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

Rafsanjani withdraws from leading this week’s Friday prayers in Tehran; senior cleric warns of ‘atmosphere of discord’ prevailing in Iran; Javad Larijani blasts Mousavi; Alef News claims U.S. sent ‘secret letter’ to Tehran about detained American tourists; Ahmadinejad tells Basij he ‘will bang the heads of the foreigners against the wall’; IRGC refutes reports quoting Political Chief Javani as demanding trial of certain candidates; Hamas chief thanks Iran for support; Karrubi urges Rafsanjani to investigate alleged rape of detainees at Kahrizak prison

Politics

• Website of the Office of Preservation and Publications of the Works of the Leader of the Revolution claims Ahmadinejad did not kiss the hand of Khamenei because he had caught a cold.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Reza Taghavi from the Council of Friday Prayer Leaders of Iran says Rafsanjani will not lead this week's Friday Prayer in Tehran in order to "avoid any political exploitation... of the elevated position of the Friday Prayer...and in order to preserve the sincere and sacred atmosphere of this politico/religious act."
• Emad-e Afrough, a strong critic of the Ahmadinejad government, urges the Islamic Republic to marginalize "those with dictatorial behavior" rather than Rafsanjani. Afrough continues that those who want to make "a Montazeri" out of Rafsanjani are mistaken.
• IRNA discloses the open letter from Mohamamd Khatami to Bani-Sadr in the early 1980's in which he ridiculed Bani-Sadr's call for a referendum - something that Khatami has now demanded.
• Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami speaking at the Elmiyyeh Theological Seminary of Gonabad: " The atmosphere of discord prepared by its instigators is today much worse than in the early days of the revolution outside the country... It was only through the insight of the Supreme Leader and obedience of the people that it was possible to neutralize the colored coup or velvet revolution."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Hamid Rasayi, parliamentarian, demands intervention of Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Parliament, in support of the Supreme Leader's line and of the government in the post election political crisis in Iran.
• The Tehran show trials:
  • Jam-e Jam's interview with Mohammad-Javad Larijani: "The reformist movement is following the same path as the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization. Mojaheidn-e Khalq, who later developed into the hypocrites, did not fall from the sky. They were devout children of this country who despite their superficial understanding of Islam were devoted to religion. These people were obsessed with Marxist ideology and believed that this school of thought is scientific and justice seeking...
  • The reformists of Iran were our own Muslim buddies, people who had revolutionary credentials, but their superficial understanding of religion and their obsession with advances of secular liberal democracy made them - in the best case - consider Islam a private matter, something to be practiced at home. The foundation they had chosen was that they wanted to mix secularism with Islam and called it religious innovation...This was first seen in their argument that we want to participate in elections, we recognize the law and operate within a certain framework but they used the election atmosphere in order to mobilize the people and direct them to a different direction which is that of your preference...
  • The third phase is that of conflict with the regime...A revolution or a velvet coup is not such an alien thing. Take a look at what Mr. Mousavi claims. He believes there is something called the green movement in the country and that this is a done deed and considers himself the leader of this movement. What he also says is that this green movement wants to uproot lies and evil and reform Iran. These things are a velvet coup...
  • The roots of such deviation existed in the thoughts of these friends from the very beginning, especially because of their insistence upon charisma rather than the principles. Take a look at the time when the blessed Imam [Khomeini] passed away. These gentlemen claimed that the Guardianship of the Jurist was a garb tailored for the Imam [Khomeini] and after him the system must become a [leadership] council. Now, this is the very difference of Principalism and reformism. We must not worship the Imam [Khomeini], but must worship the school of thought of God...
  • They even claimed that since Mr. Rafsanjani was, and in reality is one of the pillars of the regime, then we must change the Constitution in such a way to allow him presidency for life, like Imam Khomeini. All these matters were seeds of deviation of thought planted in the minds of our reformist friends...
  • [Mousavi] questions the interrogations and the confessions. Now we ask Mr. Mousavi how the situation was when he was in government…? Mr. Mousavi should tell us how many confessions were televised during his Premiership. He should also tell us on what occasions he protested against them... Back then he not only did not protest, but he also thanked his Intelligence Minister...A lot of interrogated individuals made televised confessions during Mousavi's Premiership. For example, Mehdi Hashemi, who was arrested and tried. They also made him confess on television. They did the same thing with the Forqan group. The people must ask questions, specially the new generation which has fewer memories from that era. Someone who claims such harms have been done to the people - and he is right in saying so - how come he himself has such things in his own past…?"
  • Farhad Tajari, member of the Legal Committee of the Parliament, says "by informing the public of the events you win the trust of the people... Broadcasting the confessions through the national media is a necessity and the people must be informed of the interventions of the foreigners in the unrest and their regime toppling and destructive movement."
  • Zahra Ahmadi, member of a pro-government student organization, demands trials of "those individuals whose names came up in [former Vice President Mohammad-Ali] Abtahi's confessions."
  • Raja News likens the "Green Coup" with the "Nozheh Coup" in early 1980's. Link upon request.
  • Raja News Agency releases some proceedings of the Iranian Parliament up to appointment of Mousavi as Foreign Minister in which several parliamentarians accuse Mousavi of being a "Mossadeqist." Link upon request.
  • Ayatollah Alam-Al-Hoda, Mashhad Friday Prayer Leader: "Anyone who opposes the line of the Guardian Jurist is enemy."
  • Mohsen Armin, reformist theoretician who has not been arrested yet, releases his confessions - before he has been subjected to arrest and torture.
• Ghorban Behzadian-Nezhad, Mousavi's campaign headquarter chief refutes accusations made against the Mousavi campaign by the Prosecutor General at the Revolutionary Tribunal and says the Mousavi campaign has never accepted requests of the foreign embassies for interviews with the campaign office.
• Aftab-e Yazd's editorial says no one is interested in the Kahrizak irregularities and that the armed forces are aiming for Khatami, Rafsanjani, Mousavi and Karrubi.
• Religion, Society and Culture
• The Office of Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi refutes news that the ayatollah sent a letter of congratulation to Ahmadinejad on his election victory.

Diplomacy

• Alef News, basing a report on "an informed source," says the United States authorities have sent "a secret letter to the Islamic Republic authorities during the past couple of days," but that there is no detailed information about the content of this letter. Alef News also reports that the Islamic Republic authorities have not yet responded to this secret letter. Jahan News claims the content of the letter revolves around the three American citizens who, according to the United States, "mistakenly entered Iranian territory through Iraqi Kurdistan and were arrested by the border police."
• Ahmadinejad speaking in Mashhad to an assembly of Basij of the Professors: "As the government is beginning its work in its new tenure, it will bang the heads of the foreigners against the wall, but through psychological warfare inside Iran they have propagated that Ahmadinejad will bang the heads of his own opponents inside Iran against the wall!"
• Hojjat al-Eslam Ahmad Salek, member of the Combatant Clerical Association: "The reformists and those who fueled the fire of Britain in the recent events should awaken and find out how they were manipulated by the foreigners...I hope that the confessions is a shock which awakens those whose hearts beat for the foreigners...Britain's Den of Espionage has always mobilized its employees to instigate unrest..." Link upon request.

Military and Security

• Sobh-e Sadegh editorializes: "They started such mayhem. They used all the instruments of abyss and fraud. The entered the arena after huge sums had changed hands and after having recruited mercenaries. All this for betraying the vote of the people, vote which had been cast in trust. The key word was "annulling" the election. The directors of this great treason were even ready to kill people in order to realize their plans. The defenders of the popular vote and defenders of the regime were tasked to be present and tasked with facing them: The Basij.”
  • The Revolutionary Guards Political Department Chief Dr. Yadollah Javani demands "punishment and trial of the true instigators of the velvet revolution."
    • The Revolutionary Guards Public Relation Department refutes the IRGC Chief for demanding "punishment and trial of certain candidates and other individuals."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Hossein Ta'eb, Basij chief, speaking to the Basij and Revolutionary Guards Commanders in Ansar al-Hossein Revolutionary Guards Force of Hamadan:
  • "The Basijis have suffered during this discord and they have sacrificed themselves for the country to the degree that there was a high number of martyred and wounded Basijis... As the unrest quiets, we will show Iran as a role model and we will do our best to have the smallest degree of destruction..."
  • "The enemies have invested a lot in the election and chose this election as a base to deal blows to the revolution. They defined it as a win-win situation, so either a government prone to negotiations with the United States would come to power, or for that matter a government which is pro-American, work on nation building and make the people fight the people and the elites counter other elites...
  • The United States knows that in our system, we can't have a government which is a stooge of the Americans, but it is possible to use methods to have a government which is more cooperative. This is why they took the first operational step of this plan...
  • After this, the discourse and dichotomy of 'war-seeking' and 'peace-seeking' was introduced in such a way that those seeking war believes that Israel must be annihilated and one must resist the United States. The peace seeking discourse on the other hand believes that relations must be established with the United States in order to get rid of the sanctions. By the way of [constructing] this dichotomy they wanted to provoke conflict and crisis in the country...It is the first time that everyone - with the exception of the Monafeqin [Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization] decisively declared that they would participate in the election. At the same time they propagated the line that this government is ineffectual and lies...
  • Through psychological and propaganda operations the enemies wanted to propagate the view that opposition would win, and should they not win it is because of election fraud and [expected] that if this victory [of the opposition] does not happen there would be crisis in the country...In an interview Mousavi claimed 'According to the news we have won!' and in his first statement he claimed: 'According to documentation I have had the greatest vote' and asked the people to prepare for a national celebration. In his second statement he accused [the government] of doing magic..."
  • "[In the second phase] the enemies started to create a suitable atmosphere in the media to provoke the public to protest and a protesting public will either shout and protest or will become depressed... At certain meetings, certain elites decided not to participate at Ahmadinejad's inauguration ceremony and also certain things were discussed among the clergy [Assembly of Combatant Clergy?]... A small number was not thankful of divine blessing and rather than obeying God and calling for divine mercy they planted discord and this is how the conflicts began and some domestic groups became supportive of the conflicts...Those who raised the issue of [electoral] fraud should have known that thirty years after the revolution and numerous elections one can't prove a point such as electoral fraud..."
  • "Mousavi met with the Leader of the Revolution who said that they must follow the legal channels, but the protesters engaged in illegal deeds and attacked public places and a number were killed...In order to legitimize their movement they started shouting 'God is Great' and after the Friday Prayer led by the Supreme Leader the [Combatant] Clergy Association called for a demonstration... A group of people went into the streets and even sat a mosque ablaze...
  • "There were also some who claimed that the affair was harming the legitimacy of the regime hard and soft threats of the enemy..."
  • A certain Dr. Firouzabadi who allegedly has 25 years of technical experience at the Intelligence and attempted through human rights issues to prepare the ground for influence of the foreigners in Iran..."
• "Through establishment of the provincial headquarters and during the first phase of transformation of the Guards, the Guards are today - more than ever - capable of facing the Ministry is appointed Information Technology Deputy at the Intelligence Ministry. A certain Mansourizadeh is to be appointed Parliamentary Deputy of the Intelligence Ministry and the Counter Espionage Chief is also to change. The changes take place at a time when the ministry has no minister and is subjected to presidential control.
  • Ahmad Avaei, member of the National Security Committee of the Parliament warns of "weakening of the Intelligence Ministry" through the changes of personnel which has taken place in the Ministry recently.
• Commander Masoud Jazayeri, Armed Forces Command Council Cultural Deputy says the individuals behind the latest unrests have started the next phase of their plan.
• Ahmadi-Moghaddam, Law Enforcement Forces Chief, says the individuals who died at Kahrizak Detention Center did not die because of beatings, but because of a virus.
• Two Western European nationals arrested while taking photographs at Vanak Square.

Terrorism

• Hamas Political Bureau chief Khalid Misha'al says he is "thankful of the support of the Iranian nation."

Human Rights and Labor

• Mehdi Karrubi's letter to Rafsanjani demanding an investigation into the issue of rape of imprisoned young boys and girls at Kahrizak Detention Center and other prisons of the Islamic Republic is leaked to the press.
• Hassan Karrubi, son of Mehdi Karrubi, says his father has sent a letter to Rafsanjani calling for investigation into the affairs of individuals arrested since the presidential election but Rafsanjani has not answered the letter which was sent ten days ago.
• Mehdi Yazdani Khorram arrested.

Photo of the Day

• The Iranian Judiciary on Saturday began the second court hearing of individuals arrested following Iran’s disputed election.