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October 10, 2004

Rafsanjani in 2005?

TEHRAN (Reuters) -

Iranian political heavyweight and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has said he is considering standing for the presidency in polls next year, according to a newspaper.

Rafsanjani, a business-minded, mid-ranking cleric would be a strong candidate for president with the likely support of Iran's resurgent conservatives. He is also a top advisor to Iran's most powerful figure Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"If there is no other suitable candidate, I will run in the next presidential elections for the sake of Islam and the revolution," the Hambastegi daily on Saturday quoted the 70-year old as saying in a speech to students in the holy city of Qom.

"I have told the supreme leader not to order me and to let doors be opened for other candidates," he added.

Reuters paints a predictably forgiving picture of Mr. Rafsanjani, who says he will run for President if there is "no suitable candidate" (Note: All suitable candidates are in prison, dead, or are sane enough to realize that stepping up to the plate would lead to one of the former).

Of course even the slightest mention of "candidates" and "elections" under the Islamic Regime is an entirely bogus notion and is often met with hefty laughter and disdain on the Iranian street. Although Rafsanjani in recent days has claimed that he is "...poorer now than before the 1979 Islamic revolution..." and has attempted to discount what Reuters terms as "rumours" that he is a major player in the pistachio, farming, airlines and car industry, the truth simply isn't as forgiving and blind as a cadres of Reuters smurfs tends to be. (Ooops, didn't mean to insult the smurfs, they were cool!)

The fact of the matter is that Rafsanjani is one of, if not the wealthiest stooge in Iran, and over the years has clearly fostered strong economic ties and connections with players on a global scale. The late Paul Klebnikov produced an excellent article in the July 2003 issue of Forbes entitled Millionaire Mullahs in which he justifiably focused on Rafsanjani's specialties of business and terrorism.

Note: Klebnikov's most recently published book is entitled "Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism".

Before you run off to go re-read the Klebnikov piece or buy a copy of "The Decline of Russia", it only seems warranted to make mention of what at this time, based on initial reports appears to be the unearthing of a potential sphere of Islamic Regime influence on the Kerry campaign. (This is not to say that politicians on both sides of the aisle don't have fishy behind-the-scenes arrangments...)

The latest 411 is that SMCCDI will be holding a press conference on Thursday October 14, 2004, beginning at 9:15 AM at the Washington DC's National Press Club located at 529 14th Street NW Washington, DC 20045. The meeting will be held in the "1st Amendment room" located on the NPC's 13th floor.

The subject of the conference will be "Senator Kerry and the Islamic regime influence on US elections."

If any bloggers or readers plan on covering this press conference please inform the blogosphere!

Note: ActivistChat.com and BLOG-IRAN! operate independently of any political party or candidate and support those groups or individuals who truly support freedom in Iran.

Posted by ActivistChat.com at October 10, 2004 09:40 AM

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Comments

Posted by: Lenny at October 10, 2004 11:07 AM

Posted by: REZA at October 10, 2004 11:02 PM

Posted by: Pilot at October 11, 2004 08:41 AM

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