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 subscribe to this daily newsletter, please visit this page, fill out the "New Subscribers" section, and check "Iran News Round Up" listed under "Projects." 
 
(E) = Article in English

Politics

• News related to the Assembly of Experts:
  • Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader:
    • "The Assembly of Experts is composed of theological assemblies of the country, prominent theologians and great interpreters of the Quran. Therefore, attempts of the enemy to depict the election were neutralized..."
    • "At this election it was clarified that the learned men and the grandees take such responsibilities upon them as duties. The world must make the election to the head of the council its role model..."
  • According to Parsineh, Rafsanjani supporters abstained from voting in the election for the chairman of the Assembly of Experts.
• Hojjat al-eslam Rahimian, representative of the Supreme Leader to the Martyr Veteran Affairs Foundation, criticizes Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief-of-staff:
  • "We are witnessing to re-erection of the pillars of Persepolis from public funds. They revive their names and works. This weakens the work which aims at fighting attempts at weakening the true sources of the revolution..."
  • "The Imam [Khomeini] and the revolution of Iran annihilated the works of the King of the Kings, spread hatred towards them so that Islam, this divine religion, should replace it. Re-erecting such symbols is against Islam."

Diplomacy

• Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, special advisor to Ahmadinejad:
  • "The best time [to establish relations with the United States] is when they - apart from restricting themselves to their rights - also capitulate to justice and don't violate the rights of others... Iran's standard for relations with other countries is justice and mutual respect... Whenever this is proven by the United States, at that time no problem will remain."
• Mashregh News reports rumors that Jordan’s King Abdullah visits Tehran.
• Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi: "We must keep the regional movements warm."
• Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi discusses expansion of Iran-Syria relations with Syrian authorities.

Military and Security

• Supreme Leader advisor Yahya Rahim-Safavi addresses the Basij:
  • "Today, thirty years after the revolution, what is taking place in North Africa, in Egypt, Libya and Yemen is inspired by the Islamic revolution of the Iranian nation. The Islamic revolution of Iran exported Islamic awakening to other countries..."
  • "In case of attacks, we will pursue, punish and annihilate the enemy outside our country."
• IRGC Navy receives its third aluminum fast boat.
• According to Gholam-Reza Suleimani, Saheb al-Zaman Isfahan Revolutionary Guards unit chief, only 5 percent of the Basij organization is military.
• According to Mashreq News, the Basij has 400,000 members in Kordestan province.Commander Qassemi, Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base chief: "We have decided to identify Hezbollahi and elite students in the country and use them in the organization…."

• IRGC chief Mohammad-Ali Jafari says Khatam al-Anbia is giving "depth" to the revolution.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards, says the Guards have accepted a great responsibility in the cause of the Jihad[Holy Struggle].

Nuclear Issue

• Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, special advisor to Ahmadinejad: "In the past, the nuclear program of our country had developed into a national challenge and the public was not satisfied. They felt that their dignity and pride was attacked... But when Ahmadinejad removed all the seals on the systems producing clean nuclear energy... the nation wholeheartedly and powerfully defended this decision of the government in every town and village." 

Trade

• The head of the Chamber of Commerce of Italy says Italian banks are ready to return to the Iranian market.
• The Islamic Republic plans exporting natural gas to Syria through Iraq.
• Authorities in Spain close the bank accounts of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic.

Religion, Society and Culture

• Center for Study of Mahdaviat [Messianism] slams the "The Emergence [of the Imam] is Very Close" documentary.

Photos of the Day

• Dried fruit factory readies itself for the Iranian New Year.