Iran News Round Up

The Iran News Round Up ran from February 2009-September 2018. Visit the Iran File for the latest analysis.

August 03, 2009

 

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar, Brianna Rosen, and Michael Rubin.  To subscribe to this daily newsletter, e-mail [email protected].

(E) = Article in English

 

New confessions at Tehran trial implicate opposition leaders in conspiracy against government, Supreme Leader; Rafsanjani’s office refutes allegations; former vice president Abtahi’s daughter dismisses father’s confession as ‘under duress’; Khatami says trials ‘contrary to civic rights’; Mousavi condemns trials as ‘forced confessions’; new calls for prosecuting opposition leaders; Basij chief ‘discloses’ U.S. role in post-election turmoil in Iran; National Iranian Oil Company Executive plays down effect of gasoline sanctions on Iran’s economy

 

Politics

  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be sworn in as President of the Islamic Republic, Monday.
  • Saturday's Tehran Trials televised on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Sunday night.
    • Alef News Agency releases video of the confessions of former Vice President Mohammad-Ali Abtahi and reformist journalist Mohammad Atrianfar in the press conference following the legal proceedings against the two individuals.
    • Second day of the legal proceedings against the "instigators of the recent unrest" to be held on Thursday.
  • Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, former Vice President and Combatant Clergy Association member, confesses at the Tehran trials:
    • "At the time [Mir-Hossein] Mousavi decided to provide documentation with regard to election fraud one of the friends who is also a former Interior Minister said at the meeting of the Combatant Clergy Association that should such documents indeed prove right it would not amount to more than seven hundred thousand votes..."
    • "I have once talked of Mousavi as a watermelon. He has certain fantasies about himself which makes him believe in the theory of 11 million vote fraud..."
    • "[Former President Mohammad] Khatami must have had his own reasons. Mousavi may not have known the country, but Khatami - with all the respect that I do have for him - on the other hand knew everything, was aware of the capacities and power of the Supreme Leader. But because of certain accidents he chose to follow Mousavi, which was treacherous..."
    • "[Expediency Council Chairman] Hashemi [Rafsanjani] wanted revenge against Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader and all these matters made Mousavi believe that he had a great following..."
    • "After the election Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mousavi and Khatami held a meeting where they swore not to abandon each other. I don't know why did so after having suffered an election defeat with eleven million vote gap."
    • "I consider myself as a reformist. Therefore I say that Khatami had no right to sacrifice the reform movement on Mousavi. Mousavi had not the capacity for this. I off course was not supporting presidency of Ahmadinejad, but when the vote gap became as large as eleven million, as someone who is in favor of democracy I did not recognize this. I have betrayed the culture and history of Iran [by not accepting Ahmadinejad's vote] and have acted against development of civil society. Had we - rather than Mousavi's messages - congratulated Ahmadinejad - we would have had the best situation in the history of Iran..."
    • "I was wrong in participating in street demonstrations. But [Mehdi] Karrubi told me that we can't urge the people to go into the streets with so few votes. But we should go in order to demonstrate our protest."
    • "Mousavi had sent a message to Karrubi that 'I have nothing to lose.' But despite the fact that Mousavi indeed had nothing to lose, because of the thirteen million vote, he lost many things in the course of the unrest. We have lost the honor of having been part of the forty million strong turnout in elections, we have damaged it. We could have had a better position in the world [of politics.]"
    • "On many occasions Mousavi would say, 'I am on the side of the Muslim people.' But in reality the unrest has harmed devotion of the Muslim people towards Iran. Mousavi would say 'I am supporter of the path of the Imam [Khomeini]' and he would always stress upon the regime and the Imam [Khomeini]. Let me say this, no one can stress upon the Imam [Khomeini] and the regime, and at the same time engage in even the minutest of deeds which endangers the regime. Since the Imam [Khomeini] has said that preservation of the regime is the greatest of all necessities."
    • "Had it not been for the Supreme Leader, or had the Supreme Leader made a single step backwards, we would have had a crescent of insecurity from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Had such a crescent been realized there would have been no trace of the revolution. Therefore, the Iranian nation must thank the sharp mind of the Supreme Leader and known and unknown soldiers of Iran who saved the country from such a thing. "
    • "I tell this to all friends, all those friends who hear our voices should know that the issue of fraud was a lie and in reality the issue of fraud was an attempt to unleash unrest so that Iran becomes like Afghanistan and Iraq so that the country is damaged and goes through hardship."
  • Yahya-Kian Tajbakhsh confesses at Tehran trials:
    • "The post tenth presidential election events were not accidental and it was the result of relatively long term planning."
    • "The main elements behind the recent unrest belong to invisible, semi invisible and even secret organizations and intelligence services of the United States and some Western countries. The elections were an excuse and an opportunity to execute a pre-planned scheme in order to unleash an electoral revolution through the means of spreading doubt by claiming to defend the vote and by questioning the electoral regime and institutions engaged in the elections."
    • "The roots of such unrest and operations go back to institutions which were erected in America forty years ago in order to topple regimes within the frame work of propagating democracy or by changing the regimes. The ideological root and the foundation of their thoughts emanate from a few think tanks such as the RAND Corporation, American Heritage Foundation and the New American Century Foundation which are engaged in propagating American ideology as a superior ideology."
    • Ever since 1983, which means four years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, an overt institution such as the Foundation for Defense of Democracy which was established during Ronald Reagan's presidency, have been engaged in propelling plans for regime change policies within the frameworks of democracy and human rights. Alongside such institutions semi-invisible or covert institutions were also activated and since almost ten years ago individuals and parties inside Iran began secret negotiations with political activists in the United States."
    • "Those who are invited to the West by the Westerners for negotiations were supported economically by the Soros Foundation or the Rockefeller Foundation and every once in a while they got together in Sweden or Switzerland for track two negotiations."
    • "Since there are no formal diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States, naturally there is no possibility of negotiations between the two countries. Visible, invisible or semi-covert American institutions were engaged in organizing connections between reformist parties and their like-minded groups in the United States and the effort was coordinated by the intelligence services and the White House."
    • "Those individuals directly involved in track two negotiations were the gentlemen Naser Hadian and Hadi Semati - both university professors - who would travel to Sweden and Switzerland and other movements such as reformist political parties such as the Mosharekat [Participation] would also establish contacts with American institutions and individuals such as Mostafa Tajzadeh and Said Hajjarian would engage in contacts with the Soros Foundation and other institutions active in the field of color revolutions within the framework of research or operational projects."
    • "Twenty years ago, Mohammad Atrian-Far, one of the leading figures of the Kargozaran party, traveled to the United States as the head of a press delegation invited by the Soros Foundation and met the very person of Mr. Soros and this is the beginning of the contacts of the reformists with American institutions."
    • "Mrs. Fatemeh Haghighat-Jou [former parliamentarian] was given a year-long educational grant to study at an American university and most invitations to Washington to various individuals in different fields were facilitated by Mrs. Haleh Esfandiari at the Woodrow Wilson Center and the largest part of the Iran program was [organized by?] the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Soros Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment and [unreadable] among which the Wilson Center initially depicted itself as a non-governmental and independent center, but in reality this institution is the result of the U.S. Congress."
    • "The relationship between the Wilson [Center] and Soros [Foundation] is very close and Mr. Semati received a three years grant at the Wilson [Center] and Mr. Hadian was given a two years grant at University of New York by Gary Sick and the programs were shaped a long time ago."
    • "Color revolutions are an issue which has recently made its way to the political literature and in reality it is about the struggle for power between political factions at the top of the regimes. Georgia has become a symbol of such revolutions, but the conditions of the Islamic Republic are very different from other countries in this regard."
    • "The reason behind lack of success of color revolutions in Iran is the popularity of the Islamic revolution and devotion of the greatest parts of the population towards the Islamic Republic, the Guardian Jurist and preservation of independence of the Islamic Republic during the past thirty years. If the Iranians don't cherish the security of the country they will be showing their back to the ideals of the revolution of 1979, the ideals of the founder of the regime and the struggle of the people in order to promote security in their own country and they would be doing injustice to the blood of the martyrs."
    • "The main difference between the Islamic Republic and other countries is the deep conflict between the political philosophy of religious democracy and Western liberal democracy, but the political reformers have been struggling with great contradictions ever since fifteen years ago."
    • "The Islamic Republic is founded upon a religious, national, historical and traditional movement and one of the problems is that the call of the leaders of the reformist political movements the slogans and centers upon which the reformist movement evolve - such as civil society, democracy and human rights which were in conflict with the thoughts of the Imam [Khomeini] - misled the reformists and deceived the people."
    • "Mr. Ahmadinejad wrote in his last letter to George Bush that there are many points of conflict and confrontation between Western liberal democracy and the pillars and foundations of the regime of the Islamic Republic and that the Islamic republic is based upon the essence of the Guardianship of the Jurist. This differs from Western regimes and belief of the decisive majority of the Iranian nation in the philosophy of the Islamic Republic leads to defeat of color revolution in Iran."
    • "Openly governmental institutions such as the NED [National Endowment for Democracy] are active in countries where the United States is officially present and is capable of opening offices for spread of democracy, but in Iran where the United States has no official base it must use cover institutions and entrance of the Soros Foundation was because of very this reason."
    • "The Soros Foundation was in need of governmental authorization to be active in Iran and the Americans do not easily provide such authorizations because of the sanctions against Iran, but despite the difference of opinion between the very person of Soros and Bush authorization was easily bestowed upon the Soros Foundation and in this regard there had been coordination between the White House, Department of State and the CIA."
    • "The Soros Foundation and similar organizations entering the issue have practically taken place through the twin fronts of reformist parties and NGO's close to Western thought and values. In one case, Sohrab Razaghi, one of Mr. Hajjarian's friends, has received more than 300 million Touman in order to operationalize a five year program and this amount has been paid through a Dutch cover organization."
    • According to Fars News Agency, in the end Kian Taj-Bakhsh "stressed that the elements behind the recent unrest were directly or indirectly connected with Western networks and institutions and expressed that he repents having had any relationship and cooperation with such networks and apologized from the Supreme Leader and the people and considered his own falling into the traps of American institutions as lack of understanding of the reformist of the conflict between Western liberal democracy and religious democracy."
  • Mohammad Atrian-Far, from the Kargozaran-e Sazandegi [Technocrats of Development] Faction, confesses: 
    • "I was critical with regard to Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani's letter to the Supreme Leader and had I been his adviser I would have told that this letter, with such wordings, was absolutely not suitable for widespread publication. Cooperation of Hashemi [Rafsanjani] with Mousavi and Khatami is also wrong."
    • "In this country I am a well known media figure. I founded Hamshahri and in Shargh which most of [U.S. based academic] Abbas Milani's articles were published, I had no founding role and did not engage in production but had only a supervising position."
    • "There was a destructive movement from the very beginning of the Sixth Parliament which started its work by character assassinating Hashemi [Rafsanjani] who was the closest individual to the Leadership and the Sixth Parliament craved for a radical behavior."
    • "Back then we would say to Hashemi Rafsanjani that the media atmosphere is against you and he was of the conviction that in this worrying atmosphere we had to be present in the parliament in order to create a balance."
    • "Preservation of the regime is the greatest of all necessities. This is why the Imam [Khomeini] created the Assembly of Experts."
    • "In the body of the Second of Khordad [Khatami's 1997 landslide] there were some who had false understandings and were of the belief that the public is against the Supreme Leader and this trend grew within the reformist camp."
    • "During the time Mohtashami-Pour was Interior Minister he said some things about export of the revolution to the effect that whenever needed one must leave the revolution and pursue its export, after which the blessed Imam Khomeini wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of the time and stressed that such words are untrue."
    • "In the shadow of the Second of Khordad events something had happened in the name of the people and the regime. We misinterpreted the atmosphere and attempted to depict them as opposing poles. I want to confess here that those who want to do away with the absolute character of the Guardianship of the Jurist want to deprive the regime of its spirituality."
    • "I declare with a loud voice: Any group, be it reformist or principalist, should its behavior lead to weakening of the regime, after having understood this it must declare the end of such behavior."
    • "Fraud is not possible more than three percent of the vote."
    • "What happened during the electoral rivalries must be considered as a great deviation in the political history of the Iranian nation."
    • "Because of unity of direction and organizational cooperation between the extremist political movement in the country which called itself the reformist movement, some opportunistic elements were allowed to harm the strength of the regime and security of the country."
    • "Since I am somehow related to the reformist movement - despite the fact that my own role in the election was very limited - but in general I confess my guilt with regard to the reformist cause."
    • "Today we have reached a point where the regime - when it comes to security and tranquility - has returned to its point of departure and we hope that they [the reformists] repent their mistakes of the past."
    • "If the political groupings and individuals follow the same path as that of the Supreme Leader and struggle to strengthen the Supreme Leader and the regime they will be at the apex of respect and dignity. But if they say a word, or remain silent in order to character assassinate the two existential jewels of the Leadership and the regime their movement is doomed and they have no place on the side of God or the people."
    • In the end, Atrianfar asked the Supreme Leader "in the shadow of whose wisdom and alert leadership which is guaranteed by nightly secrets between him and God, to either forgive him or prepare the ground so he can return to the bosom of the Islamic regime, or to punish him according to justice."
  • The Tehran Trials also featured the legal process against lesser known individuals arrested during the post election unrest, including a certain Mehrdad Aslani, one of thirty individuals whose case was processed at the Revolutionary Tribunal of Tehran who confessed:
    • "I have been arrested because of my presence at an illegal gathering and because of sending news and pictures to the BBC with email."
    • "The people of Iran are intelligent and will not be fooled by charlatans, but some youth trusted Mousavi and their political friends and were unfortunately tricked."
    • "Instead of trying the tricked youth the legal system should try Mousavi and his political friends."
  • The popular television program "20:30" visits former Vice President Mohammad-Ali Abtahi and reformist theoretician Mohammad Atrianfar at Evin Prison and interviews them in the courtyard of the prison to find out if their statements in court on Sunday were forced confessions made under torture and pressure.
    • Speaking directly to the camera, Abtahi says that as soon as he is freed from prison, he will resume writing his blog and that he would continue writing the same things as he has said in his confessions and stressed that he would defend his statements. Abtahi also refuted to have been drugged to change his mind and said: "Those who say anything like this are insulting the intelligence of the people." According to Asr-e Iran it was Abtahi's daughter who has earlier said that her father has been "drugged" while imprisoned.
    • Mohammad Atrianfar speaking to the camera says that his opinion has changed. When confronted with exiled former Culture Minister Attaollah Mohajerani's claims on BBC Persian that Atrianfar's statements "have changed in an unbelievable way" Atrianfar said: "If Mohajerani was in my place he would also have reached new conclusions." Atrianfar continued that it was Mohajerani who was forced to "speak within the frameworks of the BBC."
    • In the interview in the court yard of Evin, Abtahi stressed that the interrogators are decent people who like dialogs and stressed that long and continuing theoretical and political conversations between him and the interrogators was one of the reasons behind the change of his political viewpoints. Abtahi also promised the readers of his personal blog that in case he is freed from prison the readers will find more blog notes from him to read. Abtahi also refuted that the written statement which he was reading out in the court was dictated to him and said that he had written it himself.
    • The television program "20:30" also showed pictures of reformist theoretician and Intelligence Ministry co-founder Said Hajjarian for a few seconds which is interpreted as a sign that Hajjarian's confessions will be aired on Iranian state television soon. Video.
  • Reactions to the Tehran Trials:
    • Ahmadinejad in a letter to the Judiciary Chief asks for the Judiciary to make those arrested "taste religious love" while imprisoned.
    • Former President Mohammad Khatami says the Tehran Trials were "contrary to civic rights."
    • Mir-Hossein Mousavi condemns what he calls "forced confessions":
      • "In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate. They claim that the children of the revolution in a court which convened yesterday confessed having been connected with foreigners and confessed having planned toppling of the regime of the Islamic Republic. I paid close attention to their words and I did not find such a thing. What I heard was a loud scream telling the tale of what they have gone through during the past fifty years. Human beings who were completely broken who would have confessed whatever needed. What else tells the tale of the pain which has been inflicted upon them? They said Mohsen Rouh al-Amini deserved to become martyred. They said had we not resisted for fifty days this theater would have been shown several weeks ago. They said whatever they were told to say as if to let us know that it was not their words. The teeth of the torture masters has now reached the bones of the people to the degree that now they choose their victims among those who have done great service to the country and the regime and threaten those who have been engaged in the growth and expansion of this movement and have played a central role in establishment of the regime. Are you threatening those who have always wished for martyrdom in the illuminated path of the Islamic revolution with anything less than martyrdom? Are you, after having slaughtered the presidential character of the regime, aiming at the Islamic character and honor of the regime? The only judgment after witnessing such show trials is that the trial is nothing but a display of the moral collapse of those directing it. What we have seen is nothing but an amateurish attempt at the beginning of the work of the tenth government. From a court in which everything is fraudulent they want to proof the legitimacy of the election. If you are not men of fraud you could at the very least see to it that the legal proceedings have the looks of a court of justice...The people of Iran feel solidarity with its children whose faces it has seen after fifty days of absence. Brethren, don't be sad. Know that the people understand your situation and know that preserving your life is the most important thing. The nation which is now witnessing this tragedy will soon see the trial of those responsible for the tragedies that play with the life and honor of the nation..."
      • The Office of the Head of the Expediency Council Chairman Rafsanjani in an official statement condemns the confessions of former Vice President Mohammad-Ali Abtahi:
    • "The Office informs the public that statements to the effect that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani has sworn allegiance and mutual support to the gentlemen Khatami and Mousavi - made by one of the individuals arrested - is fundamentally a lie and it is unknown under what conditions and because of which expediencies such statements have been formulated..."
      • "In order to illuminate the public opinion the office informs that during the meeting held at Saturday afternoon in the presence of the gentlemen Khatami, Mousavi, and Hassan Khomeini - held after the convention of the Expediency Council of the Regime - and not on Monday - Mr. Khatami said that he would announce his position at the meeting of the Combatant Clergy Association and Mr. Mousavi declared his positions which followed the same tenet as the official statements made earlier. Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani stressed upon abiding by the law with regard to announcement of positions at that meeting..."
      • "As Ayatollah Rafsanjani has clarified in his letter...at this election he has not supported any of the candidates and has not intervened the least in the post election events and and his views with regard to leaving behind the unsuitable conditions currently at play are the same as the views expressed in the Friday prayer..."
      • "Therefore, any statement outside this framework is a total lie...God willing, all of us, in our explanation of the affairs and in interrogation of those arrested recently, do not question the essence and foundation of the regime to the benefit of a certain movement."
    • Daryoush Ghanbari, Central Committee member of the Path of the Imam Faction in the Parliament: "Yesterday's trials were nothing but an insult to the regime and baseless accusations against personalities and not even the minimal legal standards were respected...Yesterday's legal proceedings were not open in its real sense of the word since the lawyers and family members of imprisoned individuals were not allowed into the court...Only two of the prisoners made declarations which was really different against the indictment against them...By having legal proceedings against the Mojahedin-e Khalq members who are engaged in an armed struggle against the Islamic Republic and personalities of the regime the proceedings aimed at depict the personalities of the regime in a certain light..."
    • Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad-Ebrahim Nekounam, Deputy Chairman of the Point 90 Committee of the Iranian Parliament, demands legal proceedings against Mousavi.
    • Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad-Taghi Rahbar, member of the Legal and Judicial Committee of the Parliament demand that Mousavi, Khatami and Rafsanjani be put on trial because of their role in the recent unrest which has been revealed in the Tehran Trials.
    • Parliamentarian Hamid Rasaei demands prosecution of Rafsanjani as the main instigator of the post election unrest. Another parliamentarian Mahmoud Ahmadi Bi-Ghash says former Vice President Mohammad-Ali Abtahi's confessions "has disclosed many conspiracies" and demands illumination of the public mind of the "crimes and treason of the reformists" especially with regard to the "alliance between Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khatami and Mousavi." Parliamentarian Elias Naderan demands prosecution of the "true instigators of the unrest" rather than those being prosecuted now.
    • Hojjat al-Eslam Sobhani-Nia, Deputy Chairman of the National Security Committee of the Parliament: "Disclosure of the activities of the main instigators of the presidential election unrest do not harm the Islamic Republic the least but are good since they illuminate the public mind with regard to the events...The people want to know which individuals inside and outside the country wanted to disrupt the presidential election and what goals they were pursuing...The Judiciary should attend to the indictments against the arrested individuals with total independence and based upon legislation and with the greatest care so no one's rights are usurped...the reformist leaders' insistence upon releasing of the arrested individuals is a sign of their fear of the truth coming to light."
    • Mohammad-Karim Abedi, member of the National Security Committee of the Parliament demands a legal investigation into involvement of the family members of Rafsanjani in the post election unrest in Iran.
    • Academic Abdol-Reza Davari says that based upon the confessions at Tehran Trials, Mousavi is the main instigator of the post election unrest and the leader of the velvet coup.
    • Parliamentarian Akbar Ranjbarzadeh says the legal system's ignoring of the sins of Khatami and Mousavi would provoke public protests.
    • Kayhan editor Shariatmadari says the confessions at the Tehran Trials leave no doubt that the post election unrest in Iran has been directed from outside and deplores that "the main instigators of the discord who are not unknown...were not present in the court."
    • Jomhouri-ye Eslami comments on Abtahi's confessions against Rafsanjani: "One could hardly expect anything else from someone with the past of Abtahi."
    • Alef News Agency's commentator asks if the Islamic Republic authorities are truly aware of the consequences of the confessions made since they raise very serious allegations against central individuals in the Islamic Republic.
  • Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, Media Adviser to Ahmadinejad, resigns.

Military and Security

  • Brigadier General Hassan Firouz-Abadi, Armed Forces Command Council Chief, speaking at the assembly of Defense University professors and chiefs: "Looking at the recent events, we understand that all the injustice done to the people, the Basij members and the Law Enforcement Forces, is because some of our youth are not patriotic enough and don't love the country enough."
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Hossein Taeb, Basij Chief, "discloses" the role of the United States in post election unrest in Iran while speaking at the gathering of university professors who are members of the Basij:
    • "They activated the BBC, and Persian language networks used the internet in a maximal way to disrupt the election and aimed a goal which was either victory [to their candidate of preference Mousavi] or [claim of] fraud..."
    • "Therefore they were in connection with Mousavi and they provoked incidents both inside and outside the country, and some parties were also pursuing the goal of toppling the ninth government and make another government come to power and they worked so much on Mousavi that Mousavi himself believed that if he does not win, fraud has taken place..."
    • "They planned two short messages: One was a fraudulent letter from Mr. Hashemi [Rafsanjani] sent to the Supreme Leader of the Revolution [prior to the election] and the Leader answering this letter said that the intelligent people of Iran will answer the liars at the ballot. The second short message was the assembly in front of the Interior Ministry... On the Monday after the election they attacked Basij bases and killed seven Basij members..."
    • "Faezeh Hashemi [Rafsanjani’s daughter] was involved in a commemoration service, but when she found out that the Supreme Leader was going to lead the Friday Prayer she annulled her program in order to prepare a new plan to disrupt the Friday Prayer... One tactic was that of being present in the vicinity of the Friday prayer which they did during the past three weeks... Another tactic was to continue their movement and become institutionalized and multiply their leaders into Mousavi, Khatami and Karrubi...Yet another tactic was to in an organized media attack to question the legitimacy of the regime after the vetting of the Guardian Council. In this attempt, the BBC even aired an interview with [Nobel laureate] Shirin Ebadi and some lawyers who accused the regime and the government of being liars...The majority of our population are members of the Basij and therefore we must deal a blow into the mouth of the imperialism with discussion and arguments in order to defeat their discord so that the regime is left unharmed..."
  • Ahmad-Reza Radan, Law Enforcement Forces Deputy, speaking in Semnan says the confessions at the Tehran trials only disclose a small part of the conspiracy: "These people are connected with the sworn enemies of the Islamic regime with the aim of starting a velvet revolution in the country but did not manage to do so...They don't understand that velvet revolutions are only successful in countries were the people demand regime change...Therefore they started the issue of forming a committee to defend the vote...and at some point some of them even believed their own lies and thought fraud must necessarily have taken place."
  • Mohammad-Mehdi Zahedi, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Technology, claims the "counter revolution" had planned to use "chemical bombs" to disrupt the presidential election.
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Hossein Ta'eb, Basij Chief: "We hope that the President, after the inauguration, by choosing strong and efficient believers in the discourse of the blessed Imam [Khomeini] and the Supreme Leader performs better than before in serving the 70 million Iranians and in realization of the characteristics of the Islamic revolution."
  • Brigadier General Hassan Firouz-Abadi, Armed Forces Command Council Chief, speaking in an assembly of armed forces commanders: "Today we must all help so that the tenth government is shaped among devout and expert and value oriented forces and God willing the tenth government can serve the unprivileged more than before...The members of the new cabinet must all be loyal towards the twenty years development perspective and the general policies as announced by the Supreme Leader and choice of President and the vote of confidence from the Parliament should be preconditioned upon this..."

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