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

• Asr-e Iran reviews news stories in the Iranian press on the 2013 presidential election:
  • "Hashemi Rafsanjani will not run for president... "[Rafsanjani:] I told Mr. Nateq Nouri: 'Your physical condition and age is better than mine; you should run.' He said the same thing about me. But it was all chatter. I said I no longer can run, and Mr. Nateq Nouri too made an excuse." 
  • Foumani, reformist political activist mentions Rafsanjani, Mohammad Khatami and Mohammad-Reza Aref as potential reformist candidates for the 2013 presidential election.
  • Mohammad-Ali Najafi, former education minister, says there is no consensus among the reformists for Mohammad Khatami's candidacy.
  • Hossein Kamali and Esmaeil Haghparast from the Islamic Work Party express readiness to run for president.
• Asr-e Iran provides background information on the Supreme Leader's provincial trips.

Diplomacy

• President Ahmadinejad appoints new ambassadors:
  • Hamid Bayat, the Foreign Ministry's Middle East and North Africa Directorate director general, and former ambassador to the Sudan: Denmark
  • Mohsen Pak-Ayin, head of the Foreign Ministry's Afghanistan Bureau, and former ambassador to Thailand, Uzbekistan and Zambia: Azerbaijan
  • Ali Najafi Khoshroudi, the Foreign Ministry's director of the Commonwealth of the former Soviet states office : Kyrgyzstan
  • Mansour Chavoshi: North Korea
  • Mohammad-Jalal Firouznia, former director of the Persian Gulf and Middle East Directorate, and former ambassador to Yemen and Bahrain: Malaysia
  • Ali-Akbar Sibouyeh, Foreign Ministry Translation Bureau director and deputy ambassador to Tunisia: Oman
  • Morteza Asayesh Zarchi, former ambassador to Oman, former Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Chile: Qatar
  • Mehdi Agha-Jafari, former Ambassador to Bahrain: Tanzania
  • Lotfollah Bakhtiari: Sierra Leone
  • Alireza Kasayi, head of the Central Asia and Caucasus Group of the Foreign Ministry's Center for Political and International Studies: Mali.
• Esmaeil Kowsari, parliamentarian and Revolutionary Guards commander, ridicules the British Defense Minister's statements concerning the prospects for anti-regime uprisings because of rising prices.

Military and Security

• Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the military, police and Basij forces of North Khorasan Province at the Martyr Nouri Ground Forces Brigade Base in Bojnourd:
  • "The Iranian nation follows the teachings of Islam, is not aggressor, and does not invade. But it will not tolerate any aggression... The war motive of the hegemonic powers is marketing the arms industry of the capitalists... The only thing which weakens or thwarts the war motives of power seekers is the general preparedness of the nation and the preparedness of the defense capacity of the armed forces... Today, the sentiment of general preparedness is stronger than ever among the Iranian nation, particularly among the youth, and the armed forces, too, are more prepared and more capable today than ever before..."
• Asr-re Iran quotes Tabnak's translation of a news story according to which Russia's foreign minister assured the Israeli authorities that Iran would not "use the nuclear weapon if it is developing one." Tabnak slams the Russian statement, stressing that Iran is not building the nuclear bomb.
• According to Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi, some of the "foreign currency speculators" were arrested by the Intelligence Ministry forces, while others were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards.
• Mohsen Rafiqdoust, former Revolutionary Guards Logistics commander, addressing the Martyrs of the Guards' Logistics Bureau, said "because of the Guards," the military option is "at the bottom of the enemy's options."
• Hezbollah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah says the drone which was downed by the Israeli Air Force was "made in Iran and belonged to Hezbollah."

Economy

• Hojjat al-Eslam Kazem Sediqi, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader:
  • "Had our authorities devised better policies, our costs would have been reduced... Executing the subsidy reforms was courageous, but they handed out cash to the people, and infused it in the market rather than strengthening production. The money was not used to boost production... And this has some side effects... They should already have thought about it. We hope that the problems people are facing and some are using as a pretext to help the enemy will not be repeated..."
  • "Paying attention to the issue of production, using Iranian products and [supporting] the national production is a necessary [issue], and the order of religion, God and the Quran. God would never be happy with the Muslim community of believers... being in the shadow of infidels. We are a blessed nation, and they should not dominate us economically."
• Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani says execution of the second phase of the reform of the subsidies plan is not "expedient for the country."
• According to Azadi News, the government has transferred cash handouts to the bank accounts of the public. 

Media

• Digarban resumes its coverage of the Iranian press.

Photos of the Day

• Khamenei inspects the Martyr Nouri Base.