Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=6/16/03

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=UNREST IN IRAN

NUMBER=6-12970

BYLINE=Andrew Guthrie

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: Iranian university students demonstrated in the streets of Tehran into the early morning hours of Monday [6/16]. President Bush calls them a positive step on the road to freedom. His comments have drawn an angry response from the Tehran government, which calls them "blatant interference" in Iran's domestic affairs.

Both the protests and concern over Iran's burgeoning nuclear weapons program are drawing attention in U-S editorial columns. Here with some samples is V-O-A's ____________ who joins us with today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: In addition to the student protests which began last Tuesday [6/10] and occasionally led to violent clashes between the students and conservative militias, now a group of adult dissidents have joined the protest. About 250 intellectuals, journalists, religious figures and others have signed a declaration supporting the students' right to demonstrate. In a nation where about 70 percent of the population is under the age of 30, many young people chafe at the conservative Islamic rules of dress and behavior. However in Boston, The Christian Science Monitor doesn't hold out much hope of any immediate change.

VOICE: Will the ruling Islamic clerics soon be ousted by an Iranian people-power revolution? Not likely. These latest protests, like those in 1999 that also turned violent, reveal more about the weakness of the reform movement than its strength. They are largely confined to universities, and mainly [incited] by Persian-language satellite broadcasts [from] exiles in Los Angeles.

And the spark this time was a move to privatize universities, hardly the stuff to drive a revolution. Still, Bush officials are right to ask if Iran's poor and burgeoning population of young people are finally fed up with theocratic rulers who allow only enough democracy to keep it from challenging their conservative social and political grip on the country.

TEXT: Excerpts from a Christian Science Monitor editorial.

In Paris, the American-owned International Herald Tribune , sees things as much more of a challenge for the Islamic leaders, and not just from the unhappy students.

VOICE: Iran's unpopular and economically failing Islamic dictatorship now faces serious challenges from several directions. University students question its legitimacy in the streets. Reformist politicians seek wider powers for the elected parliament. Washington, now a military force in the region with troops in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq, demands an end to Tehran's nuclear weapons development and support for terrorism.

TEXT: In the U-S Midwest, Wisconsin's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel suggests that whatever the reason for the growing discontent, neither Iran's Islamic clerics nor the Bush administration should ignore their "significance."

VOICE: The conservative clerics who run Iran are probably right when they say they will permanently suppress the protests. After all, the clerics control the police, the armed forces and the courts, among other things. But they would be foolish if they ignored the significance of these protests. And so would the Bush administration.

TEXT: Views of Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel.

Lastly, from Texas, The Houston Chronicle is impressed enough with the demonstrations to make a historic comparison.

VOICE: Hundreds of riot police stood by in side streets near Tehran University, where about three-thousand demonstrators gathered to support students, who were surrounded by other police units inside, reported Reuters. "Tanks, artillery and guns no longer have any power," the protesters charged. "Khatami, Khatami, resign, resign." It's a scene reminiscent of the June fourth, 1989 Tiananmen Square protest in China. The presence and gathering momentum of a reform-minded, active student movement and middle-class support are important signs of hope for positive change from within.

TEXT: On that assessment from The Houston Chronicle, we conclude this editorial sampling of comment on the student unrest in Iran.

NEB/ANG/RH