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… In his seven months as president, Khatami has eaten with government employees in the cafeteria of the presidency and visited shops, schools, hospitals and food ration lines -- all unannounced.
Political gimmicks? Yes. An effort to enlist popular support behind his ideas? Of course. But the most interesting thing about these populist maneuverings is that they underscore a crisis within Iran's unique, often mystifying power structure.
At its heart, Iran's system of government is organized around a paradox: The Islamic Constitution, based on the thinking of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, recognizes that one "supreme leader" has the authority, directly from the Prophet Mohammed and his successors, to create a government and to rule. So ultimate authority rests not with any popularly elected president but with a cleric elected by his peers…
Since Khomeini's death in 1989, the supreme spiritual leader has been Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a man who lacks the religious credentials and political standing of his predecessor. He has never enjoyed the universal respect of the religious establishment or public adulation…
And that has sparked an extraordinary debate even within the religious establishment over the role of the leader. Some believe in the principle of one supreme leader but do not accept Khamenei's authority; others believe that the leader should play only a spiritual role and not interfere in politics.
The reason the debate is so important is that under Iran's Islamic Constitution, the leader controls the military, the judiciary, the security and intelligence services and radio and television. The president, by contrast, runs the economy and the government bureaucracy. But the leader can set the broad policies of the government and can interfere when he sees fit….
Khatami, for all his populist style and yearnings, remains a loyal member of the ruling religious elite… Khatami professes belief in the Islamic revolution, the Islamic Republic and the supremacy of the leader.…
Mullahs' Regime Extorts the Public,
Iran Zamin News Agency, March 31
The clerical regime's Organization for Implementation of State Punishments announced that 120 of its mobile and fixed branches have fined "offenders" 1,000 billion rials (or $200 million based on free market exchange rate) for "overcharging and shortchanging consumers," the state radio and television reported.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran citing the above in a statement said: "The clerical regime has thus resorted to astronomical extortions from the public under the pretext of "overcharging" to fill its empty coffers, while it is beset by irremediable economic crises, oil prices have plunged and the exchange rate for rial has dropped. The dramatic amount of fines ($200 mil. in just four days) has been unprecedented to date, and will lead only to more poverty, and further inflation and high prices."
Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of NCRI, said this inhuman measure by Khatami's government against a populace 80% of whom are living below the poverty line, indicates the regime's desperation in resolving its deepening economic crisis.
In a related story dispatched by Agence France Presse, it was reported that more than 300 people have been arrested and fined in northern Iran for violating regulations on hunting and fishing. The 314 suspects were picked up by environmental authorities in Gilan province, a lush region bordering the Caspian Sea, the Kayhan daily said, without giving the date of their arrest. Large quantities of rifles, boats and fishing nets were also seized.
More Lives Lost in Dangerous Roads of Iran,
Agence France Presse, March 31
TEHRAN - The driver of a car and its nine passengers were killed when their vehicle collided with a bus in western Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday.
The accident occurred Monday on a road from Hamedan to Kermanshah, both cities in western Iran, it said.
Two of the victims have not been identified apparently due to severe wounds.
Because of a shortage of vehicles, Iranians generally pack their cars to overflowing with relatives and friends when they travel.
Many Iranians are taking advantage of the two-week new year holiday, Noruz, to travel. Noruz started March 21.
Iran has one of the highest road-accident rates in the world with about 205,000 crashes reported last year. Five thousand people were killed on Iranian roads in 1996.