From La Presse, 13 January 2010:
Un atomiste iranien assassiné
Judith Lachapelle
La Presse
Le nucléaire iranien a fait une autre victime, et ce n'est pas la faute aux radiations. Massoud Ali Mohammadi, professeur de physique nucléaire à l'Université de Téhéran âgé de 50 ans, a été tué hier par l'explosion commandée à distance d'une moto piégée alors qu'il quittait son domicile à Téhéran, selon le correspondant d'AFP sur place.
Le gouvernement iranien a attribué l'attentat à Israël et aux États-Unis. «Les premiers éléments de l'enquête montrent des signes de l'action maléfique du triangle États-Unis, régime sioniste et leurs mercenaires», a accusé le porte-parole des Affaires étrangères iraniennes, Ramin Mehmanparast.
«Ces actions terroristes et l'élimination de savants nucléaires du pays n'empêcheront certainement pas le programme nucléaire de l'Iran mais vont l'accélérer bien au contraire», a-t-il ajouté.
Les États-Unis ont été prompts à démentir toute implication. «Absurde», ont répondu les porte-parole de la diplomatie américaine à Washington et celui de la Maison Blanche.
Second à disparaître
M. Ali Mohammadi est le second scientifique nucléaire iranien à disparaître en un an. L'an dernier, un autre physicien nucléaire, Shahram Amiri, a disparu lors d'un pélerinage en Arabie Saoudite.
L'Iran est menacé de nouvelles sanctions internationales pour son programme nucléaire. Le régime affirme qu'il utilise le nucléaire à des fins pacifiques, mais l'Occident craint plutôt qu'il ne cherche à se doter de l'arme atomique.
Qui pouvait bien vouloir la peau de Massoud Ali Mohammadi? Hier, les activités du scientifique dans le domaine nucléaire n'étaient pas confirmées. Selon des étudiants interrogés par l'AFP, l'homme était spécialiste en physique des particules. Il avait travaillé avec le Corps de Gardiens de la Révolution et a été présenté comme «un professeur bassidji», ou membre de la milice islamique.
Mais selon un porte-parole de l'Agence atomique iranienne, cité par AP, le scientifique n'était pas lié à l'agence.
Certaines sources officielles ont désigné des groupes d'opposition au régime, appuyés par Israël, tandis que des sites d'opposition ont affirmé que le scientifique avait appuyé Mir Hossein Moussavi, le candidat rival d'Ahmadinejad aux dernières élections.
Les Israéliens ou le régime?
Pour le professeur Haroon Akram-Lodhi, de l'Université Trent, une implication américaine est à écarter d'emblée. Les services secrets israéliens, par contre, pourraient y avoir trouvé un intérêt. Les installations nucléaires iraniennes sont bien protégées, note-t-il.
«Ce serait extrêmement difficile de les détruire, dit M. Akram-Lodhi, joint hier par La Presse. C'est donc possible que le Mossad ait pu être impliqué parce qu'éliminer un des dirigeants du programme nucléaire serait une méthode plus efficace que détruire les installations. Mais en ne sachant pas si le scientifique était impliqué ou non dans le nucléaire, c'est difficile à dire.»
L'auteur le plus plausible serait le régime lui-même, croit Haroon Akram-Lodhi. «Son appui à l'opposition est documenté et sa mort envoie un message au mouvement vert, dit-il. Sa mort n'aura aucun impact sur le programme nucléaire, puisque le professeur travaillait dans une autre discipline de la physique.»
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can't escape unscathed
From the Toronto Star, 23 June 2009
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can't escape unscathed
Iranian leader's image tarnished as outrage over vote hurts regime, undermines presidency
Jun 23, 2009 04:30 AM
Olivia Ward
FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER
It was only a few months ago that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was bidding for a role as the new Iranian idol. With flamboyant appearances at home and abroad, plaudits from hardline clerics and a 15-member council dedicated to popularizing his "thought and works," the hardline president might well have expected a shoo-in at the polls. But as swelling protests, and widespread allegations of vote-rigging, rolled through the country, Ahmadinejad's "landslide" has turned to a dust. His image has faded and that of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who unswervingly supported him, has come into sharp relief.
Doubts are escalating about the extent of Ahmadinejad's authority to lead, if he is able to resume the presidency after the unexpectedly muscular challenge of his more moderate rival Mir Hossein Mousavi. "The mask has been lifted and people clearly understand that it was Khamenei, not Ahmadinejad, who was really wielding the power," says Mehdi Khalaji of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "He says publicly that his personal views are closest to Ahmadinejad's, so it is obvious that he is the one who was really conducting the country's policy for the last four years."
The outcome of the ill-starred election is still unpredictable, even for long-term Iran experts, and some believe Ahmadinejad may have won by a narrow margin rather than the large numbers that were officially endorsed. Meanwhile, inside the Islamic Republic, clerical factions for and against Ahmadinejad's victory are quietly struggling for power. The picture is blurred by the murky nature of the election's vote tallying. Yesterday, Iran's most senior election monitors acknowledged that votes cast in 50 cities exceeded the number of eligible voters in two provinces. Previous election results in some rural areas are also too far from the current ones to be credible.
But the continuing protests show that whatever the outcome, the electoral waters are now too muddy for many citizens to swallow. "The fact that people's votes were overturned poses a real threat to the legitimacy of the regime," says Haroon Akram-Lodhi, a professor of international development studies at Trent University. "That will also undermine Ahmadinejad's position, and not just in the urban areas, where he was less popular." Whatever the ultimate result, Ahmadinejad can't escape the effects of the protests unscathed, Akram-Lodhi says. "He will have been compromised, and widely seen as occupying a position to which he was not legitimately elected by the majority of Iranians."
The dilemma over Ahmadinejad's legitimacy makes it difficult for the United States to deal with Iran, even as the crisis over its nuclear ambitions drags on. Some are advising President Barack Obama to engage with the proclaimed winner of the poll, others to ignore him and reach out to Iran's opposition.
But questions also remain about whether the roots of Ahmadinejad's power run deeper than his critics believe. Although he has presided over soaring cost of living increases and rising unemployment, he has also poured money into popular housing and infrastructure projects and proposed cash handouts to replace fuel subsidies.
An overwhelming number of Iran's legislators have backed his return to power, with 220 out of 290 reportedly endorsing his election victory.
Ahmadinejad may also have a covert network of power that makes Khamenei's unprecedented public support more than just backing for a puppet politician, says Arang Keshavarzian of New York University, who witnessed the polls and their aftermath in Iran. "One of the questions is how much Ahmadinejad is in the forefront and Khamenei is following him, and how much it's the other way around," Keshavarzian told the Council on Foreign Relations, citing hints that Ahmadinejad and his "military-intelligence circle" may be putting pressure on the supreme leader.
"Some of these events in the past few days suggest it may in fact be Khamenei who is reluctantly following Ahmadinejad's lead."
But the behind-the-scenes power struggles have little relevance for the protesters who have risked life and liberty to join the demonstrations in the past week.
"If Ahmadinejad continues in power, he'll become an Iranian version of (Zimbabwe's discredited president) Robert Mugabe," predicts Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, a history professor at University of Toronto. The election has brought Iran to the crossroads, Tavakoli-Targhi says. "The future is in danger. In the past 30 years, Iranian society has been increasingly secularized. Now there is the possibility of an Islamic democracy that could be a model for the Middle East. "If it fails, it's not only Ahmadinejad that will be seen as worthless. The only way to save the revolution is to empower the individual. If that doesn't succeed, Iran will be a failed state."
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can't escape unscathed
Iranian leader's image tarnished as outrage over vote hurts regime, undermines presidency
Jun 23, 2009 04:30 AM
Olivia Ward
FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER
It was only a few months ago that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was bidding for a role as the new Iranian idol. With flamboyant appearances at home and abroad, plaudits from hardline clerics and a 15-member council dedicated to popularizing his "thought and works," the hardline president might well have expected a shoo-in at the polls. But as swelling protests, and widespread allegations of vote-rigging, rolled through the country, Ahmadinejad's "landslide" has turned to a dust. His image has faded and that of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who unswervingly supported him, has come into sharp relief.
Doubts are escalating about the extent of Ahmadinejad's authority to lead, if he is able to resume the presidency after the unexpectedly muscular challenge of his more moderate rival Mir Hossein Mousavi. "The mask has been lifted and people clearly understand that it was Khamenei, not Ahmadinejad, who was really wielding the power," says Mehdi Khalaji of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "He says publicly that his personal views are closest to Ahmadinejad's, so it is obvious that he is the one who was really conducting the country's policy for the last four years."
The outcome of the ill-starred election is still unpredictable, even for long-term Iran experts, and some believe Ahmadinejad may have won by a narrow margin rather than the large numbers that were officially endorsed. Meanwhile, inside the Islamic Republic, clerical factions for and against Ahmadinejad's victory are quietly struggling for power. The picture is blurred by the murky nature of the election's vote tallying. Yesterday, Iran's most senior election monitors acknowledged that votes cast in 50 cities exceeded the number of eligible voters in two provinces. Previous election results in some rural areas are also too far from the current ones to be credible.
But the continuing protests show that whatever the outcome, the electoral waters are now too muddy for many citizens to swallow. "The fact that people's votes were overturned poses a real threat to the legitimacy of the regime," says Haroon Akram-Lodhi, a professor of international development studies at Trent University. "That will also undermine Ahmadinejad's position, and not just in the urban areas, where he was less popular." Whatever the ultimate result, Ahmadinejad can't escape the effects of the protests unscathed, Akram-Lodhi says. "He will have been compromised, and widely seen as occupying a position to which he was not legitimately elected by the majority of Iranians."
The dilemma over Ahmadinejad's legitimacy makes it difficult for the United States to deal with Iran, even as the crisis over its nuclear ambitions drags on. Some are advising President Barack Obama to engage with the proclaimed winner of the poll, others to ignore him and reach out to Iran's opposition.
But questions also remain about whether the roots of Ahmadinejad's power run deeper than his critics believe. Although he has presided over soaring cost of living increases and rising unemployment, he has also poured money into popular housing and infrastructure projects and proposed cash handouts to replace fuel subsidies.
An overwhelming number of Iran's legislators have backed his return to power, with 220 out of 290 reportedly endorsing his election victory.
Ahmadinejad may also have a covert network of power that makes Khamenei's unprecedented public support more than just backing for a puppet politician, says Arang Keshavarzian of New York University, who witnessed the polls and their aftermath in Iran. "One of the questions is how much Ahmadinejad is in the forefront and Khamenei is following him, and how much it's the other way around," Keshavarzian told the Council on Foreign Relations, citing hints that Ahmadinejad and his "military-intelligence circle" may be putting pressure on the supreme leader.
"Some of these events in the past few days suggest it may in fact be Khamenei who is reluctantly following Ahmadinejad's lead."
But the behind-the-scenes power struggles have little relevance for the protesters who have risked life and liberty to join the demonstrations in the past week.
"If Ahmadinejad continues in power, he'll become an Iranian version of (Zimbabwe's discredited president) Robert Mugabe," predicts Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, a history professor at University of Toronto. The election has brought Iran to the crossroads, Tavakoli-Targhi says. "The future is in danger. In the past 30 years, Iranian society has been increasingly secularized. Now there is the possibility of an Islamic democracy that could be a model for the Middle East. "If it fails, it's not only Ahmadinejad that will be seen as worthless. The only way to save the revolution is to empower the individual. If that doesn't succeed, Iran will be a failed state."
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
the elections in Iran
This weblog has been silent for a long time, and a lot has happened that I should have commented upon, but have not had the time: the A-H1N1 pandemic; the end of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka; the dramatic drops in international development cooperation as a result of the global economic crisis; the continuing deaths of non-combatants in Afghanistan; the revival of the military commissions in the US, with implications for Omar Khadr; and more.
But today, as protest in Iran gathers pace, it is important to clearly state that the election in Iran last Friday has been stolen. This is not the view of a foreigner who has been deceived by western journalists focusing on Tehran and the educated elite that have been quite public in their support for Mir-Hossein Moussavi. The election results themselves suggest that the election has been stolen.
Consider this: they election results that gave Mahmoud Ahamdi-Nejad 63 per cent of the vote suggest that a core component of Moussavi's support, the urban middle class, in fact voted against him. Educated young people, women, the private business community, and both reformists and conservative figures in the Iranian political establishment--all must have changed their minds and voted for Ahamdi-Nejad. Moussavi is an Azeri: the election results suggest that the Azeri community voted for Ahamdi-Nejad. Even Moussavi's home town is said to have voted for Ahamdi-Nejad. Or consider the position of Mehdi Karoubi, who 4 years ago came very close to beating Ahamdi-Nejad for the Presidency: according to the election results, he did not even win his home province.
The elections in Iran have been rigged. The implications for Iran are far reaching.
But today, as protest in Iran gathers pace, it is important to clearly state that the election in Iran last Friday has been stolen. This is not the view of a foreigner who has been deceived by western journalists focusing on Tehran and the educated elite that have been quite public in their support for Mir-Hossein Moussavi. The election results themselves suggest that the election has been stolen.
Consider this: they election results that gave Mahmoud Ahamdi-Nejad 63 per cent of the vote suggest that a core component of Moussavi's support, the urban middle class, in fact voted against him. Educated young people, women, the private business community, and both reformists and conservative figures in the Iranian political establishment--all must have changed their minds and voted for Ahamdi-Nejad. Moussavi is an Azeri: the election results suggest that the Azeri community voted for Ahamdi-Nejad. Even Moussavi's home town is said to have voted for Ahamdi-Nejad. Or consider the position of Mehdi Karoubi, who 4 years ago came very close to beating Ahamdi-Nejad for the Presidency: according to the election results, he did not even win his home province.
The elections in Iran have been rigged. The implications for Iran are far reaching.
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