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

• Presidential crisis:
  • According to Seda-ye Shiraz Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei is under house arrest.
• Abbas-Ali Kadkhodayi, Guardian Council spokesman, describes merger of three ministries as unconstitutional. 
• Farda News releases the names of the newly appointed members of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.

Diplomacy

• Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader:
  • "Praise to Allah, the dictator of Yemen has fled and has joined the dictator of Saudi Arabia where an assembly of dictators has been shaped. God willing, if a movement begins in Saudi Arabia now, the dictators will probably go to the United States. The popular movement in the region can't be suppressed. Those innocent ones whose blood has been shed because they did not accept injustice will not be defeated. In the end those who suffer injustice will topple the rule of the unjust..."
• Acting Oil Minister Mohammad Ali-Abadi, addresses OPEC, in English. Video
• [E] Moscow is eager to reinvigorate its relations with Tehran and has taken practical steps in this regard, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said.
• [E] Scores of Syrian people staged a rally in front of the Islamic Republic of Iran's mission in Damascus to voice support for Tehran's policies on their country's developments.

Military and Security

• Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi:
  • "The unknown soldiers of the Imam of the Era, may God hasten his return, have arrested a spy who had entered Iran from one of the neighboring countries. The Americans wanted to spend millions of dollars in order to establish a network for the parliamentary elections similar to the one during the last election..."  
• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards: "The Guardian Jurist is the only medium between the people and the Imam of the Era."
• Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani addresses students at Sharif University: "We don't hide advances in our missile technology and we have planned the missiles to defend ourselves and to defend Muslim nations... Israel and the United States should know that if they want to have a violent behavior towards the Muslims we will most certainly oppose them."
• Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Moslehi says the ministry agents have killed four members of a terrorist group in Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan provinces.

Trade

• According to Farda, the Islamic Republic is exporting oil to India for free.
• The Islamic Republic authorities promise grain exports to Egypt at a price 10 percent lower than the world market price.

Photos of the Day

• The life of war veteran Naser Dastari.