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. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

Politics

• President Hassan Rouhani is the guest of Head of the Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani and will meet with ten members of the assembly to discuss the country's affairs.
• Supervision and Strategic Advisor to President Rouhani Mohammad Bagher Nobakht announced the establishing of Management and Fundamental  Change Agency that will include the Strategic Supervision and Human Capital and Management Expansion directorates. He added that the administration will improve the population's welfare within 100 days. 
• Rouhani’s deputy, Mohammad Ali Najafi, said, “In my opinion, specialist and technical opposition to [nominated] ministers was very low and Parliamentary discussions were mostly political opposition… In my opinion, members who politically opposed the proposed ministers did not taunt.” 
• Head of the Principlists Parliamentary faction MP Gholam Ali Haddad Adel discussed votes of confidence to Rouhani’s appointments and stated, “We must all strive so the country does not return again to the tense years of 1999 and 2009. If members of Parliament discuss and criticize in casting votes of confidence to ministers, it is not with the intention of opposing the administration, because we have no reason and interest to oppose the administration… Our pride [stems from the fact] that we obey the velayat-e faghih, therefore any criticism that takes place toward ministers is because we want qualified and competent ministers to be placed in the administration... we put forth the possibility that in some matters the groundwork for creating tension and extremism takes place.” 
• Regarding his controversial statements about Iran's nuclear program during the televised presidential debates, Senior Adviser to the Supreme Leader for Foreign Affairs Ali Akbar Velayati said, “The Supreme Leader determines nuclear policies and we must all obey it…. My opinions in the elections were completely personal and my expert opinion at that time and no previous coordination had taken place.”
• Motalefeh Party Central Council member MP Hamid Reza Taraghi dismissed rumors of Ministry of Sciences caretaker Jafar Tofighi’s appointment to Minister of Sciences because “Mr. Rouhani knows the Parliament’s spirit…because Tofighi’s records are also like [previously rejected appointee] Jafar Mili Monfard, who [MPs] did not cast a vote of confidence for.” 
• Steadfastness Front and Principlists Parliamentary faction member MP Ali Asqar Zare’i stated, “Mr. President must observe [the ministers’] positions regarding the [2009] sedition in his appointments in addition to the expertise of the individuals… The most prominent red line is political performance of the ministers is the [2009] sedition and positions must be clear.” 
• Education and Research Parliamentary Commission Spokesman MP Abdolvahid Fiazi urged President Rouhani to introduce a new Minister of Sciences who “does not have the former appointee’s issues.”
• Mashhad Friday Prayer Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Alam ol-Hoda discussed the Education Minister appointment while addressing members of the Basij Culturalists Organization Council:
  • “The election of the respected President has importance [because] he is approved by the [Supreme Leader], and if we want to pay attention to the amount of his vote, we will see that he only received 50.7% of the votes and a large number of the people did not vote for [Rouhani].”
  • “What the enemies have aimed at is the pillar of the revolution, meaning the velayat-e faghih and the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.”
  • “You must not allow secular currents and [2009] institutions of sedition to confiscate the country’s political events for their advantage and acquire the Education and Training [Ministry].”
  • “Basiji culturalists must identify political currents and not allow such events to occur.”

Regional Developments

• Senior cleric Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli urged international Islamic organizations to invite Egyptian groups to dialogue in order to prevent a civil war. 
• Iran’s Charges d’affaires in Syria Abbas Golrou met with Damascus Umayyid Mosque Imam Sheikh Ma’moun Rahmeh to discuss events in Syria. Rahmeh thanked Iran for its support and stated, “We praise and respect the Iranian nation and government for their supports of Syria and Islamic resistance against the Zionist regime, and we hope that we can one day answer the kindness of the Iranian nation and government appropriately.” 
• Lebanese Hezbollah Executive Council Deputy Sheikh Nabil Qaouk threatened Israel and said that Israeli settlements should await “tens of thousands of missiles that will land on them in the upcoming war.” 
• Iraqi official Yassin Majid accused Saudi Intelligence of managing “terrorist measures in Iraq and Lebanon” and urged the Iraqi government to present evidence to the United Nations, European Union, Arab League and the Islamic Cooperation Organization regarding Saudi interference in Iraqi affairs. 
• Al-Qaeda-affiliate group “Iraq and Sham Islamic Government” is reportedly clashing with armed Kurds in northern Syria. 

Diplomacy

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Abbas Eraghchi discussed the upcoming meeting between President Rouhani and the Sultan of Oman, reacted to the release of CIA’s involvement in the 1953 coup d’etat and the stopping of an Indian oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, and emphasized Iran’s positive role in resolving the Syrian crisis:
  • Oman Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said will travel to Tehran next week to be President Rouhani’s first foreign guest.
  • “The publishing of these documents [by the CIA] neither add to our information nor reduce anything from the American’s crimes… Apology has meaning when it accompanies behavioral change, and in behavioral change, countries’ good faith is determined.”
  • “This ship faced technical difficulties and this caused the pollution of water. We are waiting for investigation in this field to be completed. By international regulations, it must be determined whether the responsibility is with the ship or not, and if it is the ship’s captain must answer.” 

Military and Security

• In a statement, Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan described the role of the country’s defense industry as “strengthening the country’s defensive capability, deterrence power to defend authority, integrity, national interests, security and effective confrontation with foreign threats. and also creating regional balance….” 
• Artesh Navy Commander Admiral Habibollah Sayyari announced that the 27^th Fleet is headed to open waters with the mission of protecting Iranian trade ships and oil tankers. 

Nuclear Issue

• Foreign Affairs Spokesman Eraghchi also discussed the unchangeableness of certain policies in Iranian nuclear positions and the Bushehr nuclear plant:
  • “It does not make a difference whether the case is handed to the Supreme National Security Council or the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Certain fundamentals and basics of our policies in the nuclear discussion are unchangeable.”
  • “We are waiting for Mr. Rouhani to determine the official responsible to pursue nuclear negotiations so these negotiations are with which institution.”
  • “We are not at all inclined nor want dialogue to be for [the sake of] dialogue and negotiations for [the sake of] negotiations and this is not acceptable to us. We request resulting and targeted negotiations that take place in the framework of a determined time.”
  • “Currently, the Bushehr power plant is undergoing its last stages of tests, and if everything goes well, we imagine that the plant will be ready for inauguration and transfer to the Islamic Republic of Iran within the next few weeks.”
• Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani stated, “Currently, an opportunity has been created that if the West is not greedy and if it also becomes clear for them that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, multiple formulas [to resolve] this issue can be found because nothing in the world of politics is without solutions.” 

Economy

• According to Mashregh News Agency, Economy Minister Ali Taeb Niya believes that Iran is a captive of the “resource curse” and that in the case of designing and implementing structural reform plans, the Iranian economy can be improved within three to four years. 
• Mehr News Agency reports that former Oil Ministers Gholam Hossein Nozari and Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh will most likely return to the oil industry as National Iranian Oil Company Managing Director and Oil Ministry Planning and Supervision on Hydrocarbon Resources Deputy, respectively, as part of Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh’s “art” and former success in appointing capable officials to various capacities within the ministry.
• Vehicle manufacturing company Iran Khodro directors announced that the shares of the company’s thirty subsidiaries will be sold. 
• Health, Treatment and Medical Education Minister Hassan Ghazi Zadeh Hashemi announced that reviewing the lack of medicine in the country will be the administration’s priority in the upcoming meetings.

Photo of the Day

• President Hassan Rouhani and cabinet members after the first meeting of the administration.