-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: January 21, 2007 10:45:48 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Provoking Civil War in Iran
Iran to launch 3-day military manoeuvres
Exercises come days after US announced 2nd aircraft carrier to Gulf
Daily Times (Pakistan), January 22, 2007
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C01%5C22%
5Cstory_22-1-2007_pg1_1
TEHRAN: Iran plans three days of military manoeuvres, including
short-range missile tests, beginning Sunday – its first since the
UN Security Council imposed sanctions against it in late December,
state-run television said.
“The elite Revolutionary Guards plans to begin a three-day missile
manoeuvre on Sunday near Garmsar city,” said the broadcast. The
city is located in northern Iran on the edge of Kavir desert, about
100 kilometres southeast of Tehran.
“Zalzal and Fajr-5 missiles will be test fired in the war game,”
the television quoted an unnamed commander of the guards, as
saying. Both are considered short-range missiles.
“The manoeuvre is aimed at evaluating defensive and fighting
capabilities of the missiles,” the commander was quoted as saying.
Iran conducted a total of three large-scale military exercises last
year as tensions with the West and the United States rose. In
November, for example, it test-fired dozens of missiles, including
the Shahab-3 that can reach Israel, in military manoeuvres that it
said were aimed at putting a stop to the role of world powers in
the Persian Gulf.
Sunday’s manoeuvres are to be the first such by Iran since the UNSC
imposed limited sanctions on the country on December 23, banning
selling materials and technology that could be used in Iran’s
nuclear and missile programmes and freezing assets abroad of 10
Iranian prominent companies and individuals.
The latest Iranian manoeuvres also come just days after the United
States announced it would deploy a second aircraft carrier to the
Gulf, the USS Stennis. That appeared to have alarmed some in Iran’s
hard-line leadership. A prominent member of a powerful cleric-run
body this week warned that the United States plans to attack Iran
in the coming months, possibly by striking its nuclear facilities.
The United States has said it is focusing on diplomacy but will not
rule out other options.
Washington has accused Iran of backing militants fuelling Iraq’s
violence and has tried to rally its Arab allies in isolating
Tehran. Last year, Iran held three large-scale military exercises.
In April, Iran tested what it called an “ultra-horizon” missile,
fired from helicopters and jet fighters, and the Fajr-3 missile,
which can reportedly evade radar and use multiple warheads to hit
several targets simultaneously.
While US officials have suggested that Iran is exaggerating the
capabilities of its newly developed weapons, Washington and its
allies have been watching the country’s progress in missile
technology with concern.
In October, the US led manoeuvres of its own in the Gulf, focusing
on surveillance, with warships tracking a ship suspected of
carrying components of illegal weapons. The nations that took part
were Australia, Bahrain, Britain, France, Italy and the US. ap
----------------------
22/01/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)
Ahmadinejad in a bind as poor begin feeling the pinch
The Telegraph
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10098624.html
Tehran: Imagine you are the president of Iran. You awake to
discover that a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is heading in
your direction, as is a new anti-missile defence system to protect
your neighbours from the missiles you plan to point at them.
A bad week? Not really, because you have just taken delivery of a
new missile system of your own.
Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005 promising to use oil money to cut
the gap between rich and poor. If he has succeeded, it is only
because both groups are now struggling to make ends meet.
Instead, while the Iranians are at the Americans' throats
throughout the region, internal inflation and unemployment are
running at 30 per cent and rents and property prices are 40 per
cent higher than six months ago.
Even former supporters are questioning whether turning the entire
United Nations Security Council against Iran was a bright idea.
Last week, 150 parliamentarians - just over half of Iran's 290 MPs
- took the extraordinary step of signing a letter blaming
Ahmadinejad for the country's woes and accusing him of planning to
squander the country's oil earnings, which account for about 80 per
cent of its revenues, in next year's budget.
It was a sure sign that what limited backing Ahmadinejad had from
Iran's supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had evaporated.
The hardline conservative newspaper Jomhouri Islami, a reliable
indicator of Khamenei's thinking, spelled it out.
"Speak about the nuclear issue only during important national
occasions, stop provoking aggressor powers like the United States
and concentrate more on the daily needs of the people," it wrote.
The warning signs were already there. Last month, the former
president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, a wily opponent of the current
incumbent, came out on top in elections to the council of experts,
the body responsible for choosing Iran's supreme leader.
And while Ahmadinejad's sister, Parvin, picked up a seat in local
elections, other supporters of the president were routed, securing
just 20 per cent of the votes. The elections were regarded as a
referendum on the president's first 18 months in power.
Iranian economists say that Ahmadinejad's domestic problems stem
from his devotion to the 'khodkafai' economic model of Iranian self-
sufficiency, rather than the alternative Chinese model - favoured
by Rafsanjani - which embraces markets and international trade.
Ahmadinejad is an ascetic. He lives in a small house, drives an old
car and does not bother with such fripperies as a dishwasher.
Money has flooded out of the country as those with spare cash
invest it in property hotspots around the Arab world.
Ayatollah Shahroudi, Iran's judiciary chief, has estimated that
over $700 million have left the economy and gone overseas in recent
months. As many as 1,000 educated people are leaving the country
every day.
Even the poor are now feeling the pinch. "People are really under
pressure," said Tehran housewife Maryam Hatamkhani. "We are
unhappy. Instead of bringing welfare, this government has given us
hardship."
Undeterred, Ahmadinejad is planning to introduce petrol rationing
at the start of the new Iranian year, in late March. The fuel price
rises are the result of the president's attempt to cut dependency
on foreign imports.
Businessmen interviewed in Tehran, last week, were already wincing
at the knock-on effects of the price rise. "This will multiply all
other costs, such as taxi fares, transportation and food, because
it is a chain reaction," one warned.
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