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 receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.
 
(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Asr-e Iran analyzes the reformist camp and the 2012 parliamentary election:
  • "The first group is [composed of] those reformists the greatest part of whom have left the ruling [elites], have become isolated, have gone abroad or are imprisoned. They neither desire, nor want, nor can they participate in the election and therefore their clear position is non-participation..."
  • "The second group however, is the centrist reformists led by Mohammad Khatami. They neither [desire to] topple the regime nor do they have any problem with the principle of the Islamic Republic. This group has certain demands realization of which they consider their precondition for participation in election. Khatami has earlier clarified that the reformists are not wood for an oven which bakes bread for others [regime opponents]. Correcting the law on elections, liberalizing the political atmosphere and freeing the prisoners from the post election events are among their chief demands... It is clear that under the present circumstances and the dominant atmosphere taken into consideration, this group of reformists would have a very slim chance to realize their demands, therefore, should they remain true to what they have said, the possibility of presenting candidates from this camp is very low..."
  • "The third group of reformists are those who are represented among the ruling elites however weak [their presence] may be. The axis of this group is the minority faction in the parliament, plus some executives and technocrats of the Hashemi [Rafsanjani] and [Mohammad] Khatami governments who are in this realm. It is even said that Mohammad-Reza Aref may be the front candidate of the reformists in Tehran. Some members of this group believe that in order to pass through the current conditions, they may even cooperate with balanced [centrist] principalists... The third group is decisively up to participating at parliamentary elections unless a special event prevents them from doing so."

Diplomacy

• Diplomasi-ye Irani releases the second part of its interview with Rafsanjani: "Foreign policy is based upon principles most of which I think are stable and some of which change according to changes and conditions of the time. The most poignant example I can use is Israel which has always been a nuisance in our foreign policy. We have never desired to cooperate with Israel and will not do so. But we behaved in a way that our priorities in foreign policy and exploiting internal benefit would not be disturbed. Israel is not our entire foreign policy priority. We worked based upon our priorities."

Military and Security

• Yadollah Javani, Revolutionary Guards Political Directorate chief, urges Ahmadinejad to "deal decisively" with corrupt elements and "the current of deviation."
• Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari expresses hope that offices of foreign airliners "will be attacked" if they refuse fuel to Iran Air.
• Ali Aqazadeh Dafsari, parliamentarian, says the Revolutionary Guards Air Defense Force have downed a United States drone flying over the Fordo nuclear facility near Qom.
• Shargh reports "inflationary tendencies" in the Iranian narcotics market which has resulted in soaring prices of opium, methamphetamine and methadone.
• Mehr News deletes news of a previously announced "military visit" of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Hormozgan province.

Nuclear Issue

• Diplomasi-ye Irani releases the second part of its interview with Rafsanjani:
  • "You are aware that the new round of the sanctions began because of the nuclear issue. Sometimes the thought occurs that as long as we don't retreat in the nuclear issue, this problem will not be solved. But this is wrong. The nuclear issue was also present during my presidency. The very foundation of the current work and achievements was laid in the 1980's. Of course, during the Shah, the Pahlavi regime had - in cooperation with the United States and a few Western countries - made great advances. But after the revolution it stopped for a time and was resumed by mid 1980's."
  • "During my presidency we even had entanglements with the IAEA. The IAEA had things to say about some issues, but we solved the issues through active diplomacy by giving them assurances. In the field of centrifuges we had made such advances that I saw the first unit in Amirabad. In order to produce them we had started a unit in Damavand Road in Kala-ye Electronic [Company]. It was in the nature of their work to control the activities so they came [to inspect]. We had no non-peaceful goals. We would welcome them, explain and the problems were solved. Now too the Leader says using the nuclear bomb is religiously prohibited. Under any circumstance, when this is said so clearly and at the level of the Leader, it is clear that it is the main policy of the regime and in politics we should behave in such a way that others are not provided with excuses. The authorities must convince them that Iran is in the peaceful path. It is our experience that one can cooperate with them. During my presidency the nuclear work had not stopped. It was then that we made progress and created the background. I started the heavy water project of Arak."
  • "During my last year in office, Iranian researchers managed to prepare the heavy water scheme. They even hired as consultants from a Russian company. It is interesting that when the Westerners tried to use the documents from this consultancy and the secretive nature of production of heavy water in Iran as a pretext to exert more pressure on Iran, the issue of Russian consultants involved come to our aid. When Mr. Putin told an Iranian authority in the Soviet Union [sic] that 'your heavy water production is an example of your secretiveness in nuclear activities' the Iranian party - from a position of power - answered: 'How can you consider this secret when your experts employed at a company which belongs to your country were our consultants and - according to the documents - have approved of its quality?"
  • "The propagandist approach can be traced back to the era of the government of Mr. Khatami. Based upon a political mistake, the extremists of that [reformist] movement wanted to make a lot of propaganda and the mayhem began back then. We on the other hand would do such work in quite [and below the radar of] the press. On many occasions we would not take journalists with us when visiting the projects and we would not allow any news to be published." 

Trade

• Asr-e Iran's analyst warns against Iran losing the oil market in India as Indian refineries negotiate with Saudi Arabia.
• An OPEC report shows that Nigeria has replaced Iran as OPEC's second largest oil producer.
• According to Shargh, the Petro Iran Oil Company is incapable of resuming oil production from the Salman offshore oil field south of Lavan Island.
• Mehr News: "Delays and underdevelopment of Iran in developing all the oil and gas fields that Iran has shared ownership of with its seven neighboring countries, shows that the National Iranian Oil Company has become a total loser."
• Central Bank Director General Mohammad Bahmani says India owes Iran "$5 billion" from oil imports.

Photos of the Day

• United Nations representatives inspect Iran's eastern borders.