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

• Shafaf News discusses Ahmadinejad's future after 2013, including the possibility of returning to the Tehran Municipality.
• Ahmadinejad, visiting Mashhad, blames the parliament and the intelligence ministry for the currency the fluctuations and inflation.
• Kayhan slams Ahmadinejad's letter to Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi, in which the president complained about the parliament's passing of a bill easing supervision on parliamentarians. The paper urges the president to find a solution to inflation and corruption rather than creating new crises.
  • Ahmadinejad enacts the supervision of the parliamentarians’ law despite calling it "illegal" previously. 
• The Rafsanjani led Expediency Council dismisses rumors on a meeting between Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami concerning the 2013 presidential election.

Diplomacy

• The parliament of Afghanistan accuses Abolfazl Zohrehvand, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Kabul, of intervention in internal affairs of Afghanistan. According to the BBC, the ambassador meeting the spokesman of the Senate had demanded that Afghanistan not ratify the strategic agreement between Afghanistan and the United States. According to the Afghan media, the ambassador also threatened to expel Afghans living in Iran in case the senate ratified the agreement.
  • The Foreign Ministry summons Afghanistan's charge d'affaires to "protest against the negative atmosphere created by the Afghan media against the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Kabul." Mohsen Pak-Aein, head of the Afghanistan Committee at the Foreign Ministry also expressed the Islamic Republic's "concerns about the security implications of the Afghan-US strategic agreement." 
• Shi'a News releases photos of four of the eight Iranian citizens executed by Saudi Arabia recently. Foreign Minister Salehi had previously dismissed the execution as a rumor and claimed the death penalty had been suspended by Saudi authorities. 

Nuclear Issue

• Kayhan editorializes:
  • "It seems that some signs of softness shown by the United States, particularly expressed at the 2nd Istanbul meeting, were aimed at divert the attention of the principled ones, or in other words, the people of Iran, from external threats. But why? What was the purpose of this, according His Holiness the Lord [Ali Khamenei], 'deceptive' softness? Evidence suggests that the deceptive friendship of the United States with Iran was in order to reduce the concern about external threats, so that some principled factions could have peace of mind to fight against each other. If this was the case, which one can safely assume, one must admit that the Great Satan has managed to achieve a part of its goals, since many of our own, rather than paying attention to alien United States, are struggling between each other..."
• The Iraqi foreign minister and Ala al-Din Boroujerdi, Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee chairman, meet ahead of the 5+1 meeting in Baghdad. 
• Tehran-e Emrooz publishes excerpts from former nuclear negotiator Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Rowhani's memoirs, which was recently published in Tehran and narrates Rowhani's first meeting with Ahmadinejad:
  • "The IAEA Board of Directors meeting was scheduled for August 9, 2005. Mr. Ahmadinejad called me two days prior to the meeting and asked me to come to the President's Office. He asked: 'Why does the agency want to have an extraordinary meeting?' I said that they wanted to investigate the inauguration of Isfahan [facility]. He said: 'The agency has no right to do so. We have done nothing wrong. You should call Elbaradei.' I said the director could not decide on everything. The members of the Board of Directors are the ambassadors of 35 countries whose decision is based on the report of the director general. It was discussed that the agency is under Western influence. He asked: 'Why is the agency under their influence?' I said that that they finance the greater part of the budget of the agency and that they influence the member countries. He asked: 'What is the annual budget of the agency?' I said that I did not know, but perhaps a few hundred million dollars. He said: 'Call Elbaradei right away and tell him that we will cover the entire budget of the agency.' I responded that the agency would not accept it. There are rules for that. Second, we do not have the right to do such a thing. If we desire to give aid to anyone it should pass the parliament. He said: 'This is none of your business!' I said it is not how things are done and that I would not do such a thing. If you insist you can call Elbaradei yourself. I also asked if he called me to give me advice or to receive advice from me on the nuclear issue. He said: 'I am telling you my viewpoint.' I said that I thought you had summoned me to give you advice. If you want to issue such an order without consulting with and passing it at the meeting of the heads of the branches [of government] it would be better if you soon appointed a new [Supreme National Security Council] secretary and issue those orders. After that meeting I called Mr. Ali Larijani and said you should prepare yourself to receive the secretariat."

Media

• The Communications Minister issues a decree forcing all governmental institutions to use web addresses ending with ".ir".
• Mehdi Kouchakzadeh, parliamentarian, beats up a journalist in the parliament's canteen after he learned the journalist worked for the Aseman weekly edited by reformist journalist Mohammad Qouchani.

Photo of the Day

• Said Jalili, National Security Council secretary, receives India's deputy national security adviser.