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

Diplomacy

• According to Tabnak, a total of eighteen Iranian citizens were executed in Saudi Arabia during the past two months. 

Military and Security

• Hassan Firouzabadi, Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces:
  • "Syria is the only country which has resisted for the past forty years, even after attacks of the Zionists against Palestine. We consider the resistance of Syria as enacting the rulings of the Quran and support it. We consider anything which resists the Zionist regime... But the West’s claim on how we intervene in Syria is not correct. We are after all not the enemies of the people of Syria. Syria is a friendly frontline resistance state and we support them both intellectually and spiritually. And the Islamic Republic has played a role in the positive decisions taken by the government of Syria. The correct decisions which Mr. Bashar Assad has taken towards his own people, which are based on the foundations of durable security. We want Syria to have security and will extend aid so that Syria's security becomes durable which has been achieved to a great degree." 
• According to Digarban, two Revolutionary Guards commanders involved in the fight against PEJAK have been dismissed in the past two months. One is a certain Commander Mirian, commander of a so-called Saberin special operations unit, who was replaced with Mohsen Karimi. And the second is Mohammad-Yousef Shakeri, commander of the Revolutionary Gruads in West Azerbaijan province who was replaced with Colonel Abedin Khorram. 

Nuclear Issue

• Kayhan editorializes:
  • "The Baghdad negotiations clearly demonstrated that the only red line of Iran is the nuclear rights of its nation from which [Iran] will not retreat under any circumstances… In the immediate aftermath of the Baghdad negotiations, the Western party has tried to mobilize a new atmosphere against Iran... The State Department’s release of a report accusing Iran of violating human rights is an example of this..." 
• Political analyst Sadeq Zibakalam:
  • "The Westerners too are not happy with the sanctions and tensions with Iran. It is not only us paying the cost of this trend. They have lost Iran's 75-million market. They too have lost the investment and economic opportunity in Iran's lucrative and rich energy market. Therefore, apart from the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Westerners and the Americans too are not inclined to continue the trend of sanctions and conflict... In the West, and in the United States in particular, there are individuals, political currents and persons who do not under any circumstance desire an agreement to take place between the West and Iran in the nuclear issue. This current is not happy with anything less than the annihilation of the regime of the Islamic Republic. Therefore, it does not desire an agreement to take place between Iran and the West and [desires] this conflict between Iran and the West to continue, the sanctions to be expanded, that Iran should be attacked militarily and the like... Also domestically, there are some elements, individuals and radical and hardline elements desiring continuity of the confrontations and the conflicts. They do not at all think what costs these sanctions have imposed upon our national interests, and how much it has harmed Iran's national economic development. They do not pay attention to the economic problems arising from the sanctions... These people welcome failure of the negotiations and pursue the exact same path as the groups, currents and lobbies of Israel... The truth is that in Baghdad, no clear agreement took place. If not a victory or a success, it has at least been a pivotal point between Iran and the West. The main two Iranian negotiators managed to show the Westerners that they were pursuing a solution and means of reaching an agreement... The negotiation taking place in Moscow does not mean that it will reach an agreement. They too may reach failure, but beyond these issues, the Baghdad negotiations and their continuity in Moscow show that two centrist, balanced and realist currents present both in Iran and in the West are doing their utmost for the negotiations not reaching a dead end... Sanctions and tension between Iran and the West have most certainly been to the benefit of those who are today struggling for the negotiations not to succeed. Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and international dealers have benefited greatly during the past ten years and on the other side, the people of Iran and the West have paid the price of the sanctions..." 
• Mohsen Rezaei, Expediency Council secretary, addressing the university students in Tabriz:
  • "The fact that the 5+1 Group have submitted to negotiating with a proud Iran shows the progress of the negotiations and Iran does not demand anything but its inalienable and legal rights... We hope that as the negotiations progress we will witness many sanctions removed, particularly the Central Bank and in the oil sector which would improve the economy..." 

Photo of the Day

•   A Jackson Pollock painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran.