ALI KHAMENEH'I CALLED ON IRANIANS TO STAND FIRM TO US PRESSURES
TEHRAN 28 May (IPS) As expected, Iran’s extremely unpopular leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i ignored the latest series of warnings he had received from reformist deputies and angry students by reiterating policies that a majority of Iranian people have condemned, above all his stubborn rejection of any dialogue with the United States.
Receiving Wednesday Iranian lawmakers on the occasion of Majles Day, a
visibly destabilised Khameneh’i exhorted Iranians to strengthen their
solidarity in the face of American pressures, which, he said, were aimed at
destabilising the country and intimidating officials.
"The enemy seeks to stir up social tumult and psychological commotion and petrify officials, but nobody has the right to give in to the enemy's pressures and the nation will not let this happen", he told the deputies, as reported by the official news agency IRNA.
In a letter to the leader, 127 deputies from the official reformist fraction of the Majles had urged him to save the regime from total collapse and disintegration by drinking a cup of poison, as his predecessor, Grand Ayatollah Roohollah Khomeini did by accepting a United Nations resolution calling for cease-fire in the Iran Iraq War, a resolution he had previously rejected.
And in an Analytical Statement", leaders of the students associations of the nation’s 24 universities had urged him to have the courage to learn from the fall of the Iraqi regime by the Americans and bow to the Iranian people’s demanding democracy and freedom.
"If tyrants continue not to pay attention to what happened to the Iraqi dictator and continue oppressing their people, jailing dissidents, journalists, intellectuals and political activists", then the people would be right in demanding the intervention of superior powers, as the Iraqi people did", the students told Mr. Khameneh'i.
But in his address to the deputies, Mr. Khameneh'i, who was voted by less then 2 per cent of Iranians as a good leader, ignored all the main subjects of both the representatives of the nation and the students had raised, including his own authoritarian rule and the abuses of power by the un-elected organs under his direct control, like the Council of the Guardians, the Radio and Television, the Judiciary and the Revolutionary Guards.
On orders from Mr. Khameneh'i, the Supreme Council for National Security had banned all Iranian media to publish the lawmaker’s letter and the student’s statement.
However, Ayatollah Khameneh’i criticised those who "exaggerate" the enemy's power and said, "The enemy knows that its arms and weapons are ineffective in the face of the Iranian nation's will and their resistance.
"The enemies of the Islamic republic are hostile to all factions", Khameneh'i observed in a clear message to reformists that their criticisms were misguided.
"Criticising and protesting is no problem... but one should be careful that these debates and differences in viewpoints do not end in hostilities and confrontations that benefit the enemy", he said.
Lambasting the United States’ description of Iran as an "axis of evil", Mr Khameneh'i said American leaders, with their "stupid vanity", have placed us among evil states and now, they are telling us to this and that in order to be removed from the list. What kind of talk is this? Who do they think they are?" he asked, urging the MMs (Members of the Majles) to refuse to give in to US pressure.
"America is not satisfied by anything other than destabilising the nation and officials to give up national power and preferred values of the nation. Thus, those who are intimidated retreat step by step and give in to all enemy demands", he added.
"All state officials must be aware of their grave responsibilities, heed the positive criticism and use their wisdom, prudence and courage and trust God and strengthen our prowess from inside" he instead said.
"Thus, it (the enemy) is seeking to confront the Iranian people from inside and achieve its objectives by weakening the nation's determination which is reflected in the will of the state officials, it will fail", he added.
As Mr. Khameneh'i was rejecting any dialogue with Washington, the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeated accusations that the Islamic Republic of Iran was harbouring some senior members of the al-Qa’eda terrorist organisation, pursuing an aggressive nuclear program and trying the impose an Islamic republic in neighbouring Iraq.
"The United States will not allow Iraq's neighbours to create an Iran-style Islamic republic there after the toppling of Saddam Hoseyn by U.S. forces", Mr. Rumsfeld said in comments published by The Wall Street Journal Europe.
Rumsfeld's remarks were published as the White House announced that a meeting of senior U.S. and British officials to discuss Iran was cancelled sine die.
"Assistance from Iraq's neighbours will be welcomed. Conversely, interference in Iraq by its neighbours or their proxies -- including those whose objective is to remake Iraq in Iran's image -- will not be accepted or permitted" he said, referring to the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI), which is backed by Tehran and whose leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim recently returned to Iraq after years of exile in Iran.
Informed sources in Washington said the meeting was called off to allow Iran produce more concrete details about the activities of senior al-Qa’eda people it has sheltered.
At first, Tehran rejected vehemently Americans allegations about the presence in Iran of senior al-Qa’eda members, including Seyfol Adel, an Egyptian, as "baseless", but after Washington disclosed that the Riyadh 12 May explosions, which killed 34 people, including eight Americans, were planned in Iran, they changed course by 180 degree, admitting to the arrest of more than 500 al-Qa’eda people, insisting however they did not know who the arrested people are.
Nor did the Iranians say when, where and under which circumstances they had made the arrests and which country’s passports they carry?
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that the arrests of suspected al Qa’eda members in Iran fell short of meeting U.S. demands for a crackdown.
But Secretary of State Colin Powell said contacts with Iran would continue. ''Our policies are well-known and I'm not aware of any changes in policy (on Iran). We have contacts with them. They will continue'', Powell told reporters.
Iran hopes the United States will ''refrain from carrying out any interference in our affairs'', Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, adding that Iran would defend its interests "with full power".
"The opponents of Islam and the Iranian nation, with the help of their news empire, intend to spread the dangerous virus of terror and stress among officials, but according to the Holy Qur'an, the faithful rely on God on such occasions and the Creator instils calm in their hearts and boosts their faith and perseverance", Mr. Khameneh'i said.
Hailing President Mohammad Khatami's stances of being firm on Islam's principles and his deep hatred towards America's haughty behaviour Mr, Khameneh'i said the President’s recent anti-American statements irked the enemy's propaganda machine".
"The jubilant welcome accorded by the Lebanese people to President Khatami during his recent visit to that country surprised the world and indicated that the ideals of the Iranian nation have spread among Muslim nations", the lamed Iranian leader added. ENDS KHAMENEH'I TO DEPUTIES 28503