Bill Samii

Also by Bill Samii

• August 01, 2006

  Iran: Preparing For A Defining Election

  Only clerics may serve on the Assembly of Experts (seen here meeting in September 2005) (Fars) WASHINGTON, August 1, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Buoyed by success in municipal, legislative, and presidential elections in recent years, fundamentalists associated with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad have now set their sights on the Assembly of Experts, the popularly elected body of 86 clerics that supervises and selects Iran's supreme leader.

• July 31, 2006

  Iran Steps Up Support

  Groups of Iranian volunteers have been heading to Lebanon to help Hizballah fight against Israel. Iranian clerics have stepped up calls for financial and other support for Lebanon.

• July 24, 2006

  Vocal In Support Of Hizballah, Iranians Go To Lebanon

  The Islamic Republic of Iran has served as an ideological inspiration for Hizballah since the Lebanese militant group's creation in 1982, and Tehran acknowledges that it supports the organization morally and politically.

• July 21, 2006

  Weak Economy Challenges Populist President

  The government of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is wrestling with unemployment and inflation in a bid to fulfill the president's populist campaign slogans.

• July 17, 2006

  Tehran Playing A Key Role

  WASHINGTON, JULY 17, 2006 -- As the conflict initiated by Hizballah's seizure of two Israeli soldiers and killing of another eight in a cross-border raid on July 12 continues, many observers are voicing concern that other regional actors -- notably, Iran and Syria -- will be drawn into the conflict.

• July 11, 2006

  Concerns Arise Of Secretive Society's Resurgence

  Statements by the president and a report of recent arrests have contributed to speculation that the clandestine Hojjatieh Society is making a comeback. Could that include a run for Iran's supreme leadership?

• June 29, 2006

  Iran: New Foreign Policy Council Could Curtail Ahmadinejad's Power

  Former Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi will head the new council (Fars) The creation in Iran this week of a foreign policy council connected with the Supreme Leader's Office may reflect a desire to balance the brash and inexperienced foreign affairs apparatus of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad with the more measured input of elder statesmen. It could also this could be a sign of the Iranian leadership's outright dissatisfaction with the Ahmadinejad team. A third possibility is that the new council will serve as a back-channel foreign policy instrument. Coming on the heels of Washington's willingness to take part in multilateral talks with Tehran on the nuclear issue, the creation of this council could have profound implications on Iran-U.S. relations.

• June 26, 2006

  Narcotics Supply Reduced, But Iran And Afghanistan Still Suffer

  Global opium production reportedly fell last year. However, Afghan opium production could be on the rise. That would have a strong impact on Iran, which suffers from drug crime and abuse problems.

• June 24, 2006

  Iran: Tehran Presses For 'Talks Without Preconditions'

  Solana (left) with Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki in Tehran earlier this month (epa) WASHINGTON, June 24, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana visited Tehran in early June to submit an international proposal that purportedly calls on Iran to suspend its uranium-enrichment activities in exchange for various incentives until international inspectors confirm that the country's nuclear program has no military applications. Since then, there has been speculation on the nature of the proposal formulated by China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, although official confirmation has not appeared.

• June 19, 2006

  Diplomatic Shuffle Leaves Vexing Question

  Tehran is expected to dispatch new ambassadors to London and Paris as part of a diplomatic shuffle that began shortly after President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's inauguration.

• June 16, 2006

  Iran: Opium Cultivation Makes A Return

  (AFP) Iranian authorities capture more opiates than any other country in the world, but officials there say they have yet to develop a counternarcotics strategy. That approach has arguably contributed to the fact that opium cultivation, once thought to have been wiped out in Iran, has resumed. Moreover, drug-related security problems are increasing. It is more than merely a policy problem, as Iranian officials say unemployment is a major reason why people turn to poppy cultivation and drug smuggling. Without a counternarcotics strategy -- and until the country reins in double-digit unemployment and rampant underemployment -- Iran will be unable to win its war on drugs.

• June 12, 2006

  Iran: Tehran Mulls International Community's Nuclear Offer

  (RFE/RL) On the day that Tehran received an international proposal intended to resolve the continuing crisis over Iran's nuclear program, Iran resumed some of its problematic nuclear activities. Most of Iran's top officials say the international proposal will be considered carefully, but some legislators and other officials have already stated their opposition to halting uranium enrichment.

• June 02, 2006

  Iran: Authorities Detain Student Activists

  Students at Sharif University in Tehran protest the burial of Iran-Iraq war veterans on their campus on March 13 (Courtesy Photo) As unrest among ethnic Azeris in Iran settles down --> http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/05/d11e08d4-32e7-4de5-9e8f-ab2971130928.html , disturbances involving university students are picking up. In the past week several student leaders have been detained by plainclothes security personnel and are being held at unknown locations. Such incidents follow protests triggered by the Iranian government's increasing interference in campus affairs. There are roughly 2.4 million university students in Iran, and student affairs will therefore have an impact on national politics for some time.

• June 02, 2006

  Can Tehran Change Course Now?

  Iranian officials have repeatedly appealed to nationalism on the nuclear issue. Reversing course now would be hard to explain to the Iranian people.

• May 25, 2006

  Lebanon: Newest UN Resolution Rankles Syria, Hizballah, Iran

  Iran's Foreign Minister Mottaki said the resolution violates international law (epa) WASHINGTON, May 25, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- A new UN Security Council resolution notes Syria's negative influence on Lebanese affairs, and it indirectly refers to Iranian influence. Damascus and Tehran -- as well as the radical Islamic group Hizballah -- have criticized the resolution, while it got a mixed reception in Lebanon and Washington welcomed it.

• May 09, 2006

  Iran Confronts An Ethnically Diverse Population

  A familiar pattern of oppression seems to be emerging in Tehran's handling of disturbances in ethnically Arab, Kurdish, and Baluchi areas, despite calls to ease tensions.

• May 02, 2006

  Iran, Hizballah Counter U.S. Accusations Terrorism

  Tehran has responded to a U.S. State Department report that calls Iran "the most active state sponsor of terrorism" by suggesting that the U.S. is not qualified to pass such a judgment.

• April 25, 2006

  Analysis: Rivalries Heat Up Among Iran's Conservatives

  A woman holds a poster of Iranian President Ahmadinejad (left) and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (file photo) (epa) An intense rivalry among Iran's conservative parties is being overshadowed by the nuclear issue, as well as by global concerns over the country's support for terrorism and its interference in other countries' affairs. This rivalry will intensify with the approach of fall elections --> http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/12/4aa7394f-cf9d-461d-8f67-4fc2856f2fa5.html for an 86-member clerical body -- the Assembly of Experts -- and for municipal councils. These elections will also affect issues that most interest the international community.

• April 24, 2006

  UN Draws Attention To Tehran's Role In Lebanon

  Iranian involvement in Lebanese affairs has been an issue since the early 1980s, and it came in for renewed attention last week in a United Nations report.

• April 14, 2006

  The Goals Of Hosting Intifada Conference

  Strategic, ideological, and political factors explain why Tehran is currently hosting a conference in support of the Palestinians.

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