Rooyesh

His critics say he is dogmatic and deaf to expert advice. But now Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, is attempting to rebrand himself as a listening politician by establishing a hotline for ordinary voters. Citizens wishing to voice their “problems, complaints and proposals” to the president will be able to do so by dialling 111.

The service will be run by aides in the presidential office. It is the latest in a series of gambits designed to bolster Mr Ahmadinejad’s man-of-the-people persona, which helped him to win the 2005 presidential election.

While continuing to ignore the views of Iran’s elites - who have criticised his economic policies as an ill-conceived melange of populist promises - the new call-in facility promises to reinforce the image of a leader engaging with the masses.

Its announcement comes at a time when Mr Ahmadinejad’s popularity has been sliding against a gloomy economic backdrop of rising inflation, high unemployment and petrol rationing.

Mr Ahmadinejad has previously attempted to communicate directly with the public through his own blog, which is available in English, Arabic, French and Farsi. He has also instructed aides to compile his opinions and speeches for publication in what may be an attempt to convey his message free from the filter of a critical media.

The hotline will be launched next February during the annual 10-day fajr period, when Iran marks the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The idea emerged from the president’s provincial tours, during which he has addressed tens of thousands of people at dozens of open-air rallies across Iran. Mr Ahmadinejad has encouraged those attending to submit letters with views and requests to his aides.

About 40% of the 7.2m letters received have been requests for money, while others have appealed for jobs, housing and medical treatment. Mr Ahmadinejad’s staff have struggled to deal with the volume of correspondence and have so far answered around half of it.

Hashem Gharghi, head of a unit formed to follow up the letters, said phone lines and public relations offices had been opened to allow correspondents to pursue unanswered letters.

Source: Guardian

Iran has detained two Chinese nationals on charges of spying on its military and nuclear facilities, state radio reported Wednesday. There have been a series of similar accusations against Westerners in Iran in recent years but none against China, with which Iran enjoys good relations.

“The Chinese nationals were detained while taking photos and recording video of a military complex in Arak city,” the radio quoted Ali Reza Jamshidi, spokesman of Iran’s judiciary, as saying. “They entered Iran through Kish Island as tourists.” Kish is a resort island and free-trade off the southern coast of Iran. A 40-megawatt nuclear reactor is being built in Arak, 435 miles to the north. Jamshidi said the case was under initial investigation by the country’s judicial authorities. No further details were given. Iran’s judiciary announced Monday it had concluded its investigations into two Iranian-Americans accused of conspiring against national security. Two other Iranian Americans also are being held on security-related charges. Source: AP

The Bush administration is moving toward blacklisting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “terrorist” organization, subjecting at least part of the entity to financial sanctions in a new move against the Islamic republic, a U.S. official said Tuesday. A decision has been made in principle to name elements of the corps a “specially designated global terrorist” group, but internal discussions

continue over whether it should cover the entire unit or only its main military wing, the Al-Quds force, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because a decision, which must be approved by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has not yet been made. It was not immediately clear when the designation, first disclosed by The Washington Post, would be made public. The Post, in a report published on its Web site Tuesday night, said the administration wants to announce the sanctions before the U.N. General Assembly meets next month in New York.

The official who spoke to The Associated Press said the timing had not been decided and could say only that “it’s going to happen at some point.” The “specially designated global terrorist” designation was created by President Bush in 2001 as part of larger post-Sept. 11 measures to cut off funding for extremists. The sanctions cut designees off from the U.S. financial system and freeze any assets that it, its members or subsidiaries may have in U.S. jurisdictions. There was no indication on Tuesday as to how much money might be involved, but the designation also allows U.S. financial regulators to move against businesses that have dealings with the Revolutionary Guards. The designation has been used frequently. It was last applied on Monday against Fatah al-Islam, an al-Qaida-inspired militant group accused of links to Syria, that has been involved in bloody fighting with the Lebanese army at a refugee camp in northern Lebanon. But a move against the Revolutionary Guards would be significant as it is believed to be the first time a foreign government or quasi-government agency will be so designated.

The Guard, which operates outside Iran’s conventional army with its own air, naval and land wings, is known to have extensive business interests and investments in Iran, but the extent of its holdings outside the country is not clear. U.S. officials have in recent weeks stepped up complaints against the corps, particularly the al-Quds force, which they accuse of supporting insurgents in Iraq as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is also blamed for supporting the radical Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. At the same time, the United States has grown increasingly concerned at Iran’s refusal to comply with international demands for it to come clean on its nuclear program, which Washington alleges is a cover for an atomic weapons program. Iran has repeatedly denied all of the U.S. charges to growing irritation in Washington. Yet, the preliminary decision to blacklist the Revolutionary Guards also comes as the United States and Iran have begun a tentative, if yet unsuccessful, engagement on Iraqi security issues. The U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, has met twice with his Iranian counterpart in recent months for landmark talks at which the two sides agreed to continue discussions although no progress has been discerned by U.S. officials. Source: The Associated Press

Laying out his views on foreign policy, Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, said he would be open to negotiations with Iran but would not rule out destroying its nuclear facilities as a last resort. The Bush administration and other Republican candidates have not ruled out such military action against Iran if it flexes its nuclear muscle further and if there is evidence that it is colluding with Iraqis in the killing of Americans.

But in describing his foreign policy views, in the current issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Mr. Giuliani was characteristically blunt. “The theocrats ruling Iran need to understand that we can wield the stick as well as the carrot, by undermining popular support for their regime, damaging the Iranian economy, weakening Iran’s military, and, should all else fail, destroying its nuclear infrastructure,” he wrote. Mr. Giuliani’s article was published after President Bush made pointed comments about Iran last week at a news conference, saying, “There will be consequences” for Iranians who help Iraqis kill Americans. “When we catch you playing a nonconstructive role” in Iraq, Mr. Bush said, “there will be a price to pay.” He called Iran a “very troubling nation right now.” According to news accounts, there was an “intense internal debate” in the White House over how to respond to Iran’s support for Shiites in Iraq and to its nuclear program. They said Vice President Dick Cheney had been arguing for military action if clear evidence of Iranian activity against Americans emerged. In a debate this year, Mr. Giuliani and another top Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, said they had not ruled out using “tactical” nuclear weapons against Iran to keep it from obtaining nuclear weapons. The leading Democratic presidential candidates, especially Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, have clashed repeatedly with each other in debates over their experience and judgment in the conducting of foreign policy, including how to deal with nations like Iran. Mr. Obama has said that as part of a new strategy for dealing with what United States officials consider rogue nations, he — unlike the Bush administration — would meet with their leaders, including the leader of Iran. Mrs. Clinton was more cautious, saying she would first make sure that she was not being used for propaganda purposes.

By: Katharine Seelye, The New York Times