Doaa El-Bey unveils divided opinion over the opening session of Egypt's parliament, while Rasha Saad explores the domestic situation inside Iran Pundits focussed on the Iranian government's decision to lower subsidies in energy and other essential needs as well as the sudden sacking of its foreign minister. In the London-based daily Al-Hayat, Elias Harfoush wrote that "whatever the pretexts provided by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government for its decision to lower government subsidies on what Iranians consume in terms of energy, bread, water and other essential needs, the only explanation that ordinary Iranian citizens can think of is that their government is being forced to take such measures at this time due primarily to the international sanctions imposed on their country because of the current conflict over its nuclear programme," Harfoush wrote in his article 'Traces of Iranian surgery'. "Indeed, we are talking about a country which is the fifth largest exporter of oil in the world, yet imports 40 per cent of its needs in gasoline because its refineries cannot process its oil because of the embargo on the sale of equipment used in the refining sector." In other words, Harfoush explains, the crisis being faced by Iranian citizens because of the measures taken by Ahmadinejad is due to reasons that are essentially political, not economic. "Those citizens will thus require a tremendous amount of effort from the government to persuade them that such economic surgery, as was described by the Iranian president, is necessary for resolving the economic ills suffered by Iran under the current regime," Harfoush explained. According to Harfoush, this is why police forces were deployed in the streets of the capital Tehran and other Iranian cities, to prevent a repeat of the riots that erupted three years ago when the government started rationing gasoline distribution, and to contain those who opposed the re-election of Ahmadinejad in a poll that year which the opposition said was marred by large-scale fraud. Abdullah Iskandar focussed on the suddenness by which Manouchehr Mottaki was ousted from his post as foreign minister, a reminder of the fact that the Iranian authority is not as unified as one might think, and that the conflict among individuals and maybe even ideas within it exists and that the "perfect" republic which is entirely compliant with the centres of power is the object of differences revolving around its individuals, methods and policies. Iskandar added that one can even say that the conflict among individuals and their intersecting ambitions and interests, are expressed by domestic bidding over certain issues or over loyalty to the supreme guide. "As for the dismissal of Mottaki, who is not known for his initiatives as a foreign minister or for holding a position of power in the domestic arena, it reflects these conflicts by proxy, especially since he is considered to be affiliated with the current head of the Shura Council, Ali Larijani, the main adversary of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," Iskandar wrote. However, Iskandar continued, since the plurality and divergence of opinions and personal confrontations are not allowed under the Iranian regime, the competition between the two men was expressed through confrontation between parliament and the government, but with legal cover. "Iran may currently be witnessing the worst period in the relationship between parliament and the government due to this rivalry. In order for the weaker side in the equation to pay the price, Ahmadinejad ousted its foreign minister," Iskandar concluded. In the London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat, Tariq Al-Homayed commented on statements by acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi concerning the necessity of Iran improving its relations with Saudi Arabia. In 'Who's in charge of Iran's foreign policy?' Al-Homayed wrote, "Saudi Arabia deserves to have special political ties with Iran. Iran and Saudi Arabia, as two significant countries in the Islamic world, can resolve many problems together," Salehi said. However, Al-Homayed said the question that must be asked is: who's in charge of Iran's foreign policy? Is it the supreme leader, the Iranian president, or the foreign minister? Al-Homayed quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying, "Iran's major [foreign] policies have a pre-defined framework and principles... and the Foreign Ministry is the only [state] organ that is tasked to implement these." But, Al-Homayed wrote, anybody reading Salehi's statement about the necessity of improving ties with Saudi Arabia due to Riyadh's Islamic, political, and international position, might view this as a formal Iranian acknowledgment that Tehran's foreign policy towards Riyadh in the past was both incorrect and a failure and that Tehran is therefore trying to repair this relationship today. The Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh tackled the same subject, with the paper's editorial praising Salehi's statements but adding that deeds are more important than words. "The kingdom is not in enmity with Iran and does not have any interests in creating alliances or exporting disputes that will harm both countries and the entire Gulf region in particular," the editorial wrote. "Iran is an important country with ambitions and we respect its sovereignty over its lands but the balance in the security equation in this shared region should be clear to all. This issue should be subject to good intentions, not to diplomatic ploys," Al-Riyadh added. Moving to Iraq, Fatih Abdel-Salam wrote in the Iraqi newspaper Azzaman that the world should take Iraqi government's statements on terror with a pinch of salt. Abdel-Salam wrote that every now and then the government shows a television programme exhibiting certain individuals and presenting them as operatives of Al-Qaeda. Abdel-Salam wrote that these individuals are usually presented as leaders in the group in order to tell Iraqis that the government is succeeding in its battle to eradicate terror and reinstate law and order. "We the Iraqis are not so naïve to believe what the government says. When the government says it has apprehended and arrested a 'terrorist gang,' it clearly wants us to believe that the gang belongs to Al-Qaeda." But the reality of the situation, according to Abdel-Salam, is that those arrested and presented to us as senior Al-Qaeda operatives are in fact members of the Iraqi armed resistance which the government has been fighting since the 2003 US- led invasion. The paradox, Abdel-Salam added, is that after each operation and arrest campaign, we are more or less made to believe that the government has succeeded in rooting out all terror. "We cannot claim that they are 'innocent' from the government's perspective. Surely, they have been arrested because the government is not happy with their practices, ideas and actions. But little do we know; these people can also be part of a growing group of Iraqis who openly oppose corruption in the ranks of the government and its summary arrests and secret prisons. Charges like these in the government's mind are enough to put them behind bars and exhibit them as successes of its security forces on television."
