Under fire from US, Iran reacts by cracking down at home
The government has restricted media, targeted academics, and, in one month this spring, stopped or detained 150,000 people – including four Iranian-Americans. [Editor's note: The original subhead mischaracterized the number detained.]
from the July 13, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
The violent reaction, when authorities gave only three hours notice that rationing would start at midnight, "could have been worse," but for the pre-emptive crackdown, says Mr. Sadjadpour.
"People sensed that the regime and the basiji [volunteer ideological forces] were really on a head-cracking spree the previous few weeks," says the analyst. "It made people think twice before going out onto the streets to vent their criticism."
Still, images of burning gas stations did little to calm nervous Iranians. "Unfortunately, Mr. Ahmadinejad did not [fulfill] his promises to poor people," says Laylaz. "This social unrest is an immediate and direct consequence of those policies.... And at the moment, the social structure of this country is absolutely fragile and sensitive about economic issues."
But those economic concerns have become tangled with myriad other social and strategic issues in Iran, which blend into a single "security" response from the regime. And the crackdown has had an impact, as Iranians – especially those with ties to Westerners – refuse invitations for cultural exchanges, conferences abroad, or lunch in Tehran where Western diplomats might be present.
Iranians with such ties who have been arrested and even imprisoned, report that their interrogators accused them of "serving the enemy" whether they knew it or not. A final report of BBC correspondent Frances Harrison last week, leaving after three years in Tehran, shows the scale of change.While numerous officials had attended the going-away lunch of her predecessor, not one – not even those from the Islamic Guidance ministry, who are often helpful on a personal level – came to her BBC farewell lunch."I did not take it personally," wrote Ms. Harrison. "The atmosphere is now one where Iranians are afraid to mix with foreigners for fear of being accused of spying."
Farhi says that what the regime wants to do is "break the kind of linkages that were created during the [former President Hashemi] Rafsanjani and Khatami period, because all these activities that people are being accused of were legitimate, and in fact promoted under previous administrations." [Editor's note: The original version misspelled Farhi's name here.]
That is the result of a new Machiavellian calculation, says Sadjadpour: "Whereas Khatami and the reformists said our best security is people's happiness, [this hard-line] worldview is that it is much better to be feared than to be loved.
"Their behavior is much more out of desperation than of strength," he adds. "It doesn't show that you are very confident about your place as a regime, when 67-year-old women are being suspected of undermining Iran's national security."
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