Iran: Text of Ahmadinejad Speech in Mashaad (29 October)

More Time, Please: Ahmadinejad’s Legitimacy and Iran’s Nuclear Talks
Latest from Iran (30 October): Now to the Real Contest
The Latest from Iran (29 October): Ahmadinejad Tries to Claim Legitimacy

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From the US Government's Open Source Center:

Islamic Republic of Iran News Network Television (IRINN)
Thursday, October 29, 2009

....I would like to make a brief comment about the American government and
Iran's nuclear issue....

The American government has said (crowd interrupt, chants of slogan: Death
to America). Well done to the brave and wise people of Iran and you dear ones.

In an opinion poll which they published, they announced that more than 80
per cent of Iranian people did not trust America's promises and treated the American government's actions with doubt. (Crowd chants)

Allow me to continue. I would like to say just one sentence to the American government. You (the US government) said that you wanted change, that you wanted to change the image of America and that you want to serve the American national interests. I have a piece of advice for you. You should change your main policies in the Middle East. The change should be implemented here.

I am giving you a friendly piece of advice: you should choose between protecting your own honor and interest, and protecting the ill-omened Zionist regime. The two cannot come together. (Crowd chants: God is great)

The Iranian nation and other nations will judge your slogan of change in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon. We would like you to change your ways. This is to your benefit and to the benefit of the world. However, rest assured that it will be impossible for you to continue the policies of the past and yet maintain your honor, national interest and image. You should choose one of the two.

My second point concerns the nuclear issue. My dear ones, we have reached a very important juncture today. I don't want to repeat history for you but can you remember where we were a few years ago? Back then, they shouted at us, issued resolutions against us, waged psychological warfare against us and issued sanctions against us. They told us that we should completely give up our nuclear program.

Where are we today? Today, they pursue nuclear cooperation with the Iranian nation. (Crowd chants: Nuclear energy is our inalienable right) There were days when they said that we should not have the technology at all, but today they say: let us cooperate. Iran's position in nuclear industry is well-established. Today, Iran's nuclear activities are considered to be a normal and obvious procedure and an absolute right of the Iranian nation. (Crowd chants: God is great)

There was a time when they told us to come to the negotiating tables to discuss only the nuclear issue. We refused to do so. Today, they ask us to hold talks to increase cooperation at an international level. They tell us that we should sit together and find a solution to international problems. Look my dear ones, where we were back then and where we are now. They did not want the honor, grandeur and might of the Iranian nation to win. Today, with the grace of God, the grandeur and might of the Iranian nation has been established in the world. What is the reason? Why are we here? I am telling you that the first reason was your unique and historic steadfastness, as well as the steadfastness and strength of the supreme leader of the revolution against the bullying powers of the world. The
more important reason was the attention and kindness of our Lord of the Age, Imam Mehdi (12th Shi'i Imam) to us. (Crowd salute Imam Mehdi)

There are a few small points that should be said about our nuclear issue. Back then, they (the West) told us to close down everything; now they have expressed readiness to have cooperation over fuel supply, technological improvement, building power plants and nuclear reactors. They have reached a position of cooperation from their original position of confrontation. I want to make a few points addressed to both you and them. Be careful. We are at an important juncture which can be the start of a leap forward by the Iranian nation in the scientific and global fields.

I would first like to address them (the West) and tell them: You experienced confrontation with the Iranian nation for years. You imposed sanctions, issued resolutions and even issued military threats. You saw the result too.Today, you are saying that you want to change your actions. Very well, we welcome it. We shake any hand honest hand that is stretched towards us. However, if someone pursues plots and wants to be dishonest, the Iranian nation's response to him will be similar to the response we gave to Mr Bush and his predecessors. (Crowd chants: God is great, death to America)

Yet they were the ones who were losing out. The Iranian nation did not lose out. They (the West) faced problems, but the Iranian nation remained steadfast and, with the grace of God, overcame its main problems. The world, and some people inside the country, should know that this government will not retreat even one iota from Iran's absolute rights, as long as it enjoys the people's backing. (Crowd chants slogans, God is great)

Thankfully, today the conditions are ripe for nuclear cooperation at international levels. Supplying fuel for Tehran's reactor was an opportunity to gauge the honesty of certain individuals, governments and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA is expected to try to play its real and legal role, which is to render nuclear cooperation, and help independent nations achieve nuclear technology and advance in the nuclear field. The IAEA should try to establish a healthy nuclear relationship between governments.

We welcome exchange of fuel, technical cooperation and construction of power plants and reactors. We are ready for cooperation. We expect the negotiating governments to remain committed to their previous obligations too. We have signed nuclear agreements for which we paid 30 years ago, and those projects remain on hold since the beginning of the revolution. Well if we are to have cooperation, these agreements should be delivered to the Iranian nation.

We have signed agreements on technical issues, reactors and power plants. If we are to cooperate with one another, then these agreements and previous arrangements should be implemented.

My dear ones, we are moving in the right direction. With the grace of God, we are moving toward summits of honor. We are in no way concerned about engaging in right and legal cooperation (with the West), as long as it protects the rights of the Iranian nation. We will see this through....

The Latest from Iran (29 October): Ahmadinejad Tries to Claim Legitimacy

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The Latest from Iran (28 October): The Supreme Leader Jumps In

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1940 GMT: Mondo Bizarro Analogy of the Day. A superficial Daily Telegraph report, "Iran accused of playing games on nuclear deal", is redeemed by this quote from "one diplomati close to the talks": "It's like playing chess with a monkey. You get them to checkmate, and then they swallow the king."

1920 GMT: Throughout yesterday and today (1210 GMT) we have been noting the significance of a meeting between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. We have posted an English translation, courtesy of Khordaad 88, of the account of the discussion from Mousavi's Kalemeh.

1645 GMT: Defiance of the Day. Mowj-e-Sabz features the story of a mathematics student at Sharif University who challenged the Supreme Leader on Wednesday with a series of points about politics, media, and the Iranian leadership.

1505 GMT: Iran has formally submitted its response to the International Atomic Energy. As expected, Tehran has accepted the "framework" of third-party enrichment but wants further discussions on details, such as the timing and amount of uranum stock to be sent to Russia for enrichment.

The IAEA press release says merely, "The Director General is engaged in consultations with the government of Iran as well as all relevant parties, with the hope that agreement on his proposal can be reached soon."



1210 GMT: Now to Make Your Head Spin. In the current context of Ahmadinejad's move, this quote from Mir Hossein Mousavi in his latest talk with Mehdi Karroubi takes on significance: "The discussions in Geneva were really surprising and if the promises given (to the West) are realised, then the hard work of thousands of scientists would be ruined. And if we cannot keep our promises then it would prepare the ground for harder sanctions against the country."

Got it? Mousavi is against the third-party enrichment deal, trying to outbid Ahmadinejad as the defender of Iran's interests and sovereignty.

1200 GMT: Spinning Ahmadinejad Out of Control. The "Western" misunderstanding of the President's manoeuvre, not seeing the internal dimension in Ahmadinejad's quest for legitimacy through the nuclear talks, is escalating. CNN reproduces some of the quotes we have highlighted but reduces them to a "rare conciliatory note" struck by Ahmadinejad.

1110 GMT: Another note on the Ahmadinejad Nuclear Play (0850 and 1040 GMT). It is also significant that the Iranian President emphasised responsibility for past contracts in his talk today, calling on other countries to "fulfill their previous obligations"

We have nuclear contracts. It has been 30 years. We have paid for them…such agreements must be fulfilled … for technical activities, for reactors and power plants. If we intend to cooperate, such contracts must be addressed and the previous commitments must be fulfilled.

As an EA reader shrewdly noted during the Vienna talks, when Iran tried to sideline France from any agreement, Tehran is determined to get either finanical or political advantage out of pre-1979 payments to Western countries for nuclear reactors that were never completed.

1105 GMT: An EA source claims that Iran's judiciary officials are refusing to allow the lawyer of Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh to file an appeal against his 15-year prison sentence.

1040 GMT: Western media are buzzing about President Ahmadinejad's statement on the nuclear talks (see 0850 GMT), to the point of mis-reading it.

The Los Angeles Times has a lengthy snap analysis which declares, "Iran's president appears to back nuclear proposal". That's not quite right. Ahmadinejad did not refer to the specific deal on third-party enrichment which Iran is still considering (its reply is supposed to be presented by its Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency today). Instead he declared:

In the past ["the West"] said that we had to halt our nuclear activities. But today they say, 'Come consult about finding solutions for world problems,' and they want to cooperate for the exchange of fuel and development of nuclear technology and establishing a nuclear plant.

That is not an endorsement of a specific agreement but of the general process, and it is an endorsement based on the political advantage for the President rather than any benefit to Iran's nuclear position.

In other words, as we predicted and then debated in early October, Ahmadinejad is trying to use the Geneva and Vienna talks to establish an internal legitimacy that has been in question since 12 June. Whether that effort, which is largely going unnoticed by "Western" media succeeds, will be highlighted by the events up to and including the 13 Aban demonstrations.

0925 GMT: Human Rights Activists in Iran has issued its latest update on the status of post-election detainees, including the hunger strikes of Fariba Pajooh and Hengameh Shahidi.

0850 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Nuclear Play. The Iranian President has asserted, in a televised speech from Mashaad, that Iran will not retreat "one iota" on its nuclear rights, but it is ready to cooperate on uranium enrichment and nuclear technology. The proposed deal for third-party enrichment for Tehran's medical research reactor is Iran's opportunity to evaluate the "honesty" of world powers and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The President's trip to Mashaad, which is to be the first in a series of visits around Iran, and Iranian press --- as opposed to colleagues in the "West" --- are noting his general references to various issues in housing, industry, agriculture, water and natural resources, and urban planning. However, I'll repeat: Ahmadinejad is clearly using the nuclear figure to strike the pose of confident leader defending Iran. However, focusing on the international front is risky, given the bubbling internal situation leading up to 13 Aban (4 November).

0830 GMT: Ayatollah Khamenei is not the only political figure making a headline statement. The reformist politician and cleric Abdollah Nouri, in an interview with Advar News (summary via Pedestrian), declared that the post-election detentions were a signs of the regime's "hopelessness":

Each of these prisoners is connected to a bigger network. And their family, their friends, the country, we all feel close to them. The establishment has kept them in prison, to keep this protest against the establishment alive? What kind of strategy is that? I am guessing that certain analysis are offered to the lord of the establishment, which predicts that if the prisoners are freed, the establishment’s problems will grow. This is an analysis made out of hopelessness and must not be the basis for decision making.

But Nouri's attack went much farther:

They consider the parts of the constitution which stresses the rights of the people to be worthless trash and other parts as a holy book. When people act on their legal rights, they consider it an act against national security and a step towards overthrowing the system. So who is not acting according to the constitution, the protesters or the establishment?

0815 GMT: The Supreme Leader also made a public statement in his meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, focusing in this case on Iran's regional position: "The Western prescription for solving problems in the [Middle East] is not justice-based and efficient and cannot solve the region's issues, including the issues of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan."

Khamenei praised Erdogan's policies, declaring, "Your stance in supporting the Palestinian people was rational and a right move in line with Islam. Adopting such stances will strengthen Turkey's position in the Muslim world."

0720 GMT: We begin today with an analysis of the Supreme Leader's threat to the opposition, handed down in a statement on Wednesday, which may surprise some readers.

Far from seeing it as a move of strength to break up the movement before 13 Aban (4 November), I am reading it as a speech coming out of regime uncertainty and worry over recent signs of protest, both from leaders and from the general public.

Meanwhile, the Government has flexed its muscles, albeit against another "foreign agent" with no connection to the Green movement. Hossein Rassam, an Iranian employee of the British employee, has been sentenced to four years in prison. Rassam was arrested soon after the 12 June election and paraded in the Tehran trials --- like Kian Tajbakhsh, the Iranian-American scholar recently given a 15-year jail term --- as a prime example of the "velvet revolution".

On the international front, a International Atomic Energy Agency team has returned from its three-day inspection of the second uranium enrichment plant at Fordoo near Qom. The head of the team called it a "good trip". Data from the plant will now be analysed and summarised in a report for the IAEA's Governing Board.

Iran: The Mousavi-Karroubi Meeting

The Latest from Iran (29 October): Opposition Momentum?

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We noted in our updates yesterday the emerging news of a recent meeting between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Khordaad 88 has now provided an English translation of the account from the Mousavi-linked newspaper Kalemeh:

At the start of the meeting, Mehdi Karroubi recalled the events in the exhibition for Journalism [Tehran Media Fair]. He expressed his disappointment about some of the wrong and undeserved reaction against him and Alireza Beheshti [a close advisor to Mousavi, and son of the martyr Ayatollah Beheshti] committed on behalf of an organized minority. He added: “It saddens me to see how bans on newspapers have ‘blessed’ the exhibition. An exhibition for journalism that should be the place for thought and dialogue has turned into a lifeless environment. In addition, some act so boorishly and with such a behavior who knows where they are leading the country to.”

On the same subject, Mir Hossein Mousavi pointed to the clips that he has seen from the exhibition and said, “Despite the bans on journalism, I saw a great crowd of enthusiasts attending the exhibition who were supporting you and the Green movement. Apparently, this annoys the minority to an extent that has made them commit such reactions.”

Mehdi Karroubi alluded to the era when Mousavi was the Prime Minister, “You are well aware of the things I have done. Because of the responsibilities I have had in the Outreach Committee (Komitte Emdad), the Martyrs Foundation (Bonyad Shahid) and the Parliament, I have always been and will remain in contact with people. I can see that people are at a very devastating condition. Poverty, corruption, and fraud have increased. These are consequences of the wrong and inappropriate organization and planning on part of the executive and administrative branches.

Mehdi Karroubi continued by comparing past and present and said, “Unfortunately, financial fraud of some of our officials is one of the main drivers of corruption within the country. I remember the days when government was so clean a bureaucrat would not have the money to pay for his family expenditures in a hospital. Today it’s different. My concern is that the new generation sees this and suspects that it has been like this ever since the early days of the revolution. This generation must know that such widespread economic corruption is a very new phenomenon.”

Based on this concern, Mahdi Karoubi added, “I grow even more sensitive when I hear the claims that this government has revived the discourse of the revolution and of the Imam Khomeini. This is a disgrace to the way of the revolution and the Imam. People, and especially the new generation must understand that we, the siblings of Imam, are against the conditions that govern the country today.”

Mahdi Karoubi also added, “Exaggerations that are common these days about some people and places could cause doubts in religious beliefs of some people, especially members of the newer generation. For instance, I have heard that they talk of the ‘Jamkaran mosque’ as though it is as holy as Masjid-Al-Haram mosque (in Mecca, Saudi Arabia) and Masjid-Al-Aghsa mosque (in Jerusalem, occupied Palestine). Such acts would only help ruin the trust of people even in their own beliefs. I have no idea what motivates some of these ‘honorable’ gentlemen to displace all the values and strip people of their beliefs in anything from their religion to their national history."

Alluding to the current problems in running the country, Mir Hossein Mousavi said, “Our painful concerns are mutual. I too am aware of the problems you alluded to, as well as many other issues. We are in agreement. For instance the outcomes of talks on the nuclear issue in Geneva are shocking. If we do commit to the promises they have given in Geneva we would be undermining the efforts of thousands of the scientists across the country, if we don’t we would open up the door for collective action against us in the form of sanctions. This outcome is the result of an adventurous foreign policy that has no regard for rules and national interests. The ‘interesting’ point here is that while they openly, and repeatedly pay homage to the Americans, they accuse the children of the revolution and experienced public servants of relations and tendencies toward the west and the east. People should be told of affairs so that they would know what is going on in the executive management of the country. When I was the prime minister I used to emphasize that military forces must not involve themselves in the financial affairs of the nation.”

Mir Hossein Mousavi, referring to the mismanagement in the country and to the incidents in the internal and foreign affairs, added: “I have two suspicions. Either some of the gentlemen are on a mission to ruin the country and obliterate the establishment or they are very short-sighted and only think of today. They would only do that which takes them from today to tomorrow. I think the latter is closer to reality. These men only think of today. What happens in the future as a result of their actions is of no importance to them. Otherwise, no other reasoning could explain and defend the risks of this magnitude in the internal and foreign affairs."

Mousavi also pointed out to the trials and detention that take place and the confessions that are broadcast and said, “Some think that such acts can change the things back to the way they were. But they are dreaming the impossible. They do not understand that no threats, detentions, trials, and even forced confessions can change today’s society to that of a year ago.”

Mousavi added, “Freedom of the political prisoners is a national demand. Their freedom can help resolve our situation.”

At the conclusion of this meeting Mahdi Karoubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi discussed ways to improve on the communication between themselves and with people despite closure of most  communication channels and information bridges.

Israel and Syria: Can Turkey Be a Mediator?

Israel-Palestine: Peres “Hamas Used Children as Human Shields”
Israel’s Growing Problem: Will Its Ministers Be Arrested?
Palestine: Abbas Resign? It’s a Bluff

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On earlier Wednesday, during a meeting with Croatian President Stipe Mesic, Syrian president Bashar Assad called on European Union countries to facilitate peace talks with Israel through Turkey's mediation:

As far as it concerns us in Syria, we have national support to continue talks with Israel. We call on European countries to also give their contribution, to help Turkey [and] also us to be able to resume from where we have stopped.

With Israeli-Turkish relations have been damaged following the Davos crisis in January, Israeli leaders reiterated that they are not seeking Turkey's mediation role yet are willing to discuss peace with Syria as long as there is no pre-conditions.

Meanwhile, Turkish-Syrian relations are strengthening. Both countries held a military drill in April. Syrian Defense Minister Ali Habib Mahmud said on 14 October that his country is to stage a second round of joint military exercises with Turkey. Turkey and Syria also signed political and economic agreements in September. Mutual visa requirements and taxes on trailer trucks operating between the two countries were lifted and "a strategic cooperation assembly" was established.

Finally, it seems that Ankara has got what it desired from Damascus: insistence on Turkey's mediation in the peace process. On 20 October 20, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly stressed that Syria would accept only their country as a mediator in peace talks with Israel.

On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak stated that Syria is pivotal in the path toward regional peace. Without mentioning Turkey, he said, "Peace with Syria is a major building block of any stable regional agreement. Israel has sought in the past, and will continue to seek ways to promote peace with Syria." However, he also put Tel Aviv's conditions: "Responsible behavior on behalf of the Syrians, as well as Hezbollah, is required in order to prevent the dangers of conflict in the region."

So the Israel-Syria talks won't be occurring soon. Will that matter for Turkey? Possibly not in the short-term: it is more than satisfied with how delays as well as progress strengthen its role as a participant in regional politics.

Israel-Palestine: Peres "Hamas Used Children as Human Shields"

Israel’s Growing Problem: Will Its Ministers Be Arrested?
Palestine: Abbas Resign? It’s a Bluff

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On Monday, Israeli President Shimon Peres told schoolchildren at Kibbutz Cabri, in northern Israel, that, unlike Hamas, Israel protects its children and does not send them in front of its military forces:

In the media they say that more children are killed on the Palestinian side, and that children are not killed on ours.

And I say this is right. We know how to give security to our children, defend the children, not use them as human shields and not send them out in front of us.

The question isn't only a question of price; we are up against an organization that has no rules, has no laws, and is impossible to trust - an organization which uses children as shields.