Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiMonday, July 21, 2003
US President Bush Warns Iran and Syria on Terrorism
• President George Bush said on Monday that Syria and Iran's support for terrorism could undermine Middle East peace efforts and was “completely unacceptable.” The comments came as Bush welcomed visiting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Crawford, Texas. Bush said: “Today, Syria and Iran continue to harbor and assist terrorists. This behavior is completely unacceptable, and states that support terror will be held accountable.” (Ali Sajjadi)
Supreme Leader with Mid-Range Shahab-3 Missiles Iran Will Defend Palestinians
• Appearing on television in an IRGC ceremony during which the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) paraded at least one medium-range Shahab-3 missile, the Supreme Leader said with the deployment of missile technology Iran will defend the aspirations of the Palestinian and Lebanese people. The Shahab-3 can reach Israel and US troops in the region. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
• Foreign ministry spokesman called Iran's Shahab-3 missiles “defensive,” and said the Islamic regime in the past 25 years has shown that it is not a threat to any country. (Ali Sajjadi)
• London-based retired lieutenant-colonel Asad Behboudi says Shahab-3 missiles cannot be used for precision targeting, but can be aimed at a city. However, such a move would be dangerous for Iran's security. He tells Radio Farda that in reaction to the firing of one Shahab missile, hundreds of more powerful and more accurate missiles would be launched against Iran's major cities. He adds that with a missile with a reach of 1300 kilometers the Supreme Leader can neither defend the aspirations of Palestinians nor his own aspiration, which is remaining in power. These, he adds, are all slogans of a regime that is based on slogans alone, but this slogan is a damaging one. (Shahran Tabari)
• If the Supreme Leader's statement, that Iran's missiles are for the defense of the Palestinian people, find practical implications, then that would mean direct intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a move that would not be acceptable to the majority of Iranians, Mohammad-Reza Jalili of the Geneva-based Graduate Center for International Studies tells Radio Farda. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
Dissident's Son Visits His Father in Jail
• Head of the Iran Democratic Front Heshmatollah Tabarzadi is being held in the Evin prison under the intelligence ministery's control, according to his son Ali Tabarzedi who was allowed a visit with his father yesterday tells Radio Farda. He adds that the family and friends of Hassan Zareghzadeh, head of the Democratic Front's student arm don't know where he is being held. He adds that his father had been arrested on June 20th and is being held in cell block 209. He said the intelligence ministry arrested he and his brother earlier this month for printing and distributing leaflets for the July 9 demonstrations, but released them three days later. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
Three Top Traffic Experts Take Top Positions in Tehran Municipal Government
• Mahmoud Baravordi, a expert at Tehran's traffic organization, tells Radio Farda that three top traffic experts, including new mayor Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nezhad, his deputy for transportation and traffic, former Tehran University professor Hamid Behbahani, and his director of the traffic organization Kamran Haj-Nassrollahi. He says the concentration of three traffic experts at the top gives rise to the hope that Tehran's traffic problem may get attention in the municipal government. Ahmadi-Nezhad became Tehran's mayor after the conservatives won a majority in the Tehran municipal elections, which majority of voters avoided. (Mahmonir Rahimi)
The Jobless Ranks Swell to 6.2 Million
• The number of jobless will reach 6.2 million by the end of the current fiscal year, March 22, 2004, member of the Majles economy committee Rasoul Jema'ati said today. He said the government's job creation projects have failed. For example, from its low-interest loan program for workshops which hired new workers, government had anticipated creating 300,000 jobs, but only 120,000 materialized, he said. (Arash Qavidel)
Former Israeli Prime Minister Calls Iran's a Center for International Terrorism
• Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and head of Israel's labor party, who is in Rome to attend the Socialists' international conference, tells Radio Farda that Iran is a center for international terrorism. He asks why Iran hid its nuclear program if it intended it purely for generating electricity. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
EU Ministers to Ask Iran to Cooperate with IAEA
• In their meeting today in Brussels, the EU ministers will ask Iran to sign the additional protocol of the UN nuclear non-proliferation treaty. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
• IAEA spokesman Melissa Fleming tells Radio Farda that if Iran signs the additional protocol, other countries may help Iran in its peaceful nuclear programs. (Ebrahim Biparva)
• Professor of the Geneva-based Graduate Institute for International Studies Mohammad-Reza Jalili tells Radio Farda that the EU foreign ministers would consider ways to exert pressure on the Islamic regime to cooperate with the IAEA. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
Judiciary Chief Assigns Investigation on Photojournalist Zahra Kazemi's Death to Tehran Judiciary
• Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi sent the special presidential panel's findings on the death of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi to the Tehran judiciary for further investigation. The report had been forwarded to Shahroudi by President Khatami. The four-man presidential panel that probed the death said in its report that Kazemi died of head injury she suffered during interrogation by Tehran judiciary security forces. Head of the Majles judicial committee Nasser Qavami said Kazemi's case would have a destiny like that of the case of the 1998 serial murders of dissidents, if the judiciary takes charge of the investigation. (Amir-Mossadeq Katouzian)
• Deputy chair of the Majles national security and foreign relations committee Mohsen Armin called for the removal of Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi, and said Mortazavi has high-level sponsors, otherwise he could not act as he did. Rejecting the conservatives' charge that the Majles is the source of anti-regime propaganda, he said only during the one-week Majles summer sabbatical, judiciary closed one newspaper (Hambastegi), arrested a number of pro-reform political activists and a female reporter (Kazemi) died of the head injury she suffered while in judiciary's custody. (Baktash Khamsehpouer)
• The public relations office of the Tehran judiciary called Armin's remarks “false and lacking truth,” and asked the Majles to read Mortazavi's response in the Majles. (Ali Sajjadi)
• Tehran pro-reform MP Fatemeh Rakei said the judiciary should respond to the complaints against Mortazavi and remove him. The conservative editor of the daily Kayhan Hossein Shariatmadari said the special panel's report showed that Mortazavi had no role in Kazemi's death. The report refers to Mortazavi as one of the people present at some point during Kazemi's interrogation. Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said the government has had some contact with Canada, and the Canadian ambassador in Tehran has had meetings with foreign ministry officials. (Ardavan Niknam)
• A presidential panel of four cabinet ministers said in its report that photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died of blows to her head during interrogation by judiciary's security officials. Iranian official news agency IRNA reported that Zahra Kazemi's mother asked that her daughter be buried in Tehran. Canadian foreign ministry called for the extradition of Kazemi's body to Canada. (Ali Sajjadi)
• Two-hundred gathered for a candle-lighting ceremony at the house of Zahra Kazemi in Montreal. (Mahdieh Javid)
• Kazemi's Vancouver-based son Stephan Hashemi said his grandmother Ezat Kazemi signed a letter at the presence of the Canadian ambassador to Iran in the Canadian consulate in Tehran denying official reports that she had asked that her daughter be buried in Iran. (Bijan Farhoodi)
• Paris-based human rights advocate Abdolkarim Lahiji tells Radio Farda that he is working pro bona as a legal advisor to Stephan Hashemi. He adds that at his suggestion, Hashemi has retained Canadian lawyers to represent him in dealing with the Canadian government, which is the official channel of communication with the Iranian government. (Mahmonir Rahimi)
• Paris-based freedom of press advocacy group Reporters sans Frontiers called the presidential panel's probe insufficient, since the panel did not identify those responsible for the murder. In its statement on Tuesday, RSF called for another investigation by an independent, international body. (Bijan Farhoodi)
• Violence reeks out of Iran's dungeons, writes the German weekly Spiegel, reporting on the aftermath of the death of Zahra Kazemi. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
Islamic Movements in the Region
• The Iranian revolution riled against injustice, but made injustice legal in Iran, writes London-based Arabic daily Asharq-ol-Awsat in an article comparing the Islamic movement in Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan. (Farideh Rahbar)
Book Blames CIA for the Fall of Mosaddegh
• In his book All the Shah's Men, published on the anniversary of nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh's return to power, Stephen Kinzer blames the CIA for removing Mosaddegh from power. (Alireza Taheri)
Judiciary Arrests Daily's Managing Editor for “Theorizing Subversion
• Tehran judiciary arrested Abolqasem Golbaf, managing director of the daily Gozaresh. His lawyer Nemat Ahmadi tells Radio Farda that Golbab has been charged with “theorizing subversion.” (Alireza Taheri)
Ban on Women's Swimming Takes Lives
• Eleven beachgoers drowned yesterday in the Caspian Sea. The police said they lacked swimming skills, but the experts said the ban on women's swimming forces families to bathe outside protected areas. Furthermore, there are fewer lifeguards assigned to the segregated bathing sections for women, due to a shortage of women lifeguards. (Keyvan Hosseini)
Iran Earns $2 Billion Oil Income Surplus in Three Months
• Iran earned $2 billion above its projected oil income during the first three months of the current fiscal year that began on March 22, 2002, according to planning and management organization's director Mohammad-Mehdi Satari. By law, the money should be deposited in a surplus fund. A few days ago, the fund's head Bayazid Mardokhim said the fund had $8 billion on deposit, but other officials have put the fund's balance at much lower figures. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris)
85 Percent of Runaway Girls Flee Domestic Violence
• Iran's welfare organization (Sazeman Behzisti) said 85 percent of runaway girls left their homes due to domestic violence. (Arash Qavidel)
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علي سجادي (راديوفردا): جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري آمريكا در سخنراني خوشامد به سيلويو برلوسكوني، نخست وزير ايتاليا، كه براي ديداري به مزرعه بوش در كرافورد، تگزاس، رفته است، روز دوشنبه گفت تروريسم بين المللي، گسترش سلاح هاي كشتار جمعي، راديكاليسم و ايدئولوژي هاي حامي تنفر، آمريكا، ايتاليا و همه كشورهاي طرفدار صلح را تهديد مي كنند. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا گفت محمود عباس، نخست وزير تشكيلات فلسطيني و آريل شارون، نخست وزير اسرائيل، رهبري و شجاعت خود را به ثبوت رساندند واكنون دولتها در سراسر منطقه بايد از تلاش هاي اين دو رهبر خاورميانه در مبارزه عليه ترور حمايت كنند. وي گفت ايران وسوريه هنوز به حمايت از تروريست ها و پناه دادن به آنها ادامه مي دهند و چنين رفتاري كاملا غير قابل قبول است و كشورهائي كه از تروريسم حمايت مي كنند، مسئول شناخته خواهند شد. حمايت و پناه دادن به تروريست ها چشم انداز صلح در خاورميانه را تضعيف مي كند و خيانت به منافع راستين ملت فلسطين محسوب مي شود. تروريسم بزرگترين مانع در راه تاسيس يك كشور فلسطيني است.
رئيس جمهوري آمريكا در بخشي ديگر از سخنانش گفت: ما مخصوصا از نيروها و پليس ايتاليا كه با مهارت و شجاعت در افغانستان و عراق خدمت مي كنند، قدرداني مي كنيم. تلاشهايمان براي همكاري در راستاي آزادي و ثبات در اين كشورها و در سرتاسر منطقه، بخش جدا نشدني پيكار عليه ترور است و از اين طريق ما هم امنيت بيشتري براي كشورهايمان تامين مي كنيم و هم به پيشرفت صلح در جهان كمك مي كنيم.
نخست وزير ايتاليا در پاسخ بيانات رئيسي جمهوري آمريكا، بر علايق مشترك دو كشور، نظير آزادي، دموكراسي، عدالت و توسعه تاكيد ورزيد. رهبر ايتاليا در بخشي ديگري از سخنان خود تاكيد كرد آمريكا و اروپا نياز دارند كه از فرهنگ اتحاد و همبستگي حمايت كنند و در گسترش آن بكوشند. خودخواهي، تكبر و تشتط، هرگز پيروزي به بار نمي آورد.
رهبران آمريكا و ايتاليا پس از پايان سخنراني هاي خود، به سئوالات خبرنگارن پاسخ دادند. يكي از سئوالات مطرح شده در ارتباط با عراق بود، كه از رئيس جمهوري آمريكا مي پرسيد آيا يك قطعنامه تازه سازمان ملل متحد درباره عراق را كه پاره اي از كشورها خواهان آن هستند، خواهد پذيرفت؟
رئيس جمهوري آمريكا در پاسخ گفت: ما در ارتباط نزديك با سازمان ملل متحد هستيم و با آن مشاوره مي كنيم، ما باور داريم كه قطعنامه 1483، به كشورها قدرت تصميم گيري مناسب، براي مشاركت در امور عراق را مي دهد.
وي افزود: به طور كلي درباره نقش سازمان ملل متحد درباره عراق، بايد بگويم كه آقاي دوملو، به خوبي از انجام وظايف خود بر مي آيد و به طور تنگاتنگي با پال برمر تشريك مساعي مي كند. آنها رابطه خوبي را برقرار كردند و به مذاكرات و بحثهاي آينده كمك مي كنند. قطعنامه 1483، قطعنامه اي خيلي قوي و خيلي مناسب است.
پرزيدنت بوش در ادامه گفت ما بطور منظم با مقامات سازمان ملل در تماس هستيم و آقاي عنان با من ديداري داشت كه در آن در مورد مسائل مختلفي به بحث پرداختيم كه مسئله عراق يكي از آنها بود. هر چه بيشتر ديگران را در امور عراق مشاركت دهيم، در وضعيت بهتري خواهيم بود. جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري آمريكا، به حكومت هاي ايران و روسيه هشدار داد از حمايت و پناه دادن به تروريسم دست بردارند. وي در نطق خوشامد به سيلويو برلوسكوني نخست وزير ايتاليا در كرافورد تگزاس، گفت: ايران و سوريه همچنان به حمايت از تروريست ها و پناه دادن به آنها ادامه مي دهند و چنين رفتاري كاملا غير قابل قبول است و كشورهائي كه از تروريسم حمايت مي كنند، مسئول شناخته خواهند شد. وي گفت: حمايت و پناه دادن به تروريست ها چشم انداز صلح در خاورميانه را تضعيف مي كند و خيانت به منافع راستين ملت فلسطين به شمار مي آيد. وي شجاعت نخست وزيران تشكيلات فلسطيني و اسرائيل را ستايش كرد و حمايت ايتاليا از مبارزه آمريكا با تروريسم را ستود.
