Word: akbar
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Events in Iran are often fueled by forces that are not immediately apparent. Thus it was difficult to know quite what to make of the verbal missile fired last week by parliament Speaker Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani during a prayer session at Tehran University. Several "big American spies," he announced, had been arrested and would be punished for plotting to overthrow Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini...
...Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!" The call to prayer echoes forth from a minaret in Tashkent, as it has from mosques throughout the 13 centuries of Islam. "Was it loud enough?" asks the mullah who will lead the prayers. That is an eminently reasonable question, since in the Soviet Union no muezzin is allowed to use a loudspeaker. The inquiry is also metaphorical. In the U.S.S.R.'s fourth largest city and leading Islamic center, as elsewhere across the nation, believers are cautiously regaining their public voice after an oppressively enforced silence...
...recent weeks the captors have been hinting that this time they just might be more reasonable. Since agreeing to a cease-fire in its war with Iraq, Tehran has been putting out feelers about ending its diplomatic isolation and obtaining Western help to rebuild its devastated economy. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful speaker of the Majlis (parliament), has shown signs of recognizing that holding on to the hostages works against both goals...
Both countries sent their Foreign Ministers to the United Nations in New York City to discuss how to put into effect Security Council Resolution 598, which calls for a U.N.-monitored cease-fire. The two officials, Ali Akbar Velayati of Iran and Tariq Aziz of Iraq, met separately with U.N. Secretary- General Javier Perez de Cuellar. But the peace process foundered over Iraq's demand for direct talks, which Iran refused for the moment to accept...
...reaching agreement on a cease-fire would postpone a cutback of U.S. naval forces escorting oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. The Reagan Administration would also be forced to defer its efforts to forge a new relationship with Iran after a hiatus of nearly a decade. Last week Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, speaker of Iran's parliament, raised that prospect and a good deal more: the possibility of securing Iran's help in gaining the release of nine American hostages believed held by pro-Iranian factions in Lebanon...