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Reports from Inside Iran

(National Interest) Abbas Milani - The heat on Ahmadinejad, at fever pitch till a month ago, has subsided, at least for now. An uneasy peace seems to have emerged between the president and the increasingly authoritarian Khamenei. When threatened with impeachment by the Supreme Leader's allies in parliament, the press and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Ahmadinejad decided to fight fire with fire. He threatened to tell the truth about what is happening in the country. He talked of the tens of millions of dollars made each year from the illicit trade in American cigarettes, and how "the brothers" - an unmistakable reference to the IRGC - have not been able to forgo the temptation to avail themselves of this source of income. He talked of these brothers operating many illegal ports of entry where, using the guise of national security, they bring in all manner of commodities at great profit. There is no indication that the Bushehr reactor, scheduled to start operation at least a year ago, will be operational anytime soon. The viruses introduced into the computer system controlling the centrifuges did, by all indications, considerable damage to the regime's nuclear infrastructure. Of these viruses (all reportedly designed by the U.S. and Israel) only the first, Stuxnet, attracted much attention in the West. Almost in passing, the Iranian regime referred to a second virus and, of course, claimed that much as they had with Stuxtnet the "soldiers of God" immediately beat back this new "Zionist-American" attack. The writer is Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University, where he is also the codirector of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution.
2011-07-29 00:00:00
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