Worries Mount over Sanctions’ Ripple Effect

WASHINGTON, Jul 8, 2010 (IPS) - Although the United States and its allies insist that the latest round of U.N. sanctions against Iran targets high-level government officials rather than the general population, interviews with a number of analysts, activists and journalists in Tehran reveal a growing concern over the impact on the country’s middle class.

“The government will use the oil money to prevent pressure on the lower classes, but the main pressure will be on the middle class, the majority of whom are anti-government,” a former governmental official told IPS on the condition of anonymity. Read more

July 9, 2010     1 Comment

Iran Lobbies Over Rights Forum

26 Feb 10 -Denying rights abuses could prove costly for Tehran, both economically and politically.
Iranian activists have viewed with anger and dismay the outcome of a United Nations review of human rights in Iran and the country’s rejection of its recommendations.

Iran attracted criticism from the West over a lack of freedom of speech and assembly and the position of religious minorities like the Bahais at the routine session in Geneva on February 15 of the UN Human Rights Council. In its reaction to the session, Iran accepted some recommendations but rejected a range of calls to clean up its record and to allow UN human rights and torture inspectors to visit. The UN has no powers to adopt resolutions or enforce any measures raised at the session, called a Universal Periodic Review, UPR. Read more

February 26, 2010     1 Comment

Can Iran’s Opposition Find Montazeri Replacement?

IWPR Institute (Mianeh)- The death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s most outspoken critic late last month came as a blow to the opposition movement in Iran. But the void left by the loss of Grand Ayatollah Ali Montazeri may yet galvanise other senior Shia clerics into vocal criticism of the regime, thus shifting the equation in the opposition’s favour.

Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died on December at the age of 87, effectively served as both spiritual leader and unifying force for Iran’s reform-minded opposition. Uniquely, he enjoyed popularity among secular activists and the intellectual elite as well as the devout. Read more

January 9, 2010     1 Comment

Q&A: Attack on Karrubi Was a “Coordinated Effort”

BERKELEY, California, Jan 8 (IPS) - Hussein Karrubi, the son of Iranian opposition figure Mehdi Karrubi, whose car was struck by two bullets on Thursday in Qazvin, a city near Tehran, tells IPS the Islamic Republic is trying to silence and intimidate his father. Many analysts believe that the escalating attacks by security forces on opposition figures could push the popular protests, which have been ongoing since the disputed Jun. 12 elections, to a new level. Read more

January 9, 2010     2 Comments

IRAN: Revolutionary Guards Tighten Economic Hold

BERKELEY, California, Dec 29 (IPS) - News that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is withdrawing a billion dollars from the country’s Foreign Reserve Fund in order to complete Phases 15 and 16 of the gigantic South Pars gas project has generated concern among Iranian analysts, who believe the move reveals the military organisation’s excessive power over Iran’s economy.

In view of looming sanctions from the United States and the United Nations Security Council over Iran’s nuclear programme, the IRGC’s control over the country’s sensitive oil, and gas and nuclear industries could provoke a serious crisis, they warn. Read more

December 29, 2009     2 Comments

Iran’s protest movement has entered a new phase

The DailyStar-Last week, six months after Iran’s June 12 presidential elections, thousands of students protested against the government in universities across Iran – a strong signal that Iran’s domestic crisis is far from over, and moreover, entering a new phase.

Six months ago, the major focus of the hundreds of thousands of protesters who marched the streets of Tehran was to show their anger and dissatisfaction with the election results, which many believed were rigged and resulted in not only Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, but also beliefs that this pre-planned coup was orchestrated with the support of the Revolutionary Guards, the para-military Basij, and the military intelligence.
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December 16, 2009     Leave a Comment

Iran’s Leaders Battle Over Khomeini’s Legacy

TIME, By Robert Baer and Omid Memarian- Are the wheels coming off the Iranian regime bus? On July 26, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fired the country’s Intelligence Minister, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie, a man who customarily reported directly to the Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, rather than to the President. The move came a day after Khamenei had forced Ahmadinejad to drop Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as his candidate for Vice President. But in an act of flagrant defiance of Khamenei, Ahmadinejad appointed Mashaie as his chief of staff. All this suggests that a political brawl is raging within the corridors of power, the likes of which the world has not seen since Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini died in 1989.

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July 28, 2009     Leave a Comment

IRAN: Ahmadinejad Victory Sparks Protests and Claims of Fraud

SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 13 (IPS) - Just a few months after a right-wing government gained power in Israel, Iran’s hardliner president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was declared the winner in Friday’s election, although his main rival has not accepted defeat and reformist supporters were skirmishing with security forces in the capital Tehran Saturday.

According to Iran’s Interior Ministry, Ahmadinejad took 62.6 percent of the vote, with leading reformist candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi receiving 33.7 percent – thus averting a widely anticipated run-off. The ministry says turnout was a record 85 percent of eligible voters. Read more

June 13, 2009     5 Comments

Iran on the move

OpenDemocracy.org-Iran has experienced of one of the most exciting presidential elections since the Islamic revolution of 1979. All of the four candidates who appear on the ballot-paper in the first round of voting on 12 June 2009 may be handpicked by Iran’s Guardian Council, and each can be considered either a father or a child of the revolution. But two are reformists who embrace progressive agendas, and whose popular campaigns suggest that millions of Iranians - 70% of whom are under 30 years old - believe that Iran needs reform.

For Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. The leader elected in June 2005 expected an easy contest from opposition candidates who could be easily discredited for past failures or outflanked on nationalist rhetoric. Instead, he has been forced to grapple with harsh criticism of his economic policy, foreign policy and human-rights record - and is resorting to extreme denunciation of his rivals as a way of shoring up his core support. Read more

June 11, 2009     1 Comment

IRAN: Reformist Candidates Complain of Too Many Ballots

SAN FRANCISCO, U.S., Jun 9 (IPS) - Fears that the state apparatus controlled by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is laying the groundwork for possible fraud in Friday’s presidential election appear to be growing among his two reformist challengers and their supporters.

While an incumbent has never lost a re-election bid since the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, many analysts believe Ahmadinejad will at least be forced into a run-off with his closest rival, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is supported by Ahmadinejad’s popular predecessor, former President Mohammad Khatami.

The poll is being closely watched around the world, since the results could have a major impact on Iran’s relations both with its neighbours and the West, where Ahmadinejad’s more provocative statements, notably his repeated questioning of the Nazi Holocaust, have made him an easy target for rallying public opinion against Iran. Read more

June 9, 2009     Leave a Comment

Obama Egypt Speech: Venue Choice Draws Fire

President Obama’s decision to address the Muslim World in a speech on June 4th in Cairo, Egypt — one of the most authoritarian Muslims countries in the Middle East - begs the question: is Egypt the right place to address such issues or not?

On May 8, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called Egypt “the heart of the Arab world,” and the trip “an opportunity for the President to address and discuss our relationship with the Muslim world.”

In March 2009, Ipsos conducted a poll of 7,000 people across Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. According to the polling outfit, Egypt has the least favorable approval rating compared to the other Arab countries in the Middle East. And President Obama received 48 percent of average favorability ratings as a whole, while Egyptians gave him a favorability rating of 35 percent. Read more

June 3, 2009     Leave a Comment

IRAN: Lawyers Seek Reversal in Second “U.S. Spy” Case

SAN FRANCISCO, May 26 (IPS) - In a case that human rights activists say echoes that of recently released journalist Roxana Saberi, the Iranian government has imprisoned a woman employed by a U.S.-based non-profit organisation working to improve child and maternal health in the country, alleging that she acted as a spy for the United States.

Silva Harotonian, an Iranian citizen of Armenian descent, held a modest position with the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), which focuses on international education, academic research, professional training and technical assistance. Read more

May 31, 2009     Leave a Comment

RIGHTS-IRAN: Intl Support Mounts for Jailed Journalist

BERKELEY, California, Apr 20 (IPS) - Since Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison last week on the charge of spying for foreign governments, human rights and press freedom groups have become increasingly critical of the political nature of her case and the harsh and unprecedented penalty.

A dual citizen of the U.S. and Iran, Saberi, 31, grew up in Fargo, North Dakota. Five years ago, she moved to Iran and began working as a freelancer for a variety of news agencies, including National Public Radio, BBC and Inter Press Service. Read more

April 22, 2009     4 Comments

POLITICS: Obama’s New Iran Envoy Met With Scepticism

BERKELEY, California, Feb 26 (IPS) - The appointment of Dennis Ross as a special advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has found a cool reaction in Tehran and some U.S. policy circles.

“The appointment of Ross is an apparent contradiction with [President Barack] Obama’s announced policy to bring change in United States foreign policy,” said Iran’s State Radio on Wednesday, accusing Ross of being in league with Israel. Announcing the long-anticipated appointment, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said that Ross would offer “strategic advice” and perspective on the region, coordinate new policy approaches and take part in “inter-agency activities.” Read more

February 28, 2009     3 Comments

ECONOMY-IRAN: From Bad to Worse?

BERKELEY, California, Dec 19 (IPS) - As the price of crude oil continued its tumble to less than 35 dollars a barrel Friday, Iranian economists are warning that the fourth-largest oil producer in the world will enter an even deeper crisis should the price remain low, with many also blaming the government’s economic policies.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly denied the worsening effects of falling oil prices on Iran’s economy, which is now is facing a 30 percent inflation rate and more than 10 percent unemployment. However, this week he admitted that plummeting oil prices would threaten the country’s fragile economy.

In response to a huge budget deficit next year, Pres. Ahmadinejad plans to cut spending, lift the generous fuel subsidies that have been in place for more than two decades and increase taxes. To keep this year’s budget balanced, Tehran needs to sell oil at 90 dollars a barrel. Read more

December 19, 2008     3 Comments

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