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

• Hackers post announcement on the website of the Assembly of Experts which expresses condolences upon the "passing" of Rafsanjani.
• Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, chairman of Assembly of Experts: "I ask him [Rafsanjani] to help us just as he has been in our ranks during the era of struggle and revolution until today."
• Rafsanjani addresses the Assembly of Experts: "Fortunately, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution has issued the order to counter extremist individuals who act outside the law and engage in insult and libel. We hope that such ugly deeds in the country stops..."
  • Dorri Najaf-Abadi, Suleimani, Eslami, Naim-Abadi, Farshi, Tabatabaei, Shahroudi, Jabbari, Wafi, Shafiei and Emami Kashani thank Rafsanjani for his tenure as chairman.
• Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda addresses Assembly of Experts: "The post election sedition unfortunately created a situation in the country which the Leader neutralized with his wisdom but it was expected that influential people and the Assembly of Experts would intervene more effectively in this issue."
• Attacking Ahmadinejad's discourse about "Iranian interpretation of Islam," Parliamentarian Ali Mottahari warns: "What if others make Turkish, Malaysian, Indonesian and other interpretations of Islam? What calamities will fall upon the Islamic community of believers? Are such statements not against Islamic unity?"

Diplomacy

• [E] Iran welcomes opportunity to increase bilateral ties and economic cooperation with Switzerland.
• [E] Syria and Iran announce the planned establishment of a joint bank, according to Iran’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance. 

Military and Security

• Basij Chief Mohammad-Reza Naghdi: "It is the right of the people to demand prosecution and punishment of the heads of sedition as spreaders of corruption upon earth."
• Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi: "Everyone has discovered that their [the protest movement] problem is not elections or republicanism. Their main problem is with the Guardianship of the Jurist... The line of sedition has now been transformed into the line of the counter revolution and it is now apparent that they have entered the phase of [regime] toppling. The West has entered the issue without any camouflage and is openly supporting the line of sedition, which itself shows that this affairs was initiated by the Westerners... They wanted to dilute our attention from the main issues by weekly demonstrations and by imposing costs upon us in the nuclear issue, but none of this materialized..."

Religion, Society and Culture

• Ayatollah Vahid warns against spread of Christianity in Iran.

Economy

• [E] Iran to OPEC: No need to boost oil production because consumer worries over market supply are mostly “psychological” and not based on any real market shortage.
• [E] Oil exports from Iran to Europe increase 41% in 2010, making Iran the 5th largest exporter of crude oil to Europe in the world.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• Iran’s interior minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar told a press conference in Kabul that Tehran opposed U.S. military bases in Afghanistan and accused the United States of promoting insecurity and terrorism in the region. Najjar refuted allegations that Iran supported the Taliban. Video.

Photos of the Day

• Smoking fish in Mazandaran.