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Rafsanjani Urges to Preserve National Unity
Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani has urged officials, groups and people from all strata to preserve national unity and security amid growing factional struggles between the reformist and the conservative camps.
If national unity is harmed, no matter how far the country is successful in its construction trend, it would still be vulnerable, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Sunday quoted him as saying.
Speaking at a gathering of Iranian diplomats abroad on Saturday afternoon, he underlined that groups and individuals should not weaken each other nor should they undermine honors of one another.
Since the landslide victory of the reformist allies of President Mohammad Khatami in the February parliamentary elections, tensions have been growing between the reformists and the conservatives who still control the country's major state organs such as the judiciary and armed forces.
The conservative-dominated judiciary launched a wholesale crackdown on the reformist camp by closing down some 20 reformist newspapers and journals and arresting a dozen of reformist writers and activists.
IRNA said that journalist Mohammad Qouchani was detained on Sunday after being summoned to court while satirist Seyyed Ebrahim Nabavi was arrested on Saturday on various charges.
"Undermining national unity is one of the prime objectives of the enemies and global arrogance against Iran," warned Rafsanjani, current chairman of the State Expediency Council, which functions as an arbitrator between the reformist parliament and conservative Guardians Council.
He said that since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the "enemies" have not lost any opportunity to deal a blow on the revolution and they would not abandon their hostile policies against Iran.
He called on all officials and forces in the society to closely cooperate with the government to remove impediments on the way of development to address their economic demands.
Rafsanjani strongly advocated economic reforms to set up market economy in the country during his two-term presidency (1989-1997), but shifted to the conservative camp against political reforms following the February parliamentary elections, in which he suffered a face-losing defeat.
On foreign policies of the country, the Iranian former president also underlined the need for consolidation of relations between Iran and all its neighbors as well as major Islamic countries.
"We are very serious on the issue of Palestine," he said, "in acute international issues such as the issue of Palestine, we do not forget our principles and ideals and we believe the issues should be treated prudently."
About Iran's relations with the United States, he said that the Americans are not compatible with the present situation in Iran. As long as the situation remains unchanged in the world and in the region, they would not accept Israel's foe (Iran) gains a bigger share in regional and international exchanges, he said.
The four-day gathering of Iranian diplomats abroad opened here Saturday morning with participation of over 110 ambassadors, charge d'affaires and heads of interest sections.
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