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 Analyst Will Fulton. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Former Iranian ambassador to Mexico Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri said that the CIA poisoned deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez:
  • "One of the methods of the CIA to physically eliminate American opponents in the world is attempting to poison them through deadly powders."  
  • "Zionists also use this method to physically eliminate their opponents and evidence even shows that Yasser Arafat was poisoned by them so Mahmoud Abbas could replace him."
• Assembly of Experts Chairman Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Mahdavi Kani said that the West's goal of implementing sanctions is to pit the people against the system:
  • "The West hoped that with pressuring the people, they would oppose the government but the people's presence in 22 Bahman [anniversary of the Iranian revolution] demonstrated that the people adhere to the system and Islam, and, in my interpretation, this was a strong punch that smacked against the enemy's mouth."

Economics

• Deputy Minister of Industry Hassan Radmard announced that, in order to control the market and high prices of rice, meat, and chicken on the eve of Nowruz, the government will inject these products into the market beginning 9 March.
• Iranian Energy Stock Exchange Market will officially be inaugurated tomorrow and the first traded products will be electricity, coal, and tar.

Photo of the Day

• Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei meets Assembly of Experts members.