Iran Today - June 17
Jun. 17th, 2009 08:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frandroidA list of 7 demands has been distributed to protesters in Tehran:
1. Dismissal of Khamenei for not being a fair leader
2. Dismissal of Ahmadinejad for his illegal acts
3. Temporary appointment of Ayatollah Montazeri as the Supreme Leader
4. Recognition of Mousavi as the President
5. Forming the Cabinet by Mousavi to prepare for revising the Constitution
6. Unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners
7. Dissolution of all organs of repression, public or secret
I found #3 to be quite otherworldy, but I have found this is not entirely impossible. Pepe Escobar of Asia Times Online: The meaning of the Tehran spring
UPDATE: niacINsight reports that Rafsanjani is calling for an emergency meeting of the Assembly of Experts.
NYTimes Op-Ed on the militarization of the theocratic regime in Iran.
Michael Ledeen says that Mousavi actually had Khamenei's support, which sounds a little strange, but the second half of this article is interesting nonetheless. Try to put that an the previous op-ed's assertion together...
1. Dismissal of Khamenei for not being a fair leader
2. Dismissal of Ahmadinejad for his illegal acts
3. Temporary appointment of Ayatollah Montazeri as the Supreme Leader
4. Recognition of Mousavi as the President
5. Forming the Cabinet by Mousavi to prepare for revising the Constitution
6. Unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners
7. Dissolution of all organs of repression, public or secret
I found #3 to be quite otherworldy, but I have found this is not entirely impossible. Pepe Escobar of Asia Times Online: The meaning of the Tehran spring
The trillion-dollar-question regarding this new "revolutionary" situation is that as things stand, no pacifying solution can be found within the institutional framework of the Islamic Republic. In a nutshell, Ahmadinejad has made his power play against Mousavi and Rafsanjani. The Supreme Leader fully supported him. Mousavi and Rafsanjani, plus Khatami, need an urgent counterpunch. And their only possible play is to go after Khamenei.
As Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council, among others, has noted, Rafsanjani is now counting his votes at the Council of Experts (86 clerics, no women) - of which he is the chairman - to see if they are able to depose Khamenei. He is in the holy city of Qom for this explicit purpose. To pull it off, the council would imperatively have to be supported by at least some factions within the IRGC. The Ahmadinejad faction will go ballistic. A Supreme Leader implosion is bound to imply the implosion of the whole Khomeini-built edifice.
Null and void
As a prelude, Mousavi has already bypassed the Supreme Leader, sending an open letter to the powerful mullahcracy in Qom asking them to invalidate the election. Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, head of the election vote-monitoring committee, has officially requested that the Council of Guardians void the election and schedule a new, fully monitored one.
One of the stalwarts of Qom power, the moderate Grand Ayatollah Sanei, who had issued a fatwa against vote rigging, calling it a "mortal sin", has already declared the Ahmadinejad presidency "illegitimate". His house and office are now under police siege. Iranians eagerly expect a public pronouncement from Grand Ayatollah Muntazeri, the country's true top religious figure (not Khamenei) and a certified anti-ultra-right wing.
UPDATE: niacINsight reports that Rafsanjani is calling for an emergency meeting of the Assembly of Experts.
NYTimes Op-Ed on the militarization of the theocratic regime in Iran.
Michael Ledeen says that Mousavi actually had Khamenei's support, which sounds a little strange, but the second half of this article is interesting nonetheless. Try to put that an the previous op-ed's assertion together...