Iran Hard-Liners Warn Against More ‘Anarchy’

WASHINGTON —  In what may be the most serious official challenge to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, commanders of the Revolutionary Guard have condemned the country’s “trial run of democracy” and charged that rampant “anarchy” has put the regime at risk.

The 24 senior military officials, who command the 125,000-man Revolutionary Guard corps, hinted at unilateral action by Iran’s most powerful military arm if recent unrest continues.

“How long do we have to be subjected to this trial run of democracy, which has turned into anarchy and puts the Islamic regime at risk?” they asked in a letter sent to the president last week and published Tuesday in Kayhan, a conservative Tehran newspaper. “How long do we have to stand by idly watching, with extreme sadness, what is happening in the country?”

The warning was sparked by six days of demonstrations that escalated into clashes between students and vigilantes. Local media reported that five people were killed and more than 1,000 arrested during the protests, which students claimed Tuesday were infiltrated by provocateurs and “professionals” aligned with conservative politicians.

The letter, signed by the commanders of land, sea and air forces, reflects a key division within Iran’s unique power structure: The president is not commander-in-chief of the military. That role is instead delegated to the religious supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The ominous wording of the letter underscores the depth of the split within the regime. The Revolutionary Guard leadership, which is largely aligned with conservatives, has been increasingly wary of Khatami’s reformist agenda but has rarely aired its opposition in public.

“Whether or not you want to call it a potential coup, the language is sensational, and if you look at the wording, it’s hard to come to any other conclusion,” said Gary Sick, a former National Security Council staffer in the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations who directs Columbia University’s Gulf 2000 project. “There’s a group of people who see President Khatami as a threat to the revolution and want to replace him.”

The Revolutionary Guard commanders implied that the president’s opportunity for action in curtailing the independent student movement is not open-ended.

“Mr. President, if you don’t take a revolutionary decision today and fail to abide by your Islamic and nationalistic duty, tomorrow will be too late and the damage done will be irreparable,’ the letter warned. “Our reservoir of patience is running low, and if nothing is done, we will not accept that.”

At the same time, however, students this week renewed their push for further reforms, including the resignation of key security officials, the transfer of security units from the supreme leader to the executive branch and investigations into how the protests turned violent. The largest student movement warned that unless action is taken, unrest could erupt again.

“If officials don’t respond accordingly to this tremendous call for reforms, the door for peaceful negotiations will shut,” said Ali Afshari, a leader with the Office to Foster Islamic Unity.

Afshari criticized the tone of the commanders’ letter, which he said “creates the worry that something like a coup d’etat against Khatami is in the making.”

For the time being, students have postponed protests while they wait for a response to their demands for meetings with Khamenei, Khatami and other senior officials.

In other developments reflecting Iran’s leadership divide, the Interior Ministry announced Tuesday that about 750 students arrested during the unrest had been released, while the conservative judiciary announced the arrest of the editor of a pro-reform newspaper run by one of Khatami’s former senior advisors. The closure of another reformist newspaper was one of the initial sparks for the recent protests.