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

• Minister of Islamic Guidance and Culture Mohammad Hosseini says his ministry has allocated a budget to "purge the central administration of individuals who do not want to cooperate with the Islamic movement."
• According to Hojjat al-Eslam Hossein Agha-Tehrani, Ahmadinejad has never said that he is similar to Shoayb Ben Saleh, an alleged facilitator of the emergence of the Imam of Era. The idea was popularized in a widely spread CD-Rom titled "The Emergence is Near."
  • Islamic Republic of Iran Voice and Vision to show a program criticizing the CD-Rom.
  • Asr-e Iran slams the "The Emergence is Near” CD-Rom.

• According to Asr-e Iran's analyst, the row over Ahmadinejad's invitation to the King of Jordan has more to do with domestic politics in Iran than Iran-Jordan relations, concludes that the row does not benefit Iran.

 Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad addresses crowds in Kermanshah: "The Iranian nation does not give a damn about the statements you make and the positions you take, you are a Zioinist puppet show. You should know that you have no other path in front of you but friendship with the Iranian nation... Should anyone move in the opposition direction of friendship with the Iranian nation and nations of the region, undoubtedly, their destiny will not be better than Saddam and his henchmen..."
• The Secretariat of the Assembly of Experts calls "silence of the politicians in the face of the atrocities in Bahrain" religiously impermissible.
• Asr-e Iran releases a Persian translation of an AFP report about Sunnis converting to Shiism in the Gaza Strip.
• [E] Bahraini protestors in a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader blasted the “cruel and violent behavior” of the Bahraini government towards protestors in the country, and asked for Ayatollah Khamenei's spiritual support.
• [E] Members of Iran's Experts Assembly stressed that they support the Muslim nations, especially the Bahraini people, in their uprisings against dictatorial regimes.
• [E] Ahmadinejad warned about enemies' plots against Muslim nations, saying that they are seeking to disintegrate Jordan to save the Zionist regime from its present complicated situation.

Military and Security

• Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi says the Islamic Republic will soon begin industrial production of cruise missiles.
• 607 foreign citizens, mostly Afghans, arrested in Zabol and deported to Afghanistan.

 Nuclear Issue

• Parliamentary Energy Committee Chairman Katouzian: "Approximately 2,700 Russians are based at the Bushehr nuclear plant and those who are in the know and go there say that the Russians, along with their wives and friends, are taking sun tanning, swimming and are fishing at special beaches. It is not true that they are performing miracles at Bushehr."

Trade

• [E] German Foreign Ministry Spokesman Andreas Peschke announced that the German-based Iranian bank of Europaisch-Iranische Handelsbank (EIH Bank) is free to continue its activities in the European country.
• [E] Iranian Deputy Vice-President for Economic Affairs Ali Aqa Mohammadi and Chief Executive of Russia's Gazprom Company Alexei Miller in a meeting in Moscow underscored the necessity for the further promotion of mutual cooperation between the two countries in the oil and gas sectors.

Photos of the Day

• Theological students demonstrate against "massacre of the people" in Bahrain.