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

• According to Mashregh News, Ahmadinejad is planning to change the name of the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Culture into just "the Ministry of Culture."

• Sobh-e Sadeq slams Iran's special issue on the hijab, accuses "a well known political current" of "polarizing society."

• Parliamentarian Hamidreza Katouzian: "[Islamic] Resistance Front [which presents itself as a group of defectors from the Ahmadinejad camp] is the same things as the Good Scent of Servitude since we can't distinguish between Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mashaei. To distinguish between the two is wrong..." 

Diplomacy

• Mashregh News reports sweeping change in the ambassadorial corps of the Islamic Republic: Amir-Mansour Borqei, to be ambassador to Japan; Ali Ahani, to be ambassador to France; Abolfazl Zohrevand, to be ambassador to Afghanistan; Ali-Reza Haqiqian, to be ambassador to Pakistan; Ali-Asghar Mohammad, to be ambassador to the Philippines; Mohammad-Raouf Sheibani, to be ambassador to Syria.

• Panjereh analyst Farid al-Din Haddad Adel "explains" why the United States and the European Union are eager to see Bashar al-Assad step down: "[This is] punishment of Bashar Assad because of his continuous support to the current of resistance in the region, especially Hezbollah in Lebanon... and the change in the regional political balance of power: Defeat of client governments of the West, especially the fall of Mubarak and Bin Ali has made the conservative and pro-Western countries of the region to target Syria and the very person of Mr. Bashar Assad... Encircling Iran following Western presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, cutting the our connection with Hezbollah and creating insecurity in Shi'ite Iraq's northern borders..."

• [E] Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi confirmed that the two American nationals who were detained after crossing Iran-Iraq borders illegally and were sentenced to eight years of imprisonment have carried out espionage operations.

• [E] Ahmadinejad urged the worldwide Muslim community as well as non-Muslim countries to stage massive participation in the International Quds Day rallies on Friday.

Military and Security

• Masoud Idrisi, former ambassador to Lebanon, says "for the time being, Israel is too weak to attack Hezbollah or the Hamas."

• Kayhan editorializes: "Now, Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, Iran, the Egyptian people, and the like know that these screams [Israel's killing of Egyptian soldiers] are meant to defeat fear. Now the time has come to get rid of this timid creature."

• Qom governor Mohammad-Hossein Mousapour says traffic jams are "a part of the long term plan of the enemy to deal blows to the regime of the Islamic Republic." Mousapour also slams the British royal family whose "Nottingham [Buckingham?] Palace is financed by the wretched people."

• Basij Chief Mohammad-Reza Naqdi: "The hypocrites who today claim the path of the Imam [Khomeini] and call themselves [Followers] of the Path of the Imam and scheme against Islam, the guardianship and the revolution are more dangerous than the hypocrites [Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization] of the 1980's... The hypocrites of today are more hypocritical than the hypocrites of the 1980's, since despite being hypocrites, they finally showed themselves as infidels and used arms. But those hypocrites who during these years have on many occasions cooperated with the United States and the Zionists still try to depict an acceptable picture of themselves and still talk of the path of the Imam and the revolution..." 

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Iran announced that it has transferred a number of its centrifuge machines from the Central city of Natanz to the Fordo plant near the city of Qom.

Economy

• Iranian authorities declare the inflation rate "secret information." 

• Vatan-e Emrooz reports rising price of gold in the Iranian market.

Photos of the Day

• Homeless people in Tajrish Square.