IRAN REGIONAL PRESENCE OFFICE - WINDOW ON IRAN - MARCH 3,

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 RPO DUBAI 000109

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/3/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINS IR
SUBJECT: IRAN REGIONAL PRESENCE OFFICE - WINDOW ON IRAN - MARCH 3,
2009

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CLASSIFIED BY: Ramin Asgard, Director, Iran Regional Presence
Office - Dubai, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. [S/NF] Reformist MP Khoeni On Past and Present of Reform
Movement:



PAST: Former Reformist parliamentarian Mohammad Mousavi Khoeni
[strictly protect], who served in the Sixth Majles (2000-2004),
met with IRPO on March 1 and 3. Mousavi Khoeni entered the
Majles from a leadership position in the Office for
Consolidating Unity, Iran's oldest and largest student
organization. Himself coming from an IT background, during his
Majles tenure he played a central role in establishing (through
enabling legislation and funding) Iran's broadband internet
infrastructure (without opposition early on as IRIG regulators
did not realize what terms like "ADSL" appearing in relevant
legislation even meant). Later, when the Supreme Leader's
Office learned of the implications of such wide internet access,
and acted to curtail its growing impact, the genie was already
out of the bottle and Iran's entry into cyberspace could only be
slowed, but not stopped. As a former political prisoner
himself, Khoeni also led Majles efforts to reform Iran's
prisons, particularly those sites holding political prisoners.
In particular, he discovered that the IRGC, MOIS, LEF, and
Ministry of Justice, all maintained secret prisons where
prisoners were held incognito and without charges, and demanded
that the Majles have access to these sites. In addition to
reforming practices in the notorious MOIS "209" section of Evin
Prison, (which houses high profile political prisoners),his
efforts led to the closing of the "Towhid" prison, a large
secret facility adjacent to the MFA building in Tehran. He
added that his work uncovered that several government bodies
maintained secret prison sites within Evin prison, with the
IRGC's being by far the most sensitive (not even the prison
warden or officials from Department of Corrections were
admitted).



PRESENT: Khoeni was clearly proud of these initiatives, and the
work of the Sixth Majles which had accomplished much he said,
but concluded that the Reformists had ultimately failed to meet
the huge popular expectations that swept them to power. "We
tried working within the system for eight years, but in the end
it was inadequate". At this point, he thinks reformists are
only "wasting time" working with the system as currently
structured, although he still supports their efforts in
principle. While he does not actively support Khatami's
candidacy, he supports active reformist participation in the
June 2009 presidential election. During the campaign period, he
explained, groups - such as women's rights organizations for
example - have been traditionally granted considerable leeway to
express their often controversial positions with relative
impunity. What is really needed to bring real and lasting
reform, he said, was to modify the institutions of the Islamic
Republic, (but not, he emphasized, through regime change). To
make the required changes, he noted, the reformists need to
build up a power base outside the government. This is
difficult, he lamented, as they continue to lack media access
beyond the internet. During the Sixth Majles, this lack of
media access limited the reformists' ability to publicize their
successes, and allowed their opponents to portray their tenure,
and President Khatami's, both at the time and subsequently, in a
negative light. [Note: Such tactical manipulation of media
access by hardliners was also cited recently by another IRPO
contact, who suggested that reformist presidential candidate
Mehdi Karroubi appeared three times on IRIB during recent 30th
Anniversary broadcasts as a ploy to raise his profile and
thereby draw support from the much more dangerous reformist
candidate, Khatami.]



IRPO will include Mousavi-Khoeni's views on future directions of
the Reformist Movement within a septel focused on this subject.




2. [S/NF] U. of Tehran Professor Offers Views on Academic
Engagement, Track II: University of Tehran Political Science
professor Dr. Saideh Lotfian spoke with IRPO about the current
academic environment at UT and the challenges of remaining
engaged internationally. Lotfian has requested permission

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through the MFA Commission on US-Iran exchanges to attend a May
conference at Princeton. She recounted that she was the first
person she knew of to actually observe this new requirement
announced in October 2008 requiring Iranian academics and others
to receive MFA clearance before attending a US program. Lotfian
marveled that no one she spoke to regarding the request was
actually aware of the new requirement, including the
international affairs office that arranges UT attendance at such
US programs. In her opinion, this MFA effort does not represent
a coordinated, top-down effort to stifle US-Iran exchanges, but
is more likely an MFA effort to gain some control and visibility
over such programs. She recommended that increased transparency
and some level of engagement regarding exchanges would help
dispel anxieties over US motives. Professor Lotfian noted that
there are many officials formerly with the MFA teaching in her
faculty (Law and Political Science) at UT or at the Center for
Strategic Research (CSR),which is affiliated with the
Expediency Council, which would be strongly supportive of
greater engagement with their American counterparts. Among
these, she specifically cited Dr. (Ambassador) Ali Mousavian,
Dr. (Ambassador) Javad Zarif, Dr. Sayyed Mohammad Marandi, and
several others. Dr. Lotfian noted Track II talks were another
good way to enhance engagement. Lotfian herself has
participated in various Track II programs, including the Pugwash
talks, and used them as an example for why greater transparency
was important. "Nothing stays secret long in Iran," she said,
noting that even the secret Track II Pugwash talks were soon
afterwards common knowledge in academic and government circles
in Iran, including access to a full lists of all attendees.




3. [S/NF] Iran's Schizophrenic Approach to Public Diplomacy: The
Hollywood delegation visiting Iran this week has been warmly
received by Iranian film makers, but also met with an IRIG
demand for a public apology for past cinematic insults to the
Iranian nation. This schizophrenic response is typical of the
recent IRIG approach to exchanges. IRIG officials, including
President Ahmadinejad, have called for more exchanges,
especially Americans visiting Iran, and the Iranian state media
have highlighted American visitors, like U.S. journalists
invited to a recent seminar or the award given by the Ministry
of Science to three U.S. academics in December. Contrast that
with the harassment of a National Academy of Sciences official
at the same time or obstruction of USG-sponsored exchanges, and
Iran's attitude toward them is ambiguous at best. An Iranian
oncologist nominated for a breast cancer awareness IVLP last
fall told us this week that it was the Ministry of Health that
forced her to cancel her participation, after the Ministry of
Intelligence and Security had approved the group's trip to the
U.S. Comment: The overriding conclusion we can draw is that
Iranian officials will continue to see any USG involvement in
exchanges, at least for now, as a threat to the regime. At the
same time, those that take place under the control of the IRIG
are likely simply opportunities to promote Iran's "good will"
and counter negative press. We would add that much of this is
for domestic consumption. But there is also the problem of
Iran's decentralized intelligence and security services, which
as the experience of the oncologist shows, often do not
coordinate and have different interpretations on what is
permissible.




4. [S/NF] Update on StarTV Persia Project: StarTV executives
told us that their Farsi One channel will begin broadcasting to
Iran in early April. Dubai officials have given the project all
required licenses and approvals, and they had voiced no further
concerns, Star TV officials said. The channel will show U.S. and
other entertainment programming, all dubbed in Farsi, and beamed
to Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. They repeated their
appreciation for USG support for the project and for weighing in
with UAE officials. Comment: StarTV's channel will add to the
Western-based alternatives to IRIB among Iranian viewers,
further pressuring the state-controlled broadcaster and the IRIG
to compete for viewers, and to worry about malign Western
influences, like Bart Simpson.




5. [C] Ahmadinejad Raising Pensions to Win Over Voters?: An
Iranian journalist said President Ahmadinejad has doubled

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retired teachers' pension payments in a likely bid to garner
support ahead of the presidential election in June. The
journalist's mother, a retired teacher, saw her pension rise
from approximately $250 per month to $500 in the last few
months. Although the journalist-whose comments on other matters
appeared in last week's WOI-does not know if Ahmadinejad's
gambit will be successful, he suspects that retired teachers
will at least have to think a bit harder about who to vote for
in the election. Comment: Coupled with reports from other IRPO
contacts that Ahmadinejad increased subsidies for basic
commodities, the journalist's comments suggest Ahmadinejad is
trying to blunt the affect of Iran's economic downturn on his
electoral prospects. As Ahmadinejad's mismanagement of the
economy will be a key issue in the election and a central tenet
of attacks against him, the President appears to be trying to
deliver needed financial relief and undermine his critics'
attacks at the same time.




6. [S/NF] IRIG Failing To Pay Iranian Companies?: An
Iranian-American businessman just back from Iran told us that
Iranian businessmen have recently started to face an additional
obstacle: collecting what they are owed by the government. He
said Iranian companies doing business with IRIG, already lacking
access to international credit, have incurred higher costs and
demands for cash from sellers. Now the IRIG is telling
businesses providing some high-end equipment - like cell-phone
networking infrastructure - that they were not going to be paid,
according to our contact. Comment: Our contact could not say
how widespread this has become or whether it meant that elements
within the IRIG were running short of cash but he did say that
it was a recent phenomena and that he had heard of more than one
example of it happening.




7. [U] Window on Iran is a classified, weekly product providing
Washington policy community and Iran watchers highlights of key
developments on Iran. It is produced by the Iran Regional
Presence Office - Dubai. Please direct any questions/comments
to Kay McGowan (mcgowanka2@state.sgov.gov) or Charlie
Pennypacker (pennypacker@state.sgov.gov).
ASGARD