Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh and Ahmad Majidyar. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Alef News says Supreme Leader has always preferred a strong government and thus the Ahmadinejad government should not take the Leader’s recent positive remarks about the cabinet too literally.
• Lawmaker Mohammad Damadi discusses the new reshuffle of governor generals in Iran:
  • "Mr. [Mohammad-Mostafa] Najjar [Interior Minister] did not give me a clear answer [about regular replacements of governor generals]. Therefore, the author suspects that the Interior Minister has no competence in this regard... It seems that the government is regrouping to win the next cabinet."

Diplomacy

• Hassan Khomeini addresses the students at the Imam Khomeini University in Karachi, Pakistan. 
• Ahmadinejad appoints Reza Nazar-Ahari ambassador to Japan. Nazar-Ahari was previously ambassador to Finland.
• [E] Supreme Leader Khamenei met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Tehran on Wednesday. 
• [E] Ahmadinejad and Ban Ki-moon in a meeting in Tehran conferred on the latest regional and international developments.
• Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to prevent the bullying powers' mischievous actions in the region, cautioning that their antagonistic efforts have cost the region much as they have stirred tension and problems in a number of regional countries, especially in Syria.

Military and Security

• Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi says the "enemy which has tried to mobilize the public to disrupt the summit in Tehran" will not succeed.
  • Ahmad-Reza Radan, Law Enforcement Forces deputy, says no security incident has been reported during the Tehran summit.
• Attacks against reformist political leaders:
  • Yadollah Javani, adviser to the representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards, addressing the Basij members in Mashhad said "Mohammad Khatami is the head of sedition and the regime will not allow him to return [to run for president]." Javani also said "the reformists hope in sanctions and divisions within the principled [factions]. Should the sanctions work, they will become open mouthed..." 
  • Ebrahim Jabbari, Vali-ye Amr Revolutionary Guards unit commander - the unit which functions as the private guard of Supreme Leader - addressing the people in Qazvin, said "[Mir-Hossein] Mousavi is counter revolutionary, and [Mohammad] Khatami must kneel in front of the people and say 'I repent!'" Jabbari also called the reformists as "infiltrators of the enemy."  
• Mohammad Baqerzadeh is appointed senior adviser to chief of staff Firouzabadi.

Nuclear Issue

• Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, the Islamic Republic's Ambassador to the IAEA, addressing the foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, said Iran will not "suspend uranium enrichment for a second."

Photos of the Day

• U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon arrives in Tehran to attend the NAM summit.