FOREIGN MINISTRY READOUT OF REPORTS FROM EHERAN

S E C R E T CANBERRA 000587 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2024 TAGS: AS IR PGOV PREL SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTRY READOUT OF REPORTS FROM EHERAN TEMBASSY Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR JAMES F. COLE. REASON: 1.4 (C) AND ( D) ¶1. (S/NF) Summary: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials told poloff on June 24 that the Australian Embassy in Tehran is reporting that any possibility of a compromise government has been removed by the hard stances of both Moussavi and Khamenei. The embassy also has reported an unconfirmed rumor on the street in Tehran that IRGC General Ali Fazli was arrested June 22 for refusing to move his Tehran corps against demonstrators. Khamenei will be speaking at Friday Prayers. End summary. ¶2. (S/NF) Justin Whyatt, Director of DFAT,s Middle East Section, and Michael Opie, the new desk officer for Iran, provided poloff with a readout on June 24 from their Tehran embassy's most recent reporting. According to GOA,s Tehran embassy, an unconfirmed rumor on the street in Tehran is that IRGC General Ali Fazli was arrested June 22 for refusing to move his Tehran corps against demonstrators. Again, unconfirmed rumor says that Moussavi staff and the demonstration headquarters people are in prison and that the head of Ahmadinejad,s student organization has called for Moussavi and the son and daughter of Rafsanjani to be put on trial. Former President Khatami is seeking a quasi legal way to maintain the pro-Moussavi demonstrations without overtly "demonstrating" in an illegal manner: he suggests on his website that people all go into the bazaar on Thursday and lock up the marketplace with their perfectly legal silent presence. ¶3. (S/NF) The embassy also has reported that the call for a demonstration of mourning of some kind is still being proclaimed by Moussavi, Khatamai and Karroubi for Thursday June 25. Any possibility of a compromise government has been removed by the hard positions taken by both Moussavi and Khamenei. If such an outcome were to be realized, the move would be Khamanei,s, not Moussavi,s or Ahmadinejad,s. Khamenei will be speaking at Friday Prayers. He has given the Moussavi camp a sop of five further days to bring in reports of voting irregularities despite the fact that the Guardian Council has stated unequivocally that they will not annul the election. Reportedly, Ahmadinejad has appeared on Iranian TV and blamed the Mujahedeen--e Khalq for the globally publicized murder of student Neda Soltan during a street demonstration. ¶4. (S/NF) According to Australia's Tehran embassy's reporting, much of the ideological cleavage in the populace is due to the restricted sources of information for the rural, the older and the poorer. The middle classes in the cities have satellite dishes and these are providing outside information, but most others are dependent on the government TV broadcasts. There are reports that the Iranians have found a way to jam the BBC Persian satellite service, but the BBC is responding by using other satellites. Students of all classes find ways to access the Internet, but all text messaging has been shut down.