Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by AEI Critical Threats Project Iran Analyst Will Fulton and Iran Intern Amir Toumaj, with contributor Mary Ella Simmons. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Some of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s recent fatwas regard obeying the velayat-e faghih, trading with Israeli companies, purchasing Western products, learning magic, summoning ghosts, owning satellites, goatee beards, interacting with Baha'is:
  • “In matters regarding the management of Islamic countries and affairs that are related to all Muslims, the opinion of the guardian of Muslims must be obeyed.”
  • “Satellite antennas, although they have the law of joint product, because this tool prepares the ground to receive forbidden programs for the individuals who possess them and sometimes owning them has other corruptions, purchasing and owning them are not allowed except for those who trust themselves that they will not prohibitively use them.”
  • “Wearing clothes that emulate and spread non-Muslim invading culture is not allowed."
  • “Cutting part of beard is like cutting all of it and based on caution is prohibited.”
  • “Summoning ghosts and jinns, if it is for a rational motive and is not accompanied by prohibited acts or does not necessitate them, is not a problem.”
  • “The science of magic and the learning of it are prohibited, unless it is for a rational and legal motive.”
  • On Baha'is:“Any contact with this misguided deceptive sect should be avoided."
  • On Israel: "Purchasing and selling any imported goods from the usurper Israeli government is prohibited, and also purchasing and selling any products from Zionist companies and companies whose profit helps the usurper Zionist regime is prohibited.”
  • “If purchasing imported goods from non-Islamic countries and using them strengthens blaspheming and imperialist governments who are the enemies of Islam and Muslims or strengthens their monetary power for invading Islamic or Muslim countries across the world, it is necessary for Muslims to avoid purchasing from [these countries] and using [their products].” 
• A source close to rumored cabinet appointee for the Interior Ministry Mohammad Shariatmadari claimed that his presence in the administration is certain. 
• Parliamentary Advisor to the Head of the Judiciary Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Banaei announced that the Supreme Leader condemned the February 13, 2013 disruption of Speaker of the Parliament Ali Larijani's speech in Qom and urged the Parliament to pursue it. 

Diplomacy and Regional Developments

• Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian advised that the best method for solving the conflict in Egypt was "law, public opinion, conversation, and the use of wise advice and refraining from violence." He called on Egyptians to overcome their factional differences, saying, “The division of the Egyptian people and the defense of some Egyptian institutions for one side in the strife is not conducive to finding a solution to the conflict but rather deepens it.”
• Iranian MP Ahmad Tavokali responded to today’s remarks by the American ambassador to Egypt, saying, “Anyone who is committed and loyal to Islam and Iran, must participate in Quds Day rallies [in order to protect] his country…. The Muslims of the world must recognize that the Americans and Zionists want to annihilate Islam and the world's Muslims, and if this is the case, the Zionists in the future will present themselves as the neighbor of Iran and this will be a threat to the security of Iran and the other Islamic countries.” 
• Al-Qaeda in Iraq announced that it was responsible for yesterday’s explosions in predominately Shi’a areas of the country, which had been carried out “to support oppressed Sunnis.” There were 17 car bomb explosions total across different Shi’a centers, with a total of 58 people killed.

Military and Security

• Tasnim News Agency published an article on the greatest achievements of the Ministry of Intelligence during Ahmadinejad's second term. They include: Arresting Jundollah Leader Abdolmalek Reigi, infiltrating Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, arresting fifteen Mossad spies simultaneously and arresting members of the team responsible for assassinating nuclear scientists. 
• Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei asked yesterday why those who claimed cheating in the 2009 elections and protested in the streets are not apologizing.  Representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi said that the reason for the silence of these leaders is because “they are afraid of losing the extremist elements [who are their supporters] and this act has caused their silence.” He then criticized prominent conservative MP Ali Motahari’s statements that those who occupied the British embassy in Tehran 2011 should apologize, and also that former Foreign Minister Jack Straw should apologize in President-elect Hassan Rouhani’s inauguration ceremony and said, “The English themselves created the circumstances allowing some youth to enter the embassy, who immediately left…. It would be better if he did not enter the field of politics.” 
• Head of the Armed Forces General Staff MG Hassan Firouzabadi responded to criticisms of the velayat-e faghih doctrine, and said that these crticisms emerge because “they do not understand religion and introduce the matter as political and partisan while it is not like this. Rather, velayat is unity [and] the great God who emerges in prophecy, and the prophecy’s result is the velayat.”  
• In a statement, IRGC Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (Qom province) Division urged the people to participate in Quds Day marches and urged Muslim unity against Israel and the United States. 
• Hazrat-e Vali-ye Asr region (Hormozgan Province) Basij Commander Mehdi Ghassemi stated that the Basij’s responsibilities in this decade include “confronting dictatorship, imperialism, sedition and attacks; scientific and practical fighting; synergy and thoughtful, cultural and intellectual approaches in the arena of youth [affairs].” 
• Head of the Basij Organization BG Mohammad Reza Naghdi praised athletes who refused to engage with Israeli athletes due to their support for Palestine and blamed Israel for turmoil in the Muslim world. He added, “the Zionists must know that just as the racist and apartheid South African regime, which no one [recognizes] today, joined history, so the Zionist regime will also join history and Muslims, by spreading the ideology of [first Shi’a Imam] Amir al-Mo’menin Ali, peace be upon him, in sports will take out the sinister Zionist regime by shouting the oppression and crimes of Israel in athletic fields.”

Nuclear Issue

• In a televised interview, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed his administration’s achievements and said that 12,000 centrifuges are spinning and another 5,000 are ready to be operational.  He added that he will return to academia after his presidency to manage the international university that he has established. 

Economy

• Head of the Social Security Retiree Club urged President-elect Rouhani to appoint a competent minister because “this organization cannot accept incompetent managers unfamiliar with social security insurance concepts.” 
• Vegetable Oil Association Secretary Ghassem Falahati announced that the Supreme National Security Council has allocated $1.5 billion credit to pay for the difference between the Central Bank-determined  lower exchange rate and the market exchange rate for primary goods. 
• Central Bank Banking Regulations and Research Directorate Director Morteza Satak announced currency traders must invest approximately $2 billion to legally exchange currency.  

Photo of the Day

• Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei mourns the anniversary of the assassination of first Shi’a Imam Ali.