Iran: Intelligence Minister Warns Against Election Turmoil
Iran’s Intelligence Minister has warned the public that the country’s “enemies” are trying to disrupt the coming elections.
With parliamentary elections slated for March, the Fars News Agency quoted Heydar Moslehi saying: “The enemy’s psychological warfare against Islamic Iran takes shape through various dimensions and roots.”
The Intelligence Minister previously had reported the arrest of several “election disruptors.” Moslehi accused the detainees of having links to foreign forces bent on disrupting the elections.
He listed the “enemy’s” methods for derailing the elections: stoking political differences, questioning the transparency of the elections process, trying to bring political debate into the streets, spreading mistrust of the system, creating instability and intensifying economic sanctions.
The parliamentary elections are the first national elections to be held since the controversial presidential elections of 2009, which triggered mass street demonstrations against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory, which protesters claimed was fraudulent.
The reformists, who have been isolated and severely persecuted since the 2009 elections, have announced that they will not run in the March elections. Reformist figures have spoken out against the government’s refusal to release political prisoners and their persistence in keeping opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi under house arrest.
