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

• Addressing members of the Warriors of Islam Commission Central Headquarters on Arbaeen [40^th day commemorating the death of third Shi’a Imam Hossein], Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “Whoever is interested in Imam Hossein is interested in political Islam. Islam is mujahed, Islam is militant, Islam is giving blood, Islam is giving [one’s] life. This is the meaning of belief in Imam Hossein.”

• Head of the Expediency Discernment Council Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani stated, “In the meeting that I had with the Europeans, they said that they will lift some sanctions soon and the current situation after negotiations is very much to the advantage of our country.” Rafsanjani then praised the negotiations team and said that “our team in the negotiations did not give any concessions” but that “the opposing side did not give much concession to us” either. 
• In response to recent announcements by Reformists of a plan to take a majority of the Parliament in next year’s elections, Principlists Parliamentary faction member MP Hojjat al-Eslam Nasser Mousavi Laregani accused the last Reformist-majority Parliament of placing “our nuclear information in the hands of the enemies which caused our enemies to awaken so they placed pressure on the Iranian nation.” He added, “Members of Parliament must execute their legal duties and continuously pay attention to the guidance of the Supreme Leader, and if they are in the line of the velayat, certainly the Parliament will be majority Principlists in the next round.” Laregani then urged unity among the Principlist and Followers of the Velayat Parliamentary factions. 

Diplomacy

• Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif emphasized the necessity and importance of Iran’s presence in the Geneva 2 Syria conference in a telephone conversation with United National Secretary Ban Ki Moon.

Military and Security

• Coordination Deputy for the Supreme Leader’s Representation in the IRGC Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Sepehr addressed the closing ceremony of the 33^rd National IRGC Qur’an Competition, during which he emphasized spirituality in the IRGC and discussed Syria:
  • “Today, presence in the arenas of hard and semi-hard wars, cultural and economic arenas, deepening internal and domestic parts, and also formation of the Basij are strategic missions of the IRGC, and performing a role in all of these missions have shared requirements.”
  • “Today’s commanders and officials utilize all capacities so spirituality flows in all IRGC missions.”
  • “A Qur’anic environment has a direct relation with guidance, virtue and characteristics of guardianship.”
  • “It is expected for reciters and memorizers of the Qur’an in the IRGC to take up the pen and write the guardians’ Qur’anic lifestyle in various arenas, [including] the musts and must-nots of a guard from the perspective of the Qur’an. This act will cause the deepening and expansion of Qur’anic culture.”
  • “Today in Syria, with the blessing of morality, clergy and modeling the Basij family tree, another Hezbollah has taken form and has disrupted all the equations and conspiracies of the Arrogant [Western] countries.”
  • “In the current situation, thousands of satellite and obstinate media networks have targeted spirituality, Islam and Shi’ism. As the protectors of the Islamic Revolution, by resorting to the Qur’an as the most effective source of blessings, the guards must make the enemies disappointed in this arena.”
  • “If America today speaks of all options being on the table it is due to the ominous goals that it has contemplated during more than three decades, which is the destruction, behavioral change or lining the sacred system of the Islamic Republic with its goals. We will also pursue our goals exactly against them on the other side so we can impose the desires of the Islamic Republic system’s righteousness on Global Arrogance. In these arenas, especially cultural arenas, the munificent Qur’an, as the lightful source of spirituality and mortality, has many recommendations and solutions for us.” 
• The Workgroup for the Determination of Criminal Instances (Filtering Council) issued a resolution placing a filter on the social media network WeChat within the next 48 hours. 

Nuclear Issue

• Iran and P5+1 technical negotiations have resumed in Geneva. The Iranian delegation is led by Foreign Ministry Political and International Director Hamid Baidinejad and the delegation also includes officials from banking, oil and transportation departments. Senior negotiator Abbas Eraghchi announced, “It is possible for expert and technical negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and P5+1 to continue until the beginning of next week.”
• Head of the Iran Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi briefed senior Qom clerics on the provisions of the recent P5+1 agreement:
  • “Whatever occurs in this agreement, the Islamic Republic of Iran will be its final victor. If they are binding to the agreement then the better but if they violate it, [then] the Islamic Republic of Iran will have shown the world that it adheres to agreements, understanding and interaction and that it is the opposing side which is stubborn and seeks to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
  • “5% enrichment has existed from the beginning, but at a point a necessity was felt for 20% enrichment but they refused and the Islamic Republic of Iran was able to achieve 20% enrichment with the efforts of its brave youth and caused the Western world to be amazed.”
  • “They will permanently inspect our nuclear sites and, based on the safeguard agreements we have with them, their cameras will be in our nuclear facilities 24 hours [a day] and inspectors will be present in these facilities.”
  • “All of our facilities that engage with nuclear material are under the supervision and inspection of the [IAEA].”
  • “They claimed that our missile industries build nuclear warheads but when the Supreme Leader issued a fatwa on the forbidden nature of producing a nuclear bomb, we are bound to observe it.”
  • “We consider this claim of the Westerners to be an invalid claim and vehemently deny and negate it.”
  • “There are no sources and treaties to inspect military and missile industries but since we are certain in our work, we have signed an agreement with the International Atomic Agency for increased transparency.”
  • “They have requested six provisions from us that we are reviewing them.” 
• Senior cleric Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi thanked Salehi for “alleviating some of our uncertainties” and praised the recent agreement, but expressed concern that “some believe that you have used all of your victory cards more than needed and have not left anything to give them in the future.” He added, “The nuclear matter is clear for us and just as the Supreme Leader has stated about the forbidden nature of nuclear weapons, I also, as a source of emulation, consider the matter of nuclear weapons to be forbidden and the discussions that the Western world has introduced about them are only imagination and illusion."
• Senior cleric Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli stated, “The red lines that the Supreme Leader has stated are secure but Qom’s red line are decorum and sagacity.”

Photo of the Day

• Distributing gifts to children working in Tehran’s metro.