Iran: The Opposition's Campaign in the US --- Sequel With Revelations and A Lesson

First, the update on the story of "a senior aide" to Mehdi Karroubi giving a press conference in Washington and the subsequent focus on his comments about a split between the Supreme Leader and President Ahmadinejad, rather than the Green Movement's strategy, objectives, and views of US policy on Iran.

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Having been told that the aide was not Ataollah Mohajerani, the former Minister whose appearance in Washington last October brought tension rather than American support for the Greens, we put together the identity of the aide last night. Tehran Bureau, which to our knowledge has published the only significant report of the press conference, has now withdrawn the cloak of anonymity, so we can confirm that the speaker was Mojtaba Vahedi, "chief of staff" to Mehdi Karroubi since 1982 and editor-in-chief of reformist newspaper Aftab Yazd until January 2010.



The issue was not necessarily Vahedi's emphasis, as tangential as it might be, that "over the past nine months, we've seen Mr. Khamenei go from praise and support to silence to refusal to back the president". (An example of Vahedi's analysis can be found in an interview in Radio Zamaneh.) Rather it was the media's treatment of him as a spokesman for Karroubi.

A knowledgeable EA correspondent summarises:

The Khamenei-Ahmadinejad split is at best a rumor with no substantial elements to back it up. But then again, these people's claim to fame is the ability to produce "insider" information from within Iran and use their former proximity to ruling circles and people within Iran....I am sure Vahedi has proven links and solid contact with the people inside Iran, however he is not necessarily (and my gut feeling is that he isn't at all) a spokesperson or representative for Karroubi. In the same way that [Mohsen] Makhmalbaf doesn't necessarily represent Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The revised Tehran Bureau article backs up this point with the single line, "Vahedi asked that his comments not be attributed to Karroubi."

The problem actually stems from good intentions. Reporters in Washington want to get a picture of events inside Iran but face the challenges of getting around regime restrictions and gaps in communication. So they seize upon individuals --- who may have had significant inside Iran but are now outside the country --- as "spokesmen" when, in fact, they are expressing personal opinions.

In this case, the outcome was a fizzle. Vahedi offered little for "mainstream" journalists to grasp, so apart from Tehran Bureau, the effort disappeared. Yet, if his comments had been reported, they were likely to be misleading and counter-productive: the lead would have been his speculation over Khamenei and Ahmadinejad rather than any sense of the state of the opposition and its ambitions.

Put bluntly, this is a case where older visions of leaders handing down their insights through "senior aides" continue to overshadow the reality of a disparate Green Movement which, battling the regime's suppressions, can struggle to provide a focus for observers. Mir Hossein Mousavi's "We are the Media" still needs fulfilment.

Comments

[Anthony]

Told ya that it was Vahedi! :)

[Scott Lucas]

Anthony,

Sorry I couldn't give you full credit last night....

S.

[Susan]

Please see SAHAM NEWS (the formal site for Karoobi's party). You can find an article there with the topic of "WHAT KAROOBI SAID ,WHAT FARSNEWS WROTE".This article was released at 6th Bahman.There, Mr.Vahedi has been introduced as Mr.Karroubi's adviser.

[Scott Lucas]

Susan,

Thank you --- please send a link to the Saham News article, if possible.

S.