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

• Hojjat al-Eslam Hadi Khamenei, brother of the Supreme Leader: "No one has the right to tell the reformists not to participate in elections."
• Ali-Akbar Salehi receives parliamentary endorsement as foreign minister: 146 votes pro, 60 votes contra and 35 abstentions.
• Rafsanjani makes his website trilingual: Persian, Arabic and English.
• Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani says it is not only Ahmadinejad who has a connection with the Imam of the Era and says: "I too sometimes feel the presence of the Imam of the Era."
• Mahramaneh News, close to Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, releases old speeches by Rafsanjani and Mehdi Karrubi calling for arrest of Iran Freedom Movement members.

Diplomacy

• Fars News Agency releases Khamenei's old statements concerning Egypt.
• Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani: "The uprising of the Muslim people in the region is a sign of the great Islamic awakening reaching its peak."
• Ali-Akbar Salehi explains Iran's foreign policy priorities:
  • 1. Expansion and deepening of relations with the neighbors, the region and the world of Islam.
  • 2. Stability and security in the Persian Gulf region.
  • 3. Securing national interest in the Caspian Sea region.
  • 4. Supporting the 'Resistance' in the Middle East.
  • 5. Orientation along with Asian states.
  • 6. Expanding relations with African states.
  • 7. Consolidating relations with the countries in Latin America.
  • 8. Intelligent calibration of relations with Europe.
  • 9. All out resistance against soft warfare of the enemy.
  • 10. Creation of alliances against Islamophobia and Iranophobia.
  • 11. Expansion of economic diplomacy along with political relations.
  • 12. Strategic presence in international forums.
  • 13. Struggle to reconstruct an international order based on justice.
  • 14. Fighting against improper use of the human rights issue.
  • 15. Struggle for achieving a just solution preserving the rights of the nation concerning utilization of new technologies.
  • 16. Maximal attempt at attracting and providing service to Iranians living abroad.
  • 17. Strengthening of parliamentary diplomacy."
• Following the protests of the government of the Netherlands against execution of an Iranian/Dutch citizen accused of drug trafficking, the Foreign Ministry summons the Dutch ambassador to Tehran to protest against "intervention in internal affairs of the Islamic Republic."
  • Abbas Ja'fari Dowlatabadi, Tehran prosecutor general, says there is no contradiction between arrest of Zahra Bahrami at an anti-government demonstration and drug related allegations against her.

• [E] Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Afghan Minister of Finance Omar Zakhilwan in Tehran underlined that Iran has no limitation for promoting its ties and cooperation with Kabul. He also called on “occupiers” to leave Afghanistan.
• [E] Sarah Shourd, who was released on bail in September, was summoned back to Iran to attend court session, an Iranian judiciary spokesman said on Monday.

Military and Security

• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards: "There are some people who planned the sedition but can't be mentioned because they have a popular base...One can mention Karrubi and Mousavi, but not those who are in the periphery and planned the sedition."
• Commander Ramezan Sharif, Revolutionary Guards Public Relations chief, says the position of the Guards will be announced only by the IRGC chief, the representative of the Supreme Leader and the Public Relations bureau of the Guards.
• Commander Hossein Hamadani, Tehran Mohammad Rasoul-Allah Revolutionary Guards unit chief: "Stooges of the United States are collapsing one after the other."
• Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi stresses that the Islamic Republic enjoys "intelligence superiority" when it comes to the activities of the Mossad, but warns the youth against being misled by the "Zionists."
• [E] Iran's Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi on Monday underlined Tehran's strong opposition to the deployment and presence of alien forces and warships in the Persian Gulf, saying such moves are "unacceptable" to Iran.
• [E] Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar stressed that his ministry is tracing terrorist activities in Pakistan, and asked Islamabad to take rigid action against terrorist training camps in the South Asian country.

Economy

• Economy Minister Shams al-Din Hosseini says there will be no cash hand outs this month and next month the applicants will receive two months worth of cash handouts.

Trade

• According to "an informed source," Indian authorities have proposed paying for oil imports from Iran with gold rather than cash.
• [E] Turkish steel manufacturer Kardemir is due to supply Tehran with the rail track infrastructures needed for the development of Iran's railway network.
• [E] Armenian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian stressed his country's enthusiasm for the further development of cooperation with Iran in different fields, especially in the energy sector.

Religion, Society and Culture

• Rasul Imani-Nasab, the author of Sizdah Rouz Mandeh-Boud Be Entekhabat [Thirteen Days to the Election], "the first novel against the sedition": "My main characteristic is me being a member of the Basij and not an author. Therefore, my concern is to write a story which is loyal to the Islamic revolution."

Iran in the Afghan Media

• A militant commander arrested in western Afghanistan says Iran persuades Afghans to “perform jihad against the infidels and Americans.”

Photo of the Day

• Winter in Gilan.