Revolutionary Guards Expand Defense Plans

Activation of “Passive Defense” in Sensitive Areas

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Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Islamic Republic’s Passive Defense Council said, “By the ‎end of the year, passive defense mechanism would be activated in all provinces and ‎sensitive areas in the country.” ‎

Following this news and Jalali’s remarks, the National Passive Defense Council’s news ‎office added, “The Majlis tasked the government to cover vulnerabilities in the country’s ‎infrastructure (in face of a potential military strike against Iran) in the Fourth ‎Development Plan and we have devised guidelines based on that. According to these ‎guidelines, a deputy is assigned in every executive organization as that organization’s ‎passive defense representative. In all executive organizations the requisite planning in ‎this regard has been implemented.” ‎

In military language, Passive Defense is referred to the totality of structural and ‎infrastructural measures taken to minimize damage from a potential enemy attack and ‎reduce the enemy’s precision and targeting capabilities, thus imposing higher costs on the ‎enemy. As such, factors such as concealment, camouflage, deception, division, ‎dispersion and protection are emphasized in passive defense. ‎

Passive Defense has become among the Islamic Republic’s defense plans, and according ‎to the head of the National Passive Defense Council, “The council’s first priority is to ‎disperse passive defense capabilities in the provinces.” He added, “We hope to activate ‎passive defense measures in all of the country’s provinces and sensitive areas by the end ‎of the year.” ‎

Noting the reduction in damages from a potential military attack, Jalali stressed that ‎‎“research and the implementation of programs aimed at reducing organizational ‎vulnerabilities” and while cautioning the necessity of defending such targets as nuclear ‎centers, radio and television, the Interior Ministry, provinces, Ministry of Energy, ‎Ministry of oil, Ministry of Communications and the central bank, said, “210 projects ‎have been briefed for these organizations. We also have good plans for safeguarding ‎nuclear facilities.”‎

According to the head of the National Passive Defense Council, thus far “170 billion ‎Tomans” have been set aside for such programs and “with the president’s cooperation, ‎plans are under way to dedicate 5 percent of provincial budgets to protect the ‎infrastructure of each province.” ‎

New Deputy in Every Election

Rumors of Deputy Interior Minister's Dismissal ‎

Rumors of the imminent dismissal of Deputy Interior Minister commander Afshar are heard at a ‎time when the ninth administration seems to be close to setting a new record, according to which, ‎in the three years since the administration came to power, each year a new deputy has found his ‎way to the tall skyscraper on Fatemi Street. Thus far, the ninth administration has administered ‎every election under a different Deputy Interior Minister, who is, in effect, the chief elections ‎administrator. ‎

News sources close to the administration, including Fars news agency, Reporters' Club and ‎Borna news agency announced on Friday that commander Ali Reza Afshar, the interior ‎ministry's political deputy, has resigned from his post at the ministry and left the ministry. ‎Nevertheless, on Saturday Ali Reza Afshar told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) that he ‎has not resigned from his post. He also noted that "I had the pleasure to serve in the ninth ‎administration by Mr. Ahmadinejad's invitation and will continue to be of service for as long as ‎and at position he deems appropriate." ‎

Although, as predicted twenty days ago by the Tabnak news website, conflicts of opinion ‎between Afshar and newly appointed Interior Minister Kordan may be sufficient for Afshar's ‎departure, yesterday's remarks by this former Revolutionary Guards commander were of interest ‎in their own right. In reiterating that he was invited to serve by the president, Afshar was ‎insinuating that his presence at the ministry is outside the boundary of authority of the new ‎Interior Minister. Nevertheless, Kargozaran newspaper reported on Saturday that denials of ‎Afshar's resignation are not "serious," noting that, in previous instances as well, whenever an ‎administration official was removed, denials were issued shortly prior to that official's removal. ‎

Now rumors of Deputy Interior Minister's removal are abound even though the position is the ‎most important deputy-position in all ministries, because it oversees election administration. ‎Afshar's change would mark the third change in deputy Interior Minister position in the past ‎three years. The first Interior Minister of the ninth administration was Mostafa ‎Pourmohammadi, who initially appointed Ali Jannat as the ministry's political deputy, but when ‎it was found that Jannati had supported Hashemi Rafsanjani in the presidential election, ‎agitations began to remove him. As a result, Ahmadinejad personally picked the Deputy Interior ‎Minister, so that, on the eve of the third round of city council elections, Ali Jannati was ‎appointed as Iran's ambassador to Bahrain and a figure closer to Ahmadinejad administered the ‎elections. As a result of these developments, and on the eve of the third round of city council ‎elections, Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, Ahmadinejad's high advisor and confidant was appointed ‎as Deputy Interior Minister in September of 2006. ‎

This time, Samareh Hashemi's removal was initiated by the president's order, and Mostafa ‎Pourmohammadi said, "We would have liked to continue our cooperation with Mojtaba Samareh ‎Hashemi as Deputy Interior Minister but due to pressure of work and his position as president's ‎advisor, Dr. Ahmadinejad did not agree with his stay at the Interior Ministry." ‎

As such, on the eve of the third elections administered by the Ahmadinejad government - eighth ‎Majlis elections - in August 2007, Commander Alireza Afshar was appointed as the ministry's ‎political deputy; the same person whose dismissal rumors are now abound in the media. ‎

Ali Kordan, who last week approved the resignation of the Interior Ministry's reconstruction ‎communication deputy, is yet to react to news of Afshar's resignation and only told reporters, "I ‎know nothing about this issue." ‎

Stop Lying!

Nateq-Nouri’s Criticism against the Administration:

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By:Alborz Mahmoudi

Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, head of Supreme Leader’s Audit Office, blasted on Saturday ‎those who purport to communicate with or know of the time of return of Imam Zaman, ‎the twelfth Shia Imam currently in occultation, calling them liars. The remarks were ‎made despite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated claims in various speeches that his ‎administration is guided by “Imam Zaman.” On at least one occasion, Ahmadinejad has ‎claimed that the time for Imam Zaman’s return is near. ‎

Imam Zaman is the twelfth Shia Imam. According to Shia theology, he is in occultation ‎like the Messiah, and will return at “the end of time” to reform the earth. In his critical ‎remarks, uttered at Ayatollah Khomeini’s burial site, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri said, ‎‎“Anyone who says I know when Imam Zaman is returning is lying, and anyone who ‎claims to be communicating or know that Imam Zaman is returning in near future days or ‎years is talking nonsense. Then it is mentioned that some are falsely claiming to have ‎seen or communicated with Imam Zaman. Anyone who claims that I have seen Imam ‎Zaman or communicate with him and he has given me messages is a liar.” ‎

This prominent conservative figure who had previously criticized the Ahmadinejad ‎Administration’s economic policies, reserved the last part of his speech for more pointed ‎criticism of the ninth administration’s religious claims, noting, “There is no doubt that ‎this country is the country of Imam Zaman, a Shia country that is a Islamic Republic and ‎governed based on Islamic principles; but that does not mean that everything we do is ‎coming from him [Imam Zaman]. Why are we spending on Imam Zaman’s behalf?” ‎

In an implicit reference to Ahmadinejad’s remarks earlier noting “Imam Zaman’s ‎management” of the country’s affairs, Nateq-Nouri said, “When our actions are carried ‎out in Imam Zaman’s name, people say that perhaps he would manage things the same ‎way when he returns; therefore this is better. I take this issue to be very dangerous.” ‎

Nateq-Nouri’s criticism of the ninth administration’s religious ideas on Saturday is ‎publicized despite the fact that, ever since coming to power, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ‎touted “speeding up Imam Zama’s return” as the political agenda of his administration. ‎Nonetheless, serious rifts emerged between him and major Islamic jurists last spring ‎when, at a speech in Mashhad, Ahmadinejad promised that he “sees Imam Zaman’s hand ‎in all affairs.” He even attributed his “successful” appearance at Columbia University – ‎despite “obstacles” manufactured by American politicians - to Imam Zaman’s help and ‎claimed that 500 million people watched his speech on television. ‎