Western links are cut as Iranian rulers increase isolation

Iran’s international isolation deepened yesterday when the regime banned contact with more than 60 highly regarded Western organisations which it accused of conspiring against the Islamic Republic.

The list includes the BBC, Voice of America and other media organisations that beam Farsi-language programmes into Iran, as well as think-tanks, academic institutions and leading non-governmental organisations from America and Europe. “Having any relation ... with those groups involved in the soft war [against Iran] is illegal and prohibited,” the intelligence ministry said. “Citizens should be alert to the traps of our enemies and co-operate ... in neutralising the plots of foreigners and conspirators.”

One Iranian analyst, who cannot be named, said it was “a very harsh and important step” that would cut the last remaining back-channels for diplomatic communications with the West.

Others said that the list reflected either the paranoia of a regime convinced that the organisations were an extension of Western intelligence services, or a further attempt to discredit the opposition by portraying it as a puppet of Iran’s foreign enemies.

The list includes Yale University, the Soros and Ford foundations, the right-wing American Enterprise Institute, the liberal Brookings Institution, Human Rights Watch and USAid. Some, but not all of the organisations, have worked with universities or civil society institutions in Iran — bodies that tend to be hostile to the regime.

Four British organisations are named: the BBC, Wilton Park and Menas Associates, along with the “British Centre for Democratic Studies” — which appears not to exist.

The regime has repeatedly accused the BBC of being part of a British plot against it. It has expelled the organisation’s Tehran correspondent and regularly jams the BBC Persian satellite television signal.

Wilton Park and Menas said they had no idea why they were included. “We’re sad and disappointed,” said Richard Burge, executive director of Wilton Park, which is part-financed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and organises conferences where adversaries can have off-the-record discussions on contentious international issues. “What [the regime] is doing is just cutting down access for Iran and Iranians to engage in debate on issues critical to them and to us. They lose by it,” he said.

Menas is an independent consultancy that publishes a newsletter for companies investing in Iran. “There’s no legitimate reason why we should be on that list except that we have followed Iran for some years,” said Charles Gurdon, its managing director.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6977100.ece