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

• A poll from the Labor Union Association shows 36 percent support for Ahmadinejad and 52 percent support for Mir-Hossein Mousavi. 
• ·Ahmadinejad's speech in Isfahan reportedly attracts the masses.
• (E) Seyyed Mohammad Khatami is reportedly set to meet Mehdi Karroubi to discuss concerns over splitting the reformist vote.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Ghasem Ravanbakhsh asks Presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi 10 questions in an open letter:

1. What was the reason behind your resignation [from the Prime Ministry] in 1988? What had happened since you left your position without informing the Imam [Khomeini] or then-President Ayatollah Khamenei…? If the parliament treats your government as the parliament treated your government in the 1980's, how many times a week will you present your resignation…?

2. It is apparent from Mr. Rafsanjani's memoirs that then-President Khamenei was not in favor of your government...but the Imam [Khomeini]...pressured by [IRGC Chief] Mohsen Rezai to preserve unity among the leadership, insisted upon you being Prime Minister...Do you think that 20 years after leaving executive affairs, you have gained the ability to administer a country to secure satisfaction of the Supreme Leader?

3. ...Do you think one can administer the country with methods used 30 years ago…?

4. ...You had promised to abide by decency and justice and abstain from character assassination of others. What has happened since you have departed from the path of justice?

5. …How come you did not see the danger of Mr. Khatami’s reforms?

6. Do you really believe your own words that the nuclear progress of Iran was not achieved during this government, but was the result of previous governments who on several occasions betrayed Iran…?

7. Don't you see our economic progress…?

8. We will soon release documents on conspiracies against the government in which certain individuals have been involved...

9. How come transparency is good on some occasions, but not with regard to some other issues…?

10. Mr. Mir-Hossein, are you aware of the extremist Mosharekat [Participation] Party and the Mojahedin and Office of Consolidation of Unity and are you aware of their positions against the Imam and the values of the revolution…?"

• Reformist theoretician Jalayi-Pour says Mir-Hossein Mousavi has "a base of support from civil rights of ethnic groups." 

• Following parliamentarian Daryoush Ghanbari's accusations that Ahmadinejad has tried to "buy votes," Ahmadinejad supporters demand legal proceedings against Ghanbari.

• Masoud Shafi'i, Central Committee Member of the Youth Organization of the Balance and Development Party, says his party did not consider support of any candidate prior to Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Rowhani's official announcement of candidacy.

• Former IRGC Chief Mohsen Rezai will soon announce his candidacy. 

• Following presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi's open letter condemning Guardian Council, the Guardian Council releases a statement warning presidential candidates against "behavior which could be exploited by the enemies of the revolution." 

• Former Vice President Mohammad-Ali Abtahi and former Education Minister Mohammad-Ali Najafi join Mehdi Karrubi's campaign. So does Masoud Nili a former senior member of the economic team of former President Mohammad Khatami.

  • Asr-e Iran reports factionalism within the Karrubi campaign. 

• Former Tehran Mayor Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi urges former Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri to run for president. 

  • Karbaschi also attacks Mir-Hossein Mousavi of "not being reformist enough." 

• As Shahab Tabatabayi, son of the sister of former President Mohammad Khatami is ousted from the leadership of the youth organization of the Mosharekat [Participation] Front, the youth organization experiences internal unrest. 

• Iraqi born Sadegh Larijani, brother of the Speaker of the Parliament, to be appointed Judiciary Chief. 

• Abbas Palizdar, imprisoned critic of the Shi'a clergy in Iran, suffers a heart attack. 

Economy

• Khabar Khodro publishes biography of newly appointed Iran Khodro Executive Director Javad Najm al-Din, a former member of the Construction Jihad of the Revolutionary Guards.

• Rafsanjani criticizes "uncontrolled imports" which have harmed the production sector in Iran.

• Parliamentarians express concern about the inflationary effects of the Ahmadnejad government's proposed economic reform plan. 

• Ayatollah Sanei, meeting Mir-Hossein Mousavi, says "rising prices have made people destitute." 

• Speaking in Qom, Mir-Hossein Mousavi attacks the Ahmadinejad government's attempt to reform the subsidies system as "catalyst of economic chaos and a blow to the dispossessed and the villagers. 

Trade

• (E) Iran signed an agreement with a European company to develop the Lavan gas field in the Persian Gulf. 

• (E) Iran and Oman are to increase ties in the fields of oil, natural gas, and downstream industries.

• (E) Iran plans to increase oil cooperation with African and Latin American states.

• (E) Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noqrehkar Shirazi stated that Iran is ready to talk to American oil companies if they accept Iran’s conditions.

• (E) The Majlis ratified an agreement to encourage investment between Iran, Eritrea, and Algeria.

• (E) Iran to build two power plants in Iraq.

Diplomacy

•  (E) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that Iran is ready to contribute to global disarmament.

• Switzerland’s Foreign Minister says her country has hosted secret negotiations between Iran and the U.S. for many years.

  • Persepolis Football Club to visit the United States. 

  • Imprisoned Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi is charged with espionage. 

  • (E) Ahmadinejad: Iran welcomes honest and respectful talks with the United States.

• Asr-e Iran says "Arab leaders don't have sufficient IQ to learn their lessons with regard to the disputed islands of the Persian Gulf.

• Meeting Syria’s Foreign Minister Ahmadinejad says "great developments are under way." 

• Former President Khatami explains why he shook hands with former Danish Prime Minister and NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the Alliance of the Civilizations Summit in Istanbul.

Religion, Culture and Society

• (E) Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sistani says Iran has a political system that belongs to all Shi’a and that it is a center of hope for the Muslim world.

• Ayatollah Sane'i meeting Mir-Hossein Mousavi: "Today, as soon as we criticize anything, they claim we are breaching the Shari'a." 

• Alef News Agency condemns the Danish Press Freedom Society's re-publication and redistribution of Kurt Westergaard the cartoonist's controversial cartoons.

  • Also Asr-e Iran condemns the marketing of Kurt Westergaard's cartoons as "the latest insult of the Danes against Islam." So does Entekhab. 

• The Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Department broadcasts "confessions" of "internet criminals and offenders" who claim they are foreign agents tasked with spreading pornography and anti religious propaganda on the internet. 

• Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Channel Two to screen a series called Gilad evolving around the life of a Jewish merchant, Ben Hur Ben Gurio who travels to Iran in the 1960's. 

Nuclear Issue

• Ahmadinejad reports the latest "nuclear achievements" of the Islamic Republic. 
• Ahmadinejad also reports new generation of centrifuges nor operational, and completion of the nuclear cycle. 

• (E) The United States will attend P5+1 talks with Iran.

  • (E) Ban Ki-Moon hails.

• (E) EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana is to invite Iran to direct talks on its uranium enrichment activities.

• (E) Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said that Syria will never try to convince the West of the legitimacy of Iran’s nuclear program.

• (E) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to inaugurate a Fuel Manufacturing Plant (FMP) in Isfahan on Thursday and speak about Iran’s progression in nuclear energy.

• (E) US Vice President Joseph Biden does not believe that Israel would attack Iran to stop its nuclear program.

• (E) Russian Ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak stated that Iran does not pose a threat to the US and criticized President Obama’s plan to review missile defense systems in Europe.

• Alef News publishes a survey article on "Characteristics of the Nuclear Diplomacy of the Ninth Government." 

• Ahmadinejad declares Iran's readiness to take part in "management of global nuclear disarmament." 

Human Rights and Labor

• (E) Strike at Haft Tepeh sugar plant.

Military and Security

• IRGC Ground Force Deputy Commander Nour-Ali Shoushtari is appointed Qods Base Chief in southeastern Iran. 

• An Indian Navy vessel visits IRGC’s Operation Zone 1. 

• Solouki, IRGC Cyber Crime Directorate Chief, says that based upon "obligations of the Guards enshrined in the Constitution, decree of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution and orders from the Revolutionary Guards Commander in Chief, the Guards will forcefully suppress any legal or real person who through soft methods in the cyberspace attempts to engage in any cultural operations against the sacred culture and regime of the Islamic Republic and make the cyberspace insecure for the internet users." 

• Army Chief Ataollah Saleh says Iran will soon launch the "biggest frigate and the most advanced submarine of the region." 

Photo of the Day

• Vahed Bus Company displays old buses in Tehran.