Iran Closes Al Jazeera for Provoking Subversion

(Tehran, Iran) According to the Gulf Times, angry complaints from Iranian Members of Parliament prompted the government to close the Tehran branch of the Arabic television station Al Jazeera.

“We have ordered the temporary closure of the Al Jazeera bureau,” said Mohamed Hossein Khoshvaght, director general of the culture and Islamic guidance ministry.

“This suspension will last for as long as is needed for our experts to examine the possible actions of the Al Jazeera channel to provoke subversive elements in the troubles that took place.”

Apparently, lawmakers are upset about Al Jazeera's reporting and alleged involvement in last week's demonstrations in Khuzestan Province marking "80 years of Iranian occupation.” The London-based Popular Democratic Front of Ahvazi Arabs in Iran called for peaceful demonstrations to voice the concerns of a small ethnic Arab minority. When the government decided to shut down the protest with military force, the demonstrators turned violent resulting in three deaths and 200 arrests.

“All the troublemakers were arrested,” Intelligence Minister Ali Yunessi was quoted as saying by state run television.

“It appeared that they were linked to the subversive groups and television stations,” he said, using the term for those who are trying to overthrow Iran’s Islamic regime.

Because some members of Al Jazeera were among those arrested, the network was implicated for provoking subversion. The government also was angered by Al Jazeera's characterization of the violence as "separatist unrest by Iran’s Arab minority." Iranian Arabs represent the majority in Khuzestan Province's main city of Ahvaz, but only 3% of the entire Iranian population.

Khuzestan is a far western province in Iran, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Consequently, it's much closer culturally to ethnic Arab influences from Iraq and the Gulf than the predominantly ethnic Persian influences in the rest of Iran. Also, since the median age of the population in Iran is young (23.5 years), it's understandable that there would be exuberant ideological protests. However, Iran is a large country (larger then Alaska) and it's unreasonable for a relatively small group of protesters to be called a separatist movement. The government is exaggerating the importance of the demonstrators, probably to justify its harsh suppression of any dissent and its call for the "expulsion of representatives" of Al Jazeera.

Of note is that the recent events indicate that there is a solid starting point for pursuing widespread agreement between the Iranians and the Americans. Neither of them likes Al Jazeera.