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:
  • Fars News reports the arrest of Mohammad-Sharif Malekzadeh, former Ahmadinejad appointee as Foreign Ministry’s Financial and Administrative deputy and secretary general of the Council of Iranians Abroad.  Hojjat al-Eslam Mojtaba Zolnour, deputy representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards, addressing members of the Professor's Basij in Qom:
    • "The Guards can't remain indifferent towards political problems since it is the guardian of the Islamic revolution. It is true that the Guards should not be present in political parties, groups and circles, but no one has ever said that it should not have the ability to analyze politics... If a movement is attacking the fundamentals of the regime and the guardianship [of the jurist], should the Guards only look fearing allegations of [political] interventionism? Should [the Guards] not use the capacity of the Basij? What logic argues that the Basij is not allowed to intervene [in politics]? This is deviation. This means excluding patrons of values from the revolution..."
  • Ahmadinejad speaking to the representatives of the guilds:
    • "Sir, I'm devoted to you. What is the discontent for? Tell me what you want."
    • Answering criticism by the guilds representatives of local authorities:  "Whatever problem you have, discuss it with the minister [of commerce] and other authorities so they can find a solution for it."
    • "Whatever we promise here we will keep. This is fundamentally why there are some who criticize us."
• Rafsanjani's website releases a hitherto unseen video of Grand Ayatollah Khomeini delivering two copies of his political testament to Rafsanjani in presence of the grandees of the regime. Video

Military and Security

• Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi addresses the public at Jamaran commemoration of the martyrs of terrorism:
  • "This sedition [by the reformists in 2009] was a complicated one which we should not ignore because of the issue of the deviant current [Ahmadinejad]... Those groups who made two and three sided statements [Rafsanjani] still don't make clear statements... Today we see that American reformers [supporters of Mousavi, Karrubi and Khatami] who fled during the sedition of 2009 are today showing their [real] faces and that they are now living in the same nest of the monafeqin [Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization] - who always act according to the expediency of time."   
• Mohammad Amir-Mojahedi, Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces logistics chief: "The units reporting to the Ground Forces, including the brigades and divisions at provincial level, are connected to ground battle which is under the command of the Ground Forces..."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Safar-Ali Moradi, Clerical Affairs chief of the Office of the Representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards, discusses the "Ambassadors of Insight" scheme which will use theological students in Revolutionary Guards uniform as propagators of faith.  

Photo of the Day

• IRGC’s new ballistic missiles.