رئيس جمهوري آمريکا از انتخابات مجلس در ايران انتقاد و اظهار نا اميدي کرد

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Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiTuesday, February 24, 2004 US President Denounces Majles Elections • “I am very disappointed in the recently disputed parliamentary elections in Iran,” US President George Bush said on Tuesday in a statement read by his spokesman Scott McClellan. The disqualification of the candidates “deprived many Iranians of the opportunity to freely choose their representatives,” he said. “I join many in Iran and around the world in condemning the Iranian regime's efforts to stifle freedom of expression, including the closing of two leading reformist newspapers in the run-up to the elections. Such measures undermine the rule of law and are clear attempts to deny the Iranian people's desire to freely choose their leaders,” Bush said. (Amir Armin) • The US government is unhappy with the way the elections were handled, but, on the other hand, the Bush Administration is willing to deal with whomever is in power in Iran over Iraq, terrorism and other issues of concern, and it may be easier for the US to deal with the conservatives, now that they have taken over the Majles, Carnegie Endowment for Peace's policy expert Daniel Bromberg tells Radio Farda. (Amin Armin) • In my view, negotiations with the US pose no problem, but since the Supreme Leader is against it, I obey and say nothing, former president Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said. (Ali Sajjadi) To Conservative MP's Plan to Turn Iran into an Islamic Japan • The Supreme Leader's in-law Gholamali Haddad-Adel, who won the first place in Friday's Majles election in the capital city Tehran, said in an interview that his vision for Iran's future includes turning the country into what he called an Islamic Japan. Haddad-Adel, head of the Majles minority faction, who is poised to takeover as the speaker in the next Majles, considers himself a new brand of conservative, who does not believe leftist Islamic activist Hashem Aghajari deserves to be executed for criticizing the clerical rule or Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi deserves punishment for not wearing the requisite Islamic head cover in interviews with foreign journalists. (Ali Sajjadi) Elections Dashes Hopes for Women's Rights Reforms • The presence of a few conservative women among the winners of Friday elections dashed any hope for the continuation of reforms in women's rights. (Maryam Ahmadi) Conservatives Set to Takeover the Majles • The return of the conservative majority to the Majles may enable the Islamic hard-liners to renew their bid to export the Islamic revolution, London Arabic daily Ashargh-ol-Awsat warned. (Farideh Rahbar) • The uncontested victory of the conservatives in the Friday elections could have a negative impact on the Iran-EU relations, according to German dailies Der Standard, Kapital and Der Speigel. (Parviz Farhang, Cologne) • To expect the Iranian people to boycott the Majles elections was unrealistic, member of the Iranian revolutionary workers organization Mohammad Shalgooni says in today's Roundtable on Elections. But the era of pretending to have a legitimate Majles is over, he adds. It is now confirmed for people in Iran and the rest of the world that it is not possible to reform the regime and the confrontation between the clerical ruler and the people has now become more direct and open, he adds. The Majles elections were in fact the end of the reform movement, secretary general of the Iranian monarchists organization Mehrdad Khansari says. The people can no longer hope that reforms by the reformists within the regime are possible, he adds. Months before the elections, the rulers had said they would reserve for themselves at least two-thirds of the Majles, and that is what they did, Berlin-based member of the executive committee of the Iranian secular republicans (Jumhurikhahan-e Iran) Mehran Barati says. But in the absence of a powerful and organized opposition, the people have no interest in toppling the regime, he adds. (Shireen Famili) Rumsfeld Warns Iran and Syria against Helping Iraq Militants • US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Iran and Syria about militants crossing their borders into Iraq after meeting in Baghdad with Paul Bremer and US military commanders. (Leyli Sadr) • Iran has always acted to promote security and stability in Iraq, foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said in reaction to US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. “Iran does not allow any group to use our borders to infiltrate Iraq, Asefi added. (Farin Asemi) Majles Takes Up the Budget Bill • In today's open session of the Majles, the government's bill for the upcoming fiscal year's budget was discussed, for the first time since the elections. The gasoline price hike to 800 rials per liter was approved. In the present fiscal year, which ends on March 22, 2004, Iran consumed 54 million liters of gasoline, whereas domestic gasoline production did not exceed 40 million liters, according to MP Mir-Ali Ashraf Pourihosseini. Also, it was approved that state-owned enterprises begin paying tax on their profits at a pre-determined rate. (Fereydoun Zarnegar) Turkey Bargains Russia on Gas Prices • In negotiations held at the foreign ministers level in Moscow, Turkey haggled over the price of gas it imports from Russia. Turkey also tries to get Iran to reduce the price of gas it exports to Turkey. (Mani Kasravi, Moscow) Government to Pay Blood Money to Victims of Cargo Train Blast • The surviving families of more than 300 people who lost their lives in last Satruday's blast near Neyshabur of 51 runaway cargo train cars loaded with fuel, sulphur, pesticide and cotton, will receive 240 million rials each as blood money, head of the Khorasan province emergency relief organization Mohammad Maqdouri said. Speaking to a gathering of area residents and victims' kin, Khorasan provincial governor Mohammad Rasouli said the government, as operator of the national rail system, was responsible for the blast. Several investigative teams are in the area searching for a cause, but Rasouli said that the incident could have been the result of negligence, or the work of disgruntled railroad workers. Villagers who have lost their homes, complained about the slowness of relief work, which has left them without shelter in the harsh weather conditions. (Mahmonir Rahimi) EU Suspends Economic Talks with Iran • The EU foreign ministers suspended talks with Iran on the comprehensive economic and trade cooperation, since they found the Majles elections “deeply flawed.” The EU countries could not disregard the elections, which were neither fair nor free, Geneva-based commentator Mohammad Reza Jalili tells Radio Farda. They are now waiting for the IAEA's report on Iran's nuclear activities, which might make Tehran-Brussels relations more difficult, he adds. But suspending the talks does not mean totally giving up on the treaty, he adds. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) Asylum Seeker in Netherlands Stitches Lips in Protest against Deportation • Iranian asylum seeker in Netherlands Mehdi Kavoosi, who stitched his lips 17 days ago in protest against the Dutch government's order to deport him, tells Radio Farda in a written interview read by his friend that he had no document to show the Dutch officials that he was being sought in Iran for his participation in anti-regime demonstrations. Kavoosi's health has deteriorated, due to hunger strike, his friend Shahrokh Amini says. (Shahram Rahimi) IAEA Finds Iran Hide Nuclear Experiments • AP Reports: The inspectors of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, combing Iran for evidence of a weapons program, found signs of polonium, a radioactive element that can help trigger a nuclear chain reaction, the report said. It was distributed to the agency's 35-nation board of governors ahead of a key meeting on Iran early next month. The agency said the traces of polonium-210 were found in September, and that the element “could be used for military purposes ... specifically as a neutron initiator in some designs of nuclear weapons.” Iran never mentioned working with polonium-210 in earlier declarations of its past and present nuclear activities, it said. Also, the New York Times reported that, faced with the imminent release of a report by international nuclear inspectors, Iran has acknowledged publicly that it secretly purchased components for its nuclear program from a network of international suppliers, but continued to insist that its program was for electricity production, not nuclear weapons Also, the Washington Post reports that: The discovery is the latest example of a nuclear activity that Iran had not previously disclosed. Earlier, it was revealed that Iran had obtained plans and parts for a nuclear centrifuge, a sophisticated machine used to enrich uranium for use in power plants, as well as in nuclear weapons. Iran insists it always intended its nuclear program to be used only to supply electrical power. (Shahran Tabari, London) • It is becoming clear that Iran's earlier reports to the IAEA were not complete, Carnegie Endowment for Peace's non-proliferation expert Rose Gottemoeller tells Radio Farda. The discovery of plutonium is important because it had not been announced previously by Iran, she adds. The new Majles, which is more in line with the conservative rulers, is expected to have no problem ratifying the additional protocol to the UN nuclear non-proliferation treaty, she says. (Ali Sajjadi) China Model for Iran's Economy • While some conservatives have pointed to adapting what they call the China model for Iran's economy, the regime's determination to preserve an ideological government prevents it from implementing economic reforms, Denison University's economy professor and lecturer at London's Guildhall Parvin Alizadeh tells Radio Farda. (Shahran Tabari, London) Center to Collect Info on Political Prisoners • A group of human rights activists in the US have plans to start a new center to collect information and documents on political prisoners in Iran, Washington-based activist Hasan Masali tells Radio Farda. (Ali Sajjadi) . امير آرمين (راديوفردا): جرج بوش ، رئيس جمهوري آمريکا، از انتخابات پارلماني در ايران انتقاد کرد و گفت: رهبران ايران آزادي بيان را زيرا پا نهاده اند. برگردان کامل بيانيه اي که کاخ سفيد به اين مناسبت منتشر کرده بدين شرح است: انتخابات پارلماني بحث انگيز اخير در ايران مرا بسيار نااميد کرد. رد صلاحيت بيش از دو هزار و 400 داوطلب نمايندگي از سوي شوراي غير منتخب نگهبان، بسياري از ايرانيان را از امکان انتخاب آزادانه نماينده خود محروم کرده است. من هم هم صدا با بسياري از مردم در ايران و در سراسر جهان، تلاشهاي رژيم ايران براي خفه کردن آزادي بيان، از جمله توقيف دو روزنامه پيشرو اصلاح طلب را در آستانه انتخابات، محکوم مي کنم. چنين اقدام هائي حکومت قانون را تضعيف مي کند و تلاش آشکاري در انکار خواست مردم ايران براي انتخاب آزادانه رهبران حکومتي است. ايالات متحده آمريکا از خواست مردم ايران براي زندگي در آزادي وبر خورداري از حقوق خدادادشان و نيز تصميم گيري در مورد سرنوشت خويش پشتيباني مي کند. جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري آمريکا گفت که رد صلاحيت بيش از دو هزار و 400 داوطلب نمايندگي از سوي شوراي غير منتخب نگهبان، بسياري از ايرانيان را از امکان انتخاب آزادانه نماينده خود در انتخابات مجلس شوراي اسلامي محروم کرد. آقاي بوش گفت: من هم همصدا با بسياري از مردم ايران و سراسر جهان، تلاشهاي جمهوري اسلامي براي خفه کردن آزادي بيان را، از جمله توقيف دو روزنامه پيشرو اصلاح طلب را در آستانه انتخابات، محکوم مي کنم. جرج بوش گفت که آمريکا از خواست مردم ايران براي زندگي در آزادي و برخورداري از حق تعيين سرنوشت خود پشتيباني مي کند.