American Scholar Is Charged With Trying To Topple Iran Government

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/21/AR2007052100774.html?hpid=moreheadlines<br>
Noted American scholar and Potomac resident Haleh Esfandiari has been charged with "seeking to topple the ruling Islamic establishment," Tehran's state-controlled television reported Monday.

Esfandiari was charged with setting up a network that was working "against the sovereignty" of Iran, the government outlet said. "This is an American-designed model with an attractive appearance that seeks the soft-toppling of the country," state television reported, according to the Associated Press.


In a separate statement, Iran's intelligence ministry alleged that the 67-year-old grandmother, director of the Middle East program at the Smithsonian's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was involved in activities trying to foment a soft revolution.

The Wilson Center denied the allegations. "Haleh was not engaged in any activities to undermine any government, including the Iranian government. Nor does the Wilson Center engage in such activities. ... There is not one scintilla of evidence to support these outrageous claims," said Lee H. Hamilton, Wilson Center director and co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, which in December urged U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran.

yesterday iirc. And, it has now beenreported that the US government is engaging in covert ops to bring down the Iranian government.