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 and Iran Intern Amir Toumaj. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Tehran Governor Issa Farhadi announced, “We will finish counting presidential election votes in seven hours” and added that close to 100,000 “executive, security, Guardian Council and Parliament monitors” will receive training in the upcoming two weeks. 
• Presidential candidate Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf stated, “We cannot allow the Hojjatieh Society [clandestine religious organization that opposed Khomeini’s velayat-e faqih governance theory] that was banned in [1980] by the Imam [Khomeini’s] order to replace revolutionary Islam, by another name, method and rhetoric, with a non-revolutionary Islam.”
• An editorial in ISNA claims that “Resistance v. West” is the present bi-polar global geopolitical dynamic and the upcoming presidential elections is a verifiable indicator to answer, “Will the West be successful or will the Resistance be successful?”
• The Front of the Followers of the Line of the Imam [Khomeini] and Supreme Leadership endorsed presidential candidate Ali Akbar Velayati earlier today. 

Regional Developments

• Syrian President Bashar Assad announced that his forces had received the first Russian supplied S-300 anti-aircraft missile shipments and said that Damascus would immediately response to “any new Zionist regime assaults.”
• The Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Qazanfar Rokn Abadi met with Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary Hassan Nasrallah and conveyed Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani’s message congratulating the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon. In the letter, Larijani wrote, “Syria’s present condition has made awareness necessary for all officials and people, especially Lebanon.” Nasrallah praised Iran’s role in “the Resistance’s victory in 2000 and other victories in Palestine and Lebanon against the Zionist regime” and, added, “The Resistance will take all measures to liberate the occupied territories.” Rokn Abadi then affirmed the Islamic Republic’s total support in strengthening the “anti-Zionist Resistance.”
• Asa’ib Ahl al Haq Political Bureau chief Adnan Feihan Dulaimi in a conversation with a Fars News Baghdad correspondent: 
  • “We are not interfering in Syria’s internal affairs. We were the first people that emphasized securing and supporting the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine.” 
  • “The Sayyeda Zeinab shrine has had symbolic importance for Muslims all over the world and the targeting of this shrine by Takfiri extremists will result in a disaster, because an attack on it will be followed by a similar attack on the Imam Askari shrine in Samarra. An attack on the Imam Askari shrine in Samarra will inflame the sectarian crisis in Iraq.” 
  • “Tariq al-Hashemi, Mohammad al-Dayani and Abdol Naser al-Janabi, who are being prosecuted, are involved in terrorist attacks in Iraq and are attempting to fan the flames of sectarian war in this country again.” 
  • “It is clear that [Hashemi, Dayani, and Janabi] are the leaders of terrorist groups and have a hand in Turkey’s and Qatar’s plans to incite sectarian war based on the country’s divisions.” Asa’ib Ahl al Haq is alongside Iraq’s security forces and emphasizes the existing political process in this country.” 
• Arab diplomats meeting in Sunday’s Gulf Cooperation Council session in Saudi Arabia will reportedly designate Lebanese Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
• The Chairman of the Iraqi Security and Defense Committee Hassan al-Sanid claimed that Jordanian and Turkish intelligence agencies are supporting armed groups in Iraq. 

Diplomacy

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Abbas Eraghchi condemned Senator John McCain’s visit to Syria and said, “…[We] consider it an explicit meddling in Syria’s internal affairs and an attempt to expand the domain of crisis and continuing bloodshed in that country.”

Military and Security

• IRGC Public Relations Deputy BG 2C Ramazan Sharif: “The Syrian nation’s resistance has been inspired by Iran. Two years ago the Supreme Leader affirmed, ‘The axis of resistance will remain solidified in Syria,’ and this is while everyone said that Bashar Assad would fall in another few months. We have seen how the nation and government of Syria is steadfast, stable, and resistant by following the model of the Islamic Revolution and nation of Iran, and we are beginning to witness the victory of the Muslim people of Syria.”
• Head of Iran's Prisons Agency Gholam Hossein Esmaili denied recent reports about the re-arresting of released “security prisoners” and said, “The publication of these discussions emerge from the devilishness of Western media.”
• Regarding website filtering, Communications Minister Mohammad Hassan Nami said, “This discussion exists in all countries and in this center, the Iranian Communications Ministry will only implement the Supreme Cyber Space Council orders in discussions related to website refining.”
• Head of the Basij Organization BG Mohammad Reza Naghdi stated, “Force and weapons compose the foundations of Western civilization, while the foundations of modern Islamic civilization are cultured individuals.” He added, “The people will give a tooth-breaking answer to enemies and [Global] Arrogance on [June 14] and will notify some domestic [people who are deceived] that relations with America will not result in anything more than shame and scorn.”
• Basij Organization Deputy BG Ali Fazli said, “The enemies of this [country] have [used] all of their capabilities to make the people hopeless for participation in [June 14] elections and have not foregone any measures in this path, but the intelligent and aware Islamic Iranian nation will once again have a broad and passionate presence in this destiny-making field and will neutralize all the enemies’ conspiracies.”
• IRGC Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base announced the inauguration of a bridge in eastern Tehran that would alleviate traffic congestion. 

Economy

• The Government Economic Cooperation Workgroup tasked the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry to take the necessary steps in distributing goods and adjusting the market during the fasting month of Ramadan in order to create importer confidence. The workgroup also determined that the necessary measures be taken for faster importation and distribution of primary goods and medicine.
• The Central Bank reported 30.8% inflation in the past year.
• Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird announced the cessation of trade with Iran. Canada imported $37.5 million and exported $79.3 million to Iran in 2012 and, according to Iranian media, Canada composed 0.1% of the Iranian market.

Photo of the Day

• Senior Advisor to the Supreme Leader and presidential candidate Ali Akbar Velayati visits Qazvin province.