Rouhani
Leaves Door Open for Referendum on Nuclear Deal
Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday Iran’s decades-long isolation should end
for economy to grow. He added foreign investors should no longer be viewed as a
threat. Rouhani made the remarks at an economic development conference in
Tehran.
“Our political
life has shown we cannot have sustainable growth while we are isolated,”
Rouhani said. (Iranian Presidency website/AFP, 4 January)
Rouhani
told the gathering of economic experts that change was necessary if Iran wanted
“lasting and sustainable development” and if it was to escape recent years of
economic “constriction” caused by its foreign policy.
Rouhani
referenced the checkered history of foreign involvement in Iran’s economic
affairs, chiefly from Russia and Britain, but said the time is past when foreign
investment was regarded as threat to the country’s interest.
“The time
is past when it used to be said that if a foreign investor comes to Iran, our
independence will be in danger,” Rouhani said.
In another part of the speech, Rouhani threatened to hold a referendum if hardline opponents block his attempts to bring Iran out of isolation. He said he could resort to holding referendum over “matters that are important for all people and have impact on their lives.” Analysts thought the Iranian president basically threatened that he may ask public to approve a nuclear deal that might come out of the current talks with world powers.
Photo credit: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivering the keynote speech at the economic development conference in Tehran; 4 January 2014 (Iranian Presidency website/AFP)
In another part of the speech, Rouhani threatened to hold a referendum if hardline opponents block his attempts to bring Iran out of isolation. He said he could resort to holding referendum over “matters that are important for all people and have impact on their lives.” Analysts thought the Iranian president basically threatened that he may ask public to approve a nuclear deal that might come out of the current talks with world powers.
Photo credit: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivering the keynote speech at the economic development conference in Tehran; 4 January 2014 (Iranian Presidency website/AFP)
27 comments:
that's a nice way to avoid stating directly the obvious truth that unless Iran reaches an agreement that ends the sanctions, the Iranian economy is going to melt down.
Real change can only come about with the removal of the corrupt religious dictatorial theocracy.There can't be any real change while you have a bunch of religious nuts holding Iranian people to ransom at the point of a ak47 rifle.
Of course there is going to be some comment on Uskowi claiming that I'm a "zionist" or this or that.Because I'm strongly against this backward anti-Iranian Islamo fascist theocracy.There is nearly eighty million Iranians out there,surly among them there must be a few hundred honest people that can govern Iran without all the corruption and slaughter that this regime relies on day in and day out. Isn't it also so ironic that after thirty six long years the regime has come to the conclusion that being isolated is counter productive to the nation? Maybe these imbeciles have realized that some of the policies of the previous regime wasn't so bad after all? What ever the case,the charlatans holding the cards close to their chests know that the game is over and it is time for the Iranian people to call their bluff.
If you use idiotic western slogans/neologisms like "Islamo fascist theocracy" then you certainly come off sounding like a zionist,in addition like most who rail against irans current system of government,one that by and large the vast majority of iranians seem pretty happy with,you never state what exactly you would replace it with
The Iranian government is a theocratic dictatorship and something more democratic and less repressive and reactionary would be a vast improvement.
Anon 5:51 PM
For the uptenth time,if the Iranian people "seem so happy with" the Islamo fascists,why does the paranoid theocracy have a larger army (IRGC&basiji goons) than the regular army? Don't tell me they are there to protect "pretty happy" people of Iran from road traffic accidents? People who have an interest in the Islamic dictatorship see it as their main job to throw a carousel of bogus and scripted questions at the Iranian people to confound them into perpetual submission.
AnonymousJanuary 4, 2015 at 10:03 PM
If the current system is so unpopular and repressive why then do you have voter turnouts as good as if not even better than most western countries in eections?,as for the IRGC&basiji I guess that according to you any country with an army,national guard and police is a dictatorship,which would mean petty much every country on earth,and as for the idiotic claim that iran is a theocracy it that were true there would be no voting,no political parties,no public participation in government and no non clerics,in short it would look like an isis caliphate and iran is as far from that as you can get
"you never state what exactly you would replace it with"
Yeah,it's a bit like asking,what do you replace a NAZI occupying regime with,right?
The "good voter turnouts" (relying on regime claims, since there are no independent election bodies in the IRI) are outdone by the really good voter turnouts of Cuba and North Korea....By the way, can you please name me a single figure at any level (local or national) within the ruling regime who is not a follower of Emam Khomeini? Are you suggesting that the regime isn't repressive and criticism of the Supreme Leader-for-Life is allowed, that the regime doesn't dictate the details of what people can eat, drink, wear, etc? That there is freedom of and from religion, freedom of speech, press, and assembly? I guess the IRI is a democratic, non-repressive regime with legal equality for men and women and separation of religion and state. Good to know.
I agree with the statement that questions who will replace the current cronies and then who replaced the previous ones? Does it help if if successive corrupt dictatorial governments are replaced in a cycle in a culture that does not have democratic values or does not value them? Well this is a fundamental question that is never discussed openly as far as I know among Iranians. How do you change a culture built on deceit and pretension? It does not matter who is in charge. If you do not have strong institutions’ to support a democratic government, it won’t work.
In short like many things it will take time but can be achieved. It is akin to change that happened in Victorian England whereby the virtues like honesty, accountability, and respect were placed above self-interest. In Iran there is no notion of tolerance and respect to others’ opinions. If there is one it is normally made up of superficial Taarofat and common (avam) culture. Islam has not helped either. It has added sheer intolerance, deceit in the name of avoidance, and treating anyone who is different from one be it female, other religious minorities or anyone different as second class to an already malaise culture. We Iranians have a self centred view of ourselves as if history has cheated us and we should have been treated much better and by deduction we deserve much better. We are supposed to be the cradle of civilisation but if you walk into any street in Iran, you will see people emptying their rubbish into water flows (jouy/ganat) next to where they have shops and houses. This is nothing new. One of the ways the sociologist have identified as indicative of law abiding is the way people drive. When people drive, they are expected to follow rules and regulations and give way to others where expected. You project that to Iranian roads and you can see for yourself, the dismal failure. I think the common terminology for it is Khar-to-khar!
I still believe that Khatami tried to address some of these points. The notion of Civil Society and respect for the Law. Also we have to remember that great majority of Iranians are lower classes and as much as we dislike to draw the line, these classes have no faith in the law (to some extend justifiably) because they believe the law is there to protect the wealthy classes (Agazadeh). Most of the nouveau rich in Iran (Gadazadeh) these days are from these classes as well. They are the ones that have amassed fortunes. Twenty years ago they did not have a car in their family and now they are driving some of the most expensive cars in the World. The middle class and educated classes by and large have left Iran. The towns are full of newcomers who speak with village (atraf) dialects. Thus there has been a great shift in demography as well. With that they have brought their own culture as well. Those people tend to be far more gullible and easier to fall into the ideology that is being preached by the regime. They support the regime because they get preferential deals and hands out and they are the ones coached everywhere to support the regime.
I have thus come to conclusion that short of “let us start from square one”, nothing is going to change I am afraid.
I have been to Iran few times since revolution. You will notice that the whole mentality has changed. The outlook has changed. An Iranian living in the West is miles away from an average man in a street in Iran. We cannot impose western solutions on Iranian culture. It just does not work. Full stop. Shah tried it and it ended up with these clowns! Now what else is there to try. Who can be planted to represent Iranian peoples genuine desire? no one.
Good. You cannot impose western solutions on Iranian culture. Why should you?
I really yearn for a new world order in which all nations will live according to what they see best. Not to be dragged along by Hollywood sub-culture, usury, militarism an all that. To me Iran represents the only hope from the degenerate thinking/ culture we are in.
Anon 5:22 AM....."and as for the idiotic claim that iran is a theocracy it that were true there would be no voting,"
Where have you been to for the past 36 years? Iran has been taken over by mullahs (religious clerics) and has been ruled by them for the past 36 years! The country is a dictatorial theocracy that uses sharia law and headed by a religious dictator for life,Khamenei (a cleric in case you've forgotten). People voted in Saddam's Iraq! The pretence of "voting" used by such regimes is only a smokescreen to legitimize their stranglehold on a country. From what ever angle one looks at it,Iran is ruled by a dictatorial theocracy.
AnonymousJanuary 6, 2015 at 6:03 AM
There is little comparison between saddams one party baathist state with its one candidate and 100% voter turnouts and irans multi party system and its voter turnouts which were comparable with western democracies,if voting in iranian elections is to use your words nothing but a "pretense" then why do so many iranians vote? and if its just a "smoke screen" then why dont we see the same sort of rigged 100% voter turnouts that we saw in iraq?
Anon@January 5, 2015
Once again you`ve dodged the question,you seem to know what you dont like ie the existing system but you seem quite unable to articulate what you dont like about it and what you would replace it with,also irans current system bares no resemblance to the nazis and their single party state,nor is iran occupied by nazis or anyone else for that matter,as for what replaced the nazis in west germany it was a multi party democratic system thats not too different from irans
I think being ruled by the religion imposed by 7th century Arabian invaders and their "Archangel Gabriel-delivered holy book", as interpreted by the Supreme Leader-for-Life (who serves as the Hidden Emam's earthly representative, pending his return from "ghaybat"), is the only hope for the 21st century. How is that for "a new world order"? It's amazing that "Iranian culture" (which spans over 2500 years) somehow managed to go without mollah rule for all but 35 years? Btw, aren't you currently living in a Western country and using a million-and-one Western technologies? I guess all that nasty "sub-culture, usury, militarism an all that" isn't enough to persuade you to leave the West for the mollahs' "new world order" back in the Glorious Islamic Republic?
Anon 6:31 PM.....I understand where you're coming from.I hope you realize that Khatami is still one of the clowns that make up the circus that is the "islamic republic"? As long as this circus exists in Iran the regime won't allow genuine parliamentary democracy and civil rights to form over there.Don't forget,it is the disenfranchised middle classes and educated students that hold the key to Iran's future.The so-called lower classes will follow once they realized there is a better deal elswhere.Even the lower classes know that the system imposed in Iran is corrupt and vicious.Things will come to a head in any country that has a style of regime like it is in Iran.Thirty six years is a long time,and during this time the regime has shown its true colours by their actions against the Iranian people.People can see this and know from within that the system is unreformable.The time for change will come and the people involved in those coming events will know what is required to do for Iran and its future.
Explain to me what is Iranian culture? Don't forget lots of the ideas that went to the west came from countries like Iran.So what's the problem if Iran can claim those ideas back with added interest? After all Iran is run by a foreign ideology by the name of islam.Wasn't that imposed on Iran during the moslem invasions 1400 years ago,as well as 400 years ago by the forceful transformation of Iran into shiasm?
Good example is Japanese and South Korean culture with their clever use of western solutions.
Oh yes, the Islamic Republic is a multiparty democracy, alright. Secularists and liberals are free to speak, write, organize, and run for office. There is freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly. There is separation of religion and state. There is legal equality for men and women. There are no major restrictions on matters of dress and basic personal choice. There is no Supreme Leader-for-Life who has the final say (and who can only be a Shia cleric). Good to know.
The Islamic Republic's "elections" (which obviously don't apply to the man who has the final word, the Supreme Leader-for-Life) are neither free nor democratic nor supervised by any independent election bodies (domestic or international). All of the so-called "parties" are Shia Islamist fundamentalist parties loyal to the deep political "thought" of Emam Khomeini ("Khatt-e Emam) and velayet-e faqih. More here:
http://www.iranrights.org/library/document/604
Anon, January 5, 2015 at 6:31 PM, I commend you for your reasonably detailed analysis of Iran. I concur that Iran's problems are as much ideological as cultural. Iran’s isolation is not going to end soon as they are many parties who benefit from the current sanctions. Internally, sanctions provide golden opportunity for the IRGC military-financial mafia to siphon off most of the petrodollars that are earned by selling oil and gas through the back door, which consumes a large part of the economy. Externally, any agreement with Iran over the nuclear issue will have to overcome obstacles created by the neo-cons, Israeli, Saudi Arabian and other despotic regimes in the Persian Gulf. The situation with oil at $50 per barrel has got far worse as Saudi Arabia has systematically driven the price of oil down in order to punish Iran and Russia for its failure in Syria and Iraq. This lower oil prices has also benefitted Western economies but badly hurts the Russian and Iranian economies. The hope of Saudi Arabia is to reduce the ability of Iran and Russia to intervene in other countries.
I believe that US does not want politics of Middle-East dominated by Saudi Arabia and Israel “only”. They have to keep a balance. With regard to Syria and Iraq, there is stalemate and frankly they prefer the current situation on the ground to ISIL taking over financed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and facilitated by Turkey. Thus any rapprochement between US and Iran will genuinely benefit both. However, ideologically this is close to impossible. Since the current regime is largely legitimised itself “in the eyes of Iranians” by its opposition to the U.S., any normalization of relations with US will create an identity crisis for this regime. In short the regime in Iran is stuck between hard place and Rock. If Khamenei dies, then there is a chance that Rafsanjani and Rouhani may create a transition period to move away from radicalism. Although as of today, I cannot see how this circle can be squared.
Anon 8:54 AM
It's a bit like in pre-war Germany with Hitler as the Fuhrer with a NAZI constitution which only allows NAZI members in the Reichstag.So just imagine people like Goebels,Himmler,Goring forming so-called "multi party system" swearing allegiance to their fascist fuhrer and the NAZI belief system.This is the way that Iran has been run in the past 36 years.Some misguided people think by forming "multi party system" and throwing a piece of torn paper into a ballot box means that it is a democracy.It simply doesn't work like that.One more thing regarding the "voter turnouts".We all know that a large percentage of them have to go and vote because of stamp on their card or some type of harassment against the government employees,students and military and their family members.Bottom line is,Iran is under a occupying religious dictatorship and Supreme Leader for life is its modern day fuhrer.
Anon 9:15 AM...."irans current system bares no resemblance to th nazis and their single party state,nor is iran occypied by nazis or anyone else for that matter"
Your right,the current system in Iran zamin is far worse than the nazis.Because the islamo fascists hate Iran and Iranians.While at least the nazis loved Germany and Germans.The islamic occupiers are just that occupiers.Because of their total disdain towards Persian language,culture and past history which pre-dated islam by thousands of years and still going stronger than ever. I can't fathom how you can possibly compare a fascist religious state that uses intimidation tactics,torture and executions by basiji and IRGC units to a free modern state like West Germany.Iran today is occupied by a combination of NAZI and the Spanish inquisition system rolled into one.
That is the silliest argument I`ve heard,nazi germany abolished political parties and elections so there is no comparison between irans multiparty system and nazi germany and as for voter turnouts why then do we see turnouts comparable with western electoral turnouts?,if people were forced or "harassed" in to voting one would expect to either see large numbers of defaced papers as a protest or 100% turnouts of the sort that we saw in iraq.The bottom line is that most iranians seem to be fairly happy with the IRI system of governance and quite willing to take part in its democratic processes
AnonymousJanuary 7, 2015 at 6:37 PM
I really hate to break this to you but iran has been an islamic nation for hundreds of years,you seem to have a hard time accepting this simple fact that and using idiotic western neologisms and slogans like "islamo fascists" doesnt help your credibility one bit,if iran were truly a "fascist religious state" there would be no elections,political parties,public participation in government or anything like what iran actually has today.The iran of today is not ancient persia thats been occupied by invading muslims as tho it were france in 1940,iran today is an islamic nation populated by muslims who are pretty happy being muslim and who are rightly quite proud of their persian history and they certainly dont see themselves as somehow being less persian because they happen to be muslim
Anon 5:29 AM
The "silliest argument" part comes from your end when you purposefully and misguidedly claim Iran has a multi-party system and is therefore a democracy.A democracy should have independent cheques and balances.A democracy should have multi-party system that allows communists,socialists,nationalists,monarchists and atheists to participate in that system.A democracy hasn't got an answerable religious dictator for life like khamenei. Iran under sharia and islamic hegemony has none of them.The multi-party system that you claim in Iran is a farce run by regime henchmen and khamenei tools.If Iranian people are so happy with this rotten system,then why is it the regime is scared of them by having a separate army called IRGC and basigi goons? Don't tell me they are there to protect the people from road traffic accidents? Which democracy has a dictator for life like khamenei? People can't vote him out of office,can they?
Anon 5:49 AM.....Lots of Iranians are questioning islamic religion due to the barbarity of the occupying islamic theocracy in Iran. A hell of lot of people have renounced that ideological carousel.The best thing that could have happened to Iran was for khomeini to show the true face of that occupying islamo fascist ideology.The days are numbered for this occupying force that is called islam in Iran.After all its been nearly 1000 years of sunni islam and than followed by 400 years of its offspring shia islam that has occupied Iran.The forces of occupying islam in Iran are armed to the teeth.But never the less they will be defeated by the bare hands of Iranians in the very near future.
Anonymous 8:41 PM
So according to you any day now iran will become an officially atheist nation!?,or perhaps iran will adopt something more "persian" like Zoroastrianism,frankly I think thats about as likely as the us becoming a muslim nation.You also seem unable or unwilling to differentiate between islam and political islam,even those muslims who are opposed to the government/iri are not going to suddenly give up being muslims in protest just because the iri is a muslim government and even if you saw the removal of the government/iri that wouldnt mean the removal of islam from iran I think that you will find that your views are in a very small minority and thats putting it mildly
First of all my views was made more clearer by listening to the views of the average Iranian. If Iranians had a real choice they would not choose a religious based dictatorial regime such as in todays Iran.Hence that's why the regime has separate army like IRGC and Basij to make sure they stay in power.Secondly,religion should not be in politics.Religion should not be worn on ones sleeve.Religion should be a private matter. France is a christian country so is Germany and England but it doesn't mean that they should have a dictatorial christian theocracy based regimes run by the priesthood,does it? Well this is what has happened in Iran,run by a bunch of backward priests that hark back to 1400 years ago. And anyway Zoroastrian religious practices are still conducted by whole Iranian population (Norooz) (Charshambeh sooree) (seezdah bedar) etc...Even a mullahs son once told me that "Iranians are not muslim but Zoroastrian".The fact is the islamic clergy must return to the mosque and stay out of politics and social develepment of Iranian society.If they don't then the consequences will be very costly for their well being. "Putting it mildly",your views seem to reflect the regime's point of view. And it is a well known fact that the regime and their followers are a very tiny minority in Iran.
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