Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:30PM

Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, head of the IRGC’s political bureau, said the authorities should make every effort to resolve the recent ambiguities in the country.Amid the turmoil following the controversial June 12 presidential election, Iranian authorities escalated their confrontation with the country’s opposition.

Nearly 200 political activists and protestors were put on trial on charges of conspiring with foreign powers to stage a “velvet coup d’etat” using terrorism, subversion and a mass campaign to undermine the disputed vote.

The opposition and their supporters have condemned the trials as a “sham”, arguing that the detainees’ confessions lack credibility as they may have been forced.

Many insiders have criticized the government for its handling of the controversy over the election, saying the release of post-vote detainees is the way forward to settling the ongoing dispute.

Among them is influential cleric Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who in a Friday prayer sermon said, “It is not necessary that in this situation people be jailed. Let them join their families.”

The IRGC official on Monday questioned the motive behind making such comments by a Friday prayer leader.

“The question is if they had been released how Mr. [Mohammad-Ali] Abatahi would have confessed that the term ‘fraud’ was the code word for rioting … and [how] Atrianfar [would have] said that ‘we sought to change the system’,” Brig. Gen. Javani said.

The fourth hearing of the post-vote trials is scheduled for August 25.

CS/MD

Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:4PM

Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, head of the IRGC’s political bureau, said Thursday that the opposition is responsible for the “blow that has been dealt to the prestige of the establishment.”

Following the presidential election in June, Iran witnessed an outpouring of anger by supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who took to the streets to protests the official results which saw the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a massive margin.

Mousavi and Karroubi claimed “fraud” in the poll and asked for its annulment. The electoral body, however, disputed all allegations and verified the results.

The opposition demonstrations provoked a government crackdown, in which at least 30 people were killed. Officials blamed foreign agents for the unrest and accused opposition figures of plotting to topple the establishment in a “velvet coup.”

“The question is who were the main plotters and agents of this coup. What is the role of (former President Mohammad) Khatami, Mousavi and Karroubi in this coup?” General Javani queried last week.

On Thursday, he expounded on the issue and said the leaders of the reform movement, particularly Khatami, had “easily conveyed a message to the enemy” that they were after “change” in the establishment.

“The enemy realized that Khatami is a secularist even though he is a cleric, speaks of [the founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Rouhollah] Khomeini, and is in contact with his family,” the Iranian Labor News Agency quoted Brig. Gen. Javani as saying.

The senior commander went on to say that the reform movement does not abide by the religious system, and not only it offers no help to the establishment, “it always seeks to inflict damage on it.”

In an allusion to remarks by senior cleric and official Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani who said the trust of the people had been shattered in the establishment, the IRGC general said the opposition is to blame for it.

Iran has put some 200 opposition icons, protesters as well as journalists and foreigners, who have been alleged to have carried out acts of espionage during the post-vote unrest, on trial as the authorities attempt to quash the turmoil that has spread across the country and opened a divide within the ruling elite.

General Javani, meanwhile, believes that only the trial of opposition’s leaders, particularly Mousavi, would put an end to the crisis.

“This flame of sedition cannot be put out unless through clarifying and trying the real elements (of the movement),” said the general. “Mousavi should stand before the court to be enlightened.”

MD/HGH

Tue Aug 11, 2009 7:00am EDT

(Reuters) – Iran‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its Basij militia have spearheaded efforts to combat unrest after the disputed presidential election on June 12.

The Revolutionary Guards called on Sunday for opposition leaders such as Mirhossein Mousavi to be put on trial for fomenting the protests that erupted after the presidential election, state news agency IRNA reported.

Here are some questions and answers about the IRGC, which has expanded in the last 30 years into a potent force with sprawling military, political, social and economic interests:

* WHAT IS THE IRGC?

The IRGC was set up after the 1979 Islamic revolution to protect the ruling system against internal and external threats and to uphold revolutionary values. It answers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Republic’s top authority.

It controls the Basij religious volunteer militia, famed for “human wave” attacks in the 1980-88 war with Iraq. The Basij are Iran’s moral police, enforcing Islamic social codes and quelling civil unrest. They are said to number millions.

Qods (Jerusalem) Force is a shadowy IRGC special operations unit, handling activities abroad. The United States, which says the Qods Force backs militants in Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan, has imposed sanctions on firms and individuals linked to what it brands a terrorist organization. The United States has also designated the IRGC a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction for what it says is its role in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Tehran says its nuclear program has only peaceful purposes.

* WHAT ARE THE IRGC’S MILITARY CAPABILITIES?

The IRGC, initially focused on internal security, became a more organized combat force during the war with Iraq, and now has about 125,000 fighters with army, navy and air units. It operates separately from the 350,000-strong regular army.

Guardsmen fought in conventional battles against Iraq, but they also developed irregular tactics, such as hit-and-run raids using small craft targeting shipping to try to knock out Iraq’s oil exports. Such tactics could be revived. An Iranian military commander has said “martyrdom-seeking” Basijis could disrupt Gulf oil shipping routes if the need arose.

The IRGC controls Iran’s strategic missile forces and has played a key role in developing advanced systems such as the Shahab-3 missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles).

* HOW DOES IRGC OPERATE IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM?

The IRGC’s mandate to protect revolutionary values has prompted it to speak out when it felt the system was threatened.

General Yadollah Javani, director of the IRGC’s political arm, said this month the Guardsmen who suppressed post-election protests had thwarted an attempt to overthrow Islamic rule. He called on Sunday for the arrest of Mousavi and fellow-reformists Mohammad Khatami and Mehdi Karoubi for their part in the unrest.

The IRGC’s influence appears to have grown since hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005. Two-thirds of his first 21-man cabinet were IRGC veterans, like himself.

Some analysts suggest the corps’ political power already eclipses that of Ahmadinejad. Given Khamenei’s reliance on the Guard to quell dissent, the supreme leader himself may now be hostage to the force he commands, some analysts argue.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE57A2E520090811

Sun Aug 9, 2009 6:30PM

A senior official with Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Sunday accused Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two defeated candidates whose supporters took to the streets to protest the official vote result, as well as former President Mohammad Khatami of inciting the unrest.

Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, head of the IRGC’s political bureau, said it was absolutely vital to defend the integrity of the 30-year-old Islamic Revolution amidst a “Western-backed plot to topple the government through a ‘velvet coup’,” the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Monday.

“The question is who were the main plotters and agents of this coup. What is the role of Khatami, Mousavi and Karroubi in this coup?” he wrote in an article in the weekly IRGC journal.

The official outcome of the presidential vote, which saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win by a massive margin, provoked unprecedented, widespread protests.

The crackdown against the street demonstrations resulted in the arrest of thousands of opposition figures, protesters and journalists — who have been put on trial on charges of plotting to topple the government –, and the deaths of at least 30 people.

During their hearings in the Revolutionary Court, many of the defendants have confessed to aiding foreign countries in the post-vote developments.

Iranian authorities blame world powers, particularly Britain and the US, for the turmoil, and accuse them of instigating the unrest in line with staging a “velvet revolution” in the country.

The trials have raised the ire of the opposition with their public symbols, Mousavi and Khatami, terming the prosecution as a “sham” and claiming the confessions were extracted under torture.

However, the IRGC official believes the affirmation of guilt can be used by the judiciary to convict those who are truly to blame for the “failed coup.”

“If Mousavi, Khatami, [Ayatollah Mohammad] Mousavi Khoeiniha (Iran’s prosecutor general after the victory of the revolution in 1979) and Karroubi are the main suspects believed to have been behind the velvet coup in Iran, which they are, we expect the judiciary … to go after them, arrest them, put them on trial and punish them according to the law,” Javani was quoted by IRNA as saying.

The remarks also echo increasing pressure by the ruling system on the opposition who alleges that the June 12 election was rigged and continues to defy the result.

The vote, hailed by President Ahmadinejad and the Guardian Council, the body tasked with overseeing elections, as the “healthiest” vote in the history of the Revolution, has also presented an influential critic.

Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the head of the Assembly of Experts and Chairman of the Expediency Council, has denounced the government’s handling of the controversy over the election and urged officials to release the protesters still in custody.

However, Rafsanjani, who is to deliver a sermon at the Tehran University prayer hall on Friday, has been harshly criticized for his stance by supporters of President Ahmadinejad and a number of officials in the Principlist camp.

An Iranian lawmaker, Nasrollah Torbai, on Sunday moved to quiet the criticism by boasting the credentials of Ayatollah Rafsanjani and the leaders of the opposition.

“It has taken years and a vast amount of political capital has been spent on the likes of Mousavi, Hashemi-[Rafsanjani], Khatami, Karroubi and [Hojjatoleslam Ali-Akbar] Nateq-Nouri to grow and serve the Revolution,” Torabi was quoted by Parleman News website as saying.

“Why is it that the trust of the people is not regarded as the most valuable treasure in the country?” he queried.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani had said during his Friday Prayers sermon on July 17 that the ambiguities surrounding the presidential election had led to the distrust of the Iranian nation in the establishment.

“Doubt has been created,” he said. “There are two currents; one has no doubt and is moving ahead. And the other is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt.”

MD/HGH

Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:33PM

In a recent interview with Press TV, IRGC Brigadier Yadollah Javani said that the force supported no specific candidate in the June 12 elections.

“The roots of these allegations lie in IRGC efforts to raise awareness among the Guards and Basij forces so that they would participate in the elections with a high level of understanding about [the country’s] political groups and movements,” said Brig. Javani.

Javani, who heads the political bureau of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, went on to say that the IRGC made such efforts to raise political awareness in the society as the enemy seeks to orchestrate a velvet revolution in Iran.

The commander also said that certain political groups in the country – capable of participating in the elections because of their past accomplishments — were targets of US aid, as they did not have “strong faith” in the Islamic establishment and were leaning toward the West.

Javani cited the Reformist camp and Reformist figures such as Akbar Gangi Mehrangiz Kar, Hassan Youssefi-Ashkevari among the factions and figures “leaning toward the West” and opposing the values of the Islamic Revolution.

The Iranian brigadier drew parallels between aspects of the recent opposition movement in Iran with the past velvet revolutions in former Soviet states.

He said the use of the color green as a campaign symbol for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, along with US plans to fund “pro-democracy and human rights groups” inside Iran bore certain similarities to the previous revolutions in former Soviet states.

MJ/HGH/CS

Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:27PM

Principlist hopeful Mohsen Rezaei says Iranian government echelons have become ignorant of economic matters by focusing too much on politics.

Rezaei, a former IRGC commander who is a current member of Iran’s Expediency Council, said the economy has taken a backseat to political issues in recent years.”Economy has often been a stranger to our government leader,” said Rezaei on Wednesday. “Much of their economic knowledge is gained through their economic advisers and experts.”

Rezaei said Iran’s investment growth — which is an important benchmark for measuring the country’s economic performances — has reached an all-time low of four percent in the past four years.

He said that the sudden nosedive in the country’s investment growth has led to mass unemployment and a galloping inflation.

Rezaei, who holds a PhD in economics, has promised to soothe Iran’s financial woes by creating “nine federal economic zones”.

He said he will also establish a supervision mechanism through a ‘shadow government’, which would be comprised of a board of elites in various fields.

The supervision mechanism, which would work parallel to the government, would monitor the activities of the government and provide consultations on the country’s crucial issues.

Rezaei will make his first attempt for presidency when votes go to polls this coming Friday.

War-time prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi (1981-1989), two-time parliament (Majlis) speaker Mehdi Karroubi (1989-1992 and 2000-2004) and incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have joined the race.

Iran’s Presidential election, which is the tenth since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in the 1979, will take place on June 12.

SBB/MMN