Iran Today: Presidential Election --- Rouhani Ramps Up Campaign

Rouhani Talks About House Arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi

Moderate Presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani's campaign team have published a short excerpt from a Q&A session Rouhani gave at the Sharif University of Technology on May 13, in which he discusses the house arrests of former Presidential candidates Mousavi and Karroubi.

In the video --- taken before the Guardian Council disqualified former President Hashemi Rafsanjani from the election --- the audience applauds as a student asks Rouhani what his plan would be regarding the house arrests of Mousavi and Karroubi.

Rouhani answers:

I believe that the next President of Iran… If I become the next President… but now that Mr Hashemi has registered, we have to wait and see… [applause, students chant 'Praise to Hashemi']… the next government, you see, continuing this split is not in our best interests…the gap, which is getting wider every day, should be eliminated. I believe the election itself could work to reduce the gaps, but I hope that the next government is able to bring about a non-securitized environment.

I don't think it will be difficult to bring about such condition in the next year, in which not only those who are under house arrest, but also those who have been detained after the 2009 elections will be released. [Applause, chants of "Rouhani, we love you".]

Rouhani also tweeted that people have a "natural right" to express themselves without fear of reprisals:

People have a natural #right to express themselves, including their #issues, without any concerns. #Rouhani2013 #hope #ruleoflaw

— Rouhani Campaign (@HassanRouhani) May 29, 2013

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Syria Analysis: The Wider Politics of the "Russian S-300 Missiles to Damascus"

Russia answered the Western pressure with the clear signal that it will continue to provide weapons to the "legitimate" authority in Syria. In so doing, it was sending another message: if you want to have an international "peace" conference, that "legitimate" regime will have to be allowed at the table with no pre-conditions on its participation.

Yet, at the same time, Moscow was not going to wear the villain's mantle designed for it by the "West", but was going to maintain plausible deniability. Th message:

Maybe we are supplying S-300s under an old contract, maybe we are not --- you keep trying to figure it out.

Meanwhile, your move, Washington. Your move, London. Are you really going to pour in more weapons to the insurgency, even as you criticise us for supplying our own to the "legitimate" leaders of Syria?

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Syria Today: Europe Lifts Arms Embargo on Insurgents

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Head of Free Syria Army Threatens Attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon

The Free Syrian Army's Chief of Staff, General Salim Idriss, has warned, "If the attacks of Hezbollah against Syrian territory do not stop within 24 hours, we will take all measures to hunt Hezbollah, even in hell."

Idriss continued with the threat to intervene in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, "I will no longer be bound by any commitments I made, if a decision to stop the attacks...is not taken and implemented," said Idriss.

Idriss said, "We are being subjected to a genocide conducted by Hezbollah," and, without giving details of specific operations said he hoped "that everyone will excuse the Free [Syrian] Army" for retaliating.

The principle sticking point involves voting. Existing members of the coalition insist that the inclusion of new members must be based on balloting by existing members only. But this would change little in a monopoly that was made possible by interference from regional countries to begin with, rather than based on consensus among Syrian opposition. The existing members were not chosen by the people to decide whether certain opposition figures should be members or not.

The second issue is the "blocking third", or the veto power held by a third of the members. This idea was advanced by the coalition's secretary general, Mustafa Al Sabbagh, and was clearly meant to maintain the monopoly of the current core group within the coalition.

Hassan argues that this stalemate may cripple the group, and will only fuel the stalemate seen on Syria's battlefields.

On the other hand, The Atlantic's Shadi Hamid argues that the political stalemate can only be solved by progress on the battlefield, and that progress has not happened because the international community is waiting for a unified leadership that will likely never occur:

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Iran Today: News from the Economic Front

Presidential Election Watch: Rouhani Edition

Rouhani Appears on State TV

The campaign of former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rouhani has live-tweeted the candidate's appearance on Iranian State TV's primary channel tonight.

#Rouhani starts program by introducing himself. His father told him to #work with agriculture/carpet weaving in the summer from age 11.

— Rouhani Campaign (@HassanRouhani) May 28, 2013

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Middle East Today: Iraq --- At Least 57 Killed in Bombings on Monday

Iraq: Dozens Killed in Monday Bombings

In the latest deadly spike in violence in Iraq, at least 57 people have been killed and more than 140 wounded in a series of bombings in and around Baghdad.

More than 350 people have been slain so far this month, and more than 700 people were killed in April, the highest monthly toll in almost five years.

Several of the attacks targeted markets and shopping areas in predominantly Shia Muslim areas. Areas struck included Habibiya, near Sadr City in the east of the capital, an open-air market in the al-Maalif area, and the main commercial hub Sadoun Street in central Baghdad.

Deadly explosions were also reported in the largely Shia neighbourhoods of Sabi al-Boor, Bayaa, and Kazimiyah.

In other parts of the country, shootings in the disputed province of Kirkuk killed an anti-al-Qaeda militiaman and a private generator operator, while a police colonel was slain by a roadside bomb in the main northern city of Mosul.

http://m.aljazeera.com/se/201352715214869598

Syria Audio Analysis: Will Europe Give Arms to the Insurgency?

As European Union foreign ministers met today to discuss the lifting of the arms embargo on the Syrian insurgency, I spoke with Monocle 24's The Briefing about the immediate situation and longer-term prospects.

Listen to discussion from the 6-minute mark on The Briefing's homepage or in a pop-out window

1. What is the current position among Western countries --- the US, Britain, France, and other European countries --- regarding arming of the insurgents?

2. What effect does fear of "extremism" have on the arming of the opposition?

3. What is the objective of increased armaments --- pressuring President Assad or overthrowing him?

4. What impact would the EU's lifting of the embargo have?

Syria Today: An Opposition in Disarray?

Opposition Spokesman Louay al-Safi (Akin Celiktas/Reuters)Iranian Lines of Credit to Damascus

The Syrian Central Bank has said that Iran has opened two lines of credit totaling $4 billion to Damascus and plans on opening up a third.

"Iran continues to support Syria, by opening one line of credit worth a billion dollars to finance the import of different items and another line of credit worth three billion dollars to finance the purchase of petrol and associated products," Central Bank Governor Adib Mayale said.

Mayale said Iran was considering an additional loan of $3 billion to bolster the Syrian economy amid war and international sanctions.

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Iran Analysis: Presidential Election --- It's About "Management" & The Economy

Saeed Jalili explains how he would solve Iran's economic problems as President

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With the exclusion of leading politicians, such as former Presidential Hashemi Rafsanjani from the Presidential race, a leading theme in media converage is that the election is now merely a contest of "shades of gray" between supporters of the Supreme Leader.

That headline, while it has an element of truth, is a reduction of the contest and Iran's internal situation for two reasons.

First, the economic issue --- and not nuclear talks with the West or other foreign policy issues --- is likely to be the dominant concern of Iranian voters.

Second, while each of the eight approved candidates can find security in criticism of the Ahmadinejad Government, each has to prove that he will be able to remedy the economic problems --- from rampant inflation to falling production to unemployment to currency difficulties --- that plague the Islamic Republic.

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Iran Today: Presidential Election --- Jalili Vs. Supreme Leader Advisor Velayati

Presidential candidate and Supreme Leader advisor Ali Akbar Velayati speaks about the economy

See also Iran Analysis: Presidential Election --- It's About "Management" & The Economy
Sunday's Iran Today: Presidential Election --- Focus On The Economy

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Presidential Election Watch: Supreme Leader Edition

The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke to students at Imam Hossein University --- a military university belonging to the Revolutionary Guards --- said that Iranians should participate in the June 14 Presidential Election and said through this many of the country’s problems will be solved.

Khamenei criticized the U.S., saying that "those Americans who say our election is not free, have not yet closed Guantanamo Bay and are killing many people in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

He added: "Our people should know that the reason Americans are saying these things is because of the importance of the election, therefore the [Iranian] people should create a political epic."

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Syria 1st-Hand: Regime "Gas Attacks" in Damascus (Le Monde)

Guerre chimique à Damas by lemondefr

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A chemical attack on the Jobar front, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, doesn't look like anything much at first. It's not spectacular. Above all, it's not detectable. And that's the aim: by the time the rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army who have penetrated furthest into Damascus understand that they've been exposed to chemical products by government forces, it's too late. No matter which type of gas is used, it has already produced its effects, only a few hundred meters from residential areas of the Syrian capital.

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