KHAMENEH'I SAYS HE MIGHT DISSOLVE GOVERNMENT, MAJLES
TEHRAN 28 July (IPS) Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the autocratic leader of the Islamic Republic hinted Saturday at dissolving the regime’s constitutional powers and establish a one-man dictatorship.
"Anytime one feels that heads of the three powers have reverted to actions that leads to the deviation of the regime from its original path, the leader will stand up to them like a dam", Mr. Khameneh'i said addressing members of the Friday Preachers.
This is the first time that the egocentric Ayatollah hints at dissolving the
Executive and the Legislative, which is controlled by the reformers and
challenges his leadership. The Legislative is still controlled directly by Mr.
Khameneh'i.
His warning that he could shut the three powers echoed a statement issued last week by the Revolutionary Guards of the Islamic Republic that threatened the reformers, dissidents and the press not to pave the way for an American attack on Iran.
Many reformers, noting that the army had no constitutional right to interfere in the nation’s political affairs, rejected the stern warning by the Guards. Critics also observed that the statement has been issued with the blessing of Ayatollah Khameneh'i.
Iranian analysts said recent US policies to support Iranian people’s demand for democracy and freedom, instead of engaging the government, and by extension, the Iranian regime, has "genuinely frightened" the conservative leadership.
As Mr. Khameneh’i was addressing some Friday Preachers, an Islamic revolution tribunal in Tehran announced the dissolution of the Iran Freedom Movement (IFM), one of Iran’s oldest political organisation, and delivered harsh sentences, ranging from ten years to nine month jail, against 33 of its leading members.
And at exactly the same time, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the regime’s number two personality menaced Washington that Iran could destroy oil and gas fields in the Persian Gulf if attacked by the United States.
Addressing Iranian airmen, Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is the Chairman of the powerful Expediency Council, pointed to the American economic problems and said: Though the United States barks while at sleep and is not able to carry out the flag of war, yet, if it creates problems for us in the Persian Gulf, it would loose the resources it has (in the Persian Gulf).
Though he did not specify the "resources" and say how the US would loose them, political analysts, reading on Mr. Rafsanjani’s lips, said he might mean attacking the oil fields that satisfy more than 40 per cent of the industrial world’s needs of energy.
Ten days ago, the former president had told the American that Iran, if attacked by America, will take the battle "right at the heart of the United States".
Iranian analysts and observers said the latest remarks by Mr. Khameneh'i confirms the existence of a conservative scenario aimed at shutting the government of Mr. Mohammad Khatami and the parliament and proclaim an emergency situation instead.
"This is a plan concocted long time ago by Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani and approved by Mr. Khameneh'i. It is aimed at provoking the United States into a limited armed conflict with Iran, giving the conservatives to proclaim martial law, dissolve all elected bodies controlled by the reformers, justify more crackdown on the people, the whole helping them to consolidate their power which as become unstable and is crumbling from all part", said Mr. Mohammad Arasi, an Iranian political analyst based in the United States.
Turning to President Bush’s latest remarks about Iran, his condemnation of the "non-elected, unpopular leaders", his plan to abandon the powerless President Khatami and address and support directly the Iranians who call for changes, Mr. Khameneh'i said frustrated that economic and military sanctions had no effects on the Islamic Republic, Washington has reverted to propaganda war.
Like Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, the leader also warned the Americans that if they attack Iran
, "the Iranian nation would give them such a crushing response that they would regret their deeds", the official news agency IRNA quoted him as having said.Mr. Khameneh'i also told Iranian political parties and the press to "separate their accounts from that of the United States and not act as its "fifth column".
"The leader has very heavy and important duties. There are things he cannot forgive. Anyone, in any post or rank who goes against the original path of the
regime and make it to deviate, the leader has to notify him, tell the heads of the three powers about their responsibilities", he went, repeating earlier accusations against the independent and pro-reform press."T
oday is not the right time for the US to act as it did on 19 August 1953, because the Iranian nation, who is now a model for other nations of the world, supports Islam and the revolution with zealous Iranian women, men and youth being ready to confront any plot", he added, referring to the joint CIA-British Intelligence plot that toppled the popular government of Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq, the national Prime Minister who had nationalised Iranian oil industries."
The paramount Leader instructed the press and media to deal with domestic issues in a responsible manner while refraining from serving as agents for the enemy in the society. If such a practice (serving as enemy agents) is made deliberately, it will be a big treason but if it is done unknowingly it would be a blunder", IRNA, said, quoting the leader.Ayatollah Khamene
h’i scoffed at that high ranking officials of the US for getting involved in anti-Iran propaganda campaign on the one hand and speaking about reforms in Iran on the other, saying that America is "the centre of corruption"."
The kind of reforms favoured by the US are equal to corruption because by reforms they mean dismantling the Islamic Republic of Iran, which mirrors the public faith and their call for independence. To the Americans, a reformer is the masked men who stir troubles in the streets, burns people’s cars, smash shops windows. A reformer, in their view, is the one who speaks against Islam, the revolution, the Islamic republic and the Imam (khomeini), Khameneh'i pointed out.He
also criticised Iranian personalities who urges opening up dialogue with the United States, saying anyone who consider submission to the US bullying and hegemony as an opportunity, must know that opportunity means serving the public and confronting the US agents and lackeys inside the country. ENDS KHAMENEH'I DISSOLUTION 28702