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 

Military and Security

• (E) Report of attack on Iranian ship off Sudan is ‘psychological warfare.’

Nuclear issue

• Ahmadinejad: "In the issue of peaceful nuclear energy, we saw clearly that the enemies pressured us to shut down academic courses. The documents are all present in Saad-Abad [presidential palace]... If we don't stop such people from the very first step they would want to intervene in other affairs of the country. But you, the Iranian nation from the very first step decided not to allow this to happen. There were some who opposed it inside the country, but the Iranian nation had taken its position to take a firm stance... After all that sabotage which was done to our peaceful nuclear energy program from the West, today we see that the 5+1 Group in an statement wants Iran to engage in negotiations with them... In their statement there are two negative points. First point being that in the negotiations they will be following a dual path. This means both threats and negotiation. The second point is that Iran's nuclear issue should be investigated by the United Nations, but the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council has in its statement declared that Iran wants dialog, but your rhetoric is the rhetoric of the past which has already shown its inefficacy. The second point being pointed at by the secretariat of Iran was that Iran's nuclear issue must be solved at the IAEA. Thirdly, Iran has proposed a new package but in the end you saw their reaction...Today the ill wishers of the Iranian nation are in a weak position. They have said that they want change. Alright, we welcome such change. We want a calm atmosphere..."  Also here. 

o    (E) Two shortcomings in 5+1 statement

Politics

• Shahab News publishes "The Son of the Nation," an article about the Ahmadinejad household.

o    Alef News reports from conference of Ahmadinejad supporters.

o    Ahmadinejad fails to gain support for his candidacy among the Association of Combatant Clergy.

• Mir-Hossein Mousavi: "There was a time when accounts missing $10,000 would lead to collapse of the cabinet, but today we have reached a point where, according to the parliament, billions of dollars are missing but no one says a thing!"

o    Agah-Sazi's Seyyed Shirazi asks Motalefeh General Secretary Asgar-Owladi how he is going to "answer God at the Day of Reckoning" now that he "ignores economic irregularities of the government." 

o    Motalefeh Faction's Hojjat al-Eslam Ja'far Shajouni says Mir-Hossein Mousavi would only be able to attract the votes of "fallen women," a reference to Mousavi's promise of stopping patrols by the moral police.

• Mohammad Khatami, speaking to an assembly of former commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, war veterans and the war disabled: "There are those who try to abuse the Guards and the Basij in order to get hold of power...The Guards must be above partisan and factional interests and the Basij must not provide a foundation or a channel to certain political or economic gangs in society...If those who make statements in the name of the Guards and the Basij, those people who make speeches in professional capacity and want to make the claim that people like Engineer Mousavi and Mr. Karrubi are not loyal towards the values but on the other hand invite their audiences to [support] respected people… Well, is it really an Islamic and revolutionary value to exclude such great men from the arena?" 
• Ali Mottahari says one must look for a qualified presidential candidate, "a candidate who wants to know the opinion of the Supreme Leader."
• Mohsen Rezai: "I am happy to be in the company of an assembly called the 'supporters of guardianship.’ There may be some who ask why you speak of the guardianship now that our country is the country of guardianship. But they don't know that the dimensions of the guardianship are vast and encompass guidance towards service, ethics, humanity and values. We speak of the guardianship because those elements are waken to life in guardianship...You should beware of politicians who believe in politics minus religion." 

Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad comments the Holocaust issue and President Obama's slogan of change: "Does change mean taking the youth in German into a park and telling them your fathers were murderers? Is it the kind of change about which you have been speaking…?" 
• (E) Judiciary chief heads to Belarus [Ed- Belarus often acts as middleman for Russia in Iranian affairs]

Economy

• A third of Iran’s population lives under the poverty line. 

Photo of the Day

• Mohsen Rezai visits sources of emulation in Qom.