Rafsanjani charters Mahan Air Airbus A306 to Mashhad

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani descending canopied passenger boarding stairs, upon his arrival at Mashhad - Shahid Hashemi Nejad Airport (MHD / OIMM).  Flight details listed below, sourced from Flightradar24.com:

Rafsanjani's chartered aircraft is Mahan Air Airbus A300B4-603, reg. EP-MNI (cn 408). The aircraft is 28.5 years old.

The current Chairman of Expediency Discernment Council is seen being received by officials including an Artesh brigadier general 2C.

Rafsanjani accompanied by Razavi Khorasan Province Governor Ali Reza Rashidiyan (to his right)

On 03AUG15 Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani officially announced his intention to run for re-election to the Assembly of Experts in February 2016, prompting backlash from the more conservative establishment. [see HERE]

A political moderate, the former President of Iran supports the Rouhani administration and its signing of the JCPOA.

Photos: Islamic Republic News Agency

Yazdi Defeats Rafsanjani - Elected Chairman of Assembly of Experts

Devastating Defeat for Moderates - Impressive Victory for Hardliners

Iran’s hardliners today scored an impressive victory in the Assembly of Experts (AOE) by electing Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi as its chairman. Yazdi handily defeated Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the leader of the moderate faction, by a vote of 47 to 24, with two abstentions. AOE selects the country’s supreme leader.

Yazdi’s victory is a devastating defeat for the moderates, including Rafsanjani and the sitting president Hassan Rouhani and his team. It could also be an indication that the now-energized hardliners might try to block the expected nuclear agreement.

File photo: Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the new chairman of the Assembly of Experts. (Tehran Times)

Saudi King Suspends Death Sentence for Sheikh Nimr

After Rafsanjani’s Letter

Saudi King Abdullah has stopped the death sentence given to prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. The king reportedly took the action after receiving a letter from Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, warning of serious consequences of Nimr’s execution in Shia-Sunni relations, Iraqi new website al-Youm al-Samen reported on Sunday.

“In this period of time that conspiracies have targeted the land of the Islamic Ummah, stopping the sentence for Ayatollah Sheik Nimr Bagher al-Nimr will disappoint those who sow discord, will increase interaction and settle the problems of the Muslim world,” Hashemi Rafsanjani said his letter to King Abdullah, dated 25 October. “Muslims expect you to take such a decision.” (Al-Youm al-Samen/Fars News Agency, 2 November)

A Saudi court handed down the death penalty against the Shia cleric on 15 October after convicting him of sedition for delivering anti-regime speeches and defending political prisoners. Amnesty International has denounced the sentence as “appalling.”

The execution of Sheikh Nimr could have had dangerous repercussions in Saudi-Iran relations and could have further inflamed the current Sunni-Shia conflict in the region.

File photo: Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani (FNA)

Kerry's coalition

The United States Secretary of State has made clear that his country has no intention of working with Tehran in defeating Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. 

by Paul Iddon

Kerry and Zarif, July 2014 / Public Domain

Mr. John Kerry has been busy in recent days and weeks building his anti-IS regional coalition. As of writing ten regional countries (out of about forty in total) have "agreed to do their share in the comprehensive fight" against the terror group to help the United States to "degrade and destroy" it. Iran is not welcome in this coalition since Kerry views such a participation as "inappropriate" given the Iranian regimes continued support of Syria's Assad and the Hezbollah which is also fighting in Syria.

In his op-ed in The New York Times late last month Kerry said he seeks to loosely model his coalition against IS on the one built to confront Saddam Hussein after his annexation of Kuwait in 1990 – obviously it will be of a significantly different nature considering IS is a much more irregular force than the conventional Iraqi Army circa 1991. Realpolitik played a major role in that coalition. Especially whereby Syria's welcome inclusion was concerned. Back then Saddam's Baathist rival in Damascus essentially got a freehand in annexing Lebanon and brutally suppressing and executing at least 500 Lebanese soldiers in October 1990. A largely overlooked, overshadowed, and consequently largely forgotten, incident.

The present coalition essentially consists of Europe and the authoritarian Gulf monarchies (Turkey has refused to permit US aircraft based on its territory to attack IS from there fearing IS retribution will be taken against Turkish diplomats that group is still holding hostage in Iraq) against IS. Support of the Gulf states was obviously necessitated by the fact that US jets fly from bases situated in Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. These states may even participate in strikes against IS forces. But what was interesting was their recent pledge that they will crackdown upon any funding reaching IS from their home turf so they aren't essentially hosting the financiers of those the US is targeting.

The Iranian regime has accused these Gulf states of supporting jihadi elements in Syria. Conservative elements within the regimes establishment say that Iran does not wish to cooperate but that such a cooperation isn't possible. Iran's armed forces deputy chief of staff who told Iran's Fars News that, "The reason for this is that Iran stands against [IS], but America created [IS]." However Ayatollah Rafsanjani has left the door open to the prospect of limited cooperation aimed at IS when he recently said it's possibly provided "America shows honesty."

Iran has of course taken an interest on what is going on essentially in its backyard, that doesn't necessarily mean that this regimes conduct in the region is exemplary or even in all cases justified – such as its support for dangerous sectarian militias. It did however support the Iraqi Kurds by providing them with arms when all the United States and its allies were providing was repetitive and unoriginal rhetoric. As Massoud Barzani pointed out, they acted at a time when everyone else was just talking about acting.

That's another element which hasn't been very widely discussed regarding potential allies that are actually on the ground in Syria to coordinate operations against IS there. Not the Free Syrian Army but Syria's Kurds. Sadly many of the Kurds fighting in defense of their homeland in Rojava are considered by the United States to be terrorists given their proximity to the PKK group. Which is a pity because they are an organized force on the ground that have a record of fighting IS. At the very least coordinating with them should be considered and the United States' stance towards that group reconsidered and reevaluated.

Janati Warns of Moderates’ Takeover of Assembly of Experts and Majlis

Ahmad Janati, the powerful chairman of the Guardian Council, charged with supervising the elections, on Sunday warned that certain groups, presumably the moderates and reformists were after “capturing” the Assembly of Experts and the Majlis after succeeding in capturing the presidency.

“These days those who just captured the first bastion, are after capturing the Assembly of Experts, and later the Majlis, to implement their corrupt goals,” Janati said. (IRNA, 30 March)

By the first bastion, Janati was referring to the presidency which was “captured” by Hassan Rouhani who represented the moderate/reformist bloc in the 2013 presidential election.

“The election for the Assembly of Experts is very much tied to the foundation of the Islamic Republic… They (moderates/reformists) have dangerous plans. They now want to capture the Assembly of Experts because that's the only institution that can choose/change the (supreme) leader,” Jannati added. “They have lots of money and some are in the center of power today.”(IRNA, 30 March)

Here Janati was clearly referring to Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the de facto leader of the moderate/reformist bloc.

Janati’s fears are clear: the moderates led by Rafsanjani and supported by the reformists will try to field numerous candidates in the next Assembly of Experts elections to win an outright majority, a first in the Islamic Republic. The Assembly has always been controlled by the right. By controlling the Assembly, the moderates will position themselves in par with Ayatollah Khamenei and his supporters, and politically will elevate the power of Rafsanjani as Khamenei’s co-equal. 

The Assembly last held its election in December 2006 for an eight-year term. The new elections are due in December 2014. The hard right is fearful that if a comprehensive nuclear agreement is reached by July, the moderates will parlay that success into a victory in the Assembly elections.

Janati was also fearful that if the moderate/reformist bloc wins the Assembly, they will position themselves to win the next Majlis elections as well. Those elections will be held in March 2016. By controlling the presidency, the Assembly of Experts and the Majlis, the moderate/reformist block would then be the actual governing body of the country for the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic.

File Photo: Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi-Kani (C, top table) gives the opening speech during  Assembly of Experts' biannual meeting in Tehran, 6 March 2012. (Reuters)

Fatemeh Hashemi Sentenced to Six-Month Suspended Jail Term

Tehran’s Revolutionary Court today sentenced Fatemeh Hashemi, 39, the daughter of the former president Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, to a six-month suspended jail term, IRNA reported today.

The revolutionary court’s Orwellian charge against her was “spreading lies about authorities.” The media reported that she had “spread lies” about Larijani brothers. The three brothers are the speaker of Majlis, the head of the Judiciary, and the head of government’s Human Rights Commission.

Faezeh Hashemi, another of Rafsanjani's daughters, was arrested and imprisoned in late 2012 for six months for “propaganda against the regime.”

File photo: Fatemeh Hashemi (IRNA)

Janus, The God Of Iranian Politics

Photo:Vatica, Getty, PBS

By Jabbar Fazeli, MD

Just like Janus (1), the Roman God of beginnings, Iranian politics seems to have two faces, one looking inward (the past) and the other outward (the future).

As  President Rouhani  and his  foreign Minister sprint ahead to normalize  relations with  the  United States, the big discussion within Iran is whether or not to drop the slogan "Death to America", used at every state event, including the state sponsored friday prayers. The internal discussion is quite different 

than that presented by the foreign Minister in his recent ABC interview (2):  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kem7c2XyvXQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dkem7c2XyvXQ

Hashemi Rafsanji, the behind the scenes architect of the political rise of both Khamenei and Rouhani, took fire this week when he claimed that the founder of the Islamic Republic had agreed to remove the slogan of "Death to America" years ago (3,4). He claims It was during the era when "Death to Russia" slogan fell out of favor.

"The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works" did not refute Rafsanjani's comments, except to say that Khomeini only applied to the use of the slogan by the media, not the people. This foundation is not exactly the darling of hard liners in Iran as reformists often use the words of Khomeini to make their points, assuming that if they quote Khomeini they are less likely to be hanged. 

With the usual Persian convolution, the hard liners indirectly called Rafsanjani a liar for trying to use the founding father's words to rob them of the "Death to America" slogan. 

Instead of engaging in direct debate, Rafsanji countered by posting a Khameni quote on his web page in which he declares "If Rafsanjani can't quote the Imam (Khomeni), then who could". This quote was offered a while back and in a different context, but that didn't stop Rafsanji from using it for effect.

Khamenei and his hardline supporters face a dilemma, If they openly accuse Rafsanjani of lying, then his statements that lead to the selection of Khamenei as supreme leader could also be lies. After all, Rafsanjani never offered any proof that Khomeini wanted Khamenei to succeed him, except for his word. If Rafsanjani is branded a liar then Khamenei's selection as supreme leader would be based on a lie, which might well be (5). You can see the video of Khamenei selection process and role of Rafsanjani here: 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xxZvh_5oMl0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxxZvh_5oMl0

As Rouhani leaps forward, his surrogates (i.e. Rafsanjani et al) are battling Khamenei's surrogates (i.e. Keyhan, IRGC, Friday Prayer Leaders, Judiciary, Majlis) within Iran to lay the ground work for normalization of relations with the USA. Naturally both Rouhani and Khamenei are completely silent on the "Death to America" issue this week. Khamenei's last comment was in 2006 (6).

Headline: Parliament Leader criticises Rafsanjani latest positions 

One can imagine that the next taboo to be tackled will be the turning over the occupied embassy back to the US and painting over the anti-American murals. One day, there might even allow the state media to show a photo of a handshake between the US and Iranian officials. A speech by Obama in Azadi square is too much to envision.

Slogans, Or A Turning Point?!

The battle over the slogans goes beyond symbolism and history. The real disaster for the regime is that once they stop saying "Death to America" they would have to say something else, like answering for their record of governing for over 30 years. If all the suffering of Iranians today is not depicted as the US's fault, then, god forbid, Khamenei himself may be blamed.

The Diplomatic Battle Abroad:

Iran has billions of petrodollars in escrow accounts in various countries that it can not repatriate due to banking sanctions. If these billions are returned, the IR would have the money to triple its budget for a few years. The return of this hard currency to Iran in the near future maybe the only reason Rouhani and his foreign minister are being given a little slack by the supreme leader and the IRGC. Failure to secure this money, as a first step in negotiations, will likely spell the end of Rouhani's political honeymoon.

The foreign Minister who spent years in the US and has American children (by birth), is doing his best to accomplish the Rouhani diplomatic mission, but even he could not resist the stereotypical urge to play the victim card, as he used a wheelchair to get to the recent Geneva meeting, only to stand and take his seat at the table once there. I guess his point was that he made it to the meeting despite his back pain.

Instead of sympathy, he probably reminded the western delegates of the manipulative and deceitful nature of the IR foreign policy--Janus comes to mind again.

References:

(1)Janus, the god of beginnings

 http://www.novareinna.com/festive/janus.html

(2)Iranian foreign minister on death to America on abc

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kem7c2XyvXQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dkem7c2XyvXQ

(3)IRGC rejects Hashemi's claim that Khomeni was in agreement to remove the slogan "Death to America"

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fdWStzPvyDs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DfdWStzPvyDs

(4)Iranian state media coverage of Hashemi Rafanjani claim that Khomenei agreed to remove the slogan "death to America" (in Persian)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VRdVjq0sF7A&feature=player_embedded&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVRdVjq0sF7A%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded

(5)The supreme leader selection process documentary:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xxZvh_5oMl0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxxZvh_5oMl0

(6)Khamenei comments on "Death to America" in 2006 (with subtitles)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T29b_rbtkMc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DT29b_rbtkMc

Rafsanjani Blames Syrian Government for Chemical Attack; Reference Later Deleted by News Agency

Earlier today, Iran’s semi-official news agency ILNA reported that the country’s influential elder statesman and former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has blamed the Syrian government for the recent chemical attack in Syria. Here was the quote used in that earlier report:

“The (Syrian) people have been the target of chemical attacks by their own government and now they must also wait for an attack by foreigners,” Rafsanjani said. “The people of Syria have seen much damage in these two years.” (ILNA, 1 September)

later during the day, ILNA changed the quotation by dropping the reference to the Syrian government:

“The (Syrian) people have been the target of chemical attacks and now they must also wait for an attack by foreigners,” Rafsanjani said. “The people of Syria have seen much damage in these two years.” (ILNA, 1 September)

As customary in Iranian official press, ILNA did not offer any explanations for changing the quotation of such a senior official on such an important topic.

Blogger’s Note: Rafsanjani was the de-facto commander-in-chief of Iranian armed forces during the 1980s war with Iraq, when Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against the Iranians in 1988. Saddam and his Ba’athist propaganda machine, including then foreign minister Tariq Aziz, blamed the Iranians for the chemical attack.

Ironically, another Ba’athist Arab leader, Bashar al-Assad, is now blaming the opposition for the chemical attack in Syria. Rafsanjani is too experienced to fall for such claims; his own countrymen were the subject of the war crime and the horror of the chemical attack by a manipulating Ba’athist leader three decades earlier.

File photo: Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (ILNA)

Rafsanjani: Iran Can’t Stay Angry with the World

Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said today in Tehran that the nation could no longer remain “angry with the world.” Iran’s influential elder statement made the remarks during a meeting with a group of teachers. (hashemirafsanjani.ir)

Rafsanjani in the past has accused President Ahmadinejad of isolating Iran internationally by his combative and often angry style. Rafsanjani’s ally Hassan Rouhani won a landslide victory in June 14 presidential election after campaigning to bring moderation back to Iranian politics and its foreign policy.

File photo: Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (R) with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Leader.ir/ISNA)

Rouhani Holds Talks with Rafsanjani on Formation of New Government

Iran’s president-elect Hassan Rouhani today held talks with Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani on the formation of his new government. The Iranian news agency ILNA quoted Rafsanjani as saying that the happiness and hope generated in the country as the result of Rouhani’s historic victory in last week’s presidential election, especially among the youths, will serve as irreplaceable source of support and capital for the new government. Rouhani in turn thanked Rafsanjani for his support and sound advice, ILNA reported.   

Photo credit: Iranian president-elect Hassan Rouhani (R) visiting Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani. Tehran, 22 June 2013 (ILNA/Mohammad Kazempoor)