A Frenzied Persian New Year

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Middle East Mar 22, 2006

THE ROVIG EYE

A frenzied Persian new year By Pepe Escobar

TEHRAN - March 20 was to have been the day that Iran was

attacked by either the United States or Israel, according to

countless doomsday predictions. The fateful date has come and

gone, and there has been no replay of "shock and awe".

March 20 was also meant to see the inauguration of the Kish oil

bourse, on which Iranian oil will be traded in a basket of

currencies, including the euro. But because of "technical

glitches", according to the Ministry of Petroleum, the launch has

been postponed, with no new date set.

No shock and awe, no oil-bourse shock. Iran, anyway, has come

to a standstill. Not because of geopolitics; it is just reconnecting

with its rich, pre-Islamic history.

Hardly anything has moved in Iran since Monday night, except a

reduced staff at the Ministry of Foreign Relations and a specialcell at the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) monitoring

the nuclear debate at the United Nations Security Council, where

members can't agree on how to respond to Iran.

It's ironic that this heated debate in New York happens exactly at

the onset of Nauroz (literally "new day"), the Persian New Year.

This is not only a celebration for all Iranians, but for all the Iranian

world, from the Caucasus to Central Asia, and for Kurds in

Turkey, Syria and Iraq as well. Fifteen centuries after the arrival of

Islam, the rhythm of time remains influenced by Zoroastrianism.

And more than 27 years after the Islamic Revolution, clerics gave

up fighting with tradition; this past weekend they were all hitting

the shops buying gifts and sweets.

Nauroz in Iran is the beginning of the legal year in the solar

calendar. Practically the whole country shuts down, in many

cases until early April. Everybody buys new clothes and cleans

up his house. Families gather around a ritual table where seven

fruits, dishes or objects with names starting with an "s" are

disposed; vegetables are always present, or lentils, which should

be thrown into a waterway on the 13th day of the new year. On

this particular day, every family sets out in a sort of massive

national picnic.

The destabilization game

Just before Nauroz, the political temperature was no picnic; it was

Regional vultures

circling Iraq (Mar 21, '06)

Iran and irrationality(Mar 21, '06)

Irreversible Iranians (Mar 18, '06)

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atimes.com/atimes/…/HC22Ak01.html 1



as feverish as the shopping. A terrorist attack convulsed one of

Iran's sensitive borders, the desert province of Sistan-Balochistan,

with at least 23 dead, six injured and 12 missing.

Journalist Akbar Ganji, a freedom-of-expression icon, was

released after six years in prison and quite a few hunger strikes -

although the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) was

reporting that would only happen at the end of the month. This

past Saturday, the combative newspaper Shargh printed a

magnificent photo on its front page of an emaciated Ganji smiling

alongside his wife. Ganji is not making any political comments; he

said he could be again thrown in jail. His early release was later

spun as a "compassionate leave", so he could be with his family

for Nauroz.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, trying to defuse the nuclear

tension, was saying that the government expected "fair, logical

and comprehensive decisions" from the Security Council over its

handling of Iran's nuclear dossier, while SNSC Secretary Ali

Larijani acknowledged Iraq's call, via the leader of the Supreme

Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Abdul Aziz al-

Hakim, of a high-level dialogue between the US and Iran on Iraq.

Larijani, along with his brother, are extremely influential on high-

level policy and close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Larijani is like an anointed prince, although he lacked the

charisma to muster enough votes and win last summer's

presidential elections. But in matters of supreme national interest,

he wields more power than President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

The proposed Iran-US talks on Iraq have done nothing to erase

suspicions on both sides. In diplomatic and government circles in

Tehran, the chronology making the rounds is telling. Afghan-born

Zalmay Khalilzad, the powerful US ambassador in Iraq, wrote a

letter to Iranian high-level officials requesting a negotiation. The

letter was written in Persian; Khalilzad speaks Dari, a Persian

dialect. Only afterward, SCIRI leader Hakim publicly invited Iran to

hold talks with the Americans.

The point is that Iran does not need to destabilize Iraq or to

perform an "unhelpful role" - as the White House, the Pentagon

and the State Department claim non-stop. Iranian influence

remains strong whichever of the Islamic parties - SCIRI or Da'wa -

leads the next Iraqi government. Hakim's move, nonetheless,

entails the possibility of the SCIRI positioning its prime-ministerial

candidate, Abdul Adel Mahdi, in opposition to the current preferred

United Iraqi Alliance candidate, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Mahdi has been

to Washington and has good US connections. Unlike Jaafari, he

would be acceptable to both Kurds and Sunnis.

Larijani has already stated that the Iranians will appoint a

delegation to talk to Khalilzad. But that implies the Iranians willnegotiate in a position of force. Government spokesman Gholam-

Hussein Elham stresses that "the Americans have long been

asking us to hold talks on Iraq" - not exactly the spin coming from

Washington. He adds that "what is important for us is to bring an

end to the Iraqi occupation".

Though certainly not on an Iraqi scale, Iran is also a victim of

terrorism. Last Thursday, a heavily armed group disguised as

policemen set up a mock roadblock on the Zabol-to-Zahedan road

in Sistan-Balochistan, near the sensitive borders with Afghanistan

and Pakistan, and attacked an official convoy. People were

dragged out of their cars and gunned down.

embassy takeover.www.France24.com/Iran

Iranian

Revolution Music

Human rights

musician rages

against the

mullahs on Iran

NTV worldwide!www.TimeForRevolutio





The Iranian government is playing down the possibility of a drug-

related raid. Hardline Interior Minister Mostafa Purmohammadi

said the perpetrators were the same ones who conducted a series

of bombings in Ahvaz, in oil-rich Khuzestan province, months ago.

The minister told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) that

"according to our reports, US and British security chiefs met with

rebel leaders and provoked them to commit the attacks" . Iranian

officials are adamant that British and US operatives are active in

destabilizing Khuzestan - which Saddam Hussein called

Arabistan - in a series of black operations, although Washington

and London have rejected the accusations.

Separatist Arabs and Balochis provoking unrest looks like a

classic "divide and rule" tactic of trying to destabilize the central

government in Tehran. When the long Nauroz party is over, one

wonders whether the players in the Iran-US talks on Iraq will really

address the hard questions - who's helping whom in the regional-

destabilization game.

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A Frenzied Persian New Year