The clerical regime’s President Mohammad Khatami, addressing the annual nationwide conference of county governors in Tehran, warned the Interior and Intelligence ministries that they "must be serious about the outbreak of incidents detrimental to the country’s security and must find out the roots of these issues through mutual cooperation and coordination and with the help of the State Security Forces."

"Security is very important for us and must be preserved at all costs," Khatami said. "This country needs stability and security."

In another part of his speech, Khatami said: "We must deal decisively with those who are trying, in public and in secret, to tarnish the international prestige and image of the Islamic Republic of Iran and pretend that the country’s security has been undermined."

At another meeting with the para-military Bassij commanders on Thursday, Khatami had said: "The Bassij is the guarantor of our country’s security."
 
 

Cleric Blasts US Lawmakers over Support for Protesters, Agence France Presse, August 20

TEHRAN - A top conservative Iranian cleric lashed out Friday at US lawmakers over their support for student protests last month that erupted into six days of bloody clashes with security forces and militants.

"Their support for the agitators is an attempt to overthrow the Islamic regime," said Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, echoing charges by Iranian officials this week that Washington is interfering in Iran's internal affairs.

"The enemy wants to insinuate that it was the fault of the regime," Janati said, adding that the United States and Israel "remain the principal enemies of the Islamic revolution."

His remarks follow days of vows by the Iranian leadership that there will be no change in Tehran's stance toward the United States, which officials charge with meddling in Iran's internal affairs.

Iran's foreign ministry on Thursday denounced US calls to free 13 Iranian Jews facing the death sentence on charges of spying for Israel and cautioned Washington over getting involved in the matter.

Earlier in the week influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani accused both the United States and Israel of using "all the great power at their disposal" to hinder Iran's efforts to improve relations with the rest of the world.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, warned relations with the United States and Israel were "impossible."

Mohammad Khatami said the United States is "unjust" and remains separated from Iran by a "wall of mistrust."
 
 

New Chief Judge Reasserts Conservatives’ Hold on Nation's Courts, Agence France Presse, August 20

TEHRAN - Iran's new top judge has reasserted conservative control over the nation's courts just days after taking office with a pledge to keep the judiciary free of political and factional disputes.

Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi kept leading conservatives in their posts as prosecutor general and supreme court president, and re-shuffled other members of Iran's conservative-dominated judiciary to key deputy positions.

The appointments, announced on state radio Thursday, came amid hopes of a change in the political tenor of the judiciary as Hashemi-Shahrudi replaced Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi after 10 years in office.

But the new judiciary chief kept Yazdi's prosecutor general, Ayatollah Morteza Moqtadai, and supreme court chief, Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi-Ghilani, bolstering their presence with several conservatives close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He shifted noted conservative Ali Razini from head of the Tehran judiciary to the number two slot on the supreme court, where he will be the liaison to Iran's hardline Special Court for Clergy.

Khatami said Wednesday he was "cheered" by the appointment of Hashemi-Shahrudi, whom he said wanted to "reform and serve judicial authority."
 
 

MPs Call Inter-Factional Unity "A Must," State-Controlled Tehran Times, August 18

TEHRAN - …[Member of the Executive Council of the Majlis Mohammad Baqer Nobakht Haqiqi] The MP from Rasht added that Iran's social and political situation is such that the unity and concurrence of political groups is a must. "I believe that a common management amongst the political groups should be established and the heads of the three branches avoid factional politics," he added.

... Also Majlis deputy from Mash'had Mrs. Qodsiyeh Seyyedi Alavi… said that the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Organization and our print media publish and air only the viewpoints of one party and this is not sufficient.

Alavi stressed that dialogue among factions should be put to test, adding that "We should learn to tolerate each other....

The Majlis deputy concluded that "We should accept that we have not yet learnt to tolerate each other after 20 years."...

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