Nir’s Notes

Nir Boms and Shayan Arya,

Washington Times

Andre Maurois once said, “If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.” So seems to be the case with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Last week, the friends and families of Hane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal – three University of California at Berkeley students who ended up hiking on the wrong mountain – did the Google-era thingto mobilize support for the hikers’ release – they released a YouTube video. The three students, caught on July 21, were accused of spying and are being held hostage along with hundreds of other political prisoners who could perhaps be used as a future negotiation card. While the students’ parents are responding in a 21st-century way, the hostage-taking tactic is an old tradition in the Islamic republic.

On Nov. 4, 1979, less than a year after the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 70 Americans captive, 52 of whom were kept for 444 days. The goal of the hostage-takers was to prevent American intervention in the Islamic regime’s internal affairs and the return of the late Shah of Iran, who was in America for cancer treatment. [Read more →]

Nir Boms and Shayan Arya

The Australian, January 14, 2010

AYATOLLAH Ruhollah Khomeini established his Islamic regime on the premise of velayet-e faqih, the undisputed moral and religious authority of the supreme leader as a successor to the prophet Mohammed and the infallible Shia imams.

This premise was set to justify and guarantee the survival of the system he created. Undisputed authority, he thought, with a back-up from Allah, cannot be challenged. But as events in Iran unfold, it becomes clear this is no longer the case. Not only is the leader challenged but also his self-ascribed monopoly on God.

Khomeini’s successor Ali Khamenei never enjoyed the religious and moral authority of his predecessor. Khamenei, a mid-level cleric (hojatoleslam) who had never completed a resaleye amalie (equivalent to a PhD dissertation for Shia religious students), ascended to the rank of grand ayatollah within three months. He began his career by putting his rival, grand ayatollah Hosein Ali Montazeri, under house arrest.

[Read more →]