Iranians rally in Tehran against the United States, as President Bush realises he's a reformist. Azadeh Moaveni probes the rhetoric Click to view caption Iran's conservative establishment closed ranks last week at a state-organised demonstration against the United States, following remarks by US President George W Bush in support of reforms inside the country. Thousands turned out under the hot Tehran sun to burn the American flag, and chant "Death to Bush", at the rally called by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pro-reform groups refused to support the demonstrations. President Bush's remarks marked a shift in his administration's Iran policy, which unlike its predecessor has refrained from taking sides in Iran's domestic power struggle. But the last two weeks offered rich opportunity for Washington to come out in support of reforms. In a move that shocked Iran's clerical and political elite, high- ranking cleric Ayatollah Jalaluddin Taheri stepped down as the Friday prayer leader in Isfahan, denouncing the state as corrupt and repressive in a bitter letter of resignation. Taheri's letter detailed the ways in which the Islamic state has both deviated from its spiritual path, and failed to serve and protect the Iranian people. Coming from a prominent cleric, it is a serious blow to the Islamic Republic's tattered religious legitimacy. Though Khamenei sought to deflect the impact of Taheri's decision by appearing to agree with many of the cleric's criticisms, the country's highest-ranking security body invoked a media blackout on the resignation. Only days later, several thousand people demonstrated in Tehran on the anniversary of the violent street protests that wracked Iran the summer of 1999. Iranians of all ages turned out, despite the risk of confrontation with security officers, to show their frustration with the stalled pace of reforms. President Bush chose this moment to register his sympathy with the students, and the changes they covet. "As we have witnessed over the past few days, the people of Iran want the same freedoms, human rights and opportunities as people around the world," Bush said in a written statement. "Their government should listen to their hopes." Following his State of the Union speech, in which he branded Iran as part of an "axis of evil", Bush directed his most pointed statements at Iran's hard-line establishment. The fallout in Tehran came quickly. "If national unity is damaged, it's possible that the US would attack Iran after Iraq," Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi warned the crowd. He was joined by other prominent Iranian officials including former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and judiciary head Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. Even Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, whose is usually considered a discreet reformist, turned out. Though in seeming solidarity with the reform movement's efforts, the American president's comments come at a delicate time in the confrontation between Iran's elected government and its hard-line establishment. Indeed, a sense that the United States may seek to exploit Iran's domestic political divisions has exacerbated existing tensions. Soon after the anti-US demonstrations, the Revolutionary Guard, an armed extremist body accountable only to the Supreme Leader, issued a statement accusing the reformists of encouraging the United States to militarily invade Iran. Angry reformists demanded that the Supreme Leader declare whether he condones the Guards' charges. They believe the elite armed force should limit itself to security concerns, as ordained by the constitution, rather than making political pronouncements favouring one faction against another. But the Guards' statement suggests more than the usual political infighting. Afraid that American meddling and reformist willingness to open a dialogue with the United States may combine to disastrous effect, hard-liners seem prepared to strike a pre- emptive, knock-out blow against their rivals. Whether this all leads to a political fissure within the system remains to be seen. Hard-line repression has provoked the leading reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, to threaten to quit the government. Such brinkmanship is common to the Islamic Republic, but rarely has it been inflamed by the remarks of an American president.
