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. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• MP and former IRGC intelligence official Alireza Zakani spoke on the three groups opposed to principlism:
  • "The first group is [reformists] which [contains] a number of extremists and, in reality, seditionists and also other individuals, because those who are distant from this extremist idea are also considered part of this group."
  • "They [reformists] are seriously pursing a specific strategy which is to first categorize all principlists [as affiliated with] Mr. Ahmadinejad's government and secondly to ignore the positive services of the 9th and 10th administrations and exaggerate the shortcomings, mistakes, and behavioral and practical faults and introduce them as the product of principlists."
  • "This group [second group opposed to principlism] are related to Mr. Hashemi [Rafsanjani] who have a role in solidarity between reformists and additionally are attempting to recruit from [the] principlists."
  • "The third group is a deviant group that we believe lacks numbers and roots but are nonetheless effective because they are in power today, although this deviant group must be removed from the government."
• MP and former IRGC BG Mohammad Kowsari criticized President Ahmadinejad's speech on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution:
  • "A 22 Bahman [anniversary of the Iranian revolution on the Persian calender] speaker should convey the system's annual performance to the people, not just [highlight] that which is under his command."
  • "Unfortunately the President did not observe [this], but we hope other presidents will not repeat his attempts beginning next year. Individuals who seek to be presidential candidates should also know that public forums belong to the entire system not just the administration."
  • "If a slogan from Mr. Ahmadinejad was repeated more than three times in parts of his speech and [its] conclusion, it was the administration candidate's slogan for the upcoming election, [and] this is a clear violation and is election engineering in a sense."
• Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei praised the Iranian people's participation in the anniversary of the revolution:
  • "The presence of all sectors, old and young and women and men, in scene [especially] in the situation that 34 years have passed since the victory of the Islamic revolution is the greatest divine blessing that [one] should thank God for the rest of [one's] life."
  • "Exactly in the moment when enemies of Iranian nation's independence and honor expected the people not to answer the call of revolution and the call of the Islamic Republic, the people caused the enemy to become disappointed and hopeless through their presence."
  • "Although, they [West] see the realities of the scene and understand and analyze them and reach the conclusion that this nation cannot be confronted."
• Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff MG Hassan Firouzabadi echoed Supreme Leader Khamenei's comments regarding direct negotiations with the US and added that Iran faces no military threats from the US:
  • "In present conditions we do not face a military threat from the Americans. US activities are mostly in the realms of of politics and sanctions."
  • "The Supreme Leader cited a lack of Americans' good faith as the reason [for rejecting direct negotiations]. They cannot suggest negotiations and then intensify sanctions."
• The Tehran prosecutor's office summoned to court the daughters of former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi to explain their recent comments about not having access to their father and demanding his immediate release.

Diplomacy

• [E] Deputy FM for MENA Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that Iran is in the process of reopening its embassy in Senegal and has sent an ambassador to Dakar. He also expressed hope that Dakar would reopen its embassy in Tehran soon.
• [E] Ambassador to Iraq Hassan Danaeifar met with former Iraqi VP Adel Abdol Mahdi in Najaf to discuss bilateral ties and regional developments.
• [E] Abdollah Norouzi replaced Gholam Reza Bagheri as Iran’s ambassador to Bulgaria.

Military and Security

• Speaking on occasion of the anniversary of former Hezbollah overseas operations and commander Imad Mughniyeh's death, Armed Forces General Staff Basij Affairs and Defense Culture Deputy BG Massoud Jazayeri said that Mughniyeh was responsible for transferring Hezbollah's experience to Hamas:
  • "Imad Mughniyeh was a product of the Islamic revolution and velayat. He followed the steps of the revolution's message and Imam Khomeini's leadership in resisting the occupying Zionist regime and strengthening the Islamic resistance."
  • "Mughniyeh, after the 33-day war in 2008, pursued the transfer of Hezbollah's experience in this war to the resistance in Gaza and the Hamas warriors, and with the confidence he had in them, he was sure that following Hezbollah would guarantee the success of the Palestinian resistance against the Zionist enemy."
  • "[He] linked the chains of resistance between the Lebanese Islamic resistance and Palestine, and [the fact that] the head of Islamic Jihad Movement Ramazan Abdollah said after the eight-day war that, in all the missiles that were launched from Gaza towards the Zionist enemy, the footsteps of Haj Amad Maghniyeh could be heard, demonstrates this reality; that Imad Mughniyeh was behind the strategic capabilities of Palestine's Islamic resistance against the Zionist regime." 
• Deputy Defense Minister BG Mehdi Farrahi reported on the testing of Iran's latest air-to-air missile, Fakour 90, launched from F-14 fighters. He added that Iran's cruise missiles will be tested in upcoming days.
• Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi commented on lack of past American cooperation with Iran regarding operations close to the Iran-Afghan border and Iranian unconventional strategic doctrine:
  
  • "When they [Americans] were in Afghanistan we had an agreement with our Afghan friends that they do not have the right to use their [territory to launch attacks] against Iran, but the Americans attempted provocations against our country without coordinating with [the Afghans], such as this air craft that was brought from Kandahar to Herat then to Iranian soil [where] a lot of photographing and filming took place, [and] all of these have been revealed."
  • "Also self-sufficiency is on our minds whether in [establishing] operational doctrines or defense industries and we are pursuing [the] indigenous [construction] of security and defense as the country's strategic policy."

Photo of the Day

• The Iranian revolution in pictures.
• Vahid Haghanian attends 22 Bahman rally in Tehran.