mar'ashi addressed the people and the reporters and said: You have been witness that I wrote Mir Hoseyn Musavi in my vote and I hope that no cheating takes place, because if such a thing happens, I will not forgive them on Serat Bridge (according to Muslim belief, the bridge that people have to cross to enter heaven).

She then launched an attack against Dr Ahmadinejhad and said: I hope Ahmadinejhad and his Khavarej friends (according to the Koran, a group of traitors who betrayed Imam Ali in the Saffeyn war) receive their response from the people. Hashemi-Rafsanjani's wife referred to the president's statements during the debate with Musavi and said: Why does he talk such rubbish and accuse my children of stealing? Mar'ashi claimed that if there is no cheating, Musavi will become president, but we hope to God that they do not cheat, because if they do people will pour into the streets and will protest.

(Description of Source: Tehran Javan in Persian Tehran Javan in Persian -- strongly conservative Tehran daily believed to be close to the Revolution Guards Cor

This has all been a movement from Rafsanjani to secure more power for him self. He wants Ahamadinijad to stop the investigations/accusations against him. He is destabilizing the country to force Sayed Khamenie to come to an agreement between him self and Ahamadinijad that would force Ahamadinijad to stop his corruption allegations.

Mousavi is just a tool of Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani funded Mousavi's campaign and has been pushing him to call for a recount and enflame peoples passions to take to the streets.

Rafsanjani is just trying to secure his power. He also pushed Mousavi to put various things in to his campaign forum that were of direct benifit to Rafsanjani, such as the idea of taking away the Baseeji forces from the WF and giving them to local police and governers. As Rafsanjani has tons of corrupt politicians and officials on his payroll moving the baseej away fro WF would be just one more power under his belt.

He him self is trying to become the next WF, he knows that he can not secure the position, so he has recently been trying to push the idea that WF should be changed to a council, that way he could get on to the council.

Due to the riots that Rafsanjani has been instigating, the government was forced to shut down forms of communication such as sms text messaging, as well as slowing down interent and shutting down some phone lines, to prevent enemies of Iran and oportunists to be able to organize quickly.

No doubt that Agents of Isreal, U.S and Saudi Arabia/other gulf countries are taking advantage of the situation and stirring trouble in Iran.

The whole situation is causing mass confusion. I pray that Iran puts the whole thing under controll very quickly.

Tehran's Riot After Iranian Presidential Election

Iranian Presidential Election

Buying Muslim

By Carla Power

DUBAI, May 22 — Islam has always dictated how certain foods should be prepared. Now firms are applying halal concepts to everything from perfume to hotels.

Khalfan Mohammed has long been buffeted by culture shock while staying in five-star hotels. As a devout Muslim he has learned to ask staff to remove the minibar’s alcohol. He loathes lobbies with loud discos and drunken guests. When travelling with his parents, it is the bikinis that rankle most. “It was quite shocking for my mother to sit in a restaurant with undressed people,” the Abu Dhabi-based businessman says. “My mom and dad are not used to seeing people in public wearing their underwear.” To avoid such embarrassment, the Mohammeds took to renting furnished apartments.

No longer. On a trip to Dubai last year, Mohammed stayed in the Villa Rotana, one of a growing number of hotels catering to Muslim travellers. In the lobby — all-white leather, brick and glass, with a small waterfall — quiet reigns. Men in dishdashas and veiled women glide by Westerners who are sometimes discreetly reminded to respect local customs. Minibars are stocked not with alcohol, but with Red Bull, Pepsi and the malt drink Barbican.

Buying Muslim meant avoiding pork and alcohol and getting your meat from a halal butcher, who slaughtered in accordance with Islamic principles. But the halal food market has exploded in the past decade and is now worth an estimated US$632 billion (RM2.2 trillion) annually, according to the Halal Journal, a Kuala Lumpur-based magazine. That’s about 16 per cent of the entire global food industry. Throw in the fast-growing Islam-friendly finance sector and the myriad other products and services — cosmetics, real estate, hotels, fashion, insurance — that comply with Islamic law and the teachings of the Quran, and the sector is worth well over US$1 trillion a year.

One reason for the rise of the halal economy is that the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are younger and, in some places at least, richer than ever. Seeking to tap that huge market, non-Muslim multinationals like Tesco, McDonald’s and Nestlé have expanded their Muslim-friendly offerings and now control an estimated 90 per cent of the global halal market.

At the same time, governments in Asia and the Middle East are pouring millions into efforts to become regional “halal hubs,” providing tailor-made manufacturing centres and “halal logistics” systems to maintain product purity during shipping and storage. The increased competition is changing manufacturing and supply chains in some unusual places. Most of Saudi Arabia’s chicken is raised in Brazil, which means Brazilian suppliers have built elaborate halal slaughtering facilities. Abattoirs in New Zealand, the world’s biggest exporter of halal lamb, have hosted delegations from Iran and Malaysia. And the Netherlands, keen to maximise Rotterdam’s role as Europe’s biggest port, has built halal warehouses so that imported halal goods aren’t stored next to pork or alcohol.

Such arrangements cost, of course, but since the industry’s anchor is food, business is booming, even in the economic crisis. “What downturn?” asks Nordin Abdullah, executive director of the Halal Journal. “You don’t need your Gucci handbag, but you do need your hamburger.”

Not just hamburgers. Drug companies such as Britain’s Principle Healthcare and Canada’s Duchesnay now sell halal vitamins free of the gelatins and other animal derivatives that some Islamic scholars say make mainstream products haram, or unlawful. The Malaysia-based company Granulab produces synthetic bone graft material to avoid using animal bone, while Malaysian and Cuban scientists are collaborating on a halal meningitis vaccine.

In the Gulf, the Burooj real estate company is carving out a niche, not just because it deals exclusively with Islamic banks, but because it designs spas and swimming pools that segregate the sexes. For Muslim women concerned about skin-care products containing alcohol or lipsticks that use animal fats, a few cosmetics firms are creating halal makeup lines.

The burgeoning Islamic finance industry is using the global economic crisis to win new non-Muslim customers. Investors are attracted by Islamic banking’s more conservative approach: Islamic law forbids banks from charging interest (though customers pay fees) and many scholars discourage investment in excessively leveraged companies. Though it currently accounts for just 1 per cent of the global market, the Islamic finance industry’s value is growing at around 15 per cent a year, and could reach US$4 trillion in five years, up from US$500 billion today, according to a 20:08 report from Moody’s Investors Service.

Those who define the halal market in the traditional sense — as a matter of meat, and no more — see the industry stopping at Islamic food standards. But the movement’s more bullish advocates envisage Muslim cars and halal furniture built in accordance with Muslim finance, labour and ethical principles. Citing the kosher and organic industries as successful examples of doing well by doing good, some entrepreneurs even see halal products moving into the mainstream and appealing to consumers looking for high-quality, ethical products. A few firms that comply with the Shari’a code — the religious laws that observant Muslims follow — point out that already many of their customers are non-Muslim. At the Jawhara Hotels, an alcohol-free Arabian Gulf chain run by the Islam-compliant Al Lotah conglomerate, 60 per cent of the clientele are non-Muslims, drawn by the hotels’ serenity and family-friendly atmosphere. Dutch-based company Marhaba, which sells cookies and chocolate, says a quarter of its customers are non-Muslims, mostly people concerned not about religious edicts but about food safety. “People are always looking for the next purity thing,” says Mah Hussain-Gambles, founder of Saaf Pure Skincare, which markets halal makeup.

Today, though, the big business is in working out how to serve the increasingly sophisticated Muslim consumer. “The question now for companies is: What products and services are you going to provide to help Muslims lead the lifestyle they want to lead?” asks the Halal Journal’s Abdullah. It’s a code worth cracking. A 2007 report from the global ad agency JWT describes the Muslim market thus: “It’s young, it’s big, and it’s getting bigger.” Parts of it are well-educated and wealthy. The buying power of American Muslims alone is estimated at a hefty US$170 billion annually. But with few exceptions, American marketers ignore them, says Ann Mack, JWT’s director of trend spotting. “Muslims don’t feel that brands are speaking to them,” she says. “When we did the study, it was very difficult to find mainstream companies that were making significant programmes geared toward the Muslim population.”

That’s less of a problem elsewhere. Indeed, the most innovative new halal products and services often come out of Europe and Southeast Asia, places where your average food supplier or bank may know little, if anything, about halal. In Europe — the biggest growth region according to the Halal Journal — young devout Muslims are hungry for Islamic versions of mainstream pleasures such as fast food. “The second- and third-generation Muslims are fed up with having rice and lentils every day,” observes Darhim Hashim, CEO of the Malaysia-based International Halal Integrity Alliance. “They’re saying, ‘We want pizzas, we want Big Macs’.” Domino’s now sources halal pepperoni from a Malaysian company for the pizzas it sells from Kuala Lumpur to Birmingham; KFC is testing halal-only stores in Muslim areas of Britain, and the Subway sandwich chain has halal franchises across Britain and Ireland.

Swiss food giant Nestlé is a pioneer in the field. It set up its halal committee way back in the 1980s, and has long had facilities to keep its halal and non-halal products separated. Turnover in halal products was US$3.6 billion last year, and 75 of the company’s 456 factories are geared for halal production.

For non-food companies like South Korea’s LG and Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia, targeting Muslims is also big business. LG offers an application to help users find the direction of Mecca, while Nokia has free downloadable recitations from the Quran and maps showing the locations of major mosques in the Middle East. Such offerings increase brand loyalty, according to market research by the Finland-based Muslim lifestyle portal Muxlim.com. “There’s a lot of room out there for mainstream brands to appeal to Muslims without making changes to their products,” says Muxlim.com’s CEO Mohamed El-Fatatry. “It’s just about their marketing messages, about showing that this brand is interested in them as consumers.”

It’s also about understanding the nuances. The hypermarket run by French supermarket giant Carrefour at the Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur is overwhelmingly halal, with an elaborate system to keep halal foods separate from the haram ones. Goods that divide scholars on whether they’re halal or haram because they could have trace elements of wine — Balsamic vinegar, say, or Kikkoman Marinade — get slapped with little green stickers to alert customers. More blatantly haram items are confined to La Cave, a glassed-in room at the back of the store for goods containing alcohol, pork or tobacco. Wearing special blue gloves, La Cave’s staff handle haram goods and seal them in airtight pink plastic wrapping after purchase, so as not to contaminate the main store. “I’m so scared,” said Norini Razak, a 23-year-old regular Carrefour shopper in a grey-and-white hijab. “It’s difficult for one to know what is halal and what is not, so I’d prefer to go to a shop with labels (to help me).”

The rising concerns of consumers like Razak herald not just a global economic trend, but a cultural one. During the 1980s and ‘90s, many Muslims in Egypt, Jordan and other Middle Eastern countries expressed their religious principles by voting Islamic. Today, a growing number are doing so by buying Islamic, connecting to their Muslim roots by what they eat, wear and play on their iPods. Rising Muslim consumerism undermines the specious argument often heard after 9/11: that Muslims hate the Western way of life, with its emphasis on choice and consumerism. The growing Muslim market is a sign of a newly confident Islamic identity — one based not on politics but on personal lifestyles. “Muslims will spend their money more readily on halal food and products than on political causes,” says Zahed Amanullah, European managing director of the California-based Zabihah.com, an online guide to the global halal marketplace.

Like many Muslim Americans, Amanullah grew up eating Jewish kosher food in order to conform to Muslim strictures on animal slaughter. But increasingly, there’s no need for Muslims to go kosher. Zabihah offers tens of thousands of reviews of halal restaurants, from fried chicken joints in Dallas to pan-Asian restaurants in Singapore. Says Amanullah: “We can’t keep up.”

The dazzling range of new products and services also reflects the seismic social changes under way in the Muslim world. One of the reasons why halal frozen food, lunch-box treats and quick-fix dinners are growing in popularity is that many more Muslim women, from Egypt to Malaysia, have full-time jobs.

Western Muslims, whose minority status sharpens their sense of identity, are also helping refine the notion of a Muslim lifestyle. In Britain, advertisers are increasingly embracing the power of the “green” pound (that’s Islamic green, not environmental green), says Sarah Joseph, editor of Emel, a glossy lifestyle monthly for British Muslims. When Emel launched in 2003, the notion of a Muslim lifestyle barely existed. “People were confused that we could present everything from food, fashion, travel and gardening, all from a Muslim perspective,” says Joseph. But Muslims are the fastest-growing segment of the middle class in Britain; they have big families — an average of 3.4 children against the national average of 1.9 — so they buy big cars; they spend money on home decoration and twice-yearly vacations — “not just going back to Pakistan or Bangladesh, like their (immigrant) parents did,” says Joseph. Bucking the current publishing trend, Emel is hiring extra staff and planning new magazines to cater to Muslim readers. Advertisers include British Airways and banking giant HSBC.

To keep growing, halal firms know they can’t simply rely on religion. “Ideology does not fit within a consumer mindset,” observes Amanullah of Zabihah.com. “At the end of the day, people will not buy halal simply because it’s halal. They’re going to buy quality food. Ideology doesn’t make a better-tasting burger, a better car, or a better computer.” But it sure makes a powerful marketing pitch. — Time

Halal Chicken with Pork Powder

Cafes and restaurants across Britain have been selling chicken secretly injected with beef and pork waste, The Independent can reveal today.

In a hi-tech fraud run by firms in three EU states, food manufacturers are making bulking agents out of porcine and bovine gristle and bones that help inflate chicken breasts, so that they fetch a higher price.

The swindle was only detected by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) using new scientific techniques because the non-chicken material had been so highly processed it passed standard DNA tests.

Thousands of restaurateurs and cafe owners are likely to have been conned into buying chicken containing the powder – which binds water into chicken breasts – while diners have been unwittingly consuming traces of other animals when eating out.

Full report here!

Majidi to Make Film About Prophet of Islam

Award-winning Iranian director Majid Majidi is to make a film about the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad and the first forty years of his life.

According to Mehr News Agency, Majidi will use an Iranian-international cast to shoot his film in Iran and other countries.

The film will focus on Prophet Mohammad's life from childhood until Be'sat, when he became the prophet of Islam through divine revelation.

Filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter Majid Majidi has received numerous national and international awards for his Children of Heaven, which was also nominated for the 1998 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

He was one of the five international filmmakers invited by the Chinese government to make a short documentary film about the Chinese capital, Beijing, where the 2008 Summer Olympics was held.

The Oecumenical Special Award and the Grand Prix Des Ameriques of the Montreal Film Festival are among the many prizes Majidi has received during his cinematic career.

The Color of Paradise, Baran, The Willow Tree and The Song of Sparrows are his other feature-length productions.

http://www.presstv.com/classic/detail.aspx...ionid=351020105