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 subscribe to this daily newsletter, e-mail [email protected].

Politics

• Parliamentarian Hojjat al-Eslam Rouhollah Hosseinian says Rezai and Rafsanjani are not "behind the Supreme Leader."

• Parliamentarian Ghodratollah Alikhani says the Ahmadinejad government's attempt at control of the Tehran metro project is an attempt to seize the billion dollar financing of the metro.

• Mousavi and Karrubi meet, condemn the November 4th attacks against anti-government demonstrators.

  • Mohammadjavad Larijani says Karrubi and Mousavi are "too small" to constitute a challenge to the Islamic Republic.

• Prosecutor General Abbas Ja'fari Dowlatabadi urges Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani to return to Iran to face legal prosecution.

• Rafsanjani says the tenth cabinet is "legitimate."

• Gholamali Haddad Adel discusses the Supreme Leader's taste for literature.

• Hojjat al-Eslam Aliakbar Mohtashamipour complains of Islamic Republic agents who shadowed him during a visit to Syria.

• Commander Abdollah Eraghi is appointed Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces Deputy, replacing Shoushtari who was killed at a terrorist attack in Sistan va Balouchestan.

• "Greatness of the regime of the Guardian Jurist lies in its contact with Imam of the Era."

• Ahmadinejad on live television criticizes administration of the Tehran metro, promises additional funding for the project, and thanks Tehran City Councilman Mehdi Chamran, while failing to mention Tehran Mayor Qalibaf.  Full text of interview.

  • Tehran Municipality demands right to answer Ahmadinejad's criticism on live television.

• Khabar Online releases an analysis of clerical supporters of Ahmadinejad.

• The Parliament's Special Committee Investigating the Post-Election Events has delivered its report to Ali Larijani.

• Ahmadinejad's candidates for cabinet ministers Hajibabayi, Sadegh Mahsouli and Majid Namjou are endorsed by the parliament as Education Minister, Welfare Minister and Energy Minister.

• Ahmadinejad to visit East Azerbaijan province Wednesday.

Diplomacy

• Parliamentarian Fatemeh Alia says a $50 million budget has been discussed at the Human Rights Subcommittee of the National Security Committee of the Parliament in order to "counter the conspiracies of the United States."

  • According to Alia, the budget will be used to "disclose violation of human rights by the United States."
  • "There is also a suggestion to include Britain alongside with the United States, since most of the conspiracies against independent and third world countries are formed by Britain, the United States and in some cases France...”

• According to Fars, former President George W. Bush has called the reform movement in Iran "our front line against the Islamic Republic."

• Tabnak News Agency condemns plans to confiscate the Alavi Foundation's holdings and investigation of mosques related to it in the United States.

• Hashem Aghajari, reformist theoretician, addressing students at Tehran University: "It is the irony of history that claimants of the struggle against world imperialism who accuse their critics of being the agents of the imperialists and imprison people with a clear record of struggle, such as [former United States Embassy hostage taker Mohsen] Mirdamadi, themselves engage in secret negotiations with the United States. "

• Movement of Justice Seeking Students in an open letter to Ahmadinejad complain of his Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei's "eclectic theories" on "normalizing relations with the United States."

• Ahmadinejad will soon travel to Bolivia to expand cooperation in the field of industries, energy and health.

• The Islamic Republic demands visas from citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

• Hojjat al-Eslam Mostafa Rostami, Representative of the Supreme Leader at Hamadan Universities: "The President of the United States has chanted many seemingly beautiful slogans in order to improve the image of the United States, but his deeds since the election has shown that the slogans have nothing to do with the reality...Obama is continuing the path of Bush."

• (E) Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi to discuss areas of mutual interests and the potential for bilateral ties. The visit will last for two days.

• (E) In an audience that included ambassadors form France, Italy, and South Korea, Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini emphasized the importance of cultural ties. Hosseini asserted that economic cooperation, often touted as vital to diplomacy, is insufficient to create meaningful connections between states.

• (E) Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Nicholas Maduro is arriving in Tehran on Friday to coordinate President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Caracas. Venezuelan ambassador to Iran, David N. Velasquez said that both Venezuela and Iran are victims of global hegemony and US policies, noting that the two countries have signed 280 memoranda of understanding.

• (E) Qatari Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bin Mobarak al-Khalifi met with Iranian Envoy to Doha Abdullah Sohrabi to discuss further collaboration between the two states. Al-Khalifi referred to the Qatari-Iranian friendship as a model for regional cooperation.

• (E) In a meeting with members of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) in Tehran, President Ahmadinejad portrayed the media as a destructive entity promoting Zionist ideals. Ahmadinejad claimed that the media exposes all misdeeds of Asian countries, including Iran, but ignores the blatantly unjust behavior of the US and Israel.

• (E) Iran’s first lady Azam Farahi has invited her Qatari counterpart Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned for a visit to Tehran.

• (E) Firouz Khosravi, the governor of Ardal in Iran's southwestern province of Charmahal and Bakhtiari, criticized President Obama’s decision to renew US sanctions in Iran. Khosravi pointed out that relations between the two states will not normalize until the US stops its illegal practices and measures of ill-will.

• (E) Iranian First Lady Azam Farahi urged world countries not to forget those suffering in Gaza. In a meeting with first ladies of countries that are members to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Farahi said “The World needs to hear the voice of Palestinian women and children."

• [E] Tehran’s temporary Friday prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati says Iran will not show green light to the United States out of humiliation. "We cannot show green light to the US out of humiliation as they [Americans] favor that and have repeatedly been hostile to us," Jannati said in his second Friday prayers sermon to large groups of Tehrani worshippers. He hailed high public turnout in the November 4th anti-US rallies and said a number of people wrongly suppose that they can by hues and cries dissuade people from the path of the late Imam Khomeini and of the Supreme Leader.

• [E] National Security Committee Chairman Boroujerdi: “The presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan not only is not a solution to the Afghan people’s problems, but has also imposed new troubles on them.” Meeting visiting head of Afghan parliament’s counternarcotics committee, Broujerdi said it was unfortunate the Afghan people still suffered from foreign occupation. Citing the increase in opium production in Afghanistan over the past years, Boroujerdi said: “Unfortunately, Britain has paved the way for the flourishing production and smuggling of drugs in Afghanistan…”

Military and Security

• According to Mowj-e Sabz, Hezbollah General Secretary Nasrallah,'s statements in condemnation of "those who try to start a fire among the tribes" is a criticism of Saudi Arabia and Iran’s role in the conflict in Yemen.

• Fariborz Ghaderpanah, First Naval Operational Zone Chief of the Islamic Republic Navy, says ships have been expedited to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

• National Security Committee Chairman Boroujerdi says Iran will engage in further defense agreements with Russia should Russia live up to its obligations and deliver the S-300 air defense system to Iran, but adds Iran will not remain inactive in case of lack of cooperation and will itself produce S-300 air defense system.

  • [E] Chief of Staff of Iran's Joint Armed Forces Hassan Firouzabadi said Tehran was upset about Moscow's failure to supply Iran with the S-300 surface-to-air missile system. Firouzabadi, who is also a member of the Supreme National Security Council, warned that Moscow's hesitance to deliver the system to Tehran could harm their security as Russia's security was tied to Iran's. "Don't Russian strategists realize Iran's geopolitical importance to their security?" the top commander queried.

• According to Alef News Agency, Iraqi Shi'a leader Muqtada al-Sadr is "engaged in production of cultural products for Iraqi Shi'a in Qom." The "cultural products" are produced by the "Ayatollah Seyyed-Kazem Haeri Cultural Foundation" and staffed with "Iraqi theological students." According to Alef News Agency the circle around Sadr is called "The Assembly of Sadr the Second" [Jama'at-e Sadr-e Sani].

• IRGC Chief Mohammadali Ja'fari at the formal appointment ceremony of Commander Hamadani as Mohammad Rasoul-Allah Revolutionary Guards unit of Greater Tehran: "The Revolutionary Guards differs from all military organizations in the world and we believe that in the work for the regime, especially in the Revolutionary Guards, there is no such thing as retirement and one must prepare the ground for engagement of the Guards members to work in the Basij after retirement. This is happens smoothly in Greater Tehran Guards unit..." Ja'fari also added that the Supreme Leader "has thanked the Basij and the Guards in fighting the fire of discord."

• Inactive Defense Organization Chief Commander Gholamreza Jalali, at a meeting with Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani and Hojjat al-Eslam Javad Fazel Lankarani:

  • "The Inactive Defense Organization was established by the decree of the Supreme Leader in 1992 based on an understanding that in the developmental sector no attention was paid to threats, which could have been anti-developmental and posed a threat to the country..."
  • "The roots [and logistical] parts of this organization are based in the Armed Forces Command Council, but its sphere of work is among all governmental institutions of the country..."
  • "The most important goal of establishing this organization was restricting the fundamental vulnerabilities of the country against threats since the nature of threats today has changed and is not limited to the military sphere..."
  • "The fact taken into consideration that we rely upon two natural gas refineries and should the two refineries be out of order the country could not be managed..."

• Armed Forces Court Chief Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammadkazem Bahrami says 145 individuals have complained against the events at Kahrizak Detention Center, 8 individuals have been arrested and their legal case is going through its final phase.

• Former IRGC Commander Majid Hedayat is appointed Hydro car manufacturer director general.

• Gholamhossein Gheibparvar, Fars Province Fajr Revolutionary Guards unit chief, says the Supreme Leader is "a full size mirror of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran...People who year after year climbed the ladder of the revolution, ate the bread of the revolution, entered the arena by chanting slogans of support to the Guardian Jurist, but in practice did otherwise did not know that the day of account has begun..."

• Commander Ebrahim Jabbari replaces Aliakbar Nouri as Qom Revolutionary Guards Chief.

• The Law Enforcement Forces will soon establish an "Internet Police" to fight "cyber crimes."

• Basij Chief Naghdi warns against the Basij becoming a bureaucratic organization.

• Commander Mohammad Farhadi of the Revolutionary Guards, Basij Week Chief, reports on activities of Basij Week.

Nuclear Issue

• Turkey refuses to "host" enriched uranium from Iran.

• (E) An Iranian legislator declared that Iran considers purchasing nuclear fuel to be the best option. During the P5+1 talks on October 19^th, major powers advocated that Iran transfer 70 percent of its low- enriched uranium stockpile to advanced countries that would transform the uranium to metal fuel rods for a medical research reactor. While the plan was originally rejected by Iran due to technicalities, Iran is now willing to purchase nuclear fuel form any UN member willing to sell uranium enriched to 20 percent. 

• (E) Parviz Davoudi, one of President Ahmadinejad’s advisers, said that Iran envisioned the sequence of nuclear exchange to involve and Iran’s receipt of 20 percent enriched uranium first, and then the country’s transfer of its stockpile of 3.5 percent enriched uranium abroad. According to Davoudi, Iran’s nuclear program is considered to be one of Iran’s core issues. Davoudi noted the shift in the West’s attitude in that previously, any discussion regarding Iranian nuclear capabilities was unheard of.

Human Rights

• According to Nowrouz News, Dr. Ramin Pourarzjani who served at the Kahrizak Detention Center has committed suicide.

Public Health

• (E) According to Iranian health expert Mahboubeh Abtahi, the spread of the swine flu has slowed in Tehran. Thus far, 58 Iranians have died from the swine flu and 2660 are infected. Abtahi suggests frequent hand washing and other preventative measures.

Religion, Society and Culture

• Alef News Agency reports widespread vending of high quality, but moderately priced British-produced clerical mantles in Mashhad and Qom with the British flag near the producer's name.

• A group of Iranian parliamentarians sends a report on reform of the subsidies system in Iran to Grand Ayatollah Sistani in Iraq, who answers the letter with questions about potential inflationary effects of the reform.

• Ali Tehrani, brother-in-law of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: "During the past three months there has been a 20 percent increase in theft, which is the responsibility of the cabinet ministers and the President... In its children programs, television shows dancing and music. The Quran does not call for theologians, the Quran needs practitioners. They have assembled a group of British and Americans in television and in the name of children programs they teach them how to dance. This is why children become pickpockets and thieves. Prices are rising and the youth want to eat ice cream, which is expensive. So, they steal…! Today, those who have turned against the Quran, God and the Prophet of God are sticking to the chairs of administration. They consider themselves men of learning, but they are worldly men of learning. I have smashed them and thread upon them."

Trade

• Iran to establish a second natural gas pipeline to Turkmenistan.

• The Islamic Republic resumes export of natural gas to Armenia.

Human Rights

• Family members of imprisoned political prisoners demonstrate in front of the Judiciary, demand to know which state authority is engaged in political blackmail against the families.

Media

• Ezzatollah Zarghami says the Islamic Republic of Iran Voice and Vision denied Mousavi presence on national television out of fear he would urge his followers to continue their street protests.

Photo of the Day

• Childhood photos of Neda Agha Soltan, girl killed by Basij during the post election unrest.