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

• Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will lead the prayers on the occasion of the Ramadan tomorrow.
• Farda News reports on Parvin Ahmadinejad, the president's sister, at the Tehran Islamic City Council:
  • "Contrary to common expectation, it took at least 18 months before Parvin Ahmadinejad gained the necessary confidence to address the City Council session and criticize the policies of [Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer] Qalibaf. Since she has not had any political job, her activities in the social and professional field were teaching at a high school... Her criticism of the municipality has never had anything to do with technical issues of the city... Her issues revolve around mundane, everyday matters such as claiming high prices of products sold at Shahrvand supermarket or demolishing of a garden somewhere in Tehran by its owner, issues which were listened to by other members of the City Council but to which no answer was given..."

Diplomacy

• According to Farda News, the embassies of Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, France, Britain, Italy, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, India, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Russia and China are the "busiest" embassies in Tehran when it comes to visitors to the embassy consular and business sections.

Military and Security

• Fars News reports more skirmishes between the PEJAK group and the Intelligence Ministry operatives. According to Fars, documents seized by the Intelligence Ministry reveal that PEJAK was engaged in blowing up the natural gas pipeline to Turkey.
• Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi says the Supreme Leader's visit to Hormozgan province was meant to highlight Iran's new naval doctrine with access to the high seas.
• Interior Minister Mohammad-Mostafa Najjar says assassinations against Iranian scientists is a sign of "defeat of the enemies in the military and scientific realms."  
• Masoud Mir-Kazemi, former oil minister, and Abolqasem Mozaffari, adviser to the Energy Ministry, are rumored as candidates to take over the leadership of the Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base of the Revolutionary Guards.

Economy

• Shafaf complains about rising prices on the eve of Ramadan.
• Ahmad Qale-Bani, National Iranian Oil Company executive director, says Iran continues exporting oil to India. But Emad Hosseini, parliamentary Energy Committee spokesman, says Iran has "suspended its oil exports to India."

• [E] Iran's oil supply to India is still at halt, an informed source at Iran's oil ministry announced, but at the same time mentioned that Tehran may resume oil supply to an Indian refinery since it is trying to pay overdue oil payments through a Turkish bank.

Trade

• Asr-e Iran's recommendations to Rostam Qassemi, Ahmadinejad's candidate for the Oil Ministry:
  • "Fifty percent of Iran's natural gas fields are shared with neighboring countries. According to international regulations, each partner can extract as much oil [from shared fields] as they can and there is no need for them to wait for the other party. It is even possible that the other partner depletes the entire field because of the slowness of the other party... South Pars is the name of the largest natural gas field in the world, which is shared between Iran and Qatar. Today, Iran exploits 210 million cubic meters from this field, but Qatar - which is geographically smaller than the oil field - is extracting 360 million cubic meters... The Qataris are planning to extract 452 million cubic meters by the means of new technology and help from large international companies... The situation is not better when it comes to the oil fields shared with the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the like. For example, with Iraq, we have 12 shared oil fields, but the war ridden Iraq is extracting twice as much as Iran from these fields... In the oil field shared with Qatar, our daily extraction is zero barrels and Qatar extracts 450,000 barrels per day, which is 20 percent of Iran's entire oil export... In the ten fields we share with Saudi Arabia we only extract 42,000 barrels, but they extract ten times as much... We and the UAE share 7 oil fields. The UEA extracts 136,000 barrels per day, and we only 56,000... These fields will not last forever... They have been shaped through millions of years but only a few years will take to deplete them... Iran's oil minister, Rostam Qassemi or anyone else, should consider himself the general of this great war. This is a real war; a real, real war! Taken into account the international restrictions, one can't expect that one individual or one ministry tries to balance this backwardness. Rostam Qassemi's influence in the regime could urge the authorities to choose the path of detente in international relations within the framework of dignity, wisdom and expediency."

Photos of the Day

• Posters condemning Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf.