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Iran official: Clinton 'inconsistent'
By Tom Evans; Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
(CNN) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's policy on Iran is "dubious, inconsistent, and naive," one of Iran's most influential officials declared Tuesday.
Mohammad Javad Larijani, a member of a powerful political clan in Iran, rejected an assertion by Clinton on Monday that the Revolutionary Guard is supplanting the Iranian government, and Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship. One of Larijani's brothers is speaker of the Iranian parliament and another is head of Iran's judiciary.
"On the one hand she (Clinton) is worried about democracy in Iran, on the other hand she's offering the most generous military help to states which don't run a single election," Larijani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour just after Clinton had completed a three-day tour of Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.
Larijani said the Revolutionary Guard, which has extensive business interests in Iran, is answerable to legal structures of the state.
"The Revolutionary Guard is part of our defense system, they have a legal status, they have a legal command, and they are legally answerable to Parliament," he added.
Larijani, whose title is secretary general of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights, also rejected Western criticism of Iran's rights record, declaring that his country is "the greatest and ... only democracy in the Middle East."
He said he explained Iran's position in full this week to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, where the U.S., Britain, France and other nations strongly attacked Tehran's record, as they stepped up pressure for new international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
//
// // "It is true that the United States and a number of Western countries aired their criticism toward us, but it was mostly a kind of cliche," Larijani said.
"But on the other side, a lot of nations also supported and commended our position," he added - a reference to countries including Cuba, Venezuela, and Sri Lanka.
Despite the government's massive crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators since the disputed presidential election in June last year, Larijani said Tuesday that no one is jailed because of protests in Iran.
"The only reason for jailing is the violence which was attached to the protests, a violence which got the life of more than 20 policemen and 13 civilians and also damaged the properties and also people's life and health," he asserted.
"I think the beating of our police is much less than the New York and Los Angeles police ... the violence in Tehran was much less that the violence in Paris.. (which) was in flames for three months."
He also rejected criticism of Iran's policy on executing people who, he said, were engaged in violence. "Those who indulge in terrorist activities, they are pursued by the law. They will face a very harsh sentence, if it is proved by the court."
Larijani acknowledged that official wrongdoing and unlawful acts do occasionally happen in Iran, but insisted the authorities take quick action to address problems when they are identified. He cited the example of what happened after the deaths of three protesters who were jailed at the Kahrizak Detention Center in Tehran. One of those who died was the son of a leading conservative politician.
He said the prosecutor-general, Saeed Mortazavi, who was linked to those deaths by a parliamentary committee could now face further investigation by the judicial authorities.
"Nobody will replace the court and their final decision," Larijani asserted.
@camanpour on Twitter
Ba Dorood Khanoum Amanpour
Remember me from British School Days?
Could you please to me two favours for old times sake.
1. Refer to these people as "The Regime in Iran".
2. Write an article, and in it ask the question, "What could The Regime in Iran do, if the people of Iran decided to have a non-violent general strike?"
Thanks.
I have watched the situations in Iran with keen interest. It is a country unlucky to have a rascally government but an enlightened citizenry which can not be coerced to tolerate illegality and neo-colonialism. How I wish the Nigerian people are as inclined. I digress.
The hasty invasion of Iraq by the short-sighted George Bush administration ultimately gave an unbelieveable leverage to Iran,which has now become difficult to tame as expected in this circumstance.
Whether Clinton was right about Iran or not begs the issue. The fact is that "Iraq" has become a "big shield" for Iran and only a "drastic action as opposed to "sanctions" would suffice !
The power of the interview and Not Else
Thanks Amanpour
Dear Christiane,
Just because Iran conducts election does not make it a democratic country. With each demonstration that takes place, Iran gets 'black-out' from the rest of the world for day and sometimes weeks, where reporters are ban from reporting on what is going on, all that we get are just video clips upload via social network sites & sometimes legit reports. Don't even get me started on the beating, illegal arrest and harsh detentions. So if Mr. Larijani claims that Mrs. Clinton is inconsistent, he needs to look within and reflect why Mrs. Clinton made such a remark. How does he account for the heavy military style crack down on the streets of Tehran when all the people want is just a peaceful demonstration. Iranians are also entitle to a change and they are in need of an urgent change!
Dear Christiane, Your visit to the "sweat shop" in Haiti was appalling to me. The salary of $4.50 per day is a slave wage, and that is why the average pay per year is $ 250.00 .The elite families, such as Andy Apaid have kept the citizens impoverished for decades. You actually seemed impressed that this salary was "above the minimum wage". I was upset that you did not seize this opportunity to explain why these sweat factories exist and for whose benefit. Then when you interviewed Angelina Jolie, who was there representing the U.N.- you brought up the idea of her possible adoption of an Haitian child. This was exploitive journalism and a totally unnecessary question. Jolie was there to evaluate and help– not exploit, as your question could have implied to many viewers. Not one US press member had the courage to mention how Aristide was ousted from his country in 2004, and the circumstances of the coup.
Next time, Ms. Amanpour, you might consider asking him why he referred to Obama as a kaka-siah (nigger) not too long ago, and also how he sees the arbitrary and untenable persecution of Baha'is in Iran vis-à-vis his contention that the country's human rights record is spotless.
What are utalking about "The Cat" when you say the people only want peaceful demonstrations. I live in Iran so I know better. Since when do peaceful demonstrators start breaking windows of shops, banks, set on fire cars and motorcycles, etc, etc? Do you really call those riots peaceful demonstrations! A peaceful demonstration took place on February 11 (22 Bahman) where 50 million Iranians came out and defended there Leadership and Revolution. Now tell me is 50 million more or a few hundred or a few thousand (much less now) angry, green protesters who can't accept the reality?? I hope America stays asleep b/c its wrong judgments and information will only cause it to make wrong decisions like always.
It was disappointing that no questions were asked about the ongoing persecution of the members of the Baha'i Faith in Iran. Iran always claims that it persecutesd no one because of religion, yet the charges against imprisoned Baha'is in Iran have no basis in fact, but are a smokescreen for the 165 year harassment of members of the Baha'i Faith. Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi is defense counsel for seven Baha'is who coordinated affairs of the Iranian Baha'i community. CNN can and should do better asking the tough questions of people like Larijani who claim to speak on behalf of human rights but raid the homes of innocent Baha'i young people and arrest them in the middle of the night, demolish Baha'i cemeteries, berate Baha'i children in schools, deny business licenses to Baha'is etc.
Dear Peace,
I think you failed to realised that, 22 Bahman was clearly a fire-fighting bit from the regime. The 50 million of which I believe majority were 'bussed-in' from out of town by the regime in order to make up the numbers. They were not only 'bussed-in, but were fed, given the day off from work, so what great success is that? The regime had to deployed so many military polices, basiji sand revolutionary guards just to control the protesters/demonstrations. I think you also failed to realised that with each protests/dmonstrations the regime has to constantly deployed more (basiji, revolutionary guard, riot police etc) which means to say that, it is just fire-fighting on the regime's part! It does not solve the under-laying issues.
dear the cat
i agree with you.for regime make protests/demonstration like 22 bahman is easy even mr rafsenjani confessed one time about it.
he said for regime create demonstration is easy because regime have power and money as well and also we watched in TV as well
as a result we cant make sure this is peopel who came in this demonstration was regime support.
thanks
Dear Christiane,
If the media still wish to continue to give airtime to the ministers/spokeperson from regime of IRI, such as Mr. Larijani or Mr. Marandi etc, then, the very least, ask all the necessary questions that the rest of the world are interested to know. As you can see, there are already two posts on the faith of the Bahai community in Iran. With the constant blacking out of news coming out of Iran every now and then, we do not get the clear pictures on what is going there. As a results of such challenges, we rely on video clips uploaded on to social network sites and then it gets played out via U Tube or iReport on CNN. For every spokepersons that gets airtime from the media, they should be questioned through and through on the details of why the regime is doing what they are doing.
The only time I felt that Marandi was even 'grilled' was on GPS by Zakaria last year in one of his episode where Zakaria with no hold bars on his line of questioning to Marandi on the justification of the regime in dealing with the protesters and streeet demonstration!
America wanted a change and for that they saw Obama as the change agent. (I won't into the current polls on Obama here, as that is a separate topic). Iran on the other hand in my opinion needs more than a change, it needs a total over-haul on their entire political system to bring them up on par with the rest of the world.
Thanks
Are you kidding me??!!! FREEDOM FOR PRESS IN IRAN????
I would hope that you are smarter than that!!!!
How could you sit thru an interview and be partial to a bunch of lies???
I am sure now, more than ever, that CNN is getting $$$ from the Islamic republic of iran.
I asked you before to give a chance and voice the opposition, and you haven't!
Well, The SUN will not be covered by the clouds anymore.
March 21st is the first day of spring as you know; NOUROOZ and offical flag day- but not the islamic republic of iran's flag.
PARCHAME- 3 RANG BA SHIR VA KHORSHID
You are not grilling the"heads" of the islamic republic of iran in your interviews and demand an answer.
Nothing is going to happen unless te press start presseing
In responce to Larijiny,s answer toAMANPOUR question that"nobody in iran has not been killed because of taking part in demonstrations and two persons that recently killed was related to those they had been taken part in bombarding a mousque that caused 14 body,s death"ihis answer is perfectly lied by Larijani because they had been punished to death several month ago and if you search ihe internet in farsi you can find the truth
the united states treats african americans worse than or equal to the treatment of iranian citizens by their goverment. police offiers killing african americans and being aquitted ,children 15 years old being certified as adults and given life sentences.double standard.
Dear Mrs. Amonpour:
I wanted you to ask Mr. larijoni. How dare do you call a system that one man(The leader) can appoint half of the members of an organization( Shora negahban) that decides who can run for every office in that land (Iran) directly and the other half are appointed by another organization(Judiciary) that it's leader is chosen by him(the leader) a democracy??? One man is appointing every memebr of an organization directly or indirectly and that organization decides who can stand for election????? You should define democrcy for him as " The people are the only ones that can decide who is qualified for an office". Tell him stop filtering candiates for all offices and hold a fair, and honest election. We will find out how Iranians feel about the regime.
Christian,
Thank you for your great reporting work many times in the past. This program though is only succeding to provide an easy way for the regime to soread more lies. Three simple points out of many:
1- Please do not allow these guys to turn the interview into a criticism of the US. Firstly no US admin has arrested and imprisoned the leaders of the opposition party the day of the ellction and and the rest of it ...Guantanamo is totally different in nature..Secondly, NO journalist is responsible for the US government, so you don't have to answer for US, on the other hand Larijani and Ahmadinejad, etc. are officials of the regime and should answer the questions.
2- Larijani should be shown the documentary footage of the violence committed by the regime and asked what has he said or done about them, as the Top Human Rights... . We know he has only criticised the opposition and accused them of crimes they have not committed. The regime on the other hand is in massive violation of it's own constitution and the declration of Human rights and as the top official he has to answer for the regime .
3- Without having the time or the information to support Mrs. Ebadi's points or Mrs Clinton's points you only provide an opportunity to these bold faced liers to make further accusations against them. May be Mrs. Ebadi or a representative from the opposition should have been invited to balance the interview.
CNN SHOULD BE ASHAMED.
YOU HAVE THE HEAD OF IRAN'S HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL AND IDIOTIC ANSWERS WERE MERELY ACCEPTED BY A SENIOR JOURNALIST – OR IS THERE SOME SORT OF PASSIVE ACCEPTANCE.
MRS. AMANPOUR, YOU HAVE INTERVIEWED IRANIAN LEADERS/REPRESENTATIVES FOR MANY YEARS – ALWAYS WITH SUPERFICIAL NON-THOUGHT PROVOKING INQUIRIES. HOW CAN THIS MAN PRESENT HIMSELF INTERNATIONALLY ON YOUR PROGRAM AND LEAVE WITHOUT BEING PRESSED ON HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES.
ARE THERE ALTERNATIVE AGENDAS BREWING?
Hello,
My name is Natasha Genke, I am Russian living Los Angeles, CA USA for the last 20 years. I was wondering if you are interested in writing a story about my boyfriend's mother Mary Jones who was whipped in Iran in 1995 and her family. I believe the story of this family is unique and has everything in it: love, betrayal, international espionage, family, children, Middle East, US. Below is the info I found online and my boyfriend confirmed this incident.
.
In 1995 another U.S.citizen was whipped in Iran. The Daily Mail, 6.5.94 was headed "80 lashes for U.S. woman drunk in Iran" and reports, that a female has been publicly whipped in Tehran for drunken behavior. Texan Mary Jones, 35, was sentenced to 80 lashes, fined 10.000 rials and ordered to be deported. Jones entered Iran 11 years ago without proper identity documents and spent her night in parks and "special houses". "She confessed in court that her job was corrupting young Iranians", the judge said. But it was the first report in many years of a Westerner being whipped.
This incident was also reported in the Annual International Amnesty Report for 1995 .
The story mesmerized me and I think it's worth a shot for an experienced investigative journalist.
Sincerely,
Natasha
HELLO NATASHA, I LIVE IN ENGLAND. I REMEMBER THE DAILY MAIL ARTICLE OF 1994. I WILL BE HONEST WITH YOU, MANY PEOPLE IN MY COUNTRY SUPPORTED THE WHIPPING. THEY WERE WRONG, NO WOMAN OR MAN REGARDLESS OF NATONALITY SHOULD BE WHIPPED!
I would like to know more about Mary Jone's case of flogging in Iran. Please contact me for possible interview with her.
with Regards
Mory Anvar
hello natasha...
i wish u doing well
actually when i was liiving at iran was a lady same name with ur boyfrend mothers name,she was living at a place near to tehran and was our neighbor, tha place name is OUSHUN, can u ask her is the same person?
let me know plz
Dear Ms.Amanpour:
As an Iranian-American, I have great respect for you and so proud of your accomplishments.
I watched your interview with Mr.Larijanni today and could feel your frusttrations too during the conversation. This guy does not look or even sound like an Iranian. I hope that you can pressure/probe these liars & thieves from Iranian regime to get them to get stuck in answering your questions. I am a Baha'i and as you well know the Baha'is have been persecuted since its inception of the Faith in "Persia" in 1844 but much more so in the recent years after the 1979 revolution. Please corner these dictator liars to respond about all the injustice and persecution for the past 30 years. Let them answer and laugh to their lies- absolute pure lies. This guy sounds Indian/Pakistani and he is no representative of People of Iran.
As an example- One of my friends' relative in Iran passed away a few days ago in the City of Semnan- ( 2 hours distant from Tehran ?) and because of being Baha'i, his body is not allowed for burial. This is to the extent the human rights are being violated by this cruel devil regime.
Many thanks for all you do and steadfastness in your goals. Thank you for being the voice of the great people of Persia and many more!!!
Respectfully,
Azita Arshadi
Scottsdale, AZ
Dear Christiane, bravo, good job, how great you handle his lies, how could they lie that easy, there were lots of interviews with political powers of Iran, in USA, none of them could handle them as you did, we are so proud of you, you are great, we enjoy your Sundays program so much
Thank you, thank you from lots of Iranian from inside and outside of Iran
Dear Christiane, as a human being i totally disagree with interviewing animals controling Iranian daily life. the current regime in iran is one of the worst kind of dictatorship in human history. to tell you the truth in past 30 + years that this beast reigme has been ruling iran they have absolutly done nothing except detroying the very fundemental of that country. this regime's hands are covered by the inocent people's blood and they even don't give a rat...i think when a regime is this dip involved in killing its own people they are capable of building atomic bomb and don't hasitate to drop it on some body's head. please do not interview this regime anymore they simply don't derve the airtime/thank you a Human Being.
Hello Christiane. Your interview with Larijani disappointed me and others like me. What answers did you expect from Larijani to your questions? Surely not the truth and reality. The only thing you did with your Q&As was to give the IRI a sense of legitimacy. Who appoints the Commander in Chief of the Guards? Who appoints the Chief of the Judiciary? Who has the last say in ALL MATTERS in Iran? Who can and has aborted discussions in the Majlis about matters that do not suit the regime? What happens to people who speak ill of Khamenei? Is there a law on this issue? and many similar questions that show Iran to be a religious dictatorship. Larijani's statement that "Iran is the Greatest and only Democracy in the Middle East" is laughable, but you did not press him on this statement and other blatant lies, for which there are ample proofs and you allowed Larijani to turn the table on you with remarks about the USA. Was the interview a show to justify the Iranian Regime and show it to be better behaved and more democratic than the USA? You did well to create such a view. I cannot accept that as an experienced and seasoned reporter and interviewer, that this was not your aim.
It's very disturbing and ludicrous that the USA and West are standing for human rights in the world,the government which just dropped two atomic bombs and turned to ashes hundreds of thousands of people built the UN and wrote the human rights convention,shameless it is,same countries which colonized the world,naming them third-world, for hundreds of years,leaving them poverty and suffering,making wars in every part of the world for their capitalistic and imperialistic causes and are not afraid to do any kind of brutality are shamelessly speaking for human rights!what a hypocrisy! When Saddam was bombing Iran and Kurds with chemical weapons the west gave him,where was human rights?Where was human rights when palestinian people where drived out of their lands?Israel does every kind of tyranny and no one cares(except recently which their tyrannies could not be hidden,but it will be swept under the carpet anyway like always) This just to name a few.The list is long going.
Merhaba,
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