Window on Iran

From: Fatemeh Keshavarz
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 6:42 PM
Subject: Window on Iran

Dear Friends,

In the past few months, the U.S. media coverage of Iran has gone from bad to unbelievable. It used to emphasize the negative and leave out the positive. It now appears to be inventing information that those of us in close contact with Iran are unable to trace. For example, in May 2006 there was a report in the papers here that the Iranian Jews will be forced to wear a uniform. Last weekend, another breaking news was: Ahmadinejad is imposing a ban on the use of foreign words. There is no truth to either of these (I won't list more).

Some of us in the Iranian American community feel that, due to the explosive conditions in the Middle East, we must provide our American friends and family members with possibility of access to reliable information, small as its impact might be. This is why I have put this e-mail update together to keep you informed of events in contemporary Iran. Its frequency would be once a week -- unless there is significant breaking news. I have made contact with friends who will monitor the news in Iran, and I will try to follow reliable publications here. Needless to say, I will not be able to be comprehensive.

If you feel you don't need these updates, please let me know to take you off the list. If you wish to check how informed you might be about Iran, take a look at the following questions:

On the issue of the Iranian nuclear program, did you know that:

* The Iranian supreme religious leader issued a legal decree (fatwa) on November 6, 2004 in which all development, production, and use of nuclear weapons is considered against the Islamic principles and should not be undertaken under any circumstances.
* Iranian nuclear facilities have been inspected over 2000 time during the past three years (some surprise inspections) by the IAEA and nothing illegal has been found. The IAEA's report has specified "to date, there is no evidence that undeclared material are related to any weapon's programs."
* Iran is home to tens of thousands of people affected by Saddam Husain's chemical weapons, and people have a strong feeling against the use of such weapons (I know some of these people personally).
* Iran has described the package of incentives from the west as potentially acceptable and announced a while ago that there will be an official and detailed reply by August 22nd, 2006.

On the issues related to the local politics, did you know that:

* the Taliban are an enemy of Iran and have engaged in regular assassinations of Iranian diplomats.
* The Iranian regime considers al-Qa'ideh a terrorist organization.
* Iranians held night long vigils to commemorate the victims of 9/11.
* Iran does not support the Shiite extremist Moqtada al-Sadr, and prefers peace, stability, and democratic elections in Iraq because it does not wish its own Kurdish population to aspire to separatist ideas and because a democratic election in Iraq will give a prominent role to the Iraqi Shiites.
* According to all major historians of the region, in reality, Iran exercises little influence on the Hezbollah.

On the social and cultural front, did you know:

* the latest best-selling titles in Iran are the DaVinci Code and Hillary Clinton's My life in (Persian translation)
* according to the latest statistics, close to 70% of the Iranian university students are women
* IVF, and gamete donation, as well as transsexual operations are legal in Iran.
* Iranian cinema produces critically acclaimed films (often openly critical of the regime).
* Iranian women golfers, race car drivers, and polo players compete internationally.

I hope my next messages will be much shorter. Please let me know if you wish your name to be taken off this list, or if you wish to add someone's name to it. I will send out my first update message soon.

Best,
Fatemeh Keshavarz

========================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatuares
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399