CONSERVATIVES PREPARING THE "CRISIS CABINET" OF MR. HASHEMI RAFSANJANI
TEHRAN-PARIS First of April (IPS) Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ali Khamenehe'i has decided, after consultations with ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to postpone indefinitely the forthcoming presidential elections in case President Mohammad Khatami decides not to seek a new mandate, according to well-informed sources.
Hojjatoleslam Khatami is reported to be under "extreme pressures" from both the conservatives and the reformists alike, -- though on totally different reasons --, to show up in the next race, but he has not made his decision, as conditions he is said to have demanded from the leader are not met.
Sources said the crackdown on the Islamist-nationalists and the closure of four more independent and pro-reform publications just on the eve of the Iranian new year of 1380 (starting 21 March) are part of the "crisis project" that the conservatives would put into motion in case Mr. Khatami decides not to run again for the presidency.
21 islamist-nationalist personalities of both sexes had been detained on 11 April during a night raid mounted on the house of Mr. Mohammad Basteh-Negar, a prominent Islamist-religious affiliated to the Iran Freedom Movement (IFM), accused of "plotting against the Islamic Republic".
Some influential members of the Office of Consolidating Unity (OCU), Iranian students largest organisation were also arrested on the same charges.
According to the project, within hours after Mr. Khatami’ s announcing that he is not succeeding to himself, a "crisis cabinet" led by Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani on the orders of the leader would take over, impose martial law, close down the Majles and the government and postpone the presidential elections until a new date to be announced latter.
Sources disclosed that unrest would be organised to justify the proclamation of a martial law by the revolutionary guards in case none of the students, the nationalist-religious, the Iran Freedom Movement or formations within the Second Khordad Coalition (SKC) do not stage any major demonstrations.
Sources pointed out that the crackdown on the Ismist-nationalists is a "rehearsal" for the clampdown that is being prepared for the bulk of the reformists, including both the Mujahedeen of the Islamic Republic Organisation (MIRO) and the Islamic Iran Participation Party (IIPP), the nation’s largest political formation that leads the biggest political factions in the Majles (parliament).
"It seems that after the crackdown on the "third force", or the Islamist-Nationalists that would form the backbone of the reformist movement, the same force Mr. Khamenehe'i had denounced in a speech just before the (Iranian) New Year as being "the base" of the enemy at home, the IIFF and eventually the MIRO are the next victims of the conservatives", said Mr. Sa’id Shervini, a political analyst.
Being aware of this project, some leaders in the reformist camp, most prominently Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, the General Secretary of the IIPP is urging his brother to stay in the race and seek a new mandate, "for the sake of the reforms", regardless of the conditions and hardships he would face.
Others, most particularly in the MIRO, a leftist islamist group, have a different view, insists that Mr. Khatami should seek a new mandate only in case he is assured by the leader and the conservatives he could act as a real, not virtual, president.
The goal of the new offensive is that in case Mr. Khatami represents himself as candidate in the next presidential race, he would be such a weak, unsupported candidate that he would but obey to the ruling religious mafia, emulating what Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani did before him. ENDS CRISIS CABINET 1401