[Al Arabiya Latest] Powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged Iran's warring political groups on Saturday to follow the orders of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for ending the present political turmoil.
In his first such statement in direct support of Khamenei since the June 12 election, the former president said "the current situation needs everyone to observe the leader's decrees and advice," Iranian news agencies reported.
Rafsanjani was speaking at the start of a meeting of Iran's top political arbitration body, the Expediency Council, which he heads.
He urged the bitterly divided groups to create "appropriate conditions to act and commit to the constitution ... and confront law breakers, whatever their ideological leanings."
Women ministers
Meanwhile, several Iranian conservative clerics have objected to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's decision to include three women in his new cabinet, a newspaper reported on Saturday as a court decided to ban a controversial presidential aid from public office for two months.
Ahmadinejad named Sousan Keshvaraz, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi and Fatemeh Ajorlou as his ministers respectively of education, health and welfare, and social security in his 21-member cabinet line-up. "Although it is a new idea to choose women as ministers, there are religious doubts over the abilities of women when it comes to management. This should be considered by the government," Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, the head of the clerics' faction in the conservative-dominated Iranian parliament was quoted as saying by the daily Tehran Emrouz.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Amid concerns over health conditions and treatment of Iran's post-vote detainees, an aide to the Iranian president moves to defuse the controversy by saying that serving time in prison helps you understand the importance of keeping your weight under control.
"Arbeit macht frei."
Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's advisor for press affairs, addressed concerns over health conditions of jailed Reformist figure Mohammed-Ali Abtahi.
Former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a Reformist cleric, appeared in one of Iran's mass post-election trials saying that the three opposition leaders - Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani formed an alliance in which they "promised to always back each other up" in their efforts to rob the presidency from its 'legitimate winner.'
Following the televised trial, photos of Abtahi circulated the media with human rights activists and opposition figures questioning the credibility of the confessions made by Abtahi who had lost visible weight.
In an interview on Saturday, President Ahmadinejad's advisor explained why the Reformist figure looked so frail during his appearance at court in Tehran.
"It is only natural for a person who has gained an excessive amount of weight to come to his senses in prison that being overweight is not good for your mental of physical health," Javanfekr reasoned.
"Maybe Mr. Abtahi has seized this opportunity and made an effort to lose weight," he was quoted as saying by Tabnak.
The jailed cleric was an advisor to defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi and is accused of provoking and taking part in protests in the capital, Tehran.
Iran says the international reaction to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nominee for defense minister is a "Zionist plot" to undermine the new Iranian administration.
"[Ahmad] Vahidi was a deputy defense minister and this is a very senior political position," Ahmadinejad's press adviser, Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, told AFP. "Therefore it seems that this is a new trick being planned and is basically a Zionist plot."
His comments came after Argentina expressed outrage Friday over the defense minister-designate claiming that he is wanted in connection with the bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish Community Center, which left 85 dead and wounded more than 300 others.
Ahmadinejad's 'tapping' Ahmad Vahidi for the post is "an affront to Argentine justice and the victims of the terrorist attack", the Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Buenos Aires has formally accused Iran of carrying out the attack. Tehran strongly denies any involvement in the bombing.
Vahidi along with six other Iranian officials have been on Interpol's list since 2007 in connection with the bombing.
US officials reacted with concern to Vahidi's nomination as Iran's defense minister.
"If this report is true and if this man is confirmed as a cabinet minister and is wanted by Interpol for his involvement in a terrorist act, of course this would be disturbing," State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said.
However, Javanfekr dismissed the allegations, asking, "How come they have never brought this up in the past?"
Argentina has the largest Jewish community in the Americas outside the United States.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I smell an Islamist plot to turn everyone into alans snackbar retards !
#2
Let's see. Wanted by INTERPOL, killed a bunch of innocent people in two countries. Yep, if there isn't a Zionist plot to whack this scumbunny, there should be. Hopefully, it will involved gutting him and stuffing his carcass with bacon.
[Dawn] A Pakistani government official says Iranian border guards have killed two people in a rocket attack in Pakistan's southwest. Naseer Khan, a local government administrator in Balochistan province, said on Saturday that Iranian guards fired rockets toward the border town of Washkook late Friday, hitting a house and killing a woman and a child inside. Khan said it was unclear why the guards took such action. He did not say how many rockets were fired.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11147 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I don't see Pakistan fussing over sovereignty when it's Baluchis getting killed.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged Iran's warring political groups on Saturday to follow the orders of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for ending the present political turmoil.
