Rooyesh

Tehran, Asharq Al-Awsat - It was a sunny Friday morning approaching 10 O’clock, and although most people were relaxing in their homes, a group of Iranian women had chosen to meet at one of the women’s houses to discuss the developments in their campaign. They are working on a campaign to change Iranian laws that discriminate against women. Inside the elegant Western-style home the smell of tea and coffee filled the air and judging by the amount of fruit on the table, it seemed like it was going to be a long day. At first seven or eight women arrived, some wearing chadors while others were dressed in stylish trousers, shirts and high boots; the colorful silk scarves on their hair falling to their shoulders the minute they entered the house.

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The intimates of Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, call him “the great balancer.” They could as easily call him “the great hedger.” The reticent cleric refuses to make peace with the West but eschews open confrontation. He obstructs democratic reform but holds the country’s most hard-line radicals in check.

Despite his allegiance to the status quo, Khamenei, 67, has emerged as one of the most pivotal, if enigmatic, leaders in the Middle East. The Iranian constitution vests the Supreme Leader with divine right to rule. His willingness to negotiate about Iran’s nuclear program will determine whether his country’s dispute with the U.S. and its allies is resolved peacefully or through military confrontation. Though Khamenei is thought to be more pragmatic than Iran’s elected President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he has also cast nuclear power as an issue of national pride. What remains to be seen is whether “the balancer” will be willing to bargain away Iran’s nuclear prerogatives, and at what price.

Source: Time magazine

Iran’s top diplomat, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, has told TIME in an exclusive interview that his country wants talks with U.S. officials. He also indicated that recently revived talks on the nuclear issue with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana should continue “until we arrive at a multi-faceted formula” that both recognizes Iran’s nuclear rights and satisfies international concerns that Iran could divert its uranium-enrichment program to build nuclear weapons.

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A former top Iranian nuclear negotiator arrested on Monday is to be charged with spying, Iran’s conservative Fars news agency has suggested. It quotes an unnamed source saying that Hossein Mousavian is to be charged with espionage relating to nuclear affairs.

Contiuned

Only days after Iran’s annual crackdown on immodest dress began in mid-April, with teams of police officers stopping women in major squares and subway stations to warn them about their attire, the security authorities came under fire.Many women who were stopped on the street and told to dress properly reacted angrily. A parliamentary commission complained about the campaign to the chief of police, and the head of Iran’s judiciary warned that a too repressive policy could bring a backlash. Even an adviser to the president urged caution, saying the police “should not go to the extreme,” according to the daily Etemad-e-Melli.

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