Word: bazargan
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...sweets and a long holiday from work, but this year's holiday for many people was not an altogether happy one. Revolutionary fervor was giving way to cynicism. There were unresolved quarrels among disparate forces claiming to represent Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. The government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, struggling to cope with economic chaos, faced a new threat: an outbreak of violence among rebellious Kurds in the western city of Sanandaj. As thousands clogged the highways to the Caspian Sea and other vacation spots out of Tehran, one Iranian journalist observed: "We are a tired people...
Possibly the most tired of all was Bazargan, but the 71-year-old Prime Minister showed little sign of exhaustion as he hosted a huge bar-e-aam (public reception) at Tehran's modern concrete-and-steel sports arena to mark the new year. In a simple, direct talk, Bazargan touched on some of the issues facing his government. He assured the crowd of 10,000 that the rights of all the people of Iran, including women and religious minorities, will be preserved in the new constitution for an Islamic republic. But he also said that neither...
...reviewing the good fortunes of the year, the Prime Minister said that he was saddened by one thing: "The situation in Kurdistan." In an effort to achieve a ceasefire, Bazargan dispatched a government team to Sanandaj, including Chief of Staff Vali-Ullah Qarani and Minister of the Interior Ahmed Sadr Haj-Sayed-Javadi. Khomeini also sent Ayatullah Mahmoud Taleghani, the respected leader of Tehran's Shi'ite Muslims, to the area...
...Bazargan would have a hard time trying to put down the separatists by force: Iran's army is hopelessly demoralized and all but leaderless. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has enough on his hands trying to bolster the economy, which Khomeini last week described as "bankrupt." Workers' councils have taken over a number of businesses, banks, and government offices; councils in the bureaucracies are demanding exorbitant wage increases and resisting Bazargan's plans to reduce overstaffing. Food shortages have created a thriving black market that is feeding an unofficial inflation rate of 200%. Many of these problems would...
...last week the protesters were off the streets. For one thing, Khomeini had backed down, saying that he had merely been suggesting modest dress. Also, the women were reluctant to endanger the already hard-pressed government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, who has been receptive to their complaints...