Political circles in Tehran reacted harshly to the publication of a front-page editorial in hardliner Kayhan daily, which warned that Khatami may experience the same fate as Benazir Bhutto.
Yesterday, responding to Kayhan’s editorial, which accused Khatami of participating in the election to derail the process and warned about his assassination, Khatami said, “These accusations have always backfired.”
Khatami recalled, “All widely circulated, important and influential outlets are controlled by a certain political current which sees as its duty to attack competitors.” Noting that these outlets and political currents are controlled by top layers of government, Khatami said, “If there is thinking in top layer of government, these attacks are controllable.”
Repeating Threat Against Khatami
Following the publication of its front-page editorial last Thursday, on Saturday, February 13, in another editorial, Hossein Shariatmadari, the Supreme Leader’s representative at the newspaper, repeated the threat of physical violence against Khatami.
Addressing those who protested Kayhan’s threatening editorial, Shariatmadari said, “Why has Kayhan’s warning worried you? Do you not regard America as terrorist, so that you are enraged that Kayhan accused Uncle Sam of terrorism? Or, perhaps, you are enraged that Kayhan’s warning has subverted America’s possible plan? Or, perhaps, you do not dislike that possible event [Khatami’s assassination] much?”
In his piece, Shariatmadari repeats portions of his controversial editorial, where he noted that “The aim of radicals [reformers] in participating in the political events of the regime is to increase the cost to the regime, not to benefit the presidency or the elections,” adding, “Will they not adopt a different strategy once they fail to realize their aims? In Pakistan, the Americans initially tried very hard to bring Benazir Bhutto to power through propaganda and diplomacy, and to control Pakistan through her, but they adopted a different method when they realized that her party was completely incapable of winning majority seats. This is an enlightening experience. Certain reformists have a clear (!) background in this respect.”
Assembly of Combatant Clerics Calls for Removal of Kayhan Editors
Kayhan’s renewed attack on Mohammad Khatami took place after the Assembly of Combatant Clerics [Majma’e Rohaniyoon-e Mobarez] called for “removal of Kayhan editors.” In an official statement released on Friday, this clerical establishment said, “Discussing physical assassination, even if presented as a threat and not backed by actual and tangible acts, cannot be easily ignored.” Noting that Kayhan, “despite being funded by public budget and affiliated with the Islamic Republic regime, has always presented itself as the most radical and biased newspaper, taking the most extreme and destructing political and factional stances,” the Assembly of Combatant Clerics adds, “The right-wing, to which Kayhan itself belongs, calls for removal of the newspaper’s editors.”
In another reaction, the Islamic Participation Front’s [“Hezb-e Mosharekat-e Eslami”] released a statement noting that Kayhan is funded by public budget and is controlled under the Supreme Leader’s office, and suggested to Kayhan’s editors, “If Kayhan, in violation of law which bars publicly-funded press from taking political stances during elections, seeks to support Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection, rather than threatening and accusing political opponents, it must, if it can, defend the tangible achievements of his administration in the past three and a half years and leave the final decision to the people.”
