Iran News Round Up

Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to the Supreme Leader Ali Akbar Velayati met with Iraq’s Islamic Virtue Party Head Abdol Hossein Mousawi. The Islamic Virtue Party is a Shia Iraqi political party that draws its primary support base from Basra.  Velayati stated during the meeting that “there are scarcely two countries in the world that have as much in common as Iran and Iraq.” (Mehr News Agency)

President Hassan Rouhani met with his second-term cabinet for the first time on August 20. Rouhani stated that the “Iranian people and officials around the world rejected calls for [Iran’s] isolation through their presence” at Rouhani’s inauguration. Rouhani added that the government’s legitimacy “lies in [the government] providing a clear and precise response to [the] people’s wishes.” (Fars News Agency)

• Rouhani made additional non-ministerial appointments following the approval of his cabinet by Parliament. Rouhani appointed former Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mahmoud Vaezi as his Chief of Staff. Rouhani also appointed former Chief of Staff Mohammad Nahavandian as Vice President for Economic Affairs. (Fars News Agency)   

Green Movement leader Mehdi Karroubi was re-hospitalized on August 19 following an issue with his pacemaker. Karroubi’s return to the hospital follows the end of his hunger strike last week. Karroubi’s son, Mohammad, stated that his father was only “half conscious.” Karroubi and fellow Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have been under house arrest since 2011.  (Radio Farda)

• Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei denied reports of the removal of security forces from Karroubi’s home. Karroubi had demanded the removal of security forces as well as a public trial as conditions for the end of his hunger strike. Ejei stated that the decree issued against Ejei and the other Green Movement leaders “remains in force.” (BBC Persian)
• Reformist former President Mohammad Khatami called on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to lift the Green Movement leaders’ house arrest. He stated that “it is only with the attention of [Khamenei] that this issue will be solved.” Khatami echoed Karroubi’s demands for security forces to be removed from the leaders’ homes in order to end “a siege within a siege.” (BBC Persian)
• Deputy Parliament Speaker Ali Motahari criticized Ejei’s comments in an open letter. Motahari stressed that “the unjust tradition of house arrest in Tehran” should end. Motahari stated that “the Supreme National Security Council can never act in place of the and determine that [in individual] should be under house arrest for life without a trial or hearing the defendant’s [case].” (BBC Persian)