Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by AEI Critical Threats Project Iran Analyst Will Fulton and Iran Intern Amir Toumaj, with contributor Mary Ella Simmons. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

Politics

• Advisor to President-elect Hassan Rouhani Akbar Torkan announced that the final cabinet list will be presented to Parliament on Sunday. 
• Conservative MP Zohre Tayeb Zadeh echoed the calls of other regime hardliners warning against inviting former President Mohammad Khatami to the Presidential inauguration ceremony in Parliament. 
• Head of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that cultural and social issues are high priorities to which attention should be paid, and said, “Cultural affairs must be given to experts. We must not allow a newspaper to be erased, a book prevented from being printed, or a movie prevented from being distributed…because of a non-expert extremist look.” 
• Unofficial Khamenei organ Kayhan Managing Director Hossein Shariatmadari warned MPs that a vote of confidence for those cabinet nominees who are “owners of treason and mercenaries of the American-Israeli [2009] sedition” would be considered “treason to the people and the system.” He added that Parliament’s rejection of cabinet member associated with “sedition” is the "heart’s desire" of Rouhani, who cannot express this view due to special “considerations.”  
• Several MPs reacted to Shariatmadari’s article. They criticized Shariatmadari’s “extremist discourse” and defended Rouhani’s credentials. National Security and Foreign Policy Parliamentary (NSFP) Commission member MP Hassan Jokar stated that the Parliament has already “determined the red lines” regarding cabinet, therefore there is no reason to introduce such topics on the eve of inauguration, adding that the MP’s votes and opinions are independent “of anything else.” 
• The 2009 Kahrizak detention center fatalities case will be sent to the country’s Supreme Court in 20 days because there has been an objection over the acquittal of one of the defendants. 
• Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council member Hassan Rahim Pour Azqadi stated, “The Zionists seek to eliminate Islamic and Christian works and symbols from the [Temple Mount]. Their goal from this is not to support the Jewish religion, but rather they seek to gain power in the Middle East and dominance on the Suez Canal…. Our slogan is not that Quds solely belongs to Muslims and that neither of the other divine religions have a right in this [area]. Throughout history, Muslims have not taken this position and their historical behavior confirms such a view.”

Regional Developments and Diplomacy

• Ayatollah Khamenei issued remarks in honor of World Quds day (August 2): “Palestine will be free: there should be no doubt of this. Palestine will certainly become free and will be returned to the people, and in that place a Palestinian state will be formed; of these things there is no question. But the disrepute of America and the West will not dissipate. They will still be disreputable. There is no doubt that, based on facts, praise to Almighty God, a new Middle East will come into being. This Middle East will be an Islamic Middle East."
• Iran’s Parliamentary Head of Protocol said in an interview with Fars regarding Rouhani’s inauguration festivities, “The list of foreign guests for this event is, in reality, not definite, and as such, it is possible that the number of guests will increase. Though he also stated that at this time no new guests had been added to the previously announced list. 
• Bahrain's February 14 Movement issued a statement commemorating Quds Day, which reads in part:
  • "Quds Day is the vow of Muslims for solidarity with Palestinian goals."
  • “Verily, Quds day is the day of the oppressed nations. Our vow is international solidarity with the slogans and goals of the Palestinian issue.”
  • “This action by Imam Khomeini [establishing World Quds Day] brought the subject of Palestine and [Jerusalem] back to the focus of attention after the neglect of Palestine and its occupation in 1948.” 

Military and Security

• Representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi urged participation in Quds Day and named five recent conspiracies of the West against the world of Islam: “Disintegrating Islamic countries; elevating figures such as Ataturk in Turkey, Reza Khan in Iran, Faisal in Iraq and [Hosni] Mubarak in Egypt; creating the religions of Baha’ism [in Iran] and Wahabbism in Saudi Arabia; creating internal division between Muslims through differentiation between Shi’a and Sunni in Islam, and; creating a non-Islamic country [Israel].” 
• Representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC Deputy Hojjat al-Eslam Abollah Haji Sadeghi stated, “There is no doubt, from a political and global perspective that the people’s participation in Quds Day marches will inflict gradual damage, one after another, against the body of the Zionist regime.”
• Armed Forces General Staff Basij Affairs and Defense Culture Deputy BG Massoud Jazayeri said that Imam Khomeini’s naming of World Quds Day “strengthened global measures to alleviate the occupation of Palestine by the Zionists.”

Economy

• NSFP Commission member MP Mohammad Hassan Asefari reacted to reports of a one-million barrel per day oil export reduction as a result of new sanctions: “The Americans must pay attention [to the fact] that there were sanctions against Iran before. Therefore, the recent American decision to sanction Iran’s oil exports is nothing more than a political bluff and they should be certain that, just as Iran circumvented sanctions during the Sacred Defense [Iran-Iraq War], it also knows how to circumvent these sanctions. The Americans must become rational and realize that these pressures will have no results. The matter of sanctioning Iranian oil exports that has been pursued for many years will certainly produce no results and we will not defer to these directives.” 
• The Central Bank released unemployment rate statistics. Unemployment has increased from 11.9% to 13.5% between 2009-2010, then reduced a percentage point and remained stable at approximately 12% between 2011-2012. 
• Head of the Parliament Research Center Kazem Jalali announced, “More than $60 billion in Iranian profits have been [frozen] in foreign banks and there is no access to them. This act alone can cause the emergence of numerous monetary issues for the government and the people.” 

Photo of the Day

• IRGC Commander MG Mohammad Ali Jafari attends a 23rd night of Ramadan Reclamation ceremony at Imam Sadegh Mosque in Tehran.