Clinton: Iran becoming military dictatorship

DOHA, Qatar — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Iran is becoming a military dictatorship, a new U.S. accusation in the midst of rising tensions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Speaking to Arab students at Carnegie Mellon University’s Doha campus, Mrs. Clinton said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps appears to have gained so much power that it effectively is supplanting the government.

“Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship,” she said. “That is our view.”

Last week the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it was freezing the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of a Revolutionary Guard general and four subsidiaries of a previously penalized construction company he runs because of their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.

The Revolutionary Guard long has been a pillar of Iran’s regime as a force separate from the ordinary armed forces. The guard now has a hand in every critical area, including missile development, oil resources, dam and road construction, telecommunications and nuclear technology.

It also has absorbed the paramilitary Basij as a full-fledged part of its command structure — giving the militia greater funding and a stronger presence in Iran’s internal politics.

Asked if the United States is planning a military attack on Iran, Mrs. Clinton said, “No.”

The United States is focused on gaining international support for sanctions “that will be particularly aimed at those enterprises controlled by the Revolutionary Guard, which we believe is in effect supplanting the government of Iran,” she said.

The Obama administration is trying to “send a message to Iran — a very clear message” that the United States is still open to engagement “but that we will not stand idly by while you pursue a nuclear program that can be used to threaten your neighbors and even beyond,” Mrs. Clinton said.

Later, as she boarded her plane for the next stop on her Middle East trip, Mrs. Clinton said, “The civilian leadership is either preoccupied with its internal political situation or is ceding ground to the Revolutionary Guard.”

She told reporters traveling with her that it appears the Revolutionary Guard is in charge of Iran’s controversial nuclear program and the country changing course “depends on whether the clerical and political leadership begin to reassert themselves.”

She added, “I’m not predicting what will happen, but I think the trend with this greater and greater military lock on leadership decisions should be disturbing to Iranians as well as those of us on the outside.”

Mrs. Clinton said the Iran that could emerge is “a far cry from the Islamic Republic that had elections and different points of view within the leadership circle. That is part of the reason that we are so concerned with what we are seeing going on there.”

In her Doha appearance, Mrs. Clinton also said she foresees a possible breakthrough soon in stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

“I’m hopeful that this year will see the commencement of serious negotiations that will cover every issue that is outstanding,” she said, adding that “everyone is anticipating” progress after more than a year of impasse between the negotiating parties.

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