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 and 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: Tasnim News Agency accused hackers “employed by Saudi Arabia” of attacking several websites belonging to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Tasnim News Agency, a conservative news site affiliated with the IRGC, reported that a “number” of websites belonging to the Iranian Foreign Ministry were recently hacked, including the webpages for the Iranian embassies in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Argentina. The report claimed that Saudi hackers were behind the attack, which appears to be the latest iteration in an escalation of malicious cyber activity between Saudi Arabian and Iranian hacking groups. In the past week, Iranian news outlets have reported that the websites of the Organization for the Registration of Deeds and Estates, an organization under Iran’s Judiciary, and the Iranian Statistics Center were also hacked. Passive Defense Organization Head IRGC Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali blamed the attacks on Saudi Arabia but noted that it was “more of a type of show-off… the attacks were not advanced and no damage was inflicted.” Meanwhile, several Saudi websites were also attacked, including the webpages for two Saudi statistic organizations and King Abdulaziz University, a Saudi university based in Jeddah. Text posted on the defaced website of King Abdulaziz University claimed that an Iranian hacking group named “Shahin” was responsible for the attack.

An official from the Institute for the Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works denied a BBC Persian report claiming that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini established a secret correspondence with the Kennedy and Carter administrations. Citing CIA documents, the report claims that Khomeini promised President Jimmy Carter that American interests would be protected during the Islamic Revolution and that Iran “has no specific hostility toward Americans.”

AEI Must-Reads

• Follow the latest electoral developments in Parliament and the Assembly of Experts, including the parliament speaker election, in the Critical Threats Project’s “Iran Elections Tracker: Updates and Analysis.”
   

• Caitlin Pendleton discusses how a reformist parliamentarian’s late disqualification could transform Iran’s domestic political scene in “Iran’s Guardian Council pushes the limits of its electoral control.”

Military and Security

• Foreign Ministry websites hacked. Tasnim News Agency reported that several websites belonging to the Iranian Foreign Ministry were recently hacked, including the websites for the Iranian embassies in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Argentina. Tasnim News Agency blamed the attack on individuals “employed by Saudi Arabia” and reported that attackers defaced at least one of the websites with a drawing of Saudi kings. (Tasnim News Agency)
   

Regional Developments and Diplomacy

• Official denies BBC report on Khomeini’s “confidential messages” to U.S. administrations. Hamid Ansari, the deputy head of the Institute for the Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works, denied a BBC Persian report claiming that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini established a secret correspondence with the Kennedy and Carter administrations. According to the BBC report, Khomeini wrote in a letter to President John F. Kennedy in 1963 that he does not object to America’s presence in Iran, calling it “necessary” to “counterbalance the influence of the Soviet Union and presumably Great Britain.” The BBC report also claims that Khomeini promised President Jimmy Carter that American interests would be protected during the Islamic Revolution and that Iran “has no specific hostility toward Americans.” Ansari stated that the BBC’s claims “have no legal validity and are unsupported by documentation.” (Asr Iran)
   

• Abdollahian denies “Saudi mediator” came to Iran. Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian called reports that Saudi Arabia sent a mediator to Iran to negotiate the crisis in Yemen “not true.” (Fars News Agency)
   

Domestic Politics

• Reformist newspapers celebrate election of reformist-backed candidates as parliament speaker deputy and second deputy. Reformist newspaper Shargh noted that Parliament elected reformist-backed candidates to its presiding board for the first time since 2004 during the May 31 internal election. Two parliamentarians affiliated with the joint reformist-moderate List of Hope, Massoud Pezeshkian and Ali Motahari, were elected first and second deputy parliament speaker respectively. Etemad also covered the presiding board elections during an interview with reformist leader Hossein Marashi, who stated that reformists “met their goals” of eliminating hardliners and anti-administration principlist representatives from Parliament and replacing them with reformists and pro-administration principlists. Marashi also pointed to the election of 5 reformist-backed candidates, including Pezeshkian and Motahari, to the 12-member presiding board in order to criticize claims in hardline newspapers that the election results indicate that the reformists are in the “clear minority” in Parliament.
  • Shargh also commented on reformist politician Mostafa Kavakabian’s decision to nominate himself during the May 31 vote for parliament speaker, which was held after current parliament speaker Ali Larijani beat reformist Mohammad Reza Aref in a preliminary vote on May 29. Aref, the reformists’ primary candidate for parliament speaker, then withdrew from the race before the May 31 vote. Kavakabian received only 11 votes on May 31, while current Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, a moderate conservative, received 237. Shargh noted that Kavakabian did not coordinate his decision to run with reformist-moderate leaders and called his decision “strange and against the decisions of the List of Hope.” The article added that Kavakabian tried to withdraw from the race after objections from members of the List of Hope, but the vote for parliament speaker had already begun. (Shargh) (Etemad)
     

Economy

• Zanganeh: We need to have individual country quotas. Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh rejected the notion of a production cap for OPEC members during a meeting with OPEC officials in Vienna on June 2. Zanganeh instead suggested imposing individual quotas that would permit Iran to produce more oil than would be allowed under a cap. He noted that Iran’s oil production must be equal to 14.5 percent of OPEC’s total production, which would allow Iran to produce up to 4.7 million barrels per day. (Press TV) (E) (Fars News Agency)
   

Casualties in Iraq and Syria

• Six Fatimiyoun fighters buried in Iran. Of the six, two were buried in Qom, one was buried in Mashhad, one was buried in Alborz, and two were buried in Tehran province. (Tnews) (Isaar) (Tnews) (Fars News Agency) (Defa Press)