Iran In Crisis
Marie Colvin
The Australian
July 02, 2007
THE assassination of a prominent cleric in an oil-rich Iranian province, coinciding with violent protests in Tehran over the rationing of petrol, has plunged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into his biggest crisis since he was elected two years ago.
The murder on June 24 of Hesham Saymary in Ahvaz, the centre of Iran’s oil-producing province in the south, was a blow to a regime that is already under pressure because of international condemnation of its nuclear program and the prospect of economic meltdown.
The assassination, the third of a senior cleric this year, bore the hallmarks of a well-planned murder. According to witnesses, the gunmen waited outside Saymary’s house for him to arrive home about 10pm. They called out to the cleric as he was about to open his door and shot him three times. He died instantly.
There have been other assassinations in Iran, notably in the Kurdish area, in the west near the Iraq border, but the Government is far more concerned about Saymary’s death because stability in the province is crucial for its oil revenues.
Saymary was a member of the majority Arab population of Ahvaz, the focus of an Arabist separatist movement that follows the Wahabi sect of Islam, linked to Osama bin Laden.
He may have been targeted because he was a prominent supporter of the regime. Protests that followed shortly afterwards over the rationing of petrol convulsed Iran and its increasingly discontented citizens.
The rationing is particularly damaging to Mr Ahmadinejad because those worst affected are the constituency that elected him, the poor and disenfranchised.
During his campaign he adopted the slogan: “Oil money must be seen on the table of the people.” He increased Iran’s public spending budget, and promised dams, streets, stadiums, schools and hospitals. Few have been built.
His biggest headache is that Iran, awash with crude oil but desperately short of refining capacity, has to import 40per cent of its petrol.
Faced with UN sanctions and pariah status over its nuclear ambitions, the regime lacks the foreign investment it needs to build more refineries.
On the streets of Tehran last week, housewives who are usually apolitical were throwing his slogans back in his face. “We have some of the biggest oil reserves in the world,” said Fatima, 38, a mother of five. “Why do I have to worry if I can pick up my children? The President said he would put the oil money on the tables of the poor. It’s all lies.”
There was chaos last Tuesday when the Government gave just three hours’ notice of fuel rationing. Drivers lined up at their local pumps and fought over the last drops of petrol in the face of a limit of 100L a month.
Worse still, the private taxis that carry more than half of Tehran’s two million commuters a day were subject to the same restrictions and would have had to raise their fares accordingly, from about 10c to 50c.
Men set petrol stations alight in Tehran and security forces were called in for the first time since Mr Ahmadinejad was elected. By the week’s end, the protests had been stifled, but it was a clear indication of how fractious the population was feeling.
Mr Ahmadinejad was opposed to the petrol rationing, but was overruled by the Majlis, the Iranian parliament. His objections centred on the timing of its introduction. He wanted stability while facing American plans to engineer regime change, either through military strikes or by a revolution from within.
Little noticed in the media, but keenly watched in Tehran, is the Bush administration’s donation of $52 million to Iranian opposition groups. The worry now is that the regime will crack down on domestic freedoms to distract attention from its problems.
“They always do this,” a university lecturer said.
Others predict Mr Ahmadinejad will stand firm. “They bit the bullet,” said an Iranian economist. “These guys have the ability to put people on corners with guns. They’re not turning back.”
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/07/01/iraq.hezbollah/index.html
Iran sucks.
July 1st, 2007 at 5:13 pmNice cover. It’s an insult to the ape population, but…nice cover….
Mookie’s problem is that he hasn’t kept his promises for economic reform…This was one of his many promises that he made to Iranians.
His country is imploding. I’m sure the chief torturers at Evin prison are working overtime to solve this latest “crisis”.
July 1st, 2007 at 5:14 pmI almost wonder if the State Dept knows enough about the frailties of the current Iranian regime (probably learned it all from the work of Diane Fossey and Jane Goodall) that they are merely pushing the right buttons so that Iranian President Missing Link implodes with no military mess. Then we send in some SEALS and brethren to sabotage the whole of their calutrons and that’s it. Mind you, I would prefer to see some mushroom clouds, but whatever works that saves American lives is fine with me.
PS: Why is it that when I look at that cover of National Geographic, I wonder why so many people think Bigfoot is a pile of bullshit? Seems pretty straightforward to me.
July 1st, 2007 at 5:36 pmSo that’s what it must feel like to have the walls closing in around you. Dare I compare Tehran to Berlin at this poing?
July 1st, 2007 at 6:01 pmSpeaking of assholes, look who we caught in Iraq:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/07/01/iraq.hezbollah/index.html
Just remember anything that Mehdi Militia people say is tayiya.
July 1st, 2007 at 6:04 pmRe: Dan - Ali Mussa Daqduq has a right to a fair trial, I bet Ramsey Clark would represent him.
Do not put him in gitmo, he should stand trial here in the US.
– sorry I was channeling the d’rats for a moment
this is the kind of monster that gitmo was made for
July 1st, 2007 at 6:58 pmyou know, the d-rats always said he was as cute as the dickens, perhaps they are right!
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:27 amSteve:
That’s too funny.
July 2nd, 2007 at 4:36 amGREAT Picture…
For Pat.
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:06 am