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: 
  • Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Guardian Council secretary, says merger of cabinet ministries cannot be done without parliament’s approval.
  • Parliamentarian Ali-Reza Zakani says before trying to dismiss the intelligence minister, Ahmadinejad had managed to sack the head of the Intelligence Ministry’s Counter Intelligence Directorate, who had warned against "a new sedition," a reference to the Ahmadinejad group.
  • Reformist theoreticians accuse Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei of "dishonorably trying to steal the social base of the reform movement."
  • Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Tehran’s temporary Friday prayer leader:
    • "With a practical move and a speech, relative calm was restored, the problems ended, and the hearts became quiet. But there were those who showed their [true] faces… Such things will happen again, and there is nothing new in it. We have seen such things since the beginning of the revolution and it should not make us wonder or worry... Such events and the bitterness ultimately strengthened the Islamic revolution and the Guardianship of the Jurist... The seditionists and those creating crises should know that this country is the country of the Guardian Jurist..."
    • Jannati continued: "Domestic and foreign enemies should not be enchanted by such things. They should pay attention to the fact that our people are ready to sacrifice their lives for their values and have not become brothers with anyone... There are those who interpret the Guardianship of the Jurist according to their evil goals, but it is the theologians and islamologists who should interpret the Guardianship of the Jurist..."
    • "This group... should not gather around one person and create deviations. Do they think they can act against the national interest and the viewpoint of the Guardian Jurist? Most of what they do is to prepare for election. The exorbitant sums they raise and distribute are not hidden from the public eye. And one day, this regime and the people will make them pay. It is not expedient to deal with them today. But as their predecessors were forced to pay, they will also pay. No doubt about it..."
    • "On the one hand, they advance their aims through money and connections, and on the other, they show a friendly face towards the foreigners and show a green light to the Americans. They also do many unfitting deeds... They dismiss someone and say: 'The Lord said,' and their listener thinks they refer to the guardian of command [the Supreme Leader]. But what they [really mean] is that 'the Imam of the Era' issued the command [to dismiss the intelligence minister].' They engage in unfitting deeds, sorcery and geometrics. The enemy sees this and thinks this is what is done in the regime...!"
    • "It is only a circle which does such things. They are destroying themselves and they want to destroy the rest of us as well. One must not accuse others for this. Their number is limited to the number of the fingers of a hand, and their wings are being clipped. I don't think they will last long."
  • According to Asr-e Iran's columnist, Ahmadinejad is "continuing the crisis."
• Mehdi Khazali refutes claims of pro-Khamenei websites that Khamenei's sons are Iraq war veterans.

Military and Security

• Mashregh News releases a recent photo of Abbas Aqa-Zamani, also known as Abou-Sharif, who was one of the first commanders of the Revolutionary Guards. According to Mashregh News, Aqa-Zamani is currently in Pakistan.

Nuclear Issue

• [E] The main reactor of Iran's first nuclear power plant in the Southern port city of Bushehr will be launched within weeks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

Trade

• [E] Iran agreed to implement an agreement to open a corridor to link and facilitate transportation between the Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
• [E] Iranian and Chilean officials in a meeting in Santiago conferred on different ways to boost mutual economic cooperation between the two countries.

Photo of the Day

• Ahmadinejad and Mohammad Khatami eat zereshk-polo.