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 receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.
 
(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Farda News criticzes Iranian-Canadian human rights activist Nazanin Afshin-Jam. 

Military and Security

• Fars News reports a purge in the Qazvin branch of the Revolutionary Guards. The new appointees are:
  • Abbas Barzegar Ebrahimi, executive deputy
  • Mehdi Taherkhani, coordination deputy
  • Ali Valedi, Area 2 commander
  • Hamzeh Barin, cultural and social deputy
  • Mehdi Barzegar, Student Basij commander
  • Abbas Kazemi, IRGC deput
  • Shafi-Khani, Statistics and Logistics deputy
  • Mehdi Bahramian, Qazvin Base Brigade commander
  • Hassanpour, Basij Human Resource deputy
  • Shamami, Cultural Basij commander
  • Malek-Mohammadi, Pupil's Basij commander
    • Qazvin branch of the Basij has removed all information about the new appointments. 

Nuclear Issue

• Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader, addresses the prayers:
  • "We had good success at those meetings [with the 5+1 Group in Istanbul] and the West accepted our right to enrich [uranium]... When the Leader said production of atomic weapons is haram [religiously impermissible] and they too heard it, they declared that they have confidence that our issue was not production of the atomic bomb... Leaders of the West should win the trust of the Iranian people so that they believe that the West is not planning to continue its enmity and sanctions. Therefore, if they still insist on sanctions and negotiations, it is clear that the result of the negotiations will be void." 
• Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani:
  • "Back then [during the Khatami presidency] the Westerners were trying to deceive [us]. At that time, three European [foreign] ministers (Britain, Germany and France] visited Iran and declared that if Iran suspended its nuclear technology for a couple of weeks the West would solve the problem through negotiations. Therefore, Iran accepted it.... Iran accepted the nuclear suspension in order to show good faith, but the Western world did not do anything after the passing of two years and announced that in order to have more confidence Iran had to totally suspend all its nuclear activities... Now the conditions have changed and because of the West not honoring [its obligations] and the mistrust arising from their behavior, Iran resumed its nuclear activities... After this period the West began the pressure and started sanctioning Iran... When the West said it would not provide nuclear fuel for the Tehran nuclear reactor, Iran increased its enrichment from 5 to 20 percent because the reactor is in need of 20 percent enriched [uranium]..."

• [E] Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast reiterated Iran's rights to access peaceful nuclear technology, and stated that Tehran will not give up even an iota of its inalienable rights.

Trade

• Shafaf News praises Switzerland for not sanctioning the Central Bank of Iran.

Photo of the Day

• Ahmadinejad, governor of Khoy in the 1980's.l