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

• Ahmadinejad delays his visit to Pakistan as Hillary Clinton visits Islamabad.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Ahmad-Hossein Sharifi, Imam Khomeini Research Institute deputy: "Germany will become a Muslim country in 2045, the Netherlands in 2025, and the United States in 2070."
• [E] Iran's Embassy in Kabul lashed out at “biased” media reports on an “unintended” border incident, and stressed that the two sides' border guards have resolved the misunderstanding immediately after it happened.

Military and Security

• According to Mashregh News, Muqtada al-Sadr has left Iran and has gone to Najaf in Iraq along with a number of advisers including Mostafa al-Yaqoubi, Mohammad al-Saedi and Heydar al-Jaberi.
• Jomhouri-ye Eslami publishes an editorial from Diplomasi-ye Irani:
  • "We are living in an era... in which our effective people in the fields of politics and diplomacy have either been marginalized or forced to resign... This has served the new politicians well and has secured the bread and butter of man. But now, the current affairs of the state and increased level of sensitivities and psychological and real threats... compels us to rebuild certain relations..."
  • "Even the most pessimistic men in power and government in Iran did not think that the pressure of expansive sanctions against Iran would suddenly change into a Hollywood scenario..."
  • "During the past week, the anti-Iranian report of the Human Rights monitor of the United Nations was released as well, which accused the Islamic Republic of violating the human rights and... increased the anti-Iranian atmosphere... The only remaining thing now... is the IAEA report... which once more has raised the finger of accusations against Tehran and has spoken about the military goals of Iran with its nuclear activities..."
  • "On the other hand, Iran's situation with some neighbors is experiencing new and serious obstacles. Saudi Arabia is one part of the issue, which is the head of a chain of followers... The events in Syria have reached a worrying phase, and Turkey, because of conflicting positions concerning Damascus, has turned away from Tehran and is listening to the West. News has reached [us] that an American delegation has arrived in Ankara in order to negotiate hardened sanctions against Tehran... Separately, the Afghans claim rockets were fired at them from Iran's border guards and complain of Tehran's unfriendly positions towards Kabul, and say Iran, just like Pakistan, does not want Afghanistan to reach stability, security and welfare with the aid of the Western powers..."
  • "Remarkably, all these events have taken place in less than a week which either by design or by accident, has mobilized a front of suspicion and hostility against Iran..."
  • "The Foreign Ministry may be the only institution which has taken a balanced and positive posture in this case... But during the past two and half years ago, prominent personalities and diplomats such as Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ali-Akbar Nateq Nouri, and all sorts of intellectuals and political elites around them, have been removed from decision-making bodies due to domestic conflicts and events, and have been replaced by new rings of often radical elements which have made Iran's domestic and foreign policy of Iran one sided, and non pragmatic..."
• Reactions to American allegations about Iran’s alleged terror plot:
  • Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei:
  • "Zionist Protocols constitute the foundations of the new schemes of the mass media of the hegemonic [powers]."
  • Ahmadinejad: 
    • "The first hypothesis is that the government of the United States desires to create conflicts between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but they are wrong. In the end, the truth will be known to the people."
    • "Domestic economic problems of the United States are so serious that they will not be solved by making such allegations against Iran..."
    • "If the roots of all terrorist movements in the world are investigated, it will become clear that all of them were connected to the body of the United States Government."
  • Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi:
    • "We urge the Saudi authorities to be cautious in order not to fall into the trap of the Americans... The Saudi authorities most certainly know that the goal of this scenario is to create cleavages between countries of the region."
  • Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi:
    • "This accusation is an intelligence, news, political and ethical scandal within the ruling [world] order. They accuse Iran of something which any conscious person considers unbelievable..."
  • Fouad Izadi, expert in American politics:
    • "The Americans and the Saudis have planned this conspiracy against us. It has nothing to do with our being cautious or not... His Lordship... had predicted that the government of Saudi Arabia and the American government were pursuing anti-Iranian goals."
  • [E] Iran said one of the two suspects in a US alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington belongs to the outlawed and armed opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) - a terrorist group responsible for the death of thousands of Iranian, Iraqi and western people and officials during the last 5 decades.

• [E] A senior Iranian interior ministry official revealed on Wednesday that drug-traffickers have been forced to make a detour and use Pakistan as their main drug route following Iran's drug combat measures along the borders with Afghanistan.
• [E] Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar will pay a visit to Armenia in November, his deputy announced on Wednesday.

Trade

• Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi says development of the South Pars oil and gas field needs $50 billion investments.
• Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast comments on India's debt to Iran regarding oil imports: "Export is conducted in usual manners and there is no problem in this regard."

Photo of the Day

• Calligraphy exhibit.