Ahmadinejad's foreign policy

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Volumn 27, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 423-447

  Kazemzadeh, Masoud ^a  

^a SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS; FOREIGN POLICY; POLITICAL POWER;

ASIA; EURASIA; IRAN; MIDDLE EAST; NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 35148829400     PISSN: 1089201X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1215/1089201X-2007-015     Document Type: Article

References (134)

1. "Text of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Speech," New York Times, 30 October 2005.
2. The text of Ahmadinejad's letter to Bush is available at the official presidential site in both Persian, www.president.ir/ahmadinejad/ cronicnews/1385/02/19/index-f.htm#b4,
3. and English, www.president.ir/eng/ahmadinejad/cronicnews/1385/02/19/ index-e.htm (accessed 20 September 2006).
4. Jason Burke, "Meet the West's Worst Nightmare," Observer, 15 January 2006, www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/ o,,1686793,00.html.
5. 3 refers to Britain, France, and Germany, which were selected by the European Union countries to represent them in negotiations with Iran beginning in 2003.
6. Michael Theodoulou, "President Will Be Further Isolated by Own Goal," Times (London), 28 October 2005, www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1846787,00.html;
7. Dariush Zahedi and Ali Ezzatyar, "Iran's Top Mullah May Be on Our Side," Los Angeles Times, 8 January 2006;
8. Gary Thomas, "Iran Nuclear Moves Seen as Calculated Action," Voice of America, 12 January 2006, www.payvand.com/news/06/jan/1082.html;
9. Barbara Slavin, "In Iran, Revolution Is a Presidential Priority," USA Today, 9 March 2006.
10. Theodoulou, "President Will Be Further Isolated."
11. Thomas, "Iran Nuclear Moves."
12. Asghar Schirazi and Said Amir Arjomand, two of the most astute and influential scholars of Iran, use the term hierocracy for the ruling system in Iran. By hierocracy they refer to "the rule of a particular social class, the clergy." See Asghar Schirazi, The Constitution of Iran: Politics and the State in the Islamic Republic, trans. John O'Kane (London: I. B. Tauris, 1997), 5;
13. and Said Amir Arjomand, The Turban for the Crown (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). Because the ruling elites include nonclerics, I use oligarchy, which is a more flexible (and arguably a more appropriate) term. Also see Sharough Akhavi, "Elite Factionalism in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Middle East Journal 41 (1987): 181-201;
14. Arang Keshavarzian, "Contestation without Democracy: Elite Fragmentation in Iran," in Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Regimes and Resistance, ed. Marsha Pripstein Posusney and Michele Penner Angrist (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2005), 63-88;
15. Abbas William Samii, "The Changing Landscape of Party Politics in Iran: A Case Study," Vaseteh: The Journal of the European Society for Iranian Studies 1 (2005): 53-62.
16. For an excellent analysis of the constitution, see Schirazi, Constitution of Iran.
17. Also see the remarks of Asadollah Badamchian on the meanings of dowlat, hokomat, hakemiyat, and nezam as used in Iran; www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-775688&Lang=P.
18. The term grand ayatollah refers to the very top clerics in Shiite Islam; there are about ten such clerics in Iran. Ayatollah refers to a high-ranking cleric in Shiite Islam; in Iran there are several hundred such clerics. Hojatolislam refers to a mid-ranking cleric in Shiite Islam; there are several thousand such clerics in Iran. Most clerics in Iran are not fundamentalist. Figure 1 is adapted (with substantial revisions) from Ervand Abrahamian, "Iran," in Introduction to Comparative Politics, ed. Mark Kesselman, Joel Krieger, and William Joseph (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004).
19. Ramin Jahanbegloo, "The Deadlock in Iran: Pressures from Below," Journal of Democracy 14 (2003): 126-31;
20. and Mehrangiz Kar, "The Deadlock in Iran: Constitutional Constraints," Journal of Democracy 14 (2003): 132-36.
21. See interview with Mohammad-Reza Khatami by the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), 14 May 2006, www.ilna.ir/print.asp?code=306058;
22. also see Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, "Factional Positions on the Nuclear Issue in the Context of Iranian Domestic Politics," Iran Analysis Quarterly 3 (2006): 2-10. The IRI's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was "involved in closed-door talks with the United States in 2001 on the formation of a post-Taliban government for Afghanistan, followed by secret contacts prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq";
23. AFX UK Focus, "Prominent Iranian Diplomat Quits Nuclear Negotiating Team," www.iii.co.uk/news/type=afxnews&articleid= 5426098&subject=economic&action=article.
24. For example, see Hojatolislam Hassan Rouhani's views, Baztab, www.baztab.ir/news/43515.php, posted on 22 July 2006.
25. These views are available at www.baztab.ir.
26. Cited in Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, "The Beloved Great Satan: The Portrayal of the U.S. in the Iranian Media since 9/11," Vaseteh: Journal of the European Society for Iranian Studies 1 (2005): 65.
27. Jomhuri Islami, 1384/5/20 (11 August 2005), cited in Tabaar, "The Beloved Great Satan," 65.
28. Mohammad Kazem Anbarlouie, "The Capital Crime of Western Civilization," Resalat, 30 July 2005, cited in Tabaar, "The Beloved Great Satan," 65.
29. Pejman Karimi, "On the Brink of Collapse," Resalat, 22 August 2005, cited in Tabaar, "The Beloved Great Satan," 65, 76.
30. "Ahmad Jennati: Masir parvandeh hastehi dar do sale gozashte na-dorost bood" ("Ahmad Jennati: The Policy Trend of the Nuclear File in the Past Two Years Was Unsound"), ILNA, 17 February 2006, www.ilna.ir/shownews.asp?code=281793&code1=1.
31. Ibid.; my translation.
32. Ibid.; my translation.
33. Rooz, 8 March 2006, roozonline.com/01newsstory/014520.shtml (accessed March 2006); my translation. (This page is no longer active.)
34. Ibid. This figure is very significant considering that the state media had been mobilized for about three years to portray the nuclear issue as a "nationalist issue," similar to the oil nationalization movement in 1949-53. It shows that the overwhelming majority of the population does not believe in the regime's policies. Nevertheless, the regime has been promoting the line that all Iranians support the regime in its nuclear policy.
35. See, e.g., Kevin Sites's interview with Kazem Jalali, the spokesman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Majlis. Kevin Sites, "Hard Line, Hard Times," 10 January 2006, hotzone.yahoo.com/b/ hotzone/blogs2196 (accessed 12 January 2006). Jalali is a pragmatic hard-liner; that is, he is not as extremist as the Young Conservatives.
36. "Bazdid sar zadeh rais jomhur az 'khate toulid zir daryaee Qadir" ("The Surprise Visit by the President of the Qadir Submarine Production Line"), Mehr News Agency, 13 January 2006, www.mehrnews.com/fa/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=277375 (accessed 14 January 2006); my translation. (This page is no longer active.)
37. Ibid.
38. Babak Dehghanpisheh and Christopher Dickey, "Devoted and Defiant," Newsweek, www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11182457/site/ newsweek (accessed 5 February 2006).
39. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi's Internet site is www.mesbahyazdi.org.
40. See "Aghaz talash-hay Ayatollah Mesbah va hamfekranesh baray hozoor dar entekhabat Khobregan" ("The Starting of Endeavors of Ayatollah Mesbah and His Co-thinkers for the Election of the Assembly of Experts"), Fardanews, fardanews.com/shownews.php?id=15142. Farda is close to the hard-liners.
41. See "Vijegi-hay namzad-hay Ayatollah Mesbah dar entekhabat Khobregan" ("Specifics of Ayatollah Mesbah's Candidates for the Assembly of Experts Election"), Fardanews, 11 March 2006, fardanews.com/ shownews.php?id=17355.
42. See "Gelaye Hashemi va ealam baraat Ahmadinejad" ("Hashemi's Complaints and Declaration of Innocence of Ahmadinejad"), Fardanews, fardanews.com/shownews.php?id=17453,
43. and the complaints about and criticisms of Rafsanjani on his official Web site, www.mesbahyazdi.org (accessed 20 November 2006).
44. Ayatollah Mesbah, "Agar joz ba koshteh shodan natavan chehreh monafeghin va doshmane Islam ra efsha kard, bayad chenin kari kard" ("If the Only Way to Expose the Face of Hypocrites and Enemies of Islam Is to Die, We Have to Engage in This Action"), 2 February 2006, www.mesbahyazdi.org/farsi/speeches/lectures/lectures19.htm; my translation.
45. Ashura refers to the anniversary of the rebellion, defeat, and killing of the third Shiite imam, Hussein, along with seventy-two of his supporters (who included his children, brothers, and other family members) by Yazid's army (which according to Shiite belief numbered more than thirty thousand). The confrontation occurred in Karbala on 1-10 October 680 CE. Shiites believe this episode teaches that Imam Hussein consciously decided to do what amounted to certain death - martyrdom - in order to preserve the true religion. Ashura, thus, is a model teaching the necessity of martyrdom. Every year Shiites mourn this martyrdom in ritualized sermons delivered by clerics. The official Shiite theological perspective is available at the site of the Ahlul Bayt Islamic Mission, www.aimislam.com/ashura/history_background.htm# timeline%20hussayn's%20last%20days
46. The PMOI was a left-wing guerrilla organization that had worked with the fundamentalists against the shah, but it fell out of favor after the revolution and thousands of its members were killed by the fundamentalists. The fundamentalists regard the PMOI as their number one enemy. Mesbah uses the following words: "This is a warning that in the future such a danger may threaten Islamic society. It is not the case that if some had faith for many years, engaged in struggles [for the Islamic revolution], went to prison [under the shah], and participated in wars [against Iraq under Saddam Hussein], that they have been insured and no danger threatens them. Human beings, as long as they live and breathe, are under the danger of deviation. A glorious past is not a guarantee for the future as it was not even the case for the companions of the Prophet." Mesbah, "Agar joz ba koshteh shodan"; my translation.
47. Ibid.; my translation.
48. See Human Rights Watch, "Ministers of Murder: Iran's New Security Cabinet," December 2005, available at hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/ iran1205/.
49. BBC Persian, "Ayatollah Montazeri Naghshe Pour-Mohammadi dar Edamhay sal 67 ra Taeed Kard," 16 December 2005, www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/ story/2005/12/051216_mf_si_hrw.shtml.
50. Grand Ayatollah Montazeri was in line to succeed Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini as supreme leader until about two months before Khomeini's death in June 1989. One of the reasons for his dismissal was his opposition to the massacre of political prisoners in 1988. Although Montazeri was one of the main authors of the fundamentalist constitution, he had opposed Khomeini's declaring the Iran National Front (the main secular liberal democratic organization founded by Mossadegh) "apostate" in June 1981, the rape of thousands of female political prisoners before their executions, mass execution of leftist political prisoners, and the Iran-contra affair. It was his son-in-law and two others close to him who revealed the secret deals between Iran and the United States in 1987, for which all three men were executed. See Grand Ayatollah Montazeri's memoirs available on his Internet site at www.amontazeri.com/Farsi/Khaterat/web/index.htm; on the rape of female political prisoners (622-23), on mass execution of communist and other leftist political prisoners (623-44), and on revealing the Iran-contra affair (607). Information on the opposition to declaring the Iran National Front "apostate" is based on a personal interview (18 November 2000) with a member of the INF's executive committee, who asked to remain anonymous.
51. "Special Report: Review of the Chain Murders after Seven Years," Radio Farda, 29 November and 30 November 2005.
52. Iran Emrooz,www.iran-emrooz.net/index.php?/news2/print/5548 (acccessed 30 November 2005).
53. "Iran's Khatami Backs Anti-U.S. Protest; Points to 'Unfounded Assertions' by U.S. Leaders," CNN, 9 February 2002, edition.cnn.com/ 2002/WORLD/ meast/02/09/iran.warning/index.html (accessed 20 April 2007).
54. Vali Nasr and Ali Gheissari, "Foxes in Iran's Henhouse," New York Times, 13 December 2004. The Economist of London, quoting a reformist newspaper, writes that "90 out of 290 deputies" belong to the IRGC.
55. See "The Revolutionary Guards Are Back," Economist, 17 June 2004. Official fundamentalist regime sources have mentioned that only twelve former IRGC members have become members of the Seventh Majlis, the first instance of the IRGC entering into political leadership.
56. Available at www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-705498&Lang=P; my translation. On 29 March 2006 the Security Council passed a "presidential statement" that called for Iran's "re-establishing full, sustained suspension of uranium-enrichment" and requested a report in thirty days from the IAEA director general on Iran's compliance;
57. U.N. Security Council, www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8679.doc.htm. On 28 April 2006 IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei sent the report to the Security Council stating that Iran had not complied with the presidential statement.
58. See "Report on Iran Nuclear Safeguards Sent to Agency's Board and UN Security Council," 28 April 2006, www.iaea.org/News Center/News/ 2006/iranreport_sg.html;
59. and "Report by the IAEA Director General: Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in Iran," 28 April 2006, www.payvand.com/news/ 06/apr/1242.html.
60. "Gozaresh kamel ejlas jameae modaresin va olamay gharb keshvar" ("The Complete Report on the Meeting of the Seminary Teachers and Cleric of the West of the Country"), www.isna.ir/Main/ NewsView.aspx?ID=News-705109&Lang=P (accessed 29 April 2006); my translation.
61. Fars News Agency, "Ahmadinejad: If We Want to Administer the World," Iran Emrooz, 5 January 2006, www.iran-emrooz.net/index.php?/ news2/more/6173; my translation.
62. Islamic Republic of Iran, "Address by H.E. Dr. Mahmood Ahmadinejad ... before the United Nations General Assembly, New York, 17 September 2005," www.un.org/webcast/ga/60/statements/iran050917eng.pdf.
63. Ladan Boroumand and Roya Boroumand, "Terror, Islam, and Democracy," Journal of Democracy 13, no. 2 (2002): 5-20;
64. Reza Afshari, Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001);
65. and Ervand Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999).
66. "Text of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Speech."
67. ISNA, "Ahmadinejad: Zeihonist-ha poor-roo hastand" ("Zionists Have a Lot of Nerve"), www.irna.ir/fa/news/view/ menu-151/8408062605123109.htm (accessed 29 October 2005); the last sentence is my translation.
68. "Iran Won't Return to Nuclear Freeze: Ahmadinejad," Agence France-Presse, 30 October 2005.
69. ISNA, "Gozaresh khabar-negaran ISNA az vakonesh maqamat keshvareman be janjal siasi Gharb dar ghebal ezharat Rais Jumhor" ("The Report of ISNA Reporters on the Reaction of Our Country's Officials to the West's Political Grandstanding on the Words of the President"), www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-604079 (accessed 29 October 2005); my translation.
70. Christian Oliver, "Iranians Say Israel Spat Used to Up Atomic Pressure," Reuters, 30 October 2005.
71. IRNA, "Moaven Rais Jumhuri: Mozea enteqadi barkhi doostan baaes taajob ast" ("The Deputy to the President: The Critical Position of Some Friends is Cause for Surprise"), www.irna.ir/ index2.php?option=com_news&task=print&code= 8410105445193957&Itemid=&lang=ar (accessed 31 December 2005); my translation.
72. Gareth Smyth, "Khamenei Comes to PM's Defence," Financial Times, 30 October 2005, news.ft.com/ cms/s/ e4ffa50c-498a-11da-8686-0000779e2340.html.
73. IRNA, "'Hashemi Shahroodi' sokhanan Rais Jumhuri dar bareh Israel raa, tekrar mavazez nezam danest" ("'Hashemi Shahroodi' Regarded the Words of the President to Be Repeating the Positions of the System"), www.irna.ir/fa/news/view/menu-273/8408099865200445.htm (accessed 31 October 2005); my translation.
74. IRNA, "'Larijani': Hemayat jahan Islam, be halle masaleh Felestin monjar mishavad" ("'Larijani': The Support of the World of Islam Will Result in the Solving of the Problem of Palestine"), www.irna.ir/fa/news/view/menu-151/8408061982123707.htm (accessed 29 October 2005); my translation.
75. ILNA interview with Emad Afroogh, 28 December 2005, www.ilna.ir/ shownews.asp?code=266404&code1=1; my translation.
76. Ali Akbar Dareini, "Holocaust Remarks Seen as Iranian Strategy," Associated Press, 17 December 2005.
77. IRNA, "Afroogh: Ahmadinejad modaberaneh toop raa dar zamin gharbi-ha andakht" ("Afroogh: Ahmadinejad Wisely Threw the Ball to the Court of the Westerners"), www.irna.ir/fa/news/view/menu-151/ 8410258572161902.htm (accessed 16 January 2006); my translation.
78. IRNA, "Rahpeimaee rooz jahani Qods baa sodoor qatenameh payan yaft" ("The March of the Global Day of Qods Ended with the Issuing of Resolution"), www.irna.ir/fa/news/view/menu-151/ 8408064887130622.htm (accessed 29 October 2005); my translation (the words in parentheses are in the original, and bracketed words are mine).
79. IRNA, "Ahmadinejad: Zeihonist-ha poor-roo hastand."
80. IRNA, "Zeihonism, tajali apartied dar hezareh sevvom" ("Zionism, The Expression of Apartheid in the Third Millennium"), www.irna.ir/fa/news/view/menu-151/ 8408071710182228.htm (accessed 29 October 2005); my translation.
81. ISNA, "Gozaresh khabar-negaran ISNA az vakonesh maqamat keshvareman be janjal siasi Gharb dar ghebal ezharat Rais Jumhor" ("The Report of ISNA Reporters on the Reaction of Our Country's Officials to the West's Political Grandstanding on the Words of the President"), www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-604079 (accessed 29 October 2005); my translation.
82. IRNA, "Zolnour: masoolan tey hasht sal gozashteh dar moqabel armanhay enqelab kootah amandand" ("Zolnour: The Officials in the Past Eight Years Retreated from the Ideals of the Revolution"), www.irna.ir/fa/news/view/menu-151/8408063561160352.htm (accessed 29 October 2005); my translation.
83. IRNA, "Pour-Mohammadi: negah osulgaraee dar vezarat keshvar ba qovat donbal mishavad" ("Pour-Mohammad: Fundamentalist Perspective Will Be Followed with Strength in the Ministry of Interior"), www.irna.ir/fa/news/view/menu-151/8410248998184920.htm (accessed 15 January 2006); my translation.
84. Ali Akbar Dareini, "Iran Leader: Israel Will Be Annihilated," Associated Press, 14 April 2006.
85. "Iran President Expresses Doubt Holocaust Happened," Reuters, 8 December 2005.
86. "Iranian Leader Denies Holocaust," BBC, 14 December 2005.
87. ISNA, "Sokhanrani vazi olum dar jamea danesh-jooyan basiji" ("The Speech of the Minister of Education in the Meeting of Basij Students"), www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-630378 (accessed 29 December 2005); my translation.
88. "Top Iran Cleric Backs President's Holocaust Remark," Reuters, 16 December 2005.
89. "Ahmadinejad Repeats Holocaust Is a 'Myth,'" AFP, 11 February 2006.
90. Mehr News, "Salgard bi-forough bozorg-dashte yek doroogh bozorg," ("Lackluster Ceremonies for the Anniversary of the Big Lie"), MehrNews.com, 29 January 2006, www.mehrnews.com/fa/ NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=283608. The editorial uses "Jews" and "Zionists" interchangeably and argues that the West, Masons, and Zionists have orchestrated the propaganda to extract concession and support for the Jews.
91. Radio Farda, 27 December 2005.
92. Edwin Black, "Denial of Holocaust Nothing New In Iran; Ties to Hitler Led to Plots against British and Jews," San Francisco Chronicle, 8 January 2006;
93. and Radio Farda, 27 December 2005.
94. "Iran Invites Blair to Holocaust Conference," AFP, 29 January 2006.
95. Iraj Jamshidi, "Touzihat Ahmadinejad be Majles dar bareh Israel" ("Ahmadinejad's Explanations to Majles about Israel"), Rouznameh Shargh, 3 January 2006, www.sharghnewspaper.com/841013/html/index.htm (accessed 4 January 2006). Shargh has been closed by the regime.
96. Ibid.; my translation.
97. Ibid,; my translation.
98. "Hamas Springs to Iran's Defence," Al Jazeera, 15 December 2005, english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ 95E7DFDF-1BD2-4D87-A0A7-6BF1EFA8F402.htm.
99. Ibid.
100. "Hamas Chief Vows to Support Iran," BBC, 15 December 2005, news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4532570.stm.
101. "Iran: After Ahmadinejad, Even Rafsanjani Calls for 'End to Israel,'" AKI News, 12 December 2005, www.adnki.com/ index_2Level.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.239021614&par=0#.
102. At the very time Ahmadinejad wrote the letter, his regime imprisoned moderate nonviolent labor organizer Mansour Asadanlo and the prominent political scientist Ramin Jahanbegloo (on false charges of spying). Not only have nonviolent pro-democracy students such as Ahmad Batebi continued to remain in jail, but large numbers of university students also were arrested in 2006.
103. "Full-Text Letter of Islamic Republic of Iran President to American President," www.president.ir/eng/ahmadinejad/cronicnews/1385/02/19/ index-e.htm (accessed 25 May 2006).
104. Deutsche Welle, 4 April 2006, www2.dw-world.de/persian/iran/ 1-178786.1.html (accessed 5 April 2006). Deutsche Welle is an official German radio program; it broadcasts in many languages including Farsi. My translation is from the Farsi original.
105. For an interesting perspective, see Timothy Garton Ash, "Soldiers of the Hidden Imam," New York Review of Books, 3 November 2005, www.nybooks.com/articles/18390.
106. "Namee Ahmadinejad elham ast" ("Ahmadinejad's Letter is a Divine Inspiration"), www.iran-emrooz .net/index.php?/news2/more/ 8367 (accessed 6 December 2006); my translation.
107. IRNA, "Mashrooh sokhanan Rahbar moaazam enqelab dar hefdahomin salgard ertehal hazrat Imam 'rah'" ("The Complete Speech of the Great Leader of the Revolution on the Seventeenth Anniversary of the Departure of His Highness the Imam"), www.irna.ir/fa/news/view/ menu-151/8503149301170338.htm (accessed 4 June 2006);
108. and Radio Farda,b 4 June 2006; my translations from both sources.
109. Yuen Foong Khong, "Seduction by Analogy in Vietnam: The Malaya and Korea Analogies," in Institutions and Leadership: Prospects for the Future, ed. Kenneth Thompson (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1987), 65-77;
110. reprinted in American Foreign Policy: Theoretical Essays, 5th ed., ed. G. John Ikenberry (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005), 501-11.
111. On hard-liners who have used the Karbala story to mobilize their base, see Fars News Agency, "Danesh-jooyan Irani dar soorat har taarozi dast be eqdam Ashooraii mizanand" ("Iranian Students will Engage in Ashura-Like Actions if There Are Any Aggressions"), www.farsnews.com/printable.php?nn=8411170483 (accessed 26 February 2006); my translation.
112. "Text of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Speech."
113. "Ahmadinejad: kelid halle besiyari az moshkelat emrooz, bazgasht be maktab entezar ast" ("Ahmadinejad: The Key to the Solution of Many of Today's Problems Is a Return to the Ideology of Expectation/ Waiting"), available at www.iran-emrooz.net/index.php?/news2/print/ 4192 (accessed 21 September 2005); my translation.
114. "Ahmadinejad: hokumat Islami maa vazifeii joz tamheed moqadamat baray zohor hazrat Imam Zaman nadarad" ("Ahmadinejad: our Islamic System Has No Duty Except Preparing the Beginnings of the Arrival of the Imam of the Age"), www.iran-emrooz.net/index.php?/ news2/print/4343 (accessed 29 September 2005); my translation.
115. The official Web site of the Jamkaran shrine is www.jamkaran.info.
116. Kamal Tehrani, "Eghdam bi-sabeqeh Parviz Davoodi va heyat dowlat: majeray shegeft angiz nameh moaven aval Rais Jumhur be Imam Zamam (Aaaj) va entekhab Safar Harandi baray andakhtan nameh clar chah Jamkaran" ("The Unprecedented Action of Parviz Davoodi and the Cabinet: The Surprising Events of the Letter of the First Vice President to Imam of the Age (Aaaj) and the Selection of Safar Harandi for Dropping the Letter in the Jamkaran Well"), www.entekhab.ir/print/?ID=6760 (accessed 5 October 2005); my translation.
117. "Majerae rabetey dowlat Ahmadinejad baa Imam Zaman balaa migirad: misaq-tameh heyat vaziran baa Imam Zaman" ("The Events Related to the Relations of Ahmadinejad's Government to the Imam of the Age Surface: The Covenant between the Cabinet and the Imam of the Age"), news.iran-emrooz.net/ index.php?/new5/print/4718 (accessed 18 October 2005); my translation.
118. "Molaqat Dr. Ahmadinejad baa Ayatollah Javadi Amoli" ("Meeting of Dr. Ahmadinejad with Ayatollah Javadi Amoli"), Baztab, baztab.com/news/ 31076.php (accessed 29 November 2005); my translation. The Baztab site is linked to General Mohsen Rezai, former commander of the IRGC. Rezai had been a close ally of Rafsanjani until October 2006.
119. Gareth Smyth and Najmeh Bozorgmehr, "Iran President Had 'Religious Vision' during UN Speech," Financial Time, 28 November 2005.
120. Ibid.
121. Golnaz Esfandiari, "Iran's President Says Light Surrounded Him during UN Speech," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 28 November 2005, www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/11/ 184cb9fb-887c-4696-8f54-0799df747a4a.html.
122. "Ayatollah Meshkini: I Believe That the Twelfth Imam Signed the List of the Members of the Seventh Majlis," ILNA, 29 November 2005, raha.gooya.name/ politics/archives/040178.php; my translation.
123. Margaret Hermann, "Personality and Foreign Policy Decision Making: A Study of Fifty-Three Heads of Government," in Donald Sylvan and Steve Chan, eds., Foreign Policy Decisions Making: Perceptions, Cognition, and Artificial intelligence (New York: Praeger, 1984), 53-80.
124. Ahmadinejad's Web site is www.mardomyar.com.
125. Pam O'Toole, "Iran 'Crackdown on Foreign Films,'" BBC News, 20 October 2005.
126. "Ahmadinejad Meets Radical Palestinian Chiefs in Syria," AFP, 20 January 2006.
127. "Radical Iraqi Shiite Moqtada Sadr Visits Iran," AFP, 22 January 2006.
128. "Iran Detains German and French Tourists," Associated Press, 25 December 2005. An Interview with Mehdi Ibrahimzadeb and an analysis emphasizing the similarity of tactics between the imprisonment of Hoffer and that of the German and French tourists were broadcast on Radio Farda, 25 December 2005.
129. BBC Persian, "Mojazat zandan baray jahan-gardan oropaee bazdasht-shodeh dar aab-hay Iran" ("Prison Sentences for the European Tourists Arrested in Iranian Waters"), 17 January 2006, www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2006/01/printable/ 060117_si-mv-europeans.shtml.
130. "Iran Jails German, French Tourists," AFP, 24 January 2006.
131. For explicit words of Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad, see their remarks on the IAEA referral of Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council delivered on 9 March 2006, "Taakid Rahbar Jumhuri Islami bar eadameh barnamehay atomi" ("The Leader of the Islamic Republic's Emphasis on Continuing the Nuclear Program"), www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2006/03/ 060309_b_nuc_leader-reaction.shtml;
132. and "Ahmadinejad: Qoldorha assebpazir hastand" ("Ahmadinejad: The Bullies Are Vulnerable"), www.bbc.co.uk/ persian/iran/story/2006/03/060309_he-nuclear-reax.shtml.
133. ILNA report on General Mohammad Jaafarl's speech "Political Guides for Basij Resistance Forces," 4 February 2006, www.iina.ir/ shownews.asp?code=277659&code1=1; my translation.
134. I owe this analogy to Lindsey A. French.