Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by the AEI Critical Threats Project's Iran research team. 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

• The public funeral ceremony of Ramezan Bashardoost was held today in Tehran: He wasfather-in-law IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali and father of Advisor to the IRGC Commander Hojjat al-Eslam Gholam Hossein Bashardoost. Current and former senior IRGC commanders and officials attended the event (Photos). A large number of senior IRGC, Artesh, and Law Enforcement Forces commanders dressed in military uniform also attended the funeral ceremony:
  • Senior officials who attended the ceremony: AFGS Chief Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, Senior Military Advisor to the Supreme Leader IRGC Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, Representative of the Supreme Leader to the IRGC Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, IRGC Deputy Intelligence Chief Hojjat al-Eslam Hossein Taeb, Deputy Chief of the AFGS IRGC Maj. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, IRGC Mohammad Rasulollah 23 Division Commander Brig. Gen. Hossein Hamedani, IRGC Cultural Deputy Hamid Reza Moghaddam Far, IRGC Ground Forces (GF) Commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, IRGC GF Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Abdollah Eraghi, IRGC Aerospace Forces Commander Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Haji Zadeh, Defense Minister IRGC Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan [who attended with a broken hand], Head of the IRGC Cooperative Foundation Parviz Fatah, Head of the Basij Organization Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, AFGS Basij Affairs and Defense Culture Deputy IRGC Brig. Gen. Massoud Jazayeri, National Security and Foreign Policy Parliamentary Commission member and former senior IRGC commander Mohammad Esmail Kowsari and former IRGC Commander and the present Expediency Discernment Council (EDC) Secretary Mohsen Rezaei.
  • Other senior attendees: Advisor to the IRGC Commander Brig. Gen. Khosro Orouj, Supreme Advisor to the Supreme Leader’s Representative in the IRGC and former Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi, and IRGC Imam Hossein Officer Candidate School Commander Brig. Gen. Morteza Saffari.

• Official statements on Iraq following the funeral ceremony:
  • AFGS Chief Maj. Gen. Firouzabadi announced “There is no need for the presence of Iranian forces in Iraq. Cooperation between Iran and America will never happen and has no meaning.”
  • Regarding his earlier warning against the media’s “baseless criticism” of President Rouhani, Firouzabadi stated “My warning was a warning to all media and was a strategic matter. The media must look at national affairs with a strategic outlook and consider the main principles of the revolution…Armed force’s media [outlets] have had violations, which will be confronted with if not addressed. Serious measures fortunately take place to reform media affairs afterwards.”
  • Responding to a hailstorm of reporter questions on Iraq, IRGC-GF Commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour stated “Everything is good and neat, and we should have no concerns about the movement of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).”
  • EDC Secretary Mohsen Rezaei announced “Iran is unwilling to stand with America” against ISIL, calling Iraqi developments “part of the plans of the Zionist system that seeks to turn the wave of Islamic awakening against Islam, which is heading towards Israel and West.” Rezaei then condemned ISIL for committing actions “that not even Hitler did.”
  • Representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC Hojjat al-Eslam Moslehi said that the ongoing Iraqi conflict “will accompany positive results, and that is unity among Shi’a’ and Sunnis in Iraq.”
• Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also attended the event accompanied by his top aide former Supreme Advisor to and the former head of his electoral headquarters Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi.
• Parliamentary Deputy to the Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad Reza Mir Tajoddini considered it “doubtful for Ahmadinejad to participate in the [2016] Parliamentary elections.”

• Senior IRGC, AFGS, and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) commanders attended the “Superior Ammunition in IRGC Ground Forces Combat” conference: IRGC-GF Commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, Head of MODAFL Aerospace Industries Organization IRGC Brig. Gen. Mehdi Farahi, and AFGS Khatam ol-Anbia Construction Base Deputy Brig. Gen. Ali Shadmani.
  • Farahi stated “Iraq and Syria repeatedly emphasize [the importance] of ground wars…We must transfer the experience of the past 10 years in air defense, naval forces, and aerospace to the GF.”
  • Regarding ongoing regional conflict, Pakpour said “It is possible for the flow of these conflicts to head towards us. We must therefore maintain complete preparedness. This preparedness has continuously been in our agenda.” He then said Iran “needs to do more work” in employing drones in GF.

• President Hassan Rouhani, addressing a crowd on his tour to Lorestan province bordering the Iraqi border, announced “The Iranian nation will not deny any attempts to defend the holy shrines. The nation’s diplomatic soldiers are working hard in the front line and in the Vienna negotiations today. If the world knows the value of the Iranian nations and this nation’s grandeur, in my opinion we can easily take the final step by divine power."
  • Rouhani added “The private sector will construct a downstream petrochemical industrial city” in the province, with the state providing the preliminary investment. He added that the administration will “take the necessary measures” for the growth of the tire and stonecutting industries in Lorestan, claiming the province holds massive endowments for the manufacturing sector.

• Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced “The drafting phase began today with a small number [written], although this does not mean that we have achieved an understanding. There are still very fundamental differences…They will began drafting with points that are mostly agreed upon”

• Representative of Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) in Beirut Hossein Fazlollah and LH officials attended the funeral ceremony of LH member Raef Manif Daqer AKA “Bagher Mirza,” killed “in Syria defending the Seyyed Zeynab shrine” earlier this week.