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

• Stories related to recent dismissal and appointment of officials:
  • Ahmadinejad appoints Hojjat al-Eslam Ahmad Mousavi, Iran’s Ambassador to Syria, as his Palestine Affairs adviser.
  • Parliamentarian Ali Mottahari says the Supreme Leader has asked Ahmadinejad not to dismiss other cabinet ministers.
  • Dismissed presidential adviser Mehdi Kalhor pledges loyalty to Ahmadinejad.
• Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, Tehran temporary Friday prayer leader, says "the enemies are pursuing [the idea of] Islam without the clergy."
• Ali-Reza Beheshti answers Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi's accusations about "finding a pamphlet with vocabulary of the Tudeh Party," which gives directions to how one can "topple religion" in Beheshti's home.

Diplomacy

• Interior Minister Mohammad-Mostafa Najjar visits Oman.
• Syria’s parliament speaker to visit Tehran on Saturday.
• [E] Fars News Agency says Egypt opened the country's border with the Gaza Strip and allowed medical supplies from Iran to be delivered to the besieged people of the coastal strip.

Military and Security

• Chief of the General Staff Hassan Firouzabadi:
  • "Cultural development, which has higher priority than other developments, is being guided by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution..."
  • "The people will resist those who want to break the societal frameworks."
• According to Ayandeh News, a female American spy arrested by Iranian authorities, is insisting upon imprisonment in Iran and does not want to be extradited to the United States.
• [E] Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan announced that Iran plans to restructure Army Ground Force as part of a broader plan to boost the force's military preparedness.

Trade

• Industry Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian says Iran has become "self sufficient" when it comes to "strategic industries and we are no longer dependent on imports... Sanctions have not had any impact on the determination of our producers."
• Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi appoints Pirouz Mousavi executive director of the South Pars Oil and Gas field.

Photo of the Day

• "Basirat" [Insight] Exhibition in Gorgan.