The Strategic 'Disappearance' of Iran's Ahmadi-Nejad

摘要

Iranian Pres. Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad emerged on January 30, 2006, from a week of unexplained disappearance from public visibility to meet with visiting Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf Bin Alawi. He also reappeared to vigorously defend Iran's stand on nuclear issues. But it seems certain that the "missing week" will prove to be strategically significant in Iran's preparations for conflict. [See full report, starting on page four: Iran's Conflict With the West is Already Underway, and Early Warning, on page two.] Pres. Ahmadi-Nejad operated outside the formal and visible command structure of the Iranian clerical Administration from about January 24, 2006, until January 30, "disappearing" from formal appearances, with sudden and essentially unexplained cancellation of important meetings. As if to emphasize his disappearance, a statement made in the President's name on January 26, 2006, was the first time since he was elected that the President himself had not appeared on television to speak for himself.