WASHINGTON Ñ The CIA believes the growing uprising in Iran is no threat to the Khamenei regime, but President Bush Friday expressed strong support for the student movement and a leading Iran expert compared conditions with Romania in 1989.
In a statement on Friday, Bush urged Teheran to abandon "uncompromising, destructive policies" and pledged that a reforming, modernizing Iran would have "no better friend" than the United States.
"As we have witnessed over the past few days, the people of Iran want the same freedoms, human rights, and opportunities as people around the world. Their government should listen to their hopes," he said in a statement.
Earlier, CIA director George Tenet poured cold water on hopes in the West for an overthrow of the radical clerics who have ruled Iran since 1979. "The hardline regime appears secure for now because security forces have
easily contained dissenters and arrested potential opposition leaders," Tenet said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"No one has emerged to rally reformers into a forceful movement for change, and the
Iranian public appears to prefer gradual reform to another revolution."
"The CIA assessment is wrong," Dr. Assad Homayoun, an advocate of secular democratic government in Iran, told World Tribune.com in an interview.
"The clerical regime is unstable and has already lost its equilibrium," said Homayoun who is president of the Azadeghan Foundation and a leading voice in the United States for reform in Iran.
"Iran is in state of revolt and the situation is similar to that of Romania in 1989," he said.
On July 9, thousands of Iranian students clashed with police at Teheran
University. The clash was reported to be one of the largest since the
student riots in 2000 and as widespread as those in 1999.
Homayoun said the statement by President Bush was very significant. "We have been saying that the Iranian people do not need money or covert support," he said. "They need a strong statement of support from the President of the United States."
In an interview with Voice of American over the weekend, Homayoun predicted that as a result of the President strong, official backing for the uprising, "the regime's days are numbered."
Iran has launched a campaign against internal unrest as
well as against infiltrators and insurgents from neighboring Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
The Islamic regime said it has arrested hundreds of people in the wake
of violent protests in Iranian cities earlier this week. The demonstrations
were held to mark the third anniversary of the 1999 student riots throughout
Iran and included attempts to storm government buildings.
The government newspaper Jomhuri Islami said more than 230 people have
been arrested in Isfahan and Teheran. Most of those detained were in
Teheran, rocked by protests and bloody clashes between students and Islamic
vigilantes.
Iranian police commander Mohammed Royanian said those arrested were
charged with destroying cars and shops. Royanian said the protests were in
violation of a ban on public assembly imposed by the Interior Ministry.
The protests this week were said to have been the most widespread since
the 1999 student demonstrations. Iranian sources said several people were
killed and thousands of people were arrested in the student demonstrations,
which were also held in Tabriz.
Iranian state radio on Saturday denounced U.S. President George W. Bush's "open interference" in the Islamic state's internal affairs after the U.S. head of state urged Tehran to abandon its "destructive policies."
Bush, who earlier this year linked Iran, North Korea, and Iraq in an "axis of evil, said that a "vast majority" of Iranian voters "voted for political and economic reform" in recent presidential, parliamentary and local elections.
"Yet their voices are not being listened to by the unelected people who are the real rulers of Iran. Uncompromising, destructive policies have persisted," Bush said.
Many western officials have seen the reform movement drawing strength from Iranian President Mohammed Khatami who ran on a platform backing moderate reforms. Homayoun describe Khatami's role as a means to contain dissidents and appease critics in the West.
"Khatami has no power over Iran's foreign policy and strategy," Homayoun said. "Whatever his words, his actions have been subservient to Khamenei."
Khatami has warned of widespread unrest in Iran and has suggested he
might resign if civil liberties are not respected. "Our society is on the
verge of unrest and I don't want riots," Khatami said in an address to
education officials. "The less excitement and tension in society, the surer
we can achieve the reforms demanded by the noble people of Iran."
Tehran and Washington severed ties after the 1979 seizure of U.S. embassy staff as hostages by Islamic students, and attempts at rapprochement have been dogged by fierce resentment over U.S. support for Israel.
