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. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• President-elect Hassan Rouhani met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today. During the meeting the the two agreed upon the appointment of a representative to ensure a smooth transition between the two administrations.
• According to Asr-e Iran news agency, President-elect Hassan Rouhani will reverse President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s “uneven policies” regarding regional countries and will “begin a new age of Islamic Republic regional policies.” Rouhani has also hinted at “reviewing” relations with China and seeks to break the deadlock of nuclear negotiations.
• Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) agency Ezatollah Zarqami praised the people’s participation in the presidential elections and said, “In the [2009] sedition, the enemies [sought to claim] cyber space as a threat for us, which is not a threat for the Islamic Republic. Just as Moses’ staff ate all the sorcerers in an instance, this is a space in which our youth must change the world.” 
• Judiciary Branch First Deputy Hojjat al-Eslam Ebrahim Rayisi announced the judiciary's preparedness to cooperate with Hassan Rouhani and said that the details of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's court summoning will soon be provided.
• Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani denied that yesterday’s parliamentary summoning of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to court for allegedly violating the constitution was personal.
• Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Abbas Kabi stated, “The result of the eleventh presidential elections was another stamp [which proved that] the system’s enemies claiming unrealistic cheating in the [2009] elections [were lying].” 
• President-elect Hassan Rouhani’s Media Department announced that “constructive cultural moderation and attention to media” are one of the main priorities of Rouhani. Rouhani has also criticized recent government pressure on newspapers and journalists.
• Tehran MP Esmail Kowsari said, “My recommendation to those who are attempting to make the role of [former President Akbar] Hashemi [Rafsanjani] and [former President Mohammad] Khatami more colorful [in contributing to Rouhani’s victory] is that it is better for them not to continue such an approach, because the people do not accept such an approach and [one] must fundamentally say that the people no longer trust Hashemi and Khatami.”
• Special Advisor to the Representative of the Supreme Leader to the IRGC Hojjat al-Eslam Mojtaba Zolnour reacted to the elections and said, “The remainders of the [2009] sedition, who [made repeated claims of] cheating and said the election results were predetermined and [that] the people’s participation had no effect received an answer from the people.” 
• Expediency Council member Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri congratulated Hassan Rouhani and described him as the symbol of “rational moderation, true reformism and real principlism” and that he has once again brought hope to the nation.
• Islamic Coalition Party International Affairs Deputy Hamid Reza Taraghi labeled President-elect Hassan Rouhani as a “completely moderate face” who is both “a Principlist and also a Reformist,” and then discussed criticisms of Rouhani’s tenure as chief nuclear negotiator during the presidential debates:
  • “Our criticism was regarding the Khatami Administration’s foreign policy. Mr. Khatami and his associates insisted on becoming closer to America and even did some lobbying in this regard…Mr. Rouhani made a decision based on the opinion[s] of the Supreme National Security Council and the Supreme Leader.” 
• Tabnak news agency attributed President-elect Hassan Rouhani’s success to the people’s desire to return to moderation after experiencing extremist policies under the Principlists. 
  

Regional Developments

• Iranian media report heavy clashes between Syrian opposition groups "Qorba al-Sham" and "Ahrar Souriye" in Aleppo while the Syrian army is heavily engaging Syrian opposition forces.
• Hamas reportedly requested Lebanese Hezbollah to end its involvement in Syria. 
• Leader of the Iraqi Sadr Movement Moqtada al-Sadr congratulated President-elect Hassan Rouhani in a statement.
• Head of the Iraqi Islamic Supreme Council Ammar Hakim hoped that Iran-Iraq relations would expand under Rouhani's administration.
• The Palestinian al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade affirmed in a statement its “strategic and lasting” relations with Lebanese Hezbollah.
• A suicide bombing attack against the Shia Habib Ibn Mazaher shrine in northern Baghdad killed thirty-one and injured fifty-six today. 
• Iraqi Awakening Council Commander Qassem Mohammad Khazraji was killed in southern Tikrit by a bomb placed in his vehicle.
• Ahlul Bayt News Agency claims that more than 700,000 Salafi and extremist fighters from the Jubhat al-Nusrah and the Free Syrian Army are prepared to penetrate Lebanon to “fan the flames of sectarian sedition.”
• Bahraini security forces have reportedly raided eleven houses and arrested fourteen individuals in the past few days.

Diplomacy

•  Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Abbas Eraghchi vehemently denied recent reports that Iran has deployed 4,000 IRGC fighters to Syria and stated, “Iranian foreign policy conforms to a principle that is derived from national interests, principles and values,  and is based on the eminent Supreme Leader’s framework and guidance. This principle will stand, although the method of confronting foreign policy has different styles and forms with the presence of different administrations.” 

Military and Security

• Senior Political Adviser to the Representative of the Supreme Leader to the IRGC BG 2C Yadollah Javani, in an editorial for IRGC organ Sobh-e Sadegh, echoed Iranian officials’ sentiments that the presidential elections disproved 2009 election cheating claims:
  • “The eleventh presidential election was important from various aspects, and one of those aspects was the transformation of the elections scene to the confrontation of the Islamic system with the enemies. In this field of political confrontation, the enemies concentrated on discrediting the Islamic system and its officials in the Iranian nation’s view. The Islamic system’s populism during the past thirty-four years can be considered to be the reason for all of Iran’s successes in foreign and domestic fields, and on this basis, the enemies aimed at separating the people from the system [in order to] destroy the Islamic Republic resistance against [the West]. The [2009] sedition emerged in [Iran] with such an approach, and in that regard the enemies imagined that they had altered some Iranians’ trust in the Islamic system and its officials… In reality, the wise leader of the Islamic revolution, in strategically managing the elections scene, sought to strengthen popular trust towards the system and its election and finally this great success was achieved [and] a great defeat was [inflicted] upon the enemies of the Islamic Republic.” 
• IRGC Navy Deputy Commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri stated, “It is our honor to be the students of Imam [Khomeini’s] doctrine, which is the same pure Mohammadian doctrine.”

Economy

• Iran Petrochemical Industries National Company Managing Director and Oil Deputy Minister Abdolhossein Bayat announced that the private sector is not prepared to suddenly replace government entities in the petrochemical industry.
• Head of the Trade Expansion Agency Hamid Safdel noted that 60% to 80% of Iranian currency exports return to the country in the form of goods purchased and services. 
• After the suspension of the largest Iranian oil well drilling contract with Iranian contractors, the largest Iranian drilling company has signed contracts, worth $850 million, with Chinese companies to construct ten drilling machines. 

Photo of the Day

• Incoming President Hassan Rouhani meets with outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.