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 Analysts Marie Donovan, Paul Bucala, and Caitlin Shayda Pendleton with contributors Ken Hawrey and Shayan Enferadi. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Excerpts of these translations may only be used with the expressed consent of the authors.

Key takeaway: The IRGC Ground Forces commander in Kurdistan province announced that IRGC troops killed an additional two members of a Kurdish “terrorist network” in northwestern Iran, nearly a week after 11 Kurds were killed in clashes with IRGC forces along the Iran-Iraq border.

IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Hossein Rajabi thanked “locals” who informed the IRGC that several members of the terrorist network had survived last week’s operations, which prompted the IRGC to launch the second offensive in Sarvabad county, Kurdistan province. Iran’s Kurdish minority, which comprises nearly 10 percent of the population and has campaigned for greater autonomy, is concentrated largely in and around Kurdistan province in the northwest of the country.

Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) Spokesman General Saeed Montazer al Mahdi told reporters that the “terrorists” responsible for the deaths of four Iranian border guards on July 6 have returned to Pakistan. He accused Pakistani authorities of being “negligible” in allowing the individuals to cross the border.

Correction: An earlier version of this Iran News Round Up incorrectly stated that the Iranian government has proposed cutting 5 billion toman (approximately $1.6 million) from the current year's defense budget. The government in fact proposed cutting 5,000 billion toman, which is equivalent to $1.6 billion, from the current year's defense budget.   

AEI Must-Reads

• Marie Donovan discusses how the Supreme Leader’s appointment of IRGC Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri as head of the Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) may signal Khamenei’s intention to give the AFGS a more significant role in coordinating the armed forces’ increasing joint activities abroad in “Supreme Leader signals possible enhanced role for Armed Forces General Staff.”

Military and Security

• IRGC kills two Kurdish militants. Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Rajabi, the IRGC Ground Forces commander in Kurdistan province, stated that the IRGC killed an additional two members of a Kurdish “terrorist network” following the deaths of 11 other Kurds belonging to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPIK) in clashes last week. Rajabi thanked “locals” who informed the IRGC that several members of the terrorist network had survived last week’s operations, which prompted the IRGC to launch another offensive in Buridar, Sarvabad county, Kurdistan province on July 5. Rajabi also claimed that the “head of the group had confessed in his diary that the activities of outlaws in Iran is ‘ineffective,’ and that they enjoyed no public support in the area.” (Fars News Agency) (Press TV) (E)
   
• Police spokesman: “Terrorists” who killed border guards fled to Pakistan. Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) Spokesman Gen. Saeed Montazer al Mahdi told reporters that the “terrorists” responsible for the deaths of four Iranian border guards on July 6 “have fled [to] Pakistani soil.” The terrorists attempted to cross into Iran from Pakistan in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan when they encountered the four guards. Montazer al Mahdi criticized Pakistan’s “negligence” in allowing the terrorists to cross the border back into Pakistan and added that Pakistan’s “negligent border posts and security system” have overlooked terrorists “several times before.” (Tasnim News Agency) (Press TV) (E) 
   
• Administration proposes cuts to defense budget. Rouhani Administration Spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht announced that the government has proposed cutting 5,000 billion toman (approximately $1.6 billion) from the current year’s defense budget. Several members of Parliament have criticized this measure, referencing instability in the region. (Mashregh News) (Fars News Agency)

Domestic Politics

• Parliamentarian criticizes Rouhani’s brother for bank appointments. Principlist parliamentarian Hossein Naghavi Hosseini accused Hossein Fereydoun, President Hassan Rouhani’s brother and advisor, of recommending the appointment of several bank directors who were recently ousted due to their involvement in the salary scandal. Naghavi Hosseini added, “The appointment of the director of Refah Bank was based on the recommendation from Mr. Fereydoun… He must be held responsible.” He also noted that Parliament’s Article 90 commission is currently investigating the salary scandal. (Damadan)
  • Parliamentarian Naser Mousavi Laregani criticized President Rouhani’s ongoing investigation of the salary scandal. The member of Parliament’s Economic Commission called upon Rouhani “to extend the investigation to the violations of his inner circle.” (Tasnim News Agency)
     
• CCA Head: The principlists have not made any decision about the presidential election. Ayatollah Ali Movahedi Kermani, the secretary general of the influential principlist Combatant Clergy Association (CCA), told reporters that the principlists have not made “any specific decisions” regarding the upcoming 2017 presidential elections. He noted that “entering the issue of the elections too early is not in the country’s interest.” He also added that the “Principlist Coalition,” a group of senior politicians organized to coordinate campaigns for the 2016 parliamentary elections, has “not been suspended. Whenever it is needed and the conditions require, meetings will start again.” (Tasnim News Agency)