Iran News Round Up

 A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin.  To subscribe to this daily newsletter, please visit this page, fill out the "New Subscribers" section, and check "Iran News Round Up" listed under "Projects." 
 
(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Mahramaneh News releases a book about Ahmadinejad’s aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, titled Moamma-ye Mashaei [the Puzzle of Mashaei].
• Mohammad-Nabi Habibi, Moetalefeh general secretary, criticizes Rafsanjani’s last Friday sermon in Tehran:
  • "We want Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani to be within the tent of the revolution and behind the leader. We are aware of his position and his service to the revolution and the Imam [Khomeini], and we desire that his political and revolutionary honor is preserved. But we also have warnings. Sometimes he adopts positions which seem contradictory. For example his insistence upon his positions at the Friday prayer last year... which contradicts his views about avoiding division."
• According to TV anchor Vahid Yamin-Pour, the Green Movement is "a sexual [liberation] movement" which must be restrained by propagation of temporary marriage among the youth.

Diplomacy

• Acting Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi upon on his return from Syria reports on his negotiations with Syrian officials about regional issues, especially Lebanon.
• Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast expresses concern about "interventions of the United States in the popular revolution of the people of Tunisia."
• Fars News Agency condemns "rioters connected to the March 14th [alliance]" who the agency claims attacked Press TV's stations in Lebanon "as a part of their sedition."

Military and Security

• Iran Navy is sending destroyers to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.
• Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi says more details about Iran’s air and space defense capabilities and missile program will be released in February.  
• Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi:
  • "Domestic and foreign seditionists have made exorbitant investments and are planning right now to achieve their goals..."
  • "It is a source of grief that some elites are still silent [not condemning the opposition]..."
  • "One must deal with those who participated in last year's sedition dressed in clerical garbs in the same manner as all other seditionists..."
  • "Today, the monafeqin [Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization], the Communists, Monarchists, the Bahais and other groups are actively supporting the seditionists..."
• An "informed source" to Mashregh News Agency: "Majid Jamali, a terrorist agent of the Mossad [charged with assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist], was hired to participate in sport competitions representing Iran and lose." A reader comments: "Tomorrow Afshin Qotbi [national soccer team coach] will end up being a Mossad agent! Poor the national soccer team players!"
• [E] Commander of the Iranian Army Major General Ataollah Salehi announced on Wednesday that Iran is prepared to carry out a comprehensive air defense plan to protect the country's entire airspace.
• [E] The Iranian Navy dispatched its first training and operational fleet of warships to the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday.

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Turkish President Abdullah Gul says his country will make further efforts to ensure that the talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) will continue until achieving satisfactory results.

Trade

• [E] Managing-Director of the National Iranian Gas Company Mohammad Javad Oji announced that Iran's natural gas resources will be transported to Iraq and Syria via a new pipeline to be constructed based on an agreement recently inked between Tehran and Damascus.

Photo of the Day

• Passion play in Isfahan.