Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by the AEI Critical Threats Project's Iran research team. 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.

Politics

• Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with the heads of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to discuss the implementation of “resistance economy” policies:
  • Supreme Leader Khamenei said the economy is the most important issue facing the country and that the three branches “must seriously enter the field” and “vehemently avoid” conflict between each other. He added:
    • “If the comprehensive policies of resistance economy are pursued and implemented seriously, there is a lot of hope that economic boom and reforming the country’s economic foundations will be resolved in between the time of fulfilling and resolving parts of the people’s problems.”
    • “The trend of implementing the broad policies of resistance economy must continue as a constant and unstoppable movement until reaching results. Each one of the branches must have precise supervision of its work.”
    • “If implementing the broad policies of resistance economy necessitates setting aside some unfavorable laws, the Parliament must identify, and then eliminate them. Also, if implementing these policies require the elimination of some regulations and the adjustment of new facilitating regulations, the administration must undertake these measures by issuing resolutions.”
    • “We must be careful that new laws and regulations do not lead to congestion and conflict.”
    • “The elimination of laws and regulations unfavorable to the broad policies of resistance economy or the ratification of new laws and regulations will facilitate an easier implementation of these policies, which are mostly on the shoulders of the administration.”
    • “Appoint individuals to pursue and implement the broad policies of resistance economy who have revolutionary and popular motivation and the necessary and sufficient beliefs in implementing them.”
    • “The primary axis of these policies must be explicated for the people with correct and logical argumentation, so the policies can gradually settle in the various sectors of society and transform into popular demand.”
    •  “Creating discourse regarding resistance economyand its transformation to popular discourse can alleviate many of the problems and facilitate the works.”
    • “Importation, food security and strategic reserves are important axes of the broad resistance economy policies. Aside from these matters, we must prevent unnecessary imports.”
    • “Currently, the field is ripe for the implementation of the broad resistance economy policies. If all branches and organs strive, this work will advance well, with God’s favor.”
  • President Hassan Rouhani announced his full support and said, “The administration is determined to increase oil and natural gas production, while petrochemical expansion is also on the agenda.”
  • Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani emphasized domestic production using indigenous expertise and the prevention of unnecessary imports and announced, “The Parliament has approved appropriate laws to facilitate an environment favorable for business and work. Currently there are no legal problems for investing and utilizing the capability of the private sector.”
  • Judiciary head Ayatollah Sadegh Amol Larijani emphasized the necessity of media attention to economic priorities and avoidance of “political sidelining.” He then vowed to confront “economic corruption.” 
• President Hassan Rouhani pledged the development and “complete transformation” of Hormozgan, during his second provincial visit. Part of this transformation is the development of Jasak port “in the very near future.” President Rouhani then discussed nuclear talks and Shi’a-Sunni relations: 
  • “Officials have begun the final steps and the first round of negotiations well. These negotiations will continue with the support of the dear Iranian people.”
  • “There are no differences between Shi’as and Sunnis.”  
• Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif addressed the inquiries of National Security and Foreign Policy (NSFP) Parliamentary Commission members earlier today on several recent controversies. They included the meeting of a European delegation with two prominent “criminals of the [2009] sedition” last month in Tehran and the reason for Zarif’s “deviatory positions…regarding the bastard Israeli regime and the Holocaust.” Committee members also asked why the Foreign Ministry did not take appropriate measures which have led to recent deaths of Iranian nationals abroad in recent terrorist attacks. The MPs later announced that none of Zarif’s responses convinced them. 
• NSFP Parliamentary Commission member Ghodousi also announced that forty-one MPs have signed a letter to Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Mahmoud Alavi regarding “the weakening” of national security during the Rouhani administration. The letter includes issues such as “continued efforts to normalize relations with America by the Foreign ministry and the President, requesting public opinion polls for relations with America, calling the country’s defense power as weak and prevention of holding missile drills.” 
• Former writer for Kayhan the -unofficial organ for Supreme Leader Khamenei- Mohammad Nourizad detailed his beating by several Intelligence Ministry agents in front of the ministry’s building yesterday. Nourizad has protested the seizure of documents that the ministry took from his home during the investigation. Nourizad has been summoned to appear before the “revolutionary court” tomorrow. He was arrested after writing a letter to Supreme Leader urging him to apologize for the crackdown on protestors after the 2009 election.
• Supreme National Security Council Secretary Maj. Gen. Ali Shamkhani addressed the Veterans of Jihad and Martyrdom Arena conference and said, “The only way of overcoming economic problems is the implementation of resistance economy policies, and in this path jihadists and warriors are unparalleled line-breakers …Resistance economy is neither mathematical nor a war economy;  It’s an approach that makes the economy resistant against foreign organized attacks, it also takes the country’s economy out of stagnation and negative growth.” 
• Head of the Expediency Discernment Council Ali Akbar Velayati stated, “Fulfillment of resistance economy will not be possible without the cooperation of the three branches.” 
• Foreign Minister Zarif met with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting officials to discuss the nuclear issue and said, “The coordination that took place in this meeting will be utilized, God willing, in the service of the Islamic Republic’s goals. We hope that an institutional relations has been created between these two institutions during this meeting.” 
• Editorial on Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) weekly Sobh-e Sadegh discussed the timing of resistance economy ratification from the Supreme Leader:
  •  “This is while preliminary agreements with the P5+1 have taken shape and these countries are in negotiations with Iran for a final agreement. The timing of issuing these broad policies bring this point to attention that hoping and waiting for them [administration] to overcome issues is not possible through the Foreign Ministry, and this strategy will not lead to anywhere. Also, it has been some time that the Supreme Leader has significantly emphasized reliance on the economy’s domestic and endogenous forces and factors.” 

Regional Developments and Diplomacy

• Commander of Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi’a militant group Zolfaghar Brigade, Abu Shahd al-Jabouri, has been reportedly killed in Ghanitareh, southern Syria, alongside forty fighters in a heavy clash with “takfiri terrorists.”
  • In his only interview, al-Jabouri said, “We will sacrifice for the Seyyeda Zeynab and Imam Khamenei until our last drop of blood.”
  • The third photograph in the article from left to right: Zolfaghar Brigade Second-in-Command Abu Hajer [killed in September 2013 and photographed in Iran in August; see Iran News Round Up September 18, 2013]; Zolfaghar Brigade Commander Abu Shahd and Abu Fadl al-Abbas Brigade Commander Abu Ajib. 
• Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Qazanfar Roknabadi met with the new Lebanese Foreign Minister Jabran Basil to discuss bilateral and regional issues. Roknabadi also announced Iranian willingness to cooperate with Lebanese security forces in capturing the perpetrators wanted for bombing the Iranian cultural mission in Beirut. 
• Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah will travel to Tehran and meet with his counterpart Foreign Minister Zarif. 

Military and Security

• Security Deputy to the Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi announced that the five border guards kidnapped by Jaish al-Adl earlier this month are safe and that Iran is expecting Pakistan “to fulfill its security commitments” in securing their release. 
• Defense Minister IRGC Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan unveiled twenty-one electronic and radar defense projects. The projects include upgrades for early-warning radar, naval, aviation and weapons systems. Dehghan praised the Iran Electronics Industries (SEI) and the [largest SEI subsidiary] Shiraz Electronic Industries for their research and production efforts. 
• Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Imam Hossein University Commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Hassani addressed the Asymmetrical Defense Inventions convention. He emphasized science’s role in achieving the final stage of the Islamic Revolution, the establishment of a “modern Islamic civilization.” Hassani advocated an asymmetrical method for confronting the US, rather than the Soviet way:
  • “The Islamic Revolution is not fully complete. Just as the Supreme Leader stated, our Revolution has five stages, the stages of the Revolution’s victory and establishing Islamic system has been accomplished successfully; however, the stages of establishing Islamic government, forming Islamic society and a modern Islamic civilization in the world are still left. We have stayed at the stage of establishing Islamic government and have not surpassed it yet. We have faced problems and sometimes deviations in this stage.”
  •  “The Supreme Leader has an undeniable role in our scientific awakening. Just as he introduced scientific jihad, we must know that scientific jihad seeks to establish a modern Islamic civilization.”
  • “The only way of achieving international power is scientific strength. Scientific strength necessitates scientific authority. Therefore, a jihad must take place throughout the country’s organs in order for this act to be fulfilled.”
  • “We must criticize Western science because there are other ways of reaching scientific discussions.”
  • “Must we build expensive equipment step by step with the Americans? In my opinion this is an error. Our strategy, with attention to short cuts and asymmetrical defense inventions, can neutralize the weak spots of American achievements. We must pay attention to their weak spots and our approach must be with attention to scientific and university intellectuals.”
  • “Asymmetric strategy and jihadi movements were the two components of Hezbollah’s victory against the Zionist regime.”
  • “Achieving scientific authority is not our ultimate goal, rather this will create the groundwork for achieving modern Islamic civilization.”
• Asymmetric Defense Innovations and Inventions Convention Secretary IRGC Brig. Gen. Gholam Hossein Kazemi announced, “The IRGC has deprived enemies of sleep with reliance on asymmetric technologies.  It has shaken the enemy’s back in the region and the world with its achievements and will target the house of threat not only in Haifa and Tel Aviv, but anywhere. The goal of holding this convention is breaking the border of knowledge and science and creating construction and serious competition and identifying the country’s intellectuals in the defense arena.” 
• Armed Forces General Staff Headquarters Basij Affairs and Defense Culture Deputy Brig. Gen. Massoud Jazayeri emphasized the pursuit of resistance economy policies and warned not to “be deceived by the enemies’ smiles” because, “The enemy considers internal disintegration as the method of confronting the Islamic Revolution and believes that the Islamic Republic must regret its path with external and internal pressures and begin coordinating with the West. America considers the Islamic Republic and groups allied with the Islamic Revolution such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad as obstacles to the fulfillment of America’s interests in the region.” 
• Artesh Navy Forces Operations Deputy Admiral Siavash Jareh attributed the 30% decline of piracy in the past year in the Gulf of Aden to the Iranian navy. 

Economy

• The Iranian Statistics Center published the macroeconomic indicators for the first six months of the current Persian calendar year [March-September 2013]: -2% economic, -2.1% agriculture sector , -5.4% industrial sector, -0.6% services sector growth. 
• Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh addressed comments by Pakistani officials about ceasing purchases of Iranian natural gas and stated, “Since international sanctions against Iran are serious, the Islamabad government cannot do anything more. I do not have official information regarding the stopping of Iranian gas imports by Pakistan.” 
• Senior Advisor to the President Akbar Torkan announced that the country annually spends $124 billion on keeping fuel prices artificially low and that the point-by-point inflation has decreased from 45% to 28% since Rouhani’s inauguration. 
• Economic and Finance Minister Ali Tayebnia briefed reporters on important provisions of the second phase of the targeted subsidies policy. Provisions include identification of high-income and low-income earners through bank accounts, vehicle, and property locations for direct subsidy payments. Fuel prices are also slated to increase between March-May 2014, but Tayebnia emphasized that price increase with be gradual. 

Photo of the Day

• Crowds greet President Hassan Rouhani in Hormozgan province.