Le Monde (Paris)  February 24, 2007     http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3218,36-875835@51-677013,0.html

TEHRAN -- A few days ago Iranian newspapers reproduced a BBC story according  to which the United States is preparing not only an attack on the country's  nuclear sites, but also on military bases. Since then, there's been nothing. 

Publicly, no one is mentioning this possibility. On Fri., Feb. 23, the first  holiday since the delivery of the report, which for Iran was crushing, of  the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the streets of Tehran, given  over to the craziness of weekend traffic, remained mute. There was not even  any outpouring after Friday prayer at the great mosque, the traditional site  of political diatribes in periods of crisis: neither burned American flages  nor a demonstration, as often happens.

 The main speaker, former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, kept his  head down. Concentrating on a critique of the poor management of the  economy, he added only a few sentences about "arrogant powers" who "fear the  vitality of Islam." Even as he called for dialogue to be resumed, he warned  the United States, which, "if it pursues its policies, will create new  problems for itself, the region, and the entire world." "Attack? The  Americans have neither the courage nor the capacity for it," said a young  soldier. An old man raised his cane toward the heavens: "Allah will destroy  them!"

A mullah answered by shrugging his shoulders, and a young couple  refused to say anything. Could it be that this is a taboo subject? Almost, but in private, Iranians  are asking themselves questions. "To see foreigners in my store reassures  me, because they haven't been evacuated from a danger zone," a shopkeeper in  the bazaar confided. Another quietly admits to "not being able to keep from  looking upward when a plane flies over the city at low altitude." "We're  hostages, we, the Iranian people, of this extremist policy. The official  message is 'Don't think about anything, we're thinking for you and we're  ready,'" says Zarah, a student, with some bitterness.     As the week began, when the American carrier strike group led by the  aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis joined the one led by the USS Dwight D.  Eisenhower in the Gulf, the television showed, one after the other, without  commentary, images of military maneuvers organized in the sixteen Iranian  provinces, dwelling on the 750 missiles and smart bombs that were fired to  repel a simulated air attack.     

Even to criticize not the substance but the manner in which the Iranian  nuclear matter has been handled is not without risk. For having done so, the  online newspaper Baztab (228,000 visitors a day in normal times), has been  "filtered" for the past eight days, though the site has nothing reformist  about it. "In the name of the realism that has saved the Islamic Republic  for twenty-eight years, we criticized President Ahmadinejad's rigid  positions on nuclear policy. Being obstinate solves nothing," said Fouad  Sadeghy, one of the founders of Baztab in 2002. And he went on to say that  in Iran, the élites are taking the possibility of an attack seriously.     

Baztab published articles explaining the nuclear stakes and lists of  "sensitive" sites. "Not to scare people, but to warn them just in case . .  ." expains Mr. Sadeghi. The newspaper also told the story of a secret  meeting fifteen days ago between Mr. Rafsanjani and members of parliament. 

Mr. Rafsanjani is supposed to have told them of a meeting between the  Supreme Leader of the Revolution (Ayatollah Khameini) and Mr. Ahmadinejad.  As the latter was saying, "There's no danger, they won't attack," the Leader  is supposed to have replied curtly: "No, this is serious."     Other high officials have issued warnings, including two generals and a  group of grand ayatollahs, who are said to have sent a letter to the  government from the holy city of Qom. "Every day at Baztab we receive  thousands of e-mails," said Fouad Sadeghi. "A majority say that they don't  want Iran to find itself in a situation where it's confronting the rest of  the world. Some of them add that if the Europeans understand the situation,  they should make an effort to defuse it."    

 --  Translated by Mark K. Jensen  Associate Professor of French  Department of Languages and Literatures  Pacific Lutheran University  Tacoma, WA 98447-0003