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, with contributors John Lesnewich and Mehrdad Moarefian. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Excerpts of these translations may only be used with the expressed consent of the authors.

Politics

• Parliament Executive Board member MP Mohammad Dehghan reacted to the threat by US Congress to increase sanctions on Iran:
  • "If Congress seeks to take negotiations to defeat, the Iranian Parliament can also bind the administration to the expansion of nuclear technology."
  • "If America and the P5+1 demonstrate harsh and irrational behavior in front of Iran's flexibility, our hand is open as well. If negotiations do not reach a result with such behaviors and harsh positions, there is no reason for Iran to be faithful to its previous commitments."  
• Ammar Base [pro-Khamanei think tank] Central Council member and a representative of the Supreme Leader to Iran’s universities Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Reza Panahian reacted to the nuclear negotiations and discussed spiritual dimensions and Zionism while giving a sermon at the University of Tehran:
  • "Truly, technology is no longer a factor of power; this was seen in the 33 Day War and the Gaza War. Today spirituality is taken advantage of to reach power and will increase more. One cannot set aside spirituality with the concern that 'spirituality will be taken advantage of.' In the Middle Ages, they made the mistake of setting aside spirituality and said science will rule. From now on, the sides of power will take advantage of spirituality. Of course, we believe that our enemies will take advantage of spirituality."
  • "It was with the penetration of Zionism that secularism spread in the world. Secularism is at the service of the spiritual ideals of Zionism. Countries like Germany, France or Turkey cannot be considered secular countries. All of these countries fulfill the religious ideals of the Zionists and are at their service."
  • "Economic statistics demonstrate this reality. Major shareholders from Japan to Canada and all shareholders of the world's media and the powerful lobbies of all countries are in the service of the Zionists' religious goals. It was determined in Iran's recent negotiations in Geneva that the main matter for them is Israel. Meaning the main matter is Israel's mastery over them, not their pity for Israel."
• National Security and Foreign Policy (NSFP) Parliamentary Commission member and former senior IRGC commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad Esmail Kowsari discussed the reason for France’s rejection of the deal:
  • “Just as the Supreme Leader has said and past years’ experience of relations between Iran and Western countries have shown, we cannot count on the words and decisions of Global Arrogance [the West]. They negotiate and promise, but act opposite those. Or, if it is not to their benefit, they disrupt the game.”
  • “Again this time at the Geneva negotiations, France disrupted the agreement. Before this, sometimes the Americans and sometimes the English worked so that the negotiations would not reach a result. However, this time they saw that if America were to do this, it would be put under question. That is why they threw France in front.”
  • “As long as the P5+1 countries are following the views of the Occupier Regime [Israel], the negotiations will not succeed.”
• Tehran MP Hojjat al-Eslam Rouhollah Hosseinian said that Iran will not give up its right to enrichment “under any conditions” and that it is “the Westerners who must prove their good intention towards the nation of Iran.” He commented on the end of negotiations, saying, “In the recent negotiations, France followed American policies and in actuality a division of labor took shape between France and America.”  
• Head of the Presidential Cultural Council Hojjat al-Eslam Reza Akrami spoke positively of the negotiations thus far, and called for unity to achieve better results moving forward:
  • “It seems that on the subject of negotiations, the principle of the subject has been a beneficial matter. So far, even the negotiations based on advanced principles have been beneficial.”
  • “After the domestic and international media’s reflection on the negotiations, it became clear that Iran desires negotiations and understanding and that the opposing group does not want this understanding to take shape but asks for Iran’s surrender to its demands.”
  • “As the Supreme Leader said in his speech on [November 3rd], the minimum achievement of the negotiations is that this is an experiment.”
  • “We can no longer say that these negotiations have had no positive results in the direction of decreasing sanctions and lifting problems.”
  • “If we want the negotiations to have weightier and better achievements, we must have consensus, unity, and agreement in society towards the leaders, and pursue economic prosperity.” 

Regional Developments

• Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah defended Hezbollah's support of Palestine and Syria at an Ashura mourning ceremony in southern Beirut:
  • "We must remind our Islamic ummah of the ideal of Palestine. Under no circumstances is it allowed for anyone to let go of this matter. All Muslims must stand by this nation so it can liberate its land and sacred sites."
  • "Our presence [in Syria] has and will be maintained. Anyone who demands the retreat of Hezbollah from Syria to establish a government introduces an impossible condition. We will not exchange or change the existence of Lebanon, Syria and the Axis of Resistance for some ministerial seats."
  • "Whenever there is a strategic threat that threatens regional nations, this matter is larger than to [simply] introduce a deal for it. We do not seek any support for the Resistance current from you and will not in the future either."
  • "We have not needed your forgiveness or permission for our presence in Syria, whether in the past, present or future. So be realistic and set aside your unenforceable conditions."  

Military and Security

• Law Enforcement Forces Deputy Commander Ahmad Reza Radan announced that the “murder of Zabol’s attorney general [Mousa Nouri Ghalehnou] was connected to one of the cases under the attorney general’s investigation and did not have political aspects…. The police have good clues at hand, so they arrested a few individuals, all of whom are Iranian.”
  • Speaking from a mourning ceremony, the commander also said, “The most important lesson of Ashura is the acceptance of Seyyed al-Shohada’s [Imam Hossein] velayat [rule] by his companions, which is the cause of Ashura remaining eternal through history.”  
• IRGC Hazrat-e Gha'em al-Mohammad Unit Commander Brig. Gen. 2nd Class Ali Ostad Hosseini spoke at a mourning ceremony and stressed obedience to the velayat. “We must know that the great lesson of Ashura is that if we are not obedient to God and his prophet [Mohammad], the same thing that happened to Imam Hossein will happen to our Imam.” 
• Representative of the Supreme Leader to the IRGC Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi stressed the importance of Resistance against sanctions as part of Ashura:
  • “The sanctions and pressure facing us are not comparable to the pressure and prohibition facing the companions of the Prophet [Mohammad], the family of Abu Talib [Mohammad’s uncle who raised him], or those at Karbala [battle in 680 in which Hossein was killed that Ashura commemorates].”
  • “The thing that remains is to completely cut the influence of Arrogance [the West] in the Middle East, which requires continued resistance against Arrogance.”
  • “Until this moment, the nation of Iran has resisted completely against sanctions. I am certain that this resistance will continue because stopping is not in Iran’s dictionary.” 

Photo of the Day

• Ashoura procession in Mazinan, Khorasan Razavi.