[Mb-civic] FW: IRAN REJECTS TERRORISM ALLEGATIONS AS IT PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR ANTI-ISRAEL ORGANIZATIONS

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From: Samii Shahla <shahla at thesamiis.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 15:17:54 -0500
Subject: IRAN REJECTS TERRORISM ALLEGATIONS AS IT PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR
ANTI-ISRAEL ORGANIZATIONS


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IRAN REJECTS TERRORISM ALLEGATIONS AS IT PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR
ANTI-ISRAEL ORGANIZATIONS. Iran continues to reject the "state
sponsor of terrorism" label Washington gave it 21 years ago. Yet it
has never denied that it supports militant organizations in Lebanon
and Palestine -- albeit only morally and politically. With the 26th
anniversary of the Islamic Revolution looming, Iran is trying to
demonstrate its continuing relevance in Palestinian issues by issuing
an invitation to Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas to
visit Tehran.
    Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei discussed terrorism in a
speech on 29 January. "They accuse other countries of supporting
terrorism," Khamenei said. "The terrorists were grown under the wings
of the Americans themselves. The Taliban in Afghanistan came into
existence and expanded with the help of the Americans." He added: "By
terrorism they mean the brave and self-sacrificing struggle of the
people of Palestine. They expect the Iranian nation to share in the
oppression of the Palestinian nation. This is another one of their
foolish expectations."
    The U.S. State Department asserts that Iran is a state
sponsor of terrorism, referring specifically to its involvement with
Hamas, Hizballah, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
    Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Ali-Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani told visiting Lebanese Defense Minister
Abd-al-Rahim Murad on 1 February that Iran will continue to support
organizations fighting Israel, the Islamic Republic News Agency
(IRNA) reported. "The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue
spiritual support for the Lebanese and Palestinian nations [in their
campaign] to restore their rights and free their occupied lands," he
said. The visiting Lebanese official expressed gratitude for
Iran's support and condemned what he called international silence
on Israeli crimes in contrast with the hue and cry that results from
"the least resistance of the Lebanese nation."
    Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander Major General Yahya
Rahim-Safavi also met with Murad on 1 February, IRNA reported.
"Iran's support for the Lebanese people and government against
expansionist policies pursued by Tel Aviv is strategic," Rahim-Safavi
said. The two countries' officials, he added, emphasize "the need
to keep up the resistance against Israeli occupiers and to safeguard
unity and solidarity among the Iranians, Syrians, and Lebanese
nations, [and this provides] proper grounds for further expansion of
our bilateral ties."
    "Lebanon has set a unique example of resistance against the
Zionist enemy and scoring a victory over it," President Hojatoleslam
Mohammad Khatami told Murad on 1 February, the Lebanese National News
Agency reported. Khatami said Iran is willing to continue its support
of the Lebanese government and people.
    Murad thanked Khatami for his hospitality, and said the
victory of national and Islamic resistance in Lebanon is due to four
factors: Iran and Syria's support; the Lebanese people's
attachment to the resistance; cooperation between the Lebanese army
and the resistance; and the sacrifices of martyrs and heroes in the
resistance.
    Iran's repeated statements about support for resistance
organizations and Palestinian Authority President Abbas' 2
February decision to visit Iran are probably not coincidental. An
anonymous Iranian Foreign Ministry source told Reuters that the trip
demonstrates Iran's interest in friendly relations "with all
Palestinian groups." But the timing of the visit, or at least the
timing of the announcement, indicates that Iran is trying to
demonstrate its relevance in regional affairs, 26 years after the
Islamic Revolution. (Bill Samii)



IRANIAN CLERIC OPPOSES THEOCRACY FOR IRAQ. Dissident cleric
Hojatoleslam Mohsen Kadivar said in a 2 February interview that the
Iraqi people should not recreate the system of Islamic government
(Vilayat-i Faqih) that exists in Iran, Radio Farda reported. "I think
the Iraqis can make what we wanted to create but were unsuccessful: a
real Islamic Republic," Kadivar said in his interview with Reuters.
"By that I mean a republic with Islamic values, democracy with
Islamic values... [where] the clergy has no special rights." Kadivar
continued, "If they have a good government with Islamic democracy and
without any special or divine rights for the clergy, the Iranian
government won't be able to justify its situation to the Iranian
citizens."
    Radio Farda noted that Kadivar is not alone in his views;
Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri-Najafabadi expressed similar views in
an earlier interview with Reuters. Kadivar said adopting the
Vilayat-i Faqih system after the revolution was a mistake, because
"we replaced a kingdom with an Islamic kingdom." Kadivar said that
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei does not have the religious
credentials of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, so he
"relies on the judiciary, the security forces, to fill that gap."
(Bill Samii)

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