Recent Appearances...

Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Arabia

Saudi crown prince keen to develop Iran ties following Pezeshkian's election

2024-07-07

[GEO.TV] Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...

Saudi Arabia

...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat Frational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
's king and crown prince congratulated Masoud Pezeshkian on his election as Iran's president, state news agency SPA reported on Saturday.

"I affirm my keenness on developing and deepening the relations between our countries and people and serve our mutual interests," SPA quoted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists...
as saying.

In March 2023, Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark China-brokered deal to re-establish relations after years of regional rivalry.

Friday's run-off vote was between Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old cardiac surgeon, has pledged to promote a pragmatic foreign policy, ease tensions over now-stalled negotiations with major powers to revive a 2015 nuclear pact and improve prospects for social liberalisation and political pluralism.

However many Iranians are sceptical about his ability to fulfil his campaign promises as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
, not the president, is the ultimate authority in the Islamic Theocratic Republic.

"Dear people of Iran, the election is over, and this is just the beginning of our working together. A difficult road is ahead. It can only be smooth with your cooperation, empathy and trust," Pezeshkian said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

"I extend my hand to you and swear on my honour that I will not abandon you on this path. Do not abandon me."

Turnout was almost 50% in Friday's vote, following historically low turnout in the first round ballot on June 28, when over 60% of Iranian voters abstained. The election was called after President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in May.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Outrage over Biden allowing Iran's terrorist-sponsoring regime to hold voting in U.S.

2024-07-07

[FoxNews] The Biden administration recently allowed Iranian citizens to vote in the totalitarian regime's sham presidential election from makeshift booths in a handful of U.S. hotels, drawing the ire of the terror-sponsoring nation's critics.

Biden green-lighted Iranian regime voting stations across America for election of the president of the Islamic Republic. The contest on Friday resulted in the victory of Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon, over the former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. Pezeshkian secured secured 53.3% of the vote while Jalili received 44.3%.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iranian reformist Pezeshkian wins presidential election

2024-07-06

[IsraelTimes] Iranian reformist Masoud Pezeshkian has won the run-off presidential election, the Interior Ministry says.

A few hours earlier:

Moderate Pezeshkian expected to win Iran’s presidential race, Iranian source says

[IsraelTimes] The low-profile moderate Masoud Pezeshkian, who has pledged to open Iran to the world and deliver freedoms its people have yearned for, is expected to win the run-off presidential vote, an Iranian source tells Reuters.

“The vote counting has ended and the rival candidates have been informed about the result. Pezeshkian is around three million votes ahead of his hardline rival Saeed Jalili,” says the source, who asked not to be named.

Earlier, the interior ministry said that Pezeshkian was leading the race in early results, adding that the initial reports showed turnout was around 50%, higher than the first round.

The run-off follows a June 28 ballot with historically low turnout, when over 60% of Iranian voters abstained from the snap election for a successor to Ebrahim Raisi, following his death in a helicopter crash.

The vote is a tight race between low-key lawmaker Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and hardline former nuclear negotiator Jalili, a staunch advocate of deepening ties with Russia and China.

Videos on social media showed supporters of Pezeshkian dancing in streets in several cities and motorists honking car horns to cheer his victory.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, ultraconservative Saeed Jalili qualify for Iran runoff election

2024-07-01

[NEWARAB] Iran's sole reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili have qualified for a runoff presidential election after leading in the first round, an official said on Saturday.

Pezeshkian got more than 10,400,000 votes and Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator, has more than 9,400,000, said Mohsen Eslami, spokesman of Iran's election authority.

"None of the candidates could garner the absolute majority of the votes, therefore, the first and second contenders who got the most votes will be referred" for the second round, scheduled for next Friday, Eslami told a press conference.

Out of around 61 million eligible voters, some 24,500,000 voters headed to the polls, he added, with a turnout of around 40 percent - the lowest yet in the history of the Islamic republic.

Out of Iran's 13 previous presidential elections since the Islamic revolution in 1979, only one has led to runoffs in 2005.

Conservative parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf received about 3,383,340 votes and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a conservative cleric, had 206,397 votes.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Wildcard candidate stirs up presidential election

2024-06-28

[BBC] A snap election called after a deadly helicopter crash. A candidate promising a different approach both at home and abroad. And suddenly there’s an element of suspense and unpredictability in Iran, as voters go to the polls to choose a new president.

Elections in the Islamic Republic are tightly-controlled affairs - the candidates are all vetted by an influential committee of clerics before they can stand. And recently voter apathy has been widespread.

But this time there is a wild card: a reformist former heart surgeon and health minister, Massoud Pezeshkian, who has declared “immoral” the actions of Iran’s morality police, who enforce strict dress codes on women.

The rules on wearing the hijab are now being regularly flouted by women and Mr Pezeshkian, 69, has said: “If wearing certain clothes is a sin, the behaviour towards women and girls is 100 times a greater sin. Nowhere in religion is there any permission to confront someone because of their clothing.”

He has also promised to try to improve relations with the West and revive nuclear talks, in the hope of bringing an end to sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.

Mr Pezeshkian has been publicly backed by two former reformist presidents, Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami, and the former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

His campaign rallies attracted growing crowds in the run-up to polling day.

And on Thursday two candidates dropped out of the contest - in an apparent attempt by the clerical establishment to avoid splitting the conservative vote.

The most recent opinion polls showed Mr Pezeshkian ahead of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who is currently speaker of parliament, and Saeed Jalili, a hardline former nuclear negotiator.

The conservatives oppose engagement with the West and argue that Iran can succeed despite sanctions.

One other candidate remains in the race to replace Ebrahim Raisi - the hardliner who died on a foggy mountainside last month in a helicopter crash that also killed seven other people.

Turnout figures are seen as a key test of the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic.

They hit record lows in parliamentary elections in March and the last presidential election in 2021.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who is the ultimate authority in Iran - has called for “maximum” turnout. And a solid core of regime supporters are sure to vote.

But many young and middle-class Iranians are deeply disillusioned and distrustful of any political process organised by the Islamic Republic, and now want an end to 45 years of clerical rule.

“There are lots of billboards in the streets asking people to ‘vote for a better tomorrow’, but we just don’t buy it any more,” a 20-year-old student in Tehran told me via text message. “Nobody wants to vote any more.”

Since the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in morality police custody in 2022 - and the nationwide uprising it sparked - the gulf between Iran’s leaders and its people has widened dramatically.

A brutal crackdown on protesters hardened hatred of the regime, particularly among Generation Z.

Hopes pinned on reformists in the past have repeatedly been dashed. And, over the past few years, those wanting reform of the system have been increasingly marginalised.

Former president Hassan Rouhani wasn’t even allowed to stand in recent elections for an influential body, the Assembly of Experts, whose job it is to appoint the Supreme Leader.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran Replaces Hardline Top Security Council Secretary

2013-09-11

[An Nahar] President Hasan Rowhani Tuesday appointed decorated admiral and ex-defense minister Ali Shamkhani to replace hardline Saeed Jalili as secretary of the key Supreme National Security Council, media reported.

The SNSC is responsible for dictating defense and security policies under guidelines set out by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and for marshaling the country's resources to confront domestic and foreign threats.

Until now, it has been heavily involved in Iran's showdown with world powers over the country's nuclear ambitions, particularly under Rowhani's predecessor, Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad.

It is expected that the SNSC's direct involvement will be reduced but not eliminated after Rowhani last week tasked the foreign ministry with taking lead on future nuclear talks.

Jalili, who lost to Rowhani in the June 14 presidential election, acted as the SNSC's secretary since 2007 in a period talks between Iran and so-called P5+1 group of world powers failed to produce a breakthrough.

His performance in the talks and inability to make concession was criticized during the presidential campaign.

While being replaced as SNSC secretary, Jalili is not expected to leave the council, as he, along with Rowhani, are both special representatives of Khamenei to the council.

Shamkhani, an ethnic Arab, was reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami's defense minister for two four-year terms until 2005.

His record also includes serving as head of the now-abolished ministry for the Revolutionary Guards under then premier Mir Hossein Mousavi in the 1980s and commanding Iran's naval forces in the 1990s.

His appointment comes as Rowhani, who took office last month, has expressed a desire to improve strained ties with the Arab world, particularly tarnished over Tehran's support for the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Rohani sweeps poll

2013-06-16

Moderate cleric Hasan Rohani

Nb: this particular use of the word moderate means moderate for those vetted by the ruling mullahcracy, and therefore not moderate at all, but perhaps not as extreme as some others vetted by the self-same mullahcracy.

was declared Iran's new president on Saturday, the interior minister said, in an outright election victory that ends eight years of conservative

See note above...

grip on the top office.

Rohani hailed his election as a "victory of moderation over extremism", media reported. "This victory is a victory for wisdom, moderation and maturity... over extremism," said the mid-ranking moderate cleric who was also backed by reformists.

Cute. Cleric Rohani is very, very cute. Hopefully this will protect him more than the last "moderate" cleric at that level, who as I recall has been under house arrest for several years, though perhaps I misremember.

Rohani, 64, a former top nuclear negotiator who has championed more constructive engagement with world powers,

Translation: "Taqiyah. Ever more taqiyah instead of openly defying the world while we continue working toward our nuclear Israel-destroyers."

won outright with 18.6 million votes, or 50.68 per cent of those cast. Announcing Rohani's win, Interior Minister Mohammad Mostafa Najjar said 36.7 million people, or 72.7 per cent of the electorate, had voted on Friday.

Rohani's tally was enough to ensure there would be no run-off against the runner-up, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who was in distant second place with 6.07 million votes. Current nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, was third with 3.17 million.

Rohani inherits an economy that has been badly hit by EU and US sanctions targeting the key oil and banking sectors.

Which doesn't mean he'll listen to sense...

If he didn't agree with the same rulers who held power throughout President Ahmadinejad's administration, he would not have been vetted. Nothing important will change, regardless of who is elected.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Rafsanjani Endorses Moderate Rowhani for Iran Presidency

2013-06-12

[An Nahar] Iranian ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
... the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until he was eased out in 2011 He continues, for the moment, as Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 2005 he ran for a third term as president, ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Khamenei's graces back then. In 1980 Rafsanjani survived an assassination attempt, during which he was seriously injured. He has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservative without all that much reason. He is currently being eased out of any position of actual influence or power and may be dead by the end of 2012...
backed Hassan Rowhani for Friday's presidential election, saying the former nuclear negotiator who champions better international ties is "more suitable" for the post.

"I will vote for Dr Rowhani, who entered the race after consulting me," Rafsanjani said in remarks reported by the ILNA news agency on Tuesday.

"I consider him to be more suitable to steer the executive branch," he said referring to the slate of five other hopefuls, most of whom are conservatives.

It was the second major endorsement of the day for Rowhani, following that of reformist former president Mohammad Khatami, under whom he headed Iran's negotiations with the major powers on its nuclear program.

Rowhani is facing stiff competition from the conservative camp, which has failed to field a single candidate.

Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, ex-foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati and former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezai remain in the race to succeed President

Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad.

Mohammad Reza Aref, first vice president under Khatami and the only out and out reformist contender, dropped out of the competition on Tuesday.

Rafsanjani's endorsement comes after his own candidacy was rejected last month by the hardline electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, whose members are appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, directly or indirectly.

According to the ILNA report, Rafsanjani said his disqualification came after "a high-ranking security official, against the norms and law, attended the vetting meeting in the council."

"The official said: 'Rafsanjani's presence in the election could lead to his decisive victory in a landslide'," the ex-president said of the meeting, without naming anyone.

"The official then convinced the council to disqualify me on excuses of frailty," he said.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran Clerics Back Velayati for President

2013-06-10

[An Nahar] A leading Iranian conservative holy manal group has endorsed veteran diplomat Ali Akbar Velayati to succeed

Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad in the June 14 presidential election, a media report said on Sunday.

The Mehr news agency said a majority of members of the Qom Seminary Scholars Association at a meeting on Saturday gave their support to Velayati, quoting group chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a former conservative head of the judiciary.

The association is one of the two leading conservative holy manal groups in the holy city of Qom.

The other, the Combatant Clerics Association, has yet to endorse one of the eight presidential candidates approved by the hardline electoral watchdog Guardians Council.

Velayati, a former foreign minister for 16 years, is currently senior foreign policy adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all key issues in the Islamic republic.

He pledges to repair strained relations with the international community if elected, and to shore up the struggling economy against Western economic sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear drive.

Considered a frontrunner in the presidential race, Velayati faces stiff competition from a number of candidates, including Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

In a live televised debate on Friday, Velayati criticized Jalili's failure to make progress in talks with world powers on Iran's atomic program.

"The current negotiations that are under way are definitely flawed," said Velayati, who says his diplomatic record will allow him to resolve the nuclear issue, by removing the sanctions and preserving Iran's nuclear "rights".

Khamenei warned on Tuesday that the next president should avoid making concessions to the West. But he also insisted he will not throw his weight behind any candidate.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran presidential hopefuls remain united on N-issue

2013-06-03

TEHRAN The eight candidates standing for president this month may differ on several issues, but when it comes to Irans nuclear drive they are united in pursuing what they see as its peaceful atomic ambitions.

Whoever is elected president on June 14 to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Islamic republic is unlikely to alter the course of its controversial programme of uranium enrichment. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei takes ~~all~~ the key decisions in Iran, including on the nuclear issue.

Definitely the result of the presidential election will not have any influence on the nuclear issue, the countrys atomic chief Fereydoun Abbasi Davani has said.

The presidential hopefuls including the frontrunner, Irans nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili have all insisted that the nuclear project will proceed.

Regardless of who is elected president in June, uranium enrichment activities will be pursued without fear against the enemy, Jalili said.

The president must demonstrate this in a practical manner to the supreme leader, Jalili, who has been negotiating with world powers on the issue since October 2007, said on his campaign website.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran Candidate Jalili Says Women's Rights Are as Mothers

2013-05-31

[BLOOMBERG] Iranian presidential candidate Saeed Jalili said his nation must defend the rights of women as mothers and resist the approach of Western nations where they are counted as an "economic tool."
"Keep them as breeding stock. Men shouldn't have to compete against them. It's undignified."
"Women's core identity lies in motherhood and her role should be defined within that framework, not in an economic context," Jalili, who's also Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, told a female audience at a political rally late yesterday.
"Truly valuable wimmin bear nothing but sons, and lots of them."
Jalili, one of eight candidates cleared by Iran's brass hats for the June 14 presidential election, is considered a possible front-runner. President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad, who's completing his second four-year term, isn't eligible to run.
Which is just as well, since even Fearless Leader is tired of Short Round.
Western nations are proponents of individuality while in Islam the focus is on the family, Jalili said, according to the state-run Fars news agency.
That's the difference between a primitive society and a modern society, isn't it? The West looks at the mind (occasionally finding none) while primitives look at the pee-pee.
"The West says society should work to its full potential, and since women constitute half of the population, their work power cannot be ignored and should be included in the economic cycle," Jalili said.
Seems to make sense to me, but I'm not a primitive. Keeping them as breeding stock seems kind of limiting.
"Making use of women as an object and lowering her greatness to the level of a workforce and economic tool is very different from how they are viewed in Islam," Jalili said. "We are backers of women's rights, especially in comparison to the West."
With that sort of logic, I'm surprised more Mohammedans don't blow themselves up.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Irans Bogus Election Process

2013-05-24

Iranian authorities on Tuesday announced the approval of eight candidates who will be allowed to compete in the June 14 presidential election. The Guardian Council, which vetted the candidates, made sure that Irans next president will be a pliable servant of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The regime hopes to repair its sagging popular legitimacy and avoid a rerun of the disastrous 2009 presidential election, which provoked widespread protests against vote-rigging when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was awarded a second term. This time the authorities eliminated all candidates even remotely connected to the opposition Green Movement and approved only 8 of the almost 700 declared contenders.

Among those eliminated was former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pillar of the 1979 revolution who had criticized the 2009 crackdown, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a protégé of current President Ahmadinejad, who is barred from seeking a third term. Both candidates were considered threats to the power of hard-liners backed by Khamenei.

Six of the eight remaining presidential candidates are closely linked to the Supreme Leader. The frontrunner appears to be Saeed Jalili, a longtime adviser to Khamenei who now serves as Irans negotiator on the nuclear issue. Jalili is an uncompromising revolutionary who lost a leg in the IranIraq war. A western diplomat noted that Jalili specializes in monologuenot dialogue.

Other prominent hard-line candidates include Tehran Mayor Mohammad Qalibaf, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezai.

Two centrists were also allowed to run: Hassan Rowhani, an ally of Rafsanjani, and Mohammad Reza Aref, who served as vice president under former President Mohammad Khatami. Both of them will be sure to mute their criticism of the hard-line establishment candidates. After all, Mir Hossain Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, reformist candidates who protested the 2009 rigged elections, are still under house arrest.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More