رئيس جمهوري آمريكا گفت معترضان در ايران بايد بدانند كه آمريكا در كنار آنها ايستاده است

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Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiWednesday, June 18, 2003 President Bush Says US Stands Squarely By Protesters • In his strongest expression of support for anti-regime demonstrators, whom he called “courageous souls who speak out for freedom,” President George Bush said, “They need to know America stands squarely by their side.” He urged the Iranian authorities to treat protesters “with utmost respect.” (Bijan Farhoodi, Washington) • The US has no role in the anti-regime protests in Iran, but ‘‘our policy is to encourage people to demonstrate for their views,'' US Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters on Tuesday during a visit to Cambodia. (Homayoun Majd, Washington) Congressman Sherman Calls for Referendum • Congressman Brad Sherman (D. Cal.), who has introduced a bill to support the democratic movement of the Iranian people, tells Radio Farda that the US, as the first democracy in the world, supports the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people. He adds that the best way to achieve democracy in Iran is for the people to decide on the future form of their government in a national referendum. He adds that continued demonstrations will force the Islamic regime to concede, leave Iran, as the Shah did and agree to hold a free referendum. Sherman says the Bush administration has neither shown support for his bill nor a similar Senate bill introduced by Senator Sam Brownback (Rep. KS) to provide funding for US-based Persian TV broadcasts to Iran. (Bijan Farhoodi, Washington) Anti-Regime Protests in Tehran and Major Cities • Anti-regime demonstrations were more peaceful in Tehran, but clashes with paramilitary, plainclothes security forces continued in major cities. The crackdown in Tehran included splashing red paint on the cars that honked in protest, and clashes between plainclothes security force and people who resisted confiscation of their satellite TV receivers by the police. (Amir Armin, Leyli Sadr (Washington) Mina Baharmast, Fereydoun Zarnegar (Prague) • Political satirist Ebrahim Navabi tells Radio Farda in an interview from Paris, that the authorities take out their frustration at lack of support for their regime on young Iranians. Nabavi, who moved to Paris two months ago to avoid arrest, is among the 250 cultural and political activists who signed a letter to UN General Secretary Kofi Annan on Monday warning against bloodshed in the streets. Nabavi says the UN should interfere when a government acts ruthlessly against its own people. He says the letter calls the world community's attention to the violations of human rights and brutal suppression of dissent in Iran. (Mahmonir Rahimi, Prague) • 217 Majles MPs signed a statement condemning the US support for Iranian protesters. (Mina Baharmast, Prague) IAEA Board Appears Split on Iran • US president warnsTehran that the world will not tolerate the Islamic regime's getting the atomic bomb. (Bijan Farhoodi, Washington) • The International Atomic Energy Agency's board of directors discussed IAEA chief Muhammad Elbaradei's report on Iran's atomic program Wednesday in Vienna for a second day in a row. IAEA spokesperson Melissa Fleming tells Radio Farda that the board is split between the US, its friends, and Russia and China on one side, who believe in closer inspections, and the countries that believe that Iran has been cooperative and there is no need for doubling the monitoring effort. She says a team of IAEA inspectors arrived in Iran on Sunday, but does not have access to, and cannot gather biological samples at Iran's suspicious nuclear sites, unless Iran signs the additional protocol of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. (Camellia Entekhabi-Fard, Washington) MKO Sympathizers Torch Themselves to Protest Arrest of Leaders on Terrorism Charge in France • As Maryam Rajavi, and other bosses of the Mojhedin Khalq Organization (MKO) who were arrested on Tuesday during an early morning raid by 1300 policemen, were being interrogated at the internal security department DSD, two of 40 MKO sympathizers torched themselves in protest. Another sympathizer torched herself in London. Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, the head of France's counterintelligence agency said MKO was planning to attack Iranian embassies in France and other European cities. French police spokesman Commissar Alter tells Radio Farda that police found $1.8 million cash in one of MKO residences in Auvere sur Oise, near Paris, but later French police said $8 million cash was discovered. A DSD spokesman, told Radio Farda on the condition of anonymity that France had political, as well as other reasons for arresting MKO members. He said, after MKO lost its bases in Iraq, France wanted to prevent it from starting new centers in France. He added that with its action against MKO, the French government has pleased both Iran and the US. President Bush's Middle East advisor Zalmay Khalilzad told Radio Farda during an interview on May 15, 2003 that US considers MKO a terrorist organization. Of 165 MKO members arrested on Tuesday, only 26 were detained by Wednesday. • Deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Patrick Clawson tells Radio Farda that it is improbable for the French terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who is known for his independence, to have acted on behalf of the French government when he issued arrest warrants against the MKO members. (Camellia Entekhabi-Fard) • Dr. Karim Qasim, an MKO spokesman in London, tells Radio Farda that the arrests in France were unexpected, since MKO members have been legally in France and did nothing to break the law. He accuses French government of colliding with the Islamic regime in Iran, and adds that arrested were masterminded by those who want to prop up the Islamic regime to sign their multi-billion deals with its officials. He also alleges that coincidence of the arrests with anti-regime student protests in Iran was not accidental. (Shahram Tabari, London) Reporters Without Frontiers Condemn Arrests of Journalists in Tabriz and Tehran • Spokesman of the Paris-based Reporters-sans-Frontiers Virginie Locoussol condemns the arrests on Sunday of journalist Ensafali Hedayat in Tabriz and Amin Bozorgian in Tehran, as well as the continued detention of Reza Alijani, Taqi Rahmani, Hoda Saber and Mohammad-Mohsen Sazegara. (Jean Khakzad, Prague) . جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري آمريكا با لحني محكم تر از گذشته از تظاهرات ضدحكومتي در ايران دفاع كرد و تظاهركنندگان را انسان هاي شجاعي خواند كه براي كسب آزادي مبارزه مي كنند و تاكيد كرد كه معترضان در ايران بايد بدانند آمريكا در كنار آنها ايستاده است. وي گفت: من دولت ايران را تشويق مي كنم با نهايت احترام با تظاهركنندگان رفتار كند. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا همچنين گفت جامعه جهاني بايد متحد شود و براي ايران روشن كند كه ما ساخت سلاح هاي هسته اي توسط جمهوري اسلامي را تحمل نمي كنيم. ايران، چنانكه به سلاح هاي هسته اي دست يابد، خظرناك مي شود.