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:
  • As Ahmadinejad is now invited to address the people on the death anniversary of Grand Ayatollah Khomeini after the initial snub, Fars News warns of a new “deviant current” which plans to chant slogans against the president at the ceremony.
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad Saidi, Qom Friday prayer leader, says "the only aim of those who speak of the school of Iran, Cyrus, Persepolis and Nowruz festivities is to eliminate Islam from the arena," and adds: "These schemes are the continuation of Britain’s shameful policies." 
  • Ahmadinejad appoints Mohammad Ali-Abadi acting oil minister. Ali-Abadi, a former head of the Physical Education Organization, has served as the head of the Iran Fishing Organization since the parliament rejected him as Ahmadinejad’s nominee for the Oil Ministry previously.
    • Hamidreza Katouzian, Parliament’s Energy Committee chairman, calls Ali-Abadi "the worst imaginable candidate" for the Oil Ministry.
    • Commander Rostam Qasemi, Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base of the Revolutionary Guards chief, says Ahmadinejad offered him the position as oil minister a month ago and that he is still considering the offer.
  • Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi in an interview with Pasdar-e Enqelab: "We do not have insight into obscure affairs and we do not know what is happening in everyone’s heart. But there are some signs that some people deep in their hearts think this [the 1979 Islamic revolution] was an opportunity for the Imam [Khomeini] to open a business for the clerics. They argue: When the people vote and elect their president or the head of the cabinet, who is the Guardian Jurist? We have the separation of the three powers of the state... What else do we need? What does a leader mean? Who is the Guardian Jurist...? Sometimes when someone is promoted in the public sphere, he think he is the owner of the country. He says: 'People voted for me and have given me the authority, so who is the Leader? Even at the theological seminaries, there are some who after all these years of discussions question if we should have a guardianship of the jurist, what the limits of the [powers of] the guardian jurist are, and whether or not we in principle have an Islamic government."
• Hossein Suleimani, bodyguard of the late Grand Ayatollah Khomeini, recalls the events at the time of the passing of the founder of the Islamic Republic.
• Rafsanjani recalls his relationship with Khomeini, including a story that the people recognized the picture of Khomeini on the moon:
  • "As the struggle had reached great heights, there were many rumors in Tehran about people seeing his picture on the moon. We tried hard but we didn't see anything. But this was the rumor and everyone said they saw his picture. When he came to Iran I once asked him [Khomeini]: When these things were rumored, did you take a look at the moon yourself? He laughed and said: 'Don't believe these games. There is no picture on the moon; it is an illusion.' He also explained and said: 'When someone thinks about something and looks at a distant [object] it is the mind which creates [the image]. The people had heard something and looked so that an image was created for them. Don't believe these kinds of things!'"
  • Rafsanjani also recalls the meeting in which he and Khomeini to discuss whether Iran should accept a ceasefire with Iraq during the war. "I saw that he was trapped. He [Khomeini] said: 'For twenty years we have told people we would continue to the last breath and to the last drop of blood. If we suddenly accept the ceasefire, how are we going to answer the people? What do we tell the martyrs and the soldiers?"
  • Rafsanjani adds that he never saw Khomeini talk about Jamkaran [shrine outside Qom which is today reputed to host the Imam of the Era]. “If he did [go and visit Jamkaran] we did not find out."  

Diplomacy

• According to Kuwaiti Al-Anbaa, Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman met Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad-Reza Sheibani in Beirut to discuss Syria.

Military and Security

• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards, says "obeying the orders of the Guardian Jurist is the same as obeying the orders of God."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad-Reza Shams-Abadi explains how the Theological Seminary in Qom has managed to mobilize and "reeducate" hooligans in Qom.
• Commander Ali Razmjou, Revolutionary Guards Navy Second Operational Zone chief: "The roadmap was the strategy of the United States to achieve its interests in the Middle East, but thanks to divine help and the impact of the Islamic revolution it was defeated."

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for a negotiated solution to Iran's nuclear issue, and stressed that sanctions will yield no result.
• [E] Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi dismissed effectiveness of West's economic sanctions on Iran, and warned that any further unilateral sanction would be reciprocated seriously.

Photos of the Day

• Foreign dignitary pays respect to Ayatollah Jannati.