Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh and Ahmad Majidyar. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English    

Politics

• Seventy seven parliamentarians summon Ahmadinejad to the parliament for a questioning session, but parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani stresses that he has not received "any order from the Supreme Leader of the Revolution concerning this issue." Ahmadinejad supporter Mehdi Kouchakzadeh warned that "the Leader is not inclined towards a questioning session in present circumstances. Had the decision been the Supreme Leader of the Revolution's, he would have decided against it." Kouchakzadeh also threatened to leave the parliament building in case a questioning session is imposed on Ahmadinejad, to which Larijani responded: "You expressed your opinion of the statements of the Supreme Leader. Well, I respect your viewpoint, but you can't say that the Leader said that... You have your opinion and others have other views... If the gentlemen desire to leave the session it would not be the right thing to do. It is your duty. You receive salary to be present here. You can't use such pretexts to leave. This is wrong, and I am telling you: If anyone leaves the building unauthorized he has committed a mistake... If a faction called the Principled Ones decides to engage in obstruction and commits faults, what kind of principle is that?"
  • Despite Larijani's warnings, the following parliamentarians left the building in protest against the majority's decision to summon Ahmadinejad: Mehdi Kouchakzadeh, Hossein Tala, Morteza Aqa-Tehrani, Mehrdad Bazrpash, Rouhollah Abbaspour, Aziz Akbarian, Ali Taheri, Fatemeh Aliya, Zohreh Tabibzadeh, Shahrouz Afkhami, Abolqassem Jarareh, Mahmoud Nabavian, Qassem Jafari, Habib Aqajari, Hossein-Ali Haji Deligani, Mohammad Suleimani, Shokr-e-Khoda Mousavi, Reza Ashtiani Eraqi, and Bahram Biravand.  

Military and Security

• Revolutionary Guards Commander Mohammad-Ali Aziz Jafari inaugurates the Revolutionary Guards Navy's Fifth Operational Area Zone in Bandar-e Lengeh.

Nuclear Issue

• Mohammad-Hassan Asfari, parliamentary National Security Committee member: "The 5+1 Group must know that if it desires to choose the path of sanctions in future negotiations, it would not reach any result, since the Islamic Republic has managed to leave the sanctions behind and it pursues this path in the future as well... Under conditions where the Islamic Republic is ready to show its good intentions by stopping the 20% enrichment [of uranium] it is expected that the 5+1 Group will remove its sanctions. Not doing so would lead Iran to continue its previous path in order to achieve peaceful nuclear energy."
  • Asfari dismisses his own statements and stresses: "20% enrichment has not stopped and will not stop, but as announced before, Tehran is ready to, in the course of negotiations, to temporarily cover its need [for enriched uranium] from abroad in case the sanctions are removed."
• An "informed source" in an interview with Asr-e Iran, dismisses "claims of stopping 20% enrichment of uranium in Iran and says: "20% enrichment of uranium continues as before and no change has taken place." The source also stresses that "news related to Iran's nuclear position will only be announced by the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council."
• Ala al-Din Boroujerdi, parliamentary National Security Committee chairman, says negotiations with the 5+1 Group is "in principle a rational thing [to do]," and continued: "Negotiation is among the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and in reality, continuation of negotiations benefits us..."

Photo of the Day

• Islamic Halloween in Iran.