海角大神

On eve of presidential vote, Iranian officials keep wary eye on US

The unexpectedly strong showing by a moderate cleric has generated last-minute buzz about Iran's vote tomorrow. But officials are more concerned about US attempts at 'sedition.'

Election fever finally struck Iran in the聽last聽72 hours before聽tomorrow's聽vote to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, amid聽dark warnings about potential "hand of the enemy" efforts to disrupt the vote.

Cleric Hassan Rohani, a former nuclear negotiator and the single candidate of a centrist-reformist coalition, is gaining ground against a slate of five conservative candidates,聽all of them closer聽to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei has聽called for a high turnout to show popular support for the Islamic Republic,聽and he may get that critical boost in participation with the apparent surge for Mr. Rohani. The last fraud-tainted 2009 presidential vote sparked weeks of violent unrest that left scores dead and sparked a crisis of legitimacy that still resonates today.

鈥淵ou will not believe the election buzz in Tehran today鈥� over Rohani, an Iranian journalist told the Tehran Bureau website. 鈥淓veryone was so without hope and talking about not ever voting again, and this morning things have changed 180 degrees. It鈥檚 like someone put something in the water last night and this morning people are just different.鈥澛�

Iranian officials have warned for months that 鈥渢he enemy鈥� is seeking聽to use the election period聽to disrupt their future, subvert the result, and tarnish their nation.

鈥淭he enemies think that there is a silent minority in the country who are opposed to the Islamic Republic,鈥� Khamenei said last week. 鈥淭hey have forgotten the annual rallies [on the 1979 Islamic revolution anniversary]: over the past 34 years, massive numbers of people have always taken to the streets in order to defend the Islamic Republic and shout 鈥榙eath to America.鈥欌赌�

US: This is a 'selection'

Indeed, American officials have not held back their disdain for a process they dismiss as a 鈥渟election鈥� of a candidate loyal to Khamenei, picked undemocratically from a carefully controlled crop of contenders.聽

鈥淔our years ago, the Iranian people spoke out for human rights, basic dignity, and greater opportunity,鈥� the US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman said in testimony before the Senate a month ago. 鈥淭he regime responded by shooting demonstrators in the streets and frightening families in their homes. And today, Iran鈥檚 Guardian Council 鈥撀爑nelected and unaccountable 鈥撀爄s sorting through presidential contenders, eliminating hundreds of candidates.鈥澛�

Amb. Sherman, who is the lead US official in nuclear talks between the Iran and six world powers 鈥� which are stalled with little progress, after nearly 1.5聽years聽鈥� said, 鈥淚 find the regime odious.鈥�

Sherman聽insisted聽that the US was not taking sides in the election, and that US policy was not regime change in Iran. She said she could discuss some measures the US was taking in the run-up to the election聽only聽in classified sessions with lawmakers.

鈥淏ut, in public, we are not only using our virtual embassy to share information, but we are helping to make sure that technology can鈥檛 be jammed so that people have access to cell phones and computers so they know what鈥檚 going on, so that they can use the tools that might be valuable to give them a possibility of a future and of a free and fair election,鈥� said Sherman.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 expect one, but we want to help the Iranian people to be able to speak with the voice that they should have,鈥� Sherman added.

Iran: US fosters 'sedition'

Khamenei seemed to respond on June 4, when he said in a speech, 鈥淚n America and other capitalist countries, if a candidate is not a member of the existing two or three parties and if he is not supported by the mafia of wealth and power and by the Zionist network [pro-Israel lobby], he has no opportunities for campaigning.鈥澛�

Khamenei said that 鈥渇oreign enemies close their eyes to these realities and broadcast false propaganda,鈥� and he vowed that high participation in Iran鈥檚 vote would produce a 鈥渄ecisive and crushing response to all these machinations.鈥�

Iranian security chiefs have stated for months that they are ready for any event sparked by US action, and will not permit a repeat of the 2009 unrest.

Yadollah Javani, head of the political bureau of the Revolutionary Guard, has described the words 鈥渇ree and fair election鈥� as US code for sedition. And this time, no sedition will be allowed to take root, says one Guard commander after another.聽

鈥淚n these dangerous conditions, the [Guard] and聽basij聽[volunteer militia] have been given serious responsibilities to confront the enemies鈥� conspiracies against the Islamic revolution,鈥� said Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Sepehr this week, according to a translation from聽.

鈥淥ne of the least costly methods of fighting the revolution鈥檚 enemies鈥�is the election鈥檚 grand political valor,鈥� said Brig. Gen. Hamid Sarkheyli. 鈥淭he aware, resistant, and brave Iranian nation will blind the greedy eyes of the enemies of the holy system of the Islamic Republic鈥� by voting.

Pointed gun聽

US officials have not held back in their criticism as they did in 2009, when the Obama administration initially聽kept largely quiet about the vote and its violent aftermath聽to avoid jeopardizing聽a tentative US overture聽from Washington聽for some kind of detente with Iran.聽

This time the geopolitical playing field is very different. That 2009 overture came to nothing, and the US and Iran have since then piled more reasons for mutual anger on a generation of mutual hostility.聽

Iran blames the US and Israel for the assassination of five nuclear scientists in Tehran, computer worms like Stuxnet that have infected Iran鈥檚 nuclear program, espionage, and a host of unexplained explosions聽at military sites.聽

Those actions 鈥撀燼long with a US-engineered series of global sanctions against Iran that have helped cripple its economy 鈥撀爓ere akin to pointing a 鈥済un鈥� to Iran鈥檚 head,聽Khamenei said last February, as he ruled out direct US-Iran negotiations.

Meanwhile, the US blames Iran for backing President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in his effort to violently crush a rebellion. The resulting conflict has cost 93,000 lives in more than two years. Washington also blames Iran for a string of small-scale attacks, incidents and plots in India, Georgia, Thailand, Kenya and even Washington.

Regardless of the turnout or the declared result in聽tomorrow's聽vote, Iranians have been left in no doubt about the key role of 鈥渢he enemy."

Khamenei warned Iranians not to vote for candidates who promised to improve ties with the US. "They hope that the election will be lifeless or followed by [sedition]鈥�but the enemies have made a mistake in their calculations because they do not know our nation," he said.