The NCR reported that in a widespread riot in East Tehran in the afternoon of Sunday August 17, between the people and the State Security Forces, several government buildings were badly damaged. During the clashes, at least two persons were killed, 25 wounded and a large number arrested. At least seven members of the state security forces and the Guards were also wounded.

According to NCR, Mr. Massoud Rajavi hailed the deprived people of East Tehran and called on the residents of other parts of the capital to rush to their aid.

The riots erupted when the agents of Tehran's 15th district municipality, supported by the Revolutionary Guards under the personal command of Guards Corps Brigadier General Botshekan, commander of the State Security Forces of East Tehran, raided Massoudieh township on Khavaran Avenue and razed the newly built houses, the NCR said.

Shortly after the outbreak of the riot, a large number of people rushed to the scene and staged a protest which lasted until late hours in the night.

Khatami's Choice of Intelligence Minister A Hallmark of Continued Status Quo, Escalating Repression, NCR, August 19 

In an interview with the mullahs' news agency, IRNA, Qorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, Khatami's nominee for Minister of Intelligence, stressed upon "realizing Khomeini's ideals" and "tough approach to subversive elements", the NCR said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

Revealing his intention "to use popular intelligence sources," Najafabadi acknowledged that he intends to expand the Intelligence Ministry's network of suppression and information gathering across the country, the NCR said.

Najafabadi openly expressed concern about the escalation of the Resistance's activities —including its radio and television broadcasts— and increasing public opposition to the regime.

After Khomeini's death, Khamenei gave Najafabadi the task of spying on Hossein-Ali Montazeri (Khomeini's deposed successor). Informed of his intentions, Montazeri shunned him.

In his various government posts and as a member of the central council of the Society of Combatant Clergy, Najafabadi has had a long record in intelligence gathering, surveillance, inquisition, repression, and censorship, the NCR said.

Also as a member of the Supreme Council of Global Association of Ahl-e Bait, he has for years been involved in international terrorism and export of fundamentalism to foreign countries.

The NCR said that "Najafabadi's appointment to the Ministry of Intelligence confirms that Khatami is neither inclined nor capable of initiating any change in the repressive and terrorist policies of the theocracy ruling Iran."

The New Moderate Iranian Cabinet, The Washington Times, Editorial, August 19 

After the recent election of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, the foreign policy "establishment" here and abroad proclaimed a new era for relations between Iran and the rest of the world. Mr. Khatami was supposed to represent the dawning of a new age in Iran — more moderate, less hateful of the West. Now, Mr. Khatami has produced a list of 22 candidates for cabinet positions and considering his choices, it seems that Mr. Khatami refuses to live up to his reputation as a "moderate."

Although some of the proposed cabinet appointees are more moderate candidates (a fact the Western press has not neglected to highlight), those more extreme appointees signal Mr. Khatami's desire not to offend the supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei nor choose candidates unacceptable to the 270-member majlis (parliament) which must approve each appointment…. All 22 of the proposed cabinet appointees have previously held government positions, representing the same murderous and repressive government which has been in power for the 18 years.

…it must be recalled that Mr. Khatami's powers are limited to internal matters and that members of the cabinet can be overruled by the ayatollah and his 12-member security council. Also, according to the Iranian political system, the ayatollah and the security council control all aspects of foreign relations.

In truth, the "new" Iranian cabinet is still part of the same theocracy it has been since the revolution in 1979. And while there are members of the Iranian government who would like to improve the country's image in Europe and the West, that is not to say that a supreme shift in the character of the government has taken place. Unfortunately, time is more likely to prove that while the names have changed, the Islamic-fundamentalist, Western-hating, terrorist-exporting, murder-your-enemies-wherever-they-may-be, death-sentences-to-writers-declaring Iran remains the same as it ever was.

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