Iran: September 21, 2003

Archives

: that they are not operating a nuclear weapons development program. 

Islamic conservatives and reformers are now arguing over how they should deal with demands from the international community to allow inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities (to insure that no bomb making is going on.) The Islamic conservatives resist such inspections, while the reformers want to allow them. While Iran officially insists that it is not trying to create nuclear weapons, it is widely believed that Islamic conservatives are supporting a secret nuclear weapons program. It's uncertain who is going to win this internal power struggle, as it would be very embarrassing, and suspicious, if the Islamic conservatives used their veto power to force the reformer dominated government to resist the international inspections. 

September 20, 2003: Islamic conservatives have increased their attempts to find and seize illegal satellite TV dishes. It is estimated that there are some three million illegal dishes in the country, and the Islamic conservative controlled police have seized 70,000 in the past few years. This week, police shut down an illegal factory that had 2,000 satellite dishes (in various stages of completion) on the premises. Building and installing the illegal dishes is a lucrative, if illegal, business in Iran. Most users are simply looking for entertainment, but the Islamic conservatives see unbiased news reports via the dishes as a threat to

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close