TEHRAN - Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei blamed Western powers on Sunday for the country's worst social unrest in the past year, saying they planned to destroy the Islamic republic as they had the Soviet Union.

Khamenei summoned senior officials, including reformist President Mohammad Khatami and members of parliament to his residence a day after the unrest in a show of unity at the top.

"Westerners seek the disintegration of the Islamic republic like that of the former Soviet Union. This is similar to the U.S. plan carried out in the former Soviet Union," state television quoted Khamenei as saying.

[Iran Zamin News Agency: Commenting on the Khamenei's speech, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said: "By making a comparison between the state of the clerical regime and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, Khamenei clearly displayed his fear of the mullahs' regime being in the overthrow stage."

[Khamenei openly acknowledged that the mullahs' regime was facing "a life-or-death struggle," because "the enemy has amassed its forces, waiting for the right moment to strike."

[The mullahs' Supreme Leader said: "Our reform is Islamic and if anyone thinks our dear Khatami is another Gorbatchev, he has got it all wrong." He added that those in the West "have been realizing and saying in the past couple of years that no, Khatami is like the rest of them and one of these fundamentalists. This is one thing they have understood well."]

The protesters challenged the basis of the Islamic system, calling for an end to clergy rule in Iran and demanding a referendum on democracy.

"Why is it that America and Britain, which are responsible for 50 years of misery in Iran, now advocate reforms?" Khamenei asked.

He was referring to the two countries' extensive influence in Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution which brought the Shi'ite Moslem clergy to power.

He demanded clearly defined goals to avoid any "misconceptions." "We don't want everyone to advocate his own understanding of reform. The constitution must be used as a covenant, in which Islam has a primacy over every law," he added.
 
 

Cleric Shot On Student Unrest Anniversary Iran, Agence France Presse, 13 July

TEHRAN - An Iranian cleric, Mohammad-Reza Bozorgi Araqi was shot and injured by two unknown men in the early hours of Sunday morning, following commemorations of the first anniversary of a bloody police attack against a Tehran University dormitory, the conservative Qods paper reported Thursday.

According to the paper, Bozorgi Araqi, was shot in the stomach shortly after midnight in front of his house.

"After the attack, the two men fled on a motorbike," the paper said.
 
 

Political Tensions Holding Back Foreign Investment, Agence France Presse, 13 July

TEHRAN - Iran's ongoing political tensions and the uncertain outcome of next year's presidential elections are holding back foreign investments and the opening up of political life, a Canadian economist told AFP.

Daniela Pizzuto, a political analyst for the Canadian Society for the Expansion of Exports in Tehran said Iran would have to change its laws to protect foreign investors, "because it is still a country with many risks."
 

Khatami Seeks To Co-Opt West For Reform Bid, Reuters, July 12

BERLIN - Khatami has made shrewd use of the platform created by his trip to Germany. But, analysts said the real battle for reform will be fought at home.

"This visit was meant to seek help from abroad for reforms at home but it alone will not decide the power struggle," said Frank Umbach, an analyst at the German Foreign Policy Society.

Analysts said the spy trial and a recent crackdown on Iran's media showed that the pendulum had swung away from those loyal to Khatami since their triumph in February's parliamentary elections.

Analysts said that the West was right to remain cautious, saying memories of state-sponsored terrorism were too fresh to give Khatami the benefit of the doubt.

Analysts said Iran could derail the Middle East peace process. And Tehran's long-range ballistic missile program poses a security threat that has been identified by Washington in justifying its controversial National Missile Defense (NMD) program, they noted.
 

Six Men Hanged In Iran, Associated Press, July 11

TEHRAN - Six men convicted of drug trafficking have been hanged in the Iranian capital, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

"Six men who were members of an international gang ... were hanged in the Qasr prison campus after the verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court," the daily Iran said.

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