.bmp)
.bmp)
TEHRAN-Rents are soaring, inflation has been hovering around 17 percent and 10 million Iranians live below the poverty line.The police shut down 20 barbershops for men in Tehran last week because they offered inappropriate hairstyles and women have been banned from riding bicycles in many places, as a crackdown on social freedoms presses on.For months now, average Iranians have endured economic hardship,political repression and international isolation as the nation's top officials remain defiant over Iran's nuclear program.But in a country whose leaders see national security,government stability and Islamic values as inextricably entwined,problems that usually would constitute threats to the leadership are instead viewed as an opportunity to secure its rule.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic missteps and the animosity generated in the West by his aggressive posture on the nuclear issue have helped his government stymie what it sees as corrupting foreign influences by increasing the country's economic and political isolation, economists, diplomats, political analysts, businessmen and clerics said in interviews over the past two weeks.Pressure from the West-including economic sanctions-over Tehran's nuclear program and its role in Iraq has also empowered those pushing the harder line, many of those interviewed said.Saeed Leylaz, an economist and former government official, said: "The leader is concerned that any effort to make the country more manageable will lead to reform and will undermine his authority."The effort to keep Iran's doors to the West sealed tight was on display Sunday, when Ahmadinejad announced that Tehran's scientists had developed 3,000 centrifuges and then mocked the West for trying to press Iran to stop uranium enrichment and slow its nuclear program.On Monday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, tried to use such Western tactics to rally public sentiment behind the government. "Iran will defeat these drunken and arrogant powers using its artful and wise ways," he said to a group of students, state run television reported.The remarks were seen here by Western diplomats and political analysts as an attempt by the president to undermine months of careful negotiations between more pragmatic conservatives in the leadership and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which days earlier had said that Iran was being more cooperative.The message was clear, a Western diplomat said. "They are convinced the rest of the world is trying to put pressure on Iran to keep Iran down," said the diplomat, who requested anonymity so as not to compromise his ability to work in Iran. "They believe if Iran makes a concession to the West on the nuclear issue, it will be the first step toward regime change."The economic component of Iran's go-it-alone approach began with Ahmadinejad's election two years ago. He laid down a series of erratic economic decrees that he said were aimed at helping the poor, but often made their lives harder. Recently, the head of the central bank and the ministers of oil and industry resigned, warning that Iran was heading toward trouble. The president's decisions have frightened away investors, derailing efforts to open Iran to world markets, analysts said.The leadership has been able to ease some of the pain because of the income from its crude oil sales. Ultimately, those interviewed agreed, Ahmadinejad has continued unimpeded because he has the support of Khamenei, who has the final say on all key decisions."The only thing that has kept Ahmadinejad in power is the support of the leadership," said Muhammad Atrianfar, publisher of two newspapers that have been closed and an ally of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. "As soon as the leader stops supporting him, he can easily be impeached and dismissed...."To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
