Several commanders in Iran's Revolutionary Guards have mapped out a strategy to force reformist foes to "stay silent or pull aside" in a planning session which it is claimed could be described as a precursor to a coup against President Mohammad Khatami.

Three senior officials of the Revolutionary Guards and their allies outlined a three-stage plan to be carried out by a "crisis committee", according to notes taken from a tape of the meeting two weeks ago, which have been made available to the Guardian.

Rumors of a coup have swept Iran since the Revolutionary Guards issued a statement on April 16, warning that they were prepared to eliminate their enemies if necessary. "The Islamic revolution is a revolution of reason and compassion. But, if necessary, the enemies will also feel the [pain] and blows in their skull, that they will forever be stopped from hatching plots and committing crimes," it said.
 

US Culture Could Swallow Up Cultures: Khatami, Agence France Presse, May 2

TEHRAN - Mohammad Khatami warned Tuesday that US culture could take over the world, swamping indigenous cultures.

"Native cultures feel threatened by the Americanization of their cultures, while wise men in America speak of cultural decline and impoverishment," Khatami said in a speech at the opening of Tehran's 13th book fair.

"The global village system is constructed in such a way that any problems spread like an epidemic and threaten the system as a whole," he said.
 

Cook Halts Iran Trip Amid Fears Of Election Violence, The Times (of London), May 1

ROBIN COOK, the Foreign Secretary, decided yesterday to postpone a planned visit to Iran next week to avoid becoming embroiled in a fierce battle between moderates and hardliners after parliamentary elections.

The… visit… was seen as a step in President Khatami's attempts to rebuild normal relations with the West, in particular Britain and ultimately America.

However, there were fears that the visit due next Monday could have backfired...
 

News Bites

The Los Angeles Times, May 2: A series of mortar shells ripped into northern Tehran on Monday... The explosions seemed bound to add another element to the political tensions brewing in Iran. … The group has been hostile to Khatami and his followers, but Soleimani (from Moujahedeen) said the attack had been launched "in solidarity" with recent protests by Iranian students against the crackdown on reform newspapers.

Reuters, May 2: The European Jewish Congress (EJC) on Tuesday compared the trial of 13 Jews which opened in the Iranian city of Shiraz this week to the Stalinist show trials of yesteryear.

Reuters, May 2: Iraq said on Tuesday that Iranian agents fired six projectiles at a Baghdad district housing Palestinian refugees on Monday night, wounding eight.

The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said Iranian authorities bore responsibility for the attack, adding that Iraq "reserves its right of retaliation in due course."

The Mojahedin in Baghdad condemned the "anti-human crime" and blamed it on Tehran. A spokesman for the group said it was the 92nd Iranian attack in Iraq in recent years.

Reuters, May 2: Eight interrogators in Iran's intelligence service have been arrested on suspicion of mistreating suspects in the 1998 murders of dissidents, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The Tehran Times said: "These eight interrogators were arrested last week following the complaints filed against them by those charged with involvement in the serial killings in late 1998."

The investigation into the killings has fallen into disarray with reports that all but two of the surviving suspects were freed recently for lack of evidence.

Agence France Presse, April 29: Iran's volunteer Islamic militia has been put on a "state of alert" to confront "any social agitation" after the recent suspension of reformist newspapers, a fundamentalist newspaper reported Saturday.

"The possibility of unrest exists despite appeals for calm, and that is why the Hezbollah forces are on a state of alert to intervene if needs be to thwart any possible plot," said a statement issued by the fundamentalist Ansar-Hezbollah group, which is close to the para-military Bassij militia.

Agence France Presse, May 2: Turnout is likely to be low in Friday's run-off election in the industrial suburb of Karaj, to judge from comments by local people questioned by AFP.

"Neither of the two is from Karaj. They don't care about our city, and all they want to do is use it as a springboard to get into parliament. I won't vote for either of them," said Hushang Abasi.

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