Supreme Leader vs Protestors

This morning in Iran, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, lead Friday prayers.  The government bussed in many supporters of the Supreme Leader and Ahmadinejad to the speech, held symbolically at Tehran University (the site in which dorms were vandalized only a few days prior; but was also responsible for the wave of support for the Iranian Revolution 30 years ago), and called for an immediate end to protests.  He declared that the responsibility for any future violence on the streets would be placed on the candidates whom the protestors support.  He also decried the United Kingdom, saying they appeared to be meddling in Iranian politics, but strangely left out any name calling against the U.S.  This is probably a reflection of a new detente approaching between the U.S. and Iran, with the olive branch placed within reach by Obama (who has kept quiet on the issue of Iran’s elections).  Ahmadinejad was present for the speech and was amongst his most ardent supporters.  The Supreme Leader took the opportunity to vocalize his similar approach to the President’s foreign policy and social policy.  The election protestors did not gather this morning as in the previous days with Mousavi calling for them not to gather for fear of violent clashes.  Perhaps tomorrow will be a day of importance, for if the protestors gather, there is the possibility that Mousavi could be held responsible and even arrested.  Only time will tell.

Pictured above:  A young Khamenei.

Just for perspective:  Khamenei was a supervisor of the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran-Iraq War as pictured above.

I would just like to point out an interesting discord in the Iranian elections. One of the somewhat forgotten candidates and easily the most vocal, is a man by the name of Mehdi Karroubi. A semi-popular figure in Iranian politics who is a little over the top, his is arguably the most critical of those vested with power in Iran.   Just four years ago, in round one of the elections, in which 29,400,857 people voted (versus this year’s 39,165,191 people), Karroubi garnered 5,070,114 votes. That equaled 17.24% or third place, right behind Ahamadinejad who came in second (before the eventual runoff) with 5,711,696 votes or 19.43%.   Now, just four years later and with no serious change in his position, politics, and with no scandal associated with his name, Mr. Karroubi got 333,635 votes or 0.85% of the votes. Remember, this year there were 10 million more voters. However, Karroubi was the most critical of the establishment in the tv debates. Food for thought.

Chapter 3 in the summarized brief history of the modern Iranian history:

After being installed in power by the British and Soviets in 1941, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was to rule for many years.  But very little of his reign was not riddled with controversy.  In the early 1950’s a popular leader by the name of Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq was elected by the Majles (Parliament) to the post of Prime Minister on the platform of reforming government, bringing about a constitutional monarchy, and taking back control of Iran’s major resource, its oil, from British control.  He was immensely popular amongst Iranians and inacted his most important promise, nationalizing Iranian oil and stripping control from the British.  The British, lacking the resources to solve the problem themselves, due to WW II setbacks, called on the new world power, the U.S., to help them.  Winston Churchill, influential in much of the first half of the 20th Century World Politics, persuaded the U.S. that Mossadeq was turning increasingly towards Communism, at the height of Communist fears, despite Mossadeq’s vocal disgust with Communist policies.  The Shah was convinced to go into exile, fearing the popular power of Dr. Mossadeq.  Operation Ajax was undertaken by the newly created CIA and helmed by the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, Kermit Roosevelt.  Kermit, funded with a million U.S. dollars, paid rural tribesmen to protest in favor of the Shah.  300 people died in those protests and at the right moment, the CIA convinced military commanders and local underworld leaders to join in  a coup to bring down Dr. Mossadeq.  This was the first U.S. involvement in Iranian politics, but the third major involvement by foreign powers in Iran’s modern era.  This secret U.S. funded coup would later be a significant grievance held by protestors in the Iranian Revolution.   The U.S. refused to acknowledge its role in the coup officially for many decades but in 2000, near the end of the Clinton Admnistration, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a groundbreaking statement:

“In 1953 the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran’s popular Prime Minister, Mohammed Massadegh. The Eisenhower Administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons; but the coup was clearly a setback for Iran’s political development. And it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs.”

Above:  Mossadeq pictured at his trial after the Shah’s return from Exile.

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1951 (the first Middle Easterner), Dr. Mossadeq spent the rest of his years under house arrest until his death in 1967.