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

• Bamdad-e Khabar website releases a twelve-page report on land speculation by the Larijani brothers. It alleges that Mohammad Javad Larijani has illegally seized 342 hectares of protected land, and Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani has illegally grabbed land in the suburbs of Varamin.
  • Alef News demands that Judiciary Chief Sadeq Larijani defend himself against the allegations. 
  • Shabakeh-ye Iran [Iran Network] close to Iran, mouthpiece of the Ahmadinejad government, says Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, son of the former president, not the Ahmadinejad government, has leaked the documents to the press in order to "pave the path of his return to Iran."   
• The Intelligence Ministry stops filtering Rafsanjani's website.

Military and Security

• Tabnak News reports that Russia and Syria have refuted rumors of a joint Russian, Chinese and Iranian naval exercise hosted by Syria.
• Revolutionary Guards Deputy Hossein Salami, addressing the Basij members, implicitly criticizes China and Russia and adds that the Islamic Republic has never had a single ally in the world. Commander Salami warned: "Insincere and political behavior of some powers that ostensibly appear to be inclined towards us is deception and falsehood." Salami says these countries are only trying to use Iran’s capacities “to create a new balance of power [in the world]." 
• The Basij commemorates the "Guardian Day" [Rouz-e Pasdar] by issuing a statement congratulating the members of the Revolutionary Guards, and slams "domestic [individuals] who have sold themselves out and enjoy the support of the Global Arrogance." 
• News stories commemorating the late Iranian revolutionary Mostafa Chamran:
  • According to Mehdi Chamran, Tehran Islamic City Council member and brother of the late revolutionary Mostafa Chamran, a young Hassan Nasrallah was appointed "commander" of the Bazouriyeh village in Jabal Amel by Mostafa Chamran.
  • Adel Oun, Amal representative in Tehran since 2001 and former member of the Harakat al-Mahroumin in Lebanon in the 1960's, discusses his friendship with Mostafa Chamran.
  • Ebrahim Hatami-Kia, film maker who is producing a movie about Chamran, pays his respect to Chamran.

Nuclear Issue

• Reports on Iran and 5+1 Group's negotiations in Moscow:
  • Kayhan asks why the West is not ready to make an agreement with the Islamic Republic and solve the nuclear crisis and concludes: "If the West makes an agreement [with the Islamic Republic] it will lose!" 
  • Fars News summarizes the talks: "In Moscow, Iran did not leave any excuse left to the West... The Moscow negotiations were unfinished because the Western party needed to study the comprehensive ideas of Iran. These issues have not left any pretext left to the West to harden the sanctions and oppose Iran's peaceful activities."
  • Farda News' editorial: "The project of 'Defeat of the Negotiations' was defeated... Israel did everything in its power so that the result of the Moscow negotiations would be total defeat. This was not successful since both parties agreed to meet for technical meetings... In the course of the negotiations in within the framework of the law, Israel would be denied the opportunity to intervene."
  • Mehr News slams France for "demanding harsher sanctions since the United States did not give in to the illegitimate demands of the Western countries." 
  • According to Abrar-e Eqtesadi, the 5+1 Group is considering removing insurance sanctions against Iran's oil shipments.
  • Ala al-Din Boroujerdi, parliamentary National Security Committee chairman, complains about the bad behavior of "the United States, Britain and their allies."
  • Hossein Naqavi, parliamentary National Security Committee spokesman, asks the 5+1 Group to issue a guarantee that it would supply the Islamic Republic with 20% enriched nuclear fuel.

Religion, Society and Culture

• Asr-e Iran's columnist wonders why people are attracted to public executions and why parents take their children to witness public hangings.

Photos of the Day

• Said Jalili meets the press in Moscow. 
• Rafsanjani's website, now unfiltered by the Intelligence Ministry, shows old photos of Ahmadinejad with then president Rafsanjani.