Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani stresses that the parliament has the right to impeach cabinet ministers.
• According to Mahramane News, there are increasing efforts to topple Rafsanjani as chairman of the Assembly of Experts.
• Academic Sadegh Zibakalam:
  • "Look, [Esfandiar] Rahim-Mashaei is the rising and shining star of the principalists. Rahim-Mashaei will be the single greatest change and transformation among the rightists..."
  • "I believe that  he has, with his wisdom, understood the need for change and transformation of the Iranian society while other personalities remain in paradigms and atmospheres of the past..."
  • "In my opinion, the important decision Mr. Rahim-Mashaei must take - and he has not so much time [to do so] - is to ask himself: 'Do I want to be the candidate of the classes and groups who voted for Ahmadinejad, or I want to expand my social base and aim for the 20 million who voted for reforms in 1997 and the 13 million who voted for reforms in June 2009.' If his strategy is to get closer to the elites and the better educated classes of society, his chances for victory will most certainly be much greater. However, obtaining support of the educated classes is very difficult and one can't deal with them with populist slogans."
    • Zibakalam also says Tehran Mayor Qalibaf will most likely be Mashaei's main rival.  

Diplomacy

• Tehran Mayor Qalibaf comments on the Foreign Ministry's prohibiting his visit to Washington D.C. to receive a prize on behalf of Tehran City: "That I am not traveling is not important. Tehran was chosen, and that is important."
• Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli addressing a number of Indian Shi'a and Sunni theologians visiting Iran slams "idolatry" by Hindus and Buddhists:
  • "Thanks to the divine benevolence, the sacred Islamic regime was shaped in Iran. And thanks to this very sacred regime, the Hezbollah of Lebanon has for many years resisted Israel and degraded them. Now that in Tunisia the government authorities that opposed the call to prayer in the state media have left the country and the sound of Allah is Great is heard from the state media, it is time to abolish idolatry from the mysterious land of India."
  • "Because of lack of attention in the distant past, Islam was not properly introduced in India, and the bitter result of it is emergence of the Buddhist and Hindu idolaters."
  • "Had the learned men of India struggled to understand Abrahamic monotheism and had they behaved correctly and transferred [this insight] correctly to society, India would never have become a prisoner of Hinduism and Buddhism."
• [E] Iranian Caretaker Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad underlined that problems in the Middle-East region should be resolved through regional solutions.

Military and Security

• Supreme Leader Khamenei appoints Farzad Esmaili as Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base chief.
• According to Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, Islamic Republic of Iran Army's Ground Forces chief, the international borders of Iran have been divided into five divisions, each placed under the command of "an independent base."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, the Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, addresses the IRGC members in Qom: "Assessment of any group and party is based on their following the Guardianship."

Nuclear Issue

• Said Jalili, the Islamic Republic's nuclear negotiator: "If we all adhere to our obligations, dialogue will be fruitful. We must abstain from animosity. There is a constructive background for further cooperation... All agree upon human rights and international law. Therefore, we must abstain from imposing preconditions."
• Kayhan editorializes: "Iran did not pay protection money and the negotiations did not reach any results."
• [E] Iranian lawmaker says EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton built a wall of mistrust between Iran and the West and endangered the talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) due to her biased stances.

Trade

• Kayhan boasts of expanded trade relations with Italy and Germany, and ridicules attempts to sanction Iran.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• Afghan authorities have threatened to shut western borders if Iran continues to stop fuel transit into Afghanistan.
• [E] A man accused of throwing acid on an Afghan journalist last week says Iran forced him to do so

Photos of the Day

• Ahmadinejad and Mashaei