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 

• Turkish media speculate about meeting between Obama and former President Khatami in Istanbul. 

• The Foreign Ministry refutes rumors that former President Khatami met Obama in Istanbul. 

•  (E) US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice claims that sanctions have hurt Iran’s economy and that Washington is open to further sanctions.
• Aftab-e Yazdcondemns "insulting" remarks of President Obama in Turkey giving the choice of "having a nuclear weapon or a better future for the people of Iran." 

• IRGC Chief Ja'fari says the U.S. is facing dissolution because of the dynamics of racial demographics. 

• Fars News Agency condemns "continued insults against Islam in Denmark" following an incident in the city of Aarhus during which a bus driver denied a Somali lady with Neqab [facial mask] access to the public bus. 
• (E) President Ahmadinejad met with Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazabayev and welcomed further ties between the two countries.
• Ahmadinejad in Kazakhstan: "The capitalist order's current crisis taken into consideration, the leadership of this order wants to transfer its problems to other countries. This is a threat against us all, but we have plans to transform this threat into an opportunity...

• The Islamic Republic does not have any limits for expansion of its relations with Kazakhstan and we do not sense any obstacles in this path since we consider Kazakhstan's progress our progress and this is also the case with Kazakhstan...Both of us desire that the Caspian Sea is a sea of peace, friendship, brotherhood and non militarized and we must all see to it that the resources of this sea are preserved...We must strengthen our close relationship with regard to building of oil tankers and move forward..." 

• Presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi's first press conference makes the headlines of Aftab-e Yazd. 

• E'temad's report. 
• Mohsen Rezai to run for president? 
• Mehdi Karrubi says he will not tolerate election fraud.
  • E'temad-e Mellisays Mehdi Karrubi met Ayatollah Khoeini-ha.
  • Rumors that Karrubi will withdrawal from the campaign should Mir-Hossein Mousavi guarantee him and his supporters key ministries. 
• Aftab-e Yazdreports a major purge in Education Ministry. 

• (E) Presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi vows to stabilize Iran’s policies if elected.

• Mousavi says he will not allow moral police patrolling the streets if elected.
• According to Jomhouri-ye Eslami Mousavi has met with the Supreme Leader.
• Alef News releases video of Mousavi's press conference. 

• (E) Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani called American leaders “political prowlers”.
• (E) Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Mehdi Akhoundzadeh attended a session of the Majlis on Monday to clarify reports on his encounter with US diplomats at the Afghanistan conference in The Hague.
• Tehran Mayor Qalibaf lectures on good governance. 
• Intelligence Ministry co-founder and reformist theoretician Said Hajjarian asks fundamental questions to presidential candidates about the role of the president and the presidency with regard to the role of the Supreme Leader according to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic. 
• The Ahmadinejad campaign organizes "spontaneous popular campaign units." 
• Larijani, Bahonar and Haddad-Adel did not appear in parliament during Ahmadinejad's Nowruz visit. 

• (E) Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, Iran’s police chief, announced that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will take over security of the country’s eastern provinces.
• (E) Iranian cleric Hojjatoleslam Ali Ebadi was killed by unknown gunmen in the city of Khash in the Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
• IRGC Chief Ja'fari says the units of the Guards will be "re-engineered" in order to increase "ideological/political insight of the Guardsmen." 
• A Russian military expert says Iran and North Korea's missile programs are connected. 
  • (E) Iran says not connected.
• The Iranian press releases the names and pictures of those individuals arrested by the Revolutionary Guards who are accused of committing internet crimes.

• (E) Mir-Hossein Mousavi says U.S. relations should not be tied to nuclear issue.
• (E) Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said Monday that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and the Islamic Republic supports worldwide nuclear disarmament.
  • (E) Qashqavi also said that the world does not consider Iran a threat and that it is ready to defend itself from its enemies.

• (E) Iran is to host the 10th Annual Radio Festival.
• (E) Iranian film “Calm Down and Count to Seven” won an award at the Fribourg international festival in Switzerland.

• Plans of Iran to deliver 30 percent of Europe's natural gas by 2030. 
• Iran's electricity grid connected to the electricity grid of the Persian Gulf countries. 
• For the second consecutive year, Iran imports wheat. 
• Joint Iran-Venezuela bank to start operations in both Latin America and the CIS countries. 

•  (E) Commerce between Iran and Iraq has expanded, especially along border areas southwest of Iran.  
• (E) A gas deal between Iran and Switzerland to renovate Iran’s refineries that was signed in March 2009 has gone into effect.
• (E) The establishment of joint councils between Iran and American countries has been approved according to the Head of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines.

• Rumors on unification of car manufacturers Hydro and SAIPA.

• Donya-ye Eqtesadreports a purge of executives at SAIPA.

• E'temadreports purge in the steel industry. 
• Abrar-e Eqtesadipublishes the conditions for eligibility for Mehr Housing loans.  
• According to Abrar-e Eqtesadi, parliamentarians may demand a precise report from the government on the foreign exchange reserve.  More here.
• Increase in meat prices even after the Nowruz holiday: Premium lamb 10 to 110,000 rials per kilo in central Tehran, ox: 8 to 95,000 rials per kilo in central Tehran. Frozen Brazilian meat 55,000 rials per kilo.
• Tejarat [Commerce] Bank to be privatized next week. 
• Academic Khosh-Chehreh warns of "a harsh economic year," adds: "The Supreme Leader's wise remarks on economic responsibility taken into consideration..., we have the greatest expectations of change in behavior when it comes to use of strategic resources of the country. For the past thirty years, we used a third of the oil revenue on expenditure. This is no longer a viable solution...We are facing a tough economic year, and will be affected by the global financial crisis and the reliance of the country on oil. There is need for reassessment in economic behavior of the authorities, decision makers and the broader public...Most certainly the level of economic behavior of the state and the public has increased in current circumstances. Uncontrolled imports of goods and services...are no longer possible."
• Parliamentary Economics and Finance Committee member Ezzatollah Yousefian warns against budget deficit.

• Labor Unions complain about stagnant level of pay.  

• Energy Minister Parviz Fattah says Bushehr nuclear power plant will be operational this summer.

• Release of photos of those arrested for committing internet crimes.