The Web    CNN.com      Powered by
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SERVICES
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SEARCH
Web CNN.com
powered by Yahoo!
TRANSCRIPTS


 

Return to Transcripts main page

CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Power Struggle in Iran

Aired January 12, 2004 - 05:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there is a power struggle in Iran. That tops our international wrap this morning.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is with us now to tell us all about it.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Carol, good morning.

Yes, well, as you can see from our reporting in Iraq today, one of the main stories there is the Shiite cleric calling for full and open elections there. He's not necessarily calling for a Shiite- Iranian type republic, but that might very well be the result if there were an open election in Iraq, because the Shiites are a majority there.

But if you want an idea of what a Shiite republic would look like right next door in Iran, the same old story, again, elections are coming up in a month or so in Iran. The hard-line clerics that have the final decision on everything that goes on in Iran have announced the list of everyone that's allowed to run in the elections and they've banned hundreds of people, reformers, who want to run in those elections, including many who are already parliamentarians who were elected in the last elections.

One of those parliamentarians, many of whom are in a sit-in right now in Tehran in the parliament protesting this, saying that the election isn't really going to be an election, that it's going to be a selection by these hard-line clerics, only allowing the people they want to run in the election in Iran.

COSTELLO: I thought things were getting better in Iran and there was a faction there taking some of the power away from these religious figures.

CLINCH: Well, that has been the aim and the goal and the stated purpose of the president, Khatami, who is described as a reformer and described as the person -- self-described as the person who would give more power to the people and take it away, in some degree, from those hardliner clerics. He, of course, has a very difficult line because he himself is a cleric and he is very much a Muslim and a Shiite and wants it still to be a Muslim and Shiite republic, obviously giving more democratic, real democratic power to the people.

It's a very delicate line. And today, he was quoted as still asking for "calm" from the public, as he tried to sort out this situation, because always his greatest fear, he says again and again, is that civil strife of some kind or another might erupt in Iran as people get frustrated at these constant slowdowns, if you want to put it that way, on democracy there.

Now, what else have we got going on in the region? In Israel and Syria today, Israel and Syria making tentative -- I wouldn't even really call it tentative moves to start talking to each other. They're basically throwing rhetoric at each other.

The Israeli president, Katsav, who doesn't really have much power but likes to talk a lot, was on Israel Radio this morning and issued what was an invitation to the Syrian president, Assad, to come to Israel to restart negotiations.

COSTELLO: Which would be a big plus, a big deal.

CLINCH: It would be, of course. It's not at all clear that he had the backup of Prime Minister Sharon to issue that invitation. Sharon was quoted yesterday as saying no new negotiations with Syria until they stop backing terrorism.

Well, we just talked to a Syrian official who told us they're not even taking this invitation seriously. They say no negotiations with Israel until they stop their aggressive settlement policy. That's how the Syrians see it. And if negotiations are to restart, they should restart exactly where they stopped off a few years ago under U.S. protection. At the time, the United States quite interested in seeing the two parties talking to each other. But, apparently, still some distance to go there.

COSTELLO: True.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: OK, David, you'll be back in the next hour to talk Mexico.

CLINCH: Be back at six, yup.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




International Edition
CNN TV CNN International Headline News Transcripts Advertise With Us About Us
SEARCH
   The Web    CNN.com     
Powered by
© 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us.
external link
All external sites will open in a new browser.
CNN.com does not endorse external sites.
 Premium content icon Denotes premium content.
Add RSS headlines.