Interview: Iranian party vows to defy ban

Despite the hardline judiciary's ban on the Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI), it will continue its political activity till the final ruling is issued, the movement's leader told Gulf News in an exclusive interview here yesterday.

Ebrahim Yazdi, former Iranian foreign minister, who recently returned from the U.S. to face trial at home, condemned the heavy-handed sentences against his fellow activists and called them 'unexpected' and 'far from wisdom'.

He said: "While Iran is seriously threatened by foreigners, especially the U.S., this sort of political behaviour will exacerbate the situation and add fuel to the fire."

He stressed on the importance of the reformists' strategy to quit the government and said it will be fully successful if it is adopted by all key ruling politicians and administrative figures, including President Mohammed Khatami.

"If Khatami feels that he cannot actualise his promises because of right-wing violations, he should let people know and make it crystal-clear," he said.

Iran's hardliners, amid growing fears of U.S. plans to change the Islamic regime, demonstrated their tight grip over power in suppressing their opponents by sentencing 33 pro-reform nationalists to up to 10 years in prison last week.

Charging them mainly with trying to overthrow "the holy system" of the Islamic republic "with new methods," Tehran's Revolutionary Court also outlawed their 40-year-old party.

Yazdi also referred to one of the accusations of propaganda against the regime saying, "they unfairly accuse us of propaganda against the country while their verdict is more harmful than any propaganda against the system, since it shows Iran as a non-democratic country."

Referring to the current political situation in Iran, he said the country is passing through a 'historic' turning point.

He severely criticised Iran's present foreign policy. He said: "We didn't benefit from the atmosphere created after the terrorist attacks of September 11 in the U.S. and simply missed the opportunity in Afghanistan crisis in which Iran could have played an important role."

The Iranian opposition leader added the U.S. will never trust Iran's internal political factions of not including reformists, its party or the conservatives; instead it is looking for some external alternatives.

Pointing to highly probable U.S. attack on Iraq Yazdi said, "Apparently decision makers of future Iraq have totally ignored Iran although we have long borders with it and any changes in Iraq's political system potentially can threaten Iran's national security."

He seriously believed that the U.S. is negotiating with Kurds in northern Iraq and with the Shi'ite in the South to overthrow Saddam.

Yazdi opined before any attack on Iraq, the U.S. at first will deal with Iran since America has not been able to attract the Arab League's support to attack Iraq as yet, while Iran does not have any strategic partner in the region.

"On the contrary to the Gulf War II, this time the Arab countries are seriously backing Iraq and are against any military campaign there, while Zionists are trying to persuade the U.S. to tackle with Iran's case first. So we are in predicament," Yazdi said.