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].

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Election Headquarters Chief Kamran Daneshjou says it is not possible to cheat in presidential elections.
  • Election Headquarters Chief Kamran Daneshjou, speaking in Tabriz: "For us executors of the elections, it really does not make any difference who is elected President and we consider anyone who is qualified by the Guardian Council as a candidate as one of us [khodi]..."

• Shemiranat Friday Prayer leader Hojjat al-Eslam Mohsen Do'a-Gou: "In some cultural, political and economic development issues, radicalism, policy failures and deficiencies of Mr. Ahmadinejad are a bitter political reality." 

• Supreme Audit Court Chief Mostafa Pour-Mohammad says he has not yet decided to run for president.

• Mehdi Karrubi to meet with his campaign chiefs.
  • Mehdi Karrubi at Tehran University urges students to "see to it that the invisible forces do not intervene in elections." 

• Parivash Fatemi, widow of the late Hossein Fatemi, Prime Minister Mossadegh's Foreign Minister says "My and my son's meeting with the popular President...changed our life." 

• (E) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech Thursday that Iran has a say in all global equations.

• Ahmadinejad supporters gather at a seminar in Tehran to declare their support for the Iranian president and urge "every single headquarters and office into a base for emergence [of the Imam of the Era.]" 

• Aftab-e Yazd's analyst questions Ahmadinejad's candidacy for presidential elections. 
  • Aftab-e Yazd ridicules "utopian leadership style of Ahmadinejad." 

  • Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution General Secretary Mohammad Salamati says the Principalists fear being tainted by the weak performance of the Ahmadinejad government. 

  • Ahmadinejad: "In Iran, no one should think that he is the guardian of the youth and impose himself upon them..."

• Rumors that former Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Velayati will run for president. 

• Rumors that former Speaker of the Parliament Ali-Akbar Nateq-Nouri will also run. 

• Son of former Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri says his father will not run for president. 

• Mir-Hossein Mousavi says he feels "a wave" in society demanding "human dignity." 

• Head of the Clerical Faction of the Parliament Mohammad-Taghi Rahbar says the Moral Police is "the policy of the regime" and that "if he [Mousavi has promised abolishment of the force], it is illegal and has been said in order to attract certain people."

• Mohammad Khatami urges Mir-Hossein Mousavi to diversify his election slogans and audience.  

• Expediency Council Strategic Studies Center Chief Hassan Rowhani says there is little supervision of executive power in Iran:
  • "Supervisory bodies of the country such as the Chief Inspectorate and the Audit Court must be universally respected by all the authorities, but we see that they are insulted and because they are engaged in their religious and legal duties are accused of the grimmest deeds...

  • Despite the fact that popular participation in elections has declined during the past couple of elections, it still is a source of pleasure that the general participation level has never been bellow fifty percent...

  • If the executive branch of government ignores legislation it can in practice do whatever it pleases without paying any attention to the concerns and worries of other legal institutions such as the parliament, the judiciary, the Expediency Council or the supervisory institutions...

  • Also under present circumstances the authorities have some concerns [with regard to performance of the government.]...

• Donya-ye Eqtesad analyzes the conflict between the executive branch and the Expediency Council. 

• Kargozaran technocratic faction spokesman Hossein Mar'ashi says Ataollah Mohajerani, Mohammad-Ali Najafi and Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi no longer cooperate with Kargozaran. 

• According to Abrar, Abbas Palizdar has suffered another heart attack.

• Spokesman of the Government Gholam-Hossein Elham says the "report of the Supreme Audit Court has no other benefit than bad mouthing the government."

• Following speculations in the press about why the Parliament's members’ biography booklet is delayed and allegations that more parliamentarians had listed false academic degrees, Ali Abbas-Pour, Higher Education and Research Committee Chairman of the Parliament, says the Guardian Council is carefully scrutinizing the information provided by the parliamentarians prior to release of the booklet. 

Diplomacy

• Foreign Minister Mottaki, speaking in Tokyo, says "Obama should realize his rhetoric about change."
  • Kayhan editorializes: "Speaking in Prague, the new president was expected to speak of change, but instead he followed the footsteps of his predecessor, made accusations against the nuclear activities of our country, and legitimized the missile defense system by referring to what he called the missile threat from Iran...He also stretched his velvet gloves toward Iran and sent another message to Iran...But Obama's arrows will one after the other hit stones because he is repeating the words of Bush, with the difference that Bush spoke like a gangster...but Obama expresses himself...more politely."

• Ahmadinejad, speaking to Law Enforcement Forces:
  • "In the economic sector, the enemies of the Iranian nation have everything in their power to pass the heaviest and most unprecedented resolutions against our nation. But our nation has not only avoided isolation, but it has also become one of the most beloved nations and the suppressors have become the most loathed and most isolated countries in the entire world...Now that the shadow of the fundamental threat from our national sovereignty has been removed,  it does not mean that the enemy has forgotten its enmity against us. They are not capable of doing harm, but they are struggling to weaken the progress of the Iranian nation in isolated attempts..." 

•  (E) Iran is to propose a plan to help the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.

• (E) Representatives from Iran will be attending the International Conference on Nuclear Power for the 21st Century in Beijing.

• (E) China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called Iran a model for successful economic management.

• (E) Iran is ready to help Vietnam with reform projects.

• (E) Iran is to offer proposals on the economic crisis to the International Boao Economic Forum for Asia (BFA) in China.

• Ahmadinejad leaves Tehran for Switzerland to take part in Durban II conference in Geneva. 
  • Prior to his departure to Geneva, Ahmadinejad accuses "the Zionists" of "controlling U.S. statesmen" and adds: "The Zionist parties and Zionist thought constitute the vanguard of racist mentality... They [the Zionist] are controlling the entire financial and monetary sector and have forced the nations to remain in poverty while they [the Zionists] pocket the money and wealth of the nations."

• Iranian marshal arts medalist avoids fight with Israeli athlete.

• Ahmadinejad: "The powers have through their bullying and by the means of military pressure imposed their wishes upon other human beings and in the course of a century have killed as many people as the entire history of man, but this era has come to an end and a new era is blossoming...This era is the era of dignity of man through which the [hidden] talents of man emerge...."

Nuclear Issue

• Ahmadinejad: "In the beginning of Iran's activities in the nuclear field, they had locked even the most basic equipment. There were those who asked me why we should invest in this field now that we have no know-how and technology. Even when we started the first chain, there were those who during certain meetings would ask me if this truly has been achieved. But I believed that our youth could achieve the highest technologies...Today they are angry with us because our nation has conquered these peaks without their permission. They are not afraid of the bomb. They actually pray to God that Iran achieves a nuclear bomb so they have an excuse..." 

• (E) Press TV reports Israel retracts a military option for taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities after the US refused to support it.

• Ahmadinejad, speaking to the members of the Law Enforcement Forces: "As I have declared before, the nuclear train of Iran has neither brakes nor reverse gears. Again today I tell the people of the entire world that the train of progress in Iran has neither brakes nor reverse gear."

Military and Security

• Jomhouri-ye Eslami condemns what it calls "the U.S. espionage umbrella" in a reference to U.S. space programs. 

• Ahmadinejad, speaking to the members of the Law Enforcement Forces: "The ill-wishers and the corrupt want to attack us like ants, and narcotics are a deadly poison for all. The enemies insist upon exporting drugs to our country, but the magnitude of our discoveries show the vigilance of the Law Enforcement Forces... By taking initiative we must dislocate the hooligans from the society and by making them work in mines and the desert, we must make human beings out of them." 

• Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces Chief Ahmad Pourdastan: "Not even the smallest movements of the enemy in our land, sea and air boundaries escapes the eagle eyes of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army and we have prepared equipment to counter any threat..." 

•  (E) The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) announced it will increase cooperation with Iran to enhance security to all nations.

Trade

• (E) Pakistan will discuss the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline with Iranian leaders.
  • Iran and Pakistan agree upon price of natural gas to be exported to Pakistan. 

• Iranian companies to help Armenia establish a water power plant on the river Aras.
  • Iran soon to begin natural gas exports to Armenia.

• Chinese investors ready to invest in various major businesses of Hormozgan province.
  • Chinese Ambassador to Tehran visiting the industrial sites of the Persian Gulf coastal area expresses China's interest in investment in Iran's steel and car industry.

• Russia’s Lukoil expresses interest in oil activities in Iran. 

• Iran to sell natural gas to Kuwait. 

• Energy Committee Reporter of the Parliament Ali Adyani says Emirati Crescent Company's contract with Iran is "suspect" and "opaque." 
  • Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nowzari says before correction of the contract Iran will not export natural gas though [UAE’s] Crescent Company. 

• The Islamic Republic builds wind energy power plants in Pakistan and Venezuela. 

Religion, Culture, and Society

• (E) The Tehran International Book Fair has received over 15,000 titles from 70 countries for the event.

• (E) Shiraz is preparing to host Saadi Day celebration.

• Judiciary Chief Hashemi Shahroudi claims the judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran "is among the most modern and most just legal systems in the entire world." 

• Tajrish neighborhood of Tehran will be connected to the metro network in two weeks.

• Rasoul Ja'farian discusses Tohfat al-'Alam, a book by Safavid era jurist and poet Abou-Taleb Mir-Fendereski written during the second year of the reign of the last Safavid king Shah Soltan Hossein in which accuses silver imports from the New World as the main reason behind economic decline of Safavid Iran.

Economy

• An economist told Radio that the Iranian government is reducing subsidies in order to compensate for the loss of revenue from plummeting oil prices. He said, "the government spends more on policing people than on their welfare."

• (E) Iran proposes a joint investment fund to benefit Iranians living abroad.

• (E) The unemployment rate rises to 12.5%

• Central Bank Director General Bahmani refutes rumor of a $2 billion earmark for development of South Pars Gas Field. 

• Abrar-e Eqtesadi publishes the conditions to operate of foreign banks in Iran. 

• Abrar reports decline in car prices. 

• Mine exploration budget increases 64 percent. 

• The port of Astara transferred to the private sector.

• Central Bank Director General Mahmoud Bahmani says he is "happy with the degree of independence of the Central Bank." 

• 300 oil workers have lost their jobs in Assalouyeh.

• Tehran Municipality offers interest free loans to taxi drivers. 

• Sina Bank, related to the Foundation of the Oppressed, starts its operations. 

• Former Agriculture Minister Isa Kalantari says the Ahmadinejad government achieved "reached a new record" when it comes to import of wheat, meat, beans, and the like.
  • The Agriculture Minister announced in this report that despite drought the degree of self sufficiency in the food sector has reached 94 percent in 2008, but last year 61 percent of the food products of the country were imported... After forty years we have become importers of onion, and after ten years for the first time we have begun importing beans... Importers of dairy products are being annihilated... No one takes care of the peasants in the current water crisis.

Human Rights and Labor

• A student activist told Radio Farda that students of Babol Industrial University in northern Iran recently launched a sit-in and hunger strike to protest the government's continuing crackdown on students' rights.

• Abd al-Reza Sheikh al-Eslami, head of the President's Office, sends a letter to Judge Said Mortazavi to demand fair trials for imprisoned Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan and imprisoned Iranian/American journalist Roxana Saberi.

Media

• Presidential candidate Mousavi accuses the national media of "not mobilizing the public for participation in elections," but for "mobilization of the public on behalf of a certain candidate." 

• Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his bodyguards in Ilam. 

• Clerics and seminary students meet Ahmadinejad in Kerman.