Iran News Round Up

Tehran Mayor and presidential candidate Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stressed that the creation of new jobs is vital to the country’s economy and promised to accomplish that task if elected. Ghalibaf said that he would immediately set up a “national job center” to enroll all prospective job applicants in the country. Ghalibaf also promised to reduce government spending. (Tasnim News Agency) (E) (Fars News Agency)

• First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri, likely in response to Ghalibaf’s speech, said that some people may “deceive with the slogan of creating new jobs.” Jahangiri said the key to economic growth was more diversification and reliance on “knowledge-based” jobs. (Fars News Agency)

First Vice President and presidential candidate Eshagh Jahangiri said that the competition between him and President Hassan Rouhani is “real” and that he has no plans to “drop out of the race at this time.” Jahangiri confirmed that he would participate in all of the debates but did not expect Rouhani to do so due to his busy schedule. (Fars News Agency)

• When asked about Rouhani’s campaign promises, Jahangiri emphasized that he was not Rouhani’s spokesman but his competitor. (Mehr News Agency)
• Regarding his own campaign platform, Jahangiri mentioned his “origins in poverty” and said that Iran was at a “historic corner in terms of development.” He noted the advances made in automotive and agricultural industries as well as the country’s infrastructure. He claimed that “other candidates” were painting the future as “dark and gloomy” without noting these accomplishments. (IRNA)

Secretary of Iran’s Human Rights Council Mohammad Javad Larijani spoke on various candidates running in Iran’s upcoming election, saying that both Ghalibaf and Raisi should “be taken seriously” and have “good chances of winning the election.”

• On Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: “Ghalibaf is rich in jihadi strength and is capable of doing great things.”
• On conservative presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi: Raisi’s past experience in the judiciary makes him a “worthy candidate in the fight against corruption,” adding that Rouhani did not have much government experience when he took office either. Note:  Larijani’s statement is odd because Rouhani has actually had quite an extensive career in government. (Ghatreh)

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi denounced the recent airstrike in Iraq’s Sinjar Province as “a violation of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.” Ghassemi also added that actions such as these would “pave the way for the continuation and strengthening of instability in the region.” (Fars News Agency)

Armed Forces General Staff Head IRGC Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri  celebrated  the adoption of the statute that established Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Bagheri said “the IRGC, with the support of the Islamic resistance of Iraq and Syria, is the security shield of Iran.” (Fars News Agency)

Hojjat ol Eslam Ali Saidi, the Supreme Leader’s representative to the IRGC said that the IRGC is a “protector of the revolution” against enemies such as ISIS, and that increasing Iran’s “strategic depth” would assist in the fight against the “nation’s enemies.” Saidi did not elaborate on what “increasing the strategic depth” entails. (Fars News Agency)

Iranian news media reported that Mohammad Reza Shibani of Fazlabad and Ahmad Gholami of Azadshahr, both members of the IRGC Saberin Golestan Naynava Unit, were killed in an undisclosed location in Syria. (Mehr News Agency)

Ali Akbar Zamani, a member of the Fatimiyoun brigade, was buried in Damavand after being killed in an undisclosed location in Syria. (Mehr News Agency)