RFE/RL Iran: Khomeini's Grandson Calls For New Revolution

Prague, 4 August 2003 (RFE/RL) -- The eldest grandson of the late
Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (pictured)
has called on Iranians to launch an attack on the current regime.

The London-based Arabic language newspaper "Al-Sharq al-Awsat" quoted
46-year-old Hussein Khomeini as saying: "Iran needs a new democratic
regime that does not use religion to suppress the people."

The paper said that Khomeini made the remark from his residence in
Al-Najaf, Iraq. Hussein Khomeini said his grandfather's successors in
power in Tehran have abused the ayatollah's name to legitimize unjust
regimes. He predicted Iran would soon face a new revolution.

The paper said that Khomeini, who sympathizes with the reformists and
student protestors in Iran, has moved into a house in Al-Najaf once
used by his grandfather when he was living in exile.

The Tehran office of the late Ayatollah Khomeini today vehemently
denied the press reports, saying that Hussein Khomeini must have been
misquoted.

Meanwhile in Tehran, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned today
against what he called a danger of Islamic "fascism" in Iran.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Khatami as making the
statement during a joint session of parliament and his cabinet
yesterday.

Khatami said that the aim of the Islamic revolution is not to
institutionalize fascism in the name of Islam and revolution or to
brand anybody outside this framework as anti-Islamic and
counterrevolutionary.

Hardliners in the Iranian regime have used their control of the
judiciary to arrest scores of liberal activists on vague charges of
disloyalty to Islamic and revolutionary values. They have also
repeatedly closed reformist newspapers.

In Manila, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi today
rejected Washington's accusations that it is running a clandestine
nuclear weapons program.

Asefi told reporters on a visit to the Philippines that, "we are not
looking for any military nuclear activity."

He also urged U.S. troops to leave the Gulf area, saying the countries
of the region can assure stability and security there by themselves.

Asefi spoke as a team from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) is set to arrive in Iran today to meet top Iranian officials.

The IAEA is urging Iran to allow more intrusive inspections of its
nuclear facilities by signing an additional protocol to the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation treaty. The visiting team is expected to clarify
exactly what Iran will face if it signs the protocol.