Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin.  To subscribe to this daily newsletter, please visit this page, fill out the "New Subscribers" section, and check "Iran News Round Up" listed under "Projects." 
 
(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Schools and government offices in Western Iran close because of sandstorm.
• News about Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei and the CD-Rom "Emergence [of the Imam of the Era] is Near.":
  • Ayatollah Jannati, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader: "Identifying compatible individuals and deciding the time of the emergence... is one of the mistakes of the day, because such matters confuse the minds of the youth... However, it is clear that emergence is near and only God knows its time."
  • Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani uses poetry to criticize Mashaei's “School of Iran”: "Our dignity is not due to Cyrus, Kay and Jam, Darius and Esfandiar are nothing to be proud of, Both Rostams are dead and so are Cyrus and Kayqobad, We have nothing to do with ignorance of that era, We are in the shadow of Muhammad and his household, no pride is greater for man being than this,..."
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Mehdi Taeb: "The greatest betrayal to Islam and Guardianship is the 'School of Iran.'... God bless the Imam [Khomeini] who said nationalism is irreligion."
  • Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi warns against "Freemasons," and adds: "I feel a threat which is the greatest danger which has ever threatened Islam, and this threat emanates from those who are on the rise within [the regime]."  
  • In a reference to the CD-Rom "The Emergence [of the Imam of the Era] is Near," Alef News editorializes: "The Emergence of Elections is Truly Near!"
  • Parsineh speculates that a new letter condemning Mashaei may come from the Office of the Supreme Leader.

Diplomacy

• Britain closes its embassy in Tehran to the public due to "threats against the embassy."
• [E] Fars News Agency: Large numbers of Iranian students staged a rally in front of Bahrain's embassy in Tehran on Friday to protest at the massacre of peaceful protestors in the tiny Persian Gulf island and other Islamic countries in the region.
• [E] Fars News Agency: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, blasted suppression of the Bahraini people, and called on the UN Security Council to take immediate and serious action to end massacre of the innocent people in the tiny island.
• [E] Fars News Agency: Tehran's provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati lambasted crimes committed by Saudi forces against Bahraini people, and expressed confidence about the victory of people over oppressive regimes.

Military and Security

• Noushabeh Amiri talks about her interview with Said Tajik, the man who had attacked Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani. According to Amiri, Tajik was confident about his deed, and Amiri believed it was due to Ahmadinejad's support that Tajik and his friends had the courage of attacking the Rafsanjani family physically. Video
• The Saudi Ambassador to Egypt threatens the Islamic Republic with military action should "Iran threaten our internal security."
• Ahmadinejad addresses the people of Sistan va Balouchestan: "The West's motives for invading the Middle East are to target Iran."
• Al-Arabiya Persian reports violent clashes between the Arab population of Ahwaz and security forces. 
• [E] Iran is constructing a long fence along its borders with Pakistan as part of a broader strategy to block entry of drug-traffickers and terrorists into the country.

Economy

• Following Ahmadinejad's promise of a $1,500 loan for each (of the 21 million) families in Iran, Aftab News Agency questions how the government is going to finance its promise.
• According to Aftab News Agency, the rising gold price shows a lack of trust in the banking system.
• Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani criticizes high prices and poverty in Iran.
• [E] Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi on Friday underlined ineffectiveness of economic sanctions and pressures imposed by the West on Iran.
• [E] Secretary-General of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Mohammad Yahya Maroofi lauded Iran for its progress in the oil and gas sector irrespective of all the pressures and sanctions imposed on the country's energy sector.

Religion, Society and Culture

• The government excludes works by Ebrahim Hatami-Kia and other filmmakers form the Kish Film Festival, and no longer supports Hatami-Kiam's film "Martyr Chamran."

Photos of the Day

• Lake Orumiyeh.