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

•  Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, Tehran temporary Friday prayer leader: "The future of the Islamic revolution is religious and talk of nationalism is incompatible with the Islamic revolution. One needs to pay attention to the element of religion and in all aspects [of life] one must pay attention to this element...The movement of sedition attempted during eight months to crush the sanctity of the leadership, but we saw that they themselves were crushed..."
• The parliament demands delivery of next year's national budget to parliamentarians by Sunday.
• [E] The Iranian parliament is due to decide on January 30 if it should give a vote of confidence to President Ahmadinejad's nominee for the post of foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi. 
   

Diplomacy

• Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, Tehran temporary Friday prayer leader: "One can justly say that these movements are after quakes of the Islamic revolution which was started by the Iranian nation... This is the tradition of God: The destiny of those who fight against religion is collapse..."
• Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi: "Thanks to the blessings of the Islamic revolution of Iran, free Muslim nation in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries, are resisting imperialism and unjust governments by making this revolution [the Iranian] their role model..."
• As a Lebanese journalist criticizes Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Iranian state television, Alef News Agency warns against "infiltration" of the Islamic Republic of Iran Voice and Vision by "Saudi agents." 
   

Economy

• Alef News Agency's analyst warns against rising inflation.
• [E] Iran is due to put into operation two major projects of Shazand Oil Refinery - which will be the biggest oil refinery in the Middle-East - in the next few days. 
   

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov renewed his country's support for a peaceful and diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear issue.
• [E] A senior Iranian official announced that the country's first nuclear power plant will join the national power grid by April. 
   

Iran in the Afghan Media

•  Afghanpaper writes that Najibullah Kabuli, a former member of Afghanistan’s parliament, is funded by Americans to stage anti-Iran protests in Afghanistan.
•   Hasht-e Sobh says that the dispute between Afghanistan and Iran over fuel transit is still unresolved.
   

Photos of the Day

• Elizabeth Taylor in Mashhad, 1976.