Ayatollah Montazeri has issued a statement in response to inquiries of his followers, in which he regrets the price Iran has had to pay for the hostage taking event, and the dive that Iran has taken in America's public opinion. He states: "A country's embassy is part of its soil. To occupy the embassy of a country that is not at war with us, is a declaration of war. It is wrong. Many of the young students who were involved in the event have also now recognized that it was wrong." (an example is Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who has issued an official apology for raiding the American embassy in November 1980. This statement by Montazeri is the closest to an apology ever issued by any of Iran's "revolutionaries". Here, he explicitly states that at the time he was behind Khomeini on this (as they feared, or were led to believe that the US was planning another 1953-style coup d'etat in its embassy), but that he now regrets that.
In response to other questions about Iran's relation with China and Russia vis a vis the West, Montazeri has also criticized the Iranian government's blind trust in Russia; and its blanket distrust of America. Montazeri has also mentioned the role of Israel and the Israel Lobby in the US representative bodies, to compromise the prospects of resuming diplomatic relations between Iran and the US. (This is TRUE. The carrots and sticks strategy has never and will never work with Iran. And I am afraid, I will have to agree with that Khamenei that Americans have not been smart to pass "sanction-if" resolutions while waiting for Iran's response! That move has jeopardized ALL trust, putting Ahmadinejad in a really IMPOSSIBLE corner to bend to their demands. And today, Angela Merkel has just made it even worse. What kind of logic governs America baffles me! It sometimes mirror the logic of Iran's worst fanatics.
Coinciding with this, one of the reformist parties has issued a warning based on rumors that in tomorrow's rally, some (on the fascists' side) might conspire an attack on some embassies [I presume China and Russia, although it is not specified] and then to blame it on the reformist greens. This organization is stressing the necessity of remaining peaceful and not reacting to the provocations of the fascist forces of Basij and Sepah. Of course, there is plenty of evidence for the government's explicit intention to AGITATE the anti-Ahmadinejad forces. There is not a day that some ex-IRGC commander or Ahmadinejad minister does not give a speech in some Iranian university. (These events are often attended by and spiced up with vocal and creative forms of reformist student's protest. However, the government's efforts to frustrate the protesters into violence has so far failed).
These young kids must be commended for their restraint.
The commander in charge of Tehran security has issued a statement that the only authorized rally will take place in front of America's embassy. Interestingly, the leaders of both sides (i.e reformist leaders like Mousavi & Karoubi) and coup d'etat IRGC government have been all encouraging tomorrow's rally. I suspect, that in line with the recent show of "mathematics gold Olympian criticized Khamenei in his face and was not killed or arrested"; tomorrows rally, and perhaps the Greens' slogans in criticism of Ahmadinejad or Khamenei will be tolerate; perhaps a nod in the direction of national unity and reconciliation, that despite all tough words, the leaders of Iran on BOTH sides need and wish for.
We shall see ...
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