MOHSEN REZA’I SAYS KHATAMI SHOULD ABANDON REFORMS IF RE-ELECTED
PARIS 7 Apr. (IPS) Former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Reza’i once again warned President Mohammad Khatami that in case he decides to seek a new mandate and is re-elected, he must change his programmes and abandon his present reform projects.
With exactly two months to the next president elections, the embattled President has not yet announced his decision, keeping the nation in expectative.
Sources close to conservatives say Mr. Reza’i’s declaration reflects the wishes of the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenehe'i who wants Mr. Khatami remain in the office but renouncing to the reform projects he considers as being inspired by foreigners and intellectuals.
Mr. Reza’i, who is the secretary of the Assembly for Discerning the Interests of the States, commonly known as the Expediency Council said he knows that Mr. Khatami has made his mind whether to concerning the elections, but added immediately that he does not know why the President refuses to make public his decision.
According to Mr. Reza’i, social demands show that in the next four years, the society will give priority to something different from the program President Khatami adopted in the past.
"Iranian society is on the verge of an economic, cultural and administrative upheaval and if President Khatami is willing to run for the next elections and gain success in the next four years, he should give the priority to another motto and program", Mr. Reza’i argued.
Iranian political analysts said conservatives would be satisfied if Mr. Khatami give priority to economic problems instead of political issues, as he has done in the past years, "wasting time and energy" trying to convince the leadership that reforms were needed to safeguard the regime.
To Mr. Khatami’s reforms the conservatives derides as "American reforms" because it calls for limited freedoms and democracy and rule of law, Mr. Khamenehe'i has opposed Islamic reforms, giving priority to economic problems.
"In the view of the conservatives, western-type of democracy and freedom are synonymous of chaos and anarchy and therefore one has to fight off unrest and establish security if one is to attract foreign investments", observed Mr. Ahmad Salamatian, a veteran political analyst based in Paris.
This was almost the point raised by Mr. Reza’i when he said that if president Khatami would be able to move a step forward and address the most basic questions of the society, especially the ones in the field of economy and culture, it would be better for him to come to the scene again.
Mr. Reza’i ruled out the possibility that the Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani take part in the next presidential race, observing that as chairman of the Discerning Assembly, the former president not only has not to answer the leader, the Majles or the president, but plays a better and more important role in giving advice to the Leadership and other officials.
In his view, Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani's participation in the election would "further complicate the already complicated situation".
Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani, believed to be one of the world’s richest men was badly humiliated last year when, entering the legislative race with the absolute conviction that he would be elected with enough votes to become Speaker of the Majles, he did not received enough votes in the first round of the elections. ENDS REZA’I ON KHATAMI 7401