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 Analysts Marie Donovan, Paul Bucala, and Caitlin Shayda Pendleton with contributor Shayan Enferadi. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Excerpts of these translations may only be used with the expressed consent of the authors.

Key takeaway: Iranian news outlet Memari News published a report accusing Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s office of giving government officials “huge discounts” on government-owned property. 

Tehran City Council Head Mehdi Chamran denied the reports and intimated that a “particular political party” was behind the allegations, likely a reference to Iran’s reformists. IRGC-affiliated news outlet Tasnim News Agency claimed that the reformists implicated Ghalibaf as part of a larger effort to destroy him as a frontrunner in the 2017 presidential elections. Ghalibaf came in second place to President Hassan Rouhani in the 2013 presidential elections and was also a candidate in the 2005 elections.  

Khatam ol Anbia Air Defense Base Commander Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili reacted to reports that the Iranian military has deployed the S-300 system at the Fordow nuclear facility in Qom province. Esmaili claimed that the S-300’s deployment location “has not yet been determined.” The S-300 is a mobile system and does not need to be deployed at a fixed location.

Rouhani Administration Spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht discussed the recent arrest of a member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team on espionage charges. Nobakht claimed that he does not have “precise information” on the arrest but noted that the individual’s reported release on bail demonstrates that the case against him is not “severe.” The nuclear negotiator has been unofficially identified as Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani, a banking expert who has dual nationality with either Britain or Canada.

The managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, Ali Kardor, announced that Iran will invite foreign oil companies to submit investment bids in October under the Iranian Petroleum Contact (IPC), Iran’s new oil and gas contract model. The Rouhani administration has been forced to revise the IPC several times after opponents claimed that the proposed model gave international oil companies an unconstitutional level of control over oil development.

AEI Must-Reads

• Marie Donovan analyzes how Russia’s use of an Iranian air base could improve Iran’s deterrence capabilities against the U.S. in “Russian Basing in Iran is about More than ISIS.”
   
• Christopher Harmer explains why international attention must turn to Moscow’s delivery of the S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran in “The Strategic Impact of the S-300 in Iran."

Domestic Politics

• News outlet implicates Ghalibaf’s office in “illegal” housing discounts. Iranian news outlet Memari News published a report accusing Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s office of selling real estate to individuals including members of the Tehran City Council at “huge discounts.” Tehran City Council Head Mehdi Chamran called the reporting “completely questionable” and “smelling of a particular political party.” IRGC-affiliated news outlet Tasnim News Agency claimed that reformists brought the allegations against Ghalibaf as part of a larger “strategy to destroy” him as a frontrunner in the 2017 presidential elections. (Memari News) (Memari News) (Fars News Agency) (Tasnim News Agency) 
   
• Rouhani spokesman discusses concert feud and arrest of nuclear negotiating team member. Rouhani Administration Spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht defended President Hassan Rouhani amid an ongoing controversy over an increasing number of cancelled concerts across Iran. Hardliners in the Judiciary and local police have recently blocked the concerts against the wishes of Rouhani and his Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Ali Jannati, by citing concerns about immorality. Nobakht stated that the law trumps “an individual’s opinion” and that the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance should “properly identify cultural concerns.” The concert cancellations have also prompted some reformist criticism of Rouhani, who was elected on a popular mandate that included greater social freedoms.
  • Nobakht briefly referenced news that a member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team was recently arrested. He stated, “I do not have precise information about this issue because it only surfaced one or two days ago. There has not been an opportunity for me to go get information and see who he is or what the issue is.” Nobakht added that the individual’s release on bail demonstrates that the case against him is not “severe.” (Fars News Agency)
     
• Rouhani calls for “fundamental reform” after salary scandal. President Hassan Rouhani discussed the need to “fundamentally reform the system” during a speech on August 29. His remarks focused on the ongoing salary scandal, in which leaks revealed that certain government employees have been receiving exorbitant benefits far above the legal cap. Several senior officials have already lost their jobs over the controversy. Rouhani stated that corruption will persist so long as “laws, regulations, payments, and revenues are not transparent.” He also asserted that the salary scandal “is not the problem of one or two branches but is instead widespread.” His remarks are a pushback against Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, who recently criticized the executive branch for having disproportionately exorbitant salaries. Rouhani’s opponents have repeatedly attacked his administration for allegedly failing to investigate and address the scandal adequately. (Fars News Agency) (Asr Iran)
   
• Senior principlist discusses planning for presidential election. Hojjat ol Eslam Gholam Reza Mesbahi Moghaddam, the spokesman for the influential conservative Combatant Clergy Association, stated that there is a “strong likelihood” that a “Principlist Coalition Council” will be established for the May 2017 presidential elections. A lack of unity among hardline conservatives, or principlists, has caused them to suffer in the past several election cycles. Mesbahi Moghaddam also described the Rouhani administration’s “strong and weak points.” He claimed that President Hassan Rouhani has excelled at calming “economic and political tensions” in Iran but added that Rouhani could have solved Iran’s economic problems by better utilizing “domestic resources” rather than “turning his attention more to problems between Iran and the P5+1.”
  • Mesbahi Moghaddam also noted that “the eight years of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s administration was not a successful time for us.” Political observers have speculated that Ahmadinejad is seeking to re-enter politics in the 2017 presidential elections, but he remains controversial even among Iranian conservatives. Mesbahi Moghaddam has also previously objected to an Ahmadinejad candidacy. (Tasnim News Agency)
     
• Motahari responds to criticism from Parliament members. Moderate-conservative Deputy Parliament Speaker Ali Motahari explained that the letter he recently sent to Justice Minister Hojjat ol Eslam Mostafa Pourmohammadi was designed to “close the debate” within Iran regarding the execution of 5,000 political prisoners in 1988. Motahari responded to the criticism he received from Parliament members for the letter by stating that “officials must provide an explanation because this issue has been put forth in domestic and foreign media for a month. It is necessary that officials give the required explanations instead of chanting slogans about the crimes of the hypocrites and the greatness of the Imam.” (Alef)

Military & Security

• Air Defense Base commander: New Iranian surface-to-air missile system will be operationalized “soon.” Khatam ol Anbia Air Defense Base Commander Brig. Gen. Farzad Esmaili vowed that Iran’s Bavar-373 missile system -- a domestically produced missile designed to be the equivalent of Russia’s S-300 system -- will be operationalized in the near future. On August 21, President Hassan Rouhani and Defense Minister IRGC Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan attended the unveiling ceremony for the Bavar-373 missile system. Esmaili also responded to reports that the Iranian military has deployed the S-300 system at the Fordow nuclear facility, claiming that the S-300’s deployment location “has not yet been determined.” (Tasnim News Agency)
   
• Senior parliamentarian: Captured “terrorists” have admitted support from Saudi Arabia. National Security and Foreign Policy (NSFP) Parliamentary Commission Chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi claimed that recently captured militants in Iran have “disclosed valuable information” on Saudi Arabia’s “support” for their operations. Iranian security officials have announced a number of arrests and security operations against suspected militants in Iran’s border provinces in recent months. (Tasnim News Agency) (E)

Economy

• Iran to offer tenders to international oil companies in October. Ali Kardor, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), announced that Iran will invite international oil companies to submit bids under the new Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) to develop oil fields in Iran beginning in mid-October. Kardor predicted that the South Azadegan field on Iran’s southwestern border would be the first large field open to bids from international companies. Kardor added that the NIOC has signed seven “confidential agreements” with international companies, including Total S.A., Pertamina, and Lukoil, to conduct studies of Iranian oil fields. (Shana)