Hosseini Shari'atmadari's Speech at Tehran University Escalates Tensions

Reports from Iranian media indicate that Hosseini Shari'atmadari, the representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran at Kayhan newspaper, faced opposition from students during his speech held on Monday, December 24, at Tehran University, where students chanted slogans against him. ISNA reported that Mr. Shari'atmadari was invited by the Student Basij to speak at the '1811 Days of Demand, Commemoration of the Revolutionary Outcry Against the Seditionists' event at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Tehran University. The report adds that while Shari'atmadari was speaking, opposing students chanted slogans such as 'Liar, have some shame, leave the university,' 'Long live Mousavi, long live Karroubi,' 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein,' 'Kayhan, congratulations on your bond with Israel,' 'Death to Taliban Islam,' and 'Students will die, but will not accept humiliation,' demanding his exit from the speech venue. In contrast, some students also chanted slogans in support of Hosseini Shari'atmadari. ISNA noted that these two groups clashed with each other, but did not provide further details. Fars news agency also reported that the remarks of the representative of the Supreme Leader in Kayhan newspaper were repeatedly interrupted by opponents, quoting him as saying, 'Documents of the sedition leaders will soon be published in the form of a book.' Shari'atmadari claimed, 'Documents show that even the sanctions against Tehran's nuclear program were proposed to the U.S. by the sedition leaders; I tell the sedition leaders that if it weren't for Hezbollah, you would be polishing Netanyahu's boots now.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and his supporters refer to the leaders of the protests against the 2009 presidential election results as 'sedition leaders.' Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard have been under house arrest since February 2011. Shari'atmadari also accused the so-called 'sedition' leaders of 'betraying the homeland' and in response to the opposing students' slogans supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi, he said, 'The seditionists and their crowd are not even in a position to be enemies of the Islamic Republic. They are much smaller than that.' ISNA reported that protesting students booed Shari'atmadari when he accused the leaders of the protests against the presidential election results of suggesting sanctions against Iran to the U.S., and Shari'atmadari responded, 'We are not a reed that shakes with these winds.' He called for the trial of the leaders of the protests against the 2009 election results, stating that 'before this election, Western espionage experts came to Tehran to meet with the 'reformist claimants,' and accused Jürgen Habermas, a prominent German philosopher and social thinker, of providing a plan to the reformist claimants during his visit to Tehran in 2008. Shari'atmadari, whose accusations were made without providing evidence, also accused reformists of going to offices of George Soros in Doha, Qatar, and The Hague, Netherlands, for training. He described reformists as Israel's greatest asset in Iran, stating that 'Peres said during the height of the sedition that reformists are fighting on our behalf in Iran.' The representative of the Supreme Leader at Kayhan newspaper further stated, 'If they do not cancel my speeches, I will come again,' adding, 'The house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi was a big slap in the face to the Takfiris and the U.S. who wanted to implement the Syrian project in Iran, and I have the documents for it.' Previously, Hosseini Shari'atmadari was supposed to give a speech on the anniversary of December 7, Student Day, at Amir Kabir University of Technology, which was canceled. In this regard, Kayhan newspaper reported that Reza Sarraf, the cultural deputy of Amir Kabir University, implicitly referring to student opposition to Hosseini Shari'atmadari's presence at this university, stated that 'the supervisory board opposed holding Shari'atmadari's speech at the invitation of the Basij for the sake of preserving the dignity of the guest,' and 'no permit was issued from the beginning that could be revoked.' Nevertheless, Kayhan wrote that 'it had been announced long ago that the editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper would hold a speech and Q&A session at this university at the invitation of the Student Basij on the occasion of December 7,' but 'the authorities of Amir Kabir University opposed Shari'atmadari's presence at this university despite the prior invitation and insistence of the Student Basij of this university.'