Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Hojjat al-Eslam Hadi Khamenei, brother of the Supreme Leader, condemns the regime: "We propagate truth and transparency as much as hypocrisy and lies."
• Javan News makes accusations against reformist politicians:
  • Says reformist politicians' complaints against the Revolutionary Guards as a part of the "velvet revolution tactic."
    • Mohasen Safayi Farahani, one of the individuals complaining against the Revolutionary Guards summoned again to Evin Prison.
  • Javan News also accuses Western institutions of "making up [economic] prizes" - such as the Freedom of the Press prize to Akbar Ganji - as a way of financing the "movement of discord" in Iran.
• Attacks against Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief of staff:
  • Javan News quotes Hassan Firouzabadi, chief of the General Staff, Habibullah Asgar-Owladi, secretary of the Front of the Followers of the Path of the Imam, Ayatollah Ka'bi, member of the Association of the Professors of the Theological Seminary of Qom, and Hojjat al-Eslam Moe'tamed, 83rd Imam Ja'far Sadeq (clerical) Brigade chief, who all condemn Mashaei's statements about "the school of Iran," which they call "nationalist" and a threat to the international and Islamist character of the regime of the Islamic Republic.
  • Jomhouri-ye Eslami's editorial writes that "support of higher authorities [Ahmadinejad] for Mashaei makes the situation worse."
  • Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi: "Once more Mr. Mashaei has involved himself in discussions not worthy of him and has made wrong and unsuitable statements... It is not to the benefit of the regime, the office of the presidency and the person of the president - who has always been in the line of the leader and a supporter of religious foundations - that his chief-of-staff engages in expert discussions about issues about which he is ignorant and harms his own dignity and those related to him even more."
  • Alef News accuses Mashaei of "eclecticism," and condemns his statements about "the human beings having the capacity to become God."
  • Parliamentarian Ali-Reza Zakani warns of a "new discord," likens Mashaei's statements with statements of Mehdi Bazargan "who confessed that his conflict with His Holiness the Imam [Khomeini] was that we want Islam for Iran, but the Imam wants Iran for Islam."

Diplomacy

• Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi addressing journalists, attacks Britain: "This country has nothing. Neither are its people human beings, nor are their authorities responsible. It has not even subterranean resources. They are a bunch of idiots ruled by the mafia."

Military and Security

• Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at a press conference in Damascus, Syria: "The Zionist regime and the Americans know that their entering a fight with Iran will not be just a fight, but will be a very expansive entanglement..." 
• Three members of the Revolutionary Guards are wounded in clashes with PEJAK near Urumiyeh.
• Commander Mohammad-Ali Asoudi, Revolutionary Guards cultural and propaganda deputy, says the month of Ramadan "is an opportunity to counter the soft warfare of the enemy."

Nuclear Issue

• Hossein Hamadani, commander of Tehran’s Mohammad Rasoul-Allah Revolutionary Guards: "We have no religious authorization to use the nuclear bomb."
• [E] A senior Iranian nuclear official announced that the country has completed the principal tests for its first nuclear power plant at Bushehr.
  • [E] The nuclear power plant is expected to come online next week.

Human Rights

• Kaleme reports on Section 350 of Evin Prison in which most of the political prisoners of the post-presidential election remain and their hunger strike. More here.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• Afghan daily Hasht-e Sobh examines Iran’s motives for holding a regional summit on Afghanistan. The writer says Tehran wants to repair its image as a destabilizing force in Afghanistan after Wikileaks revelations, and wants to demonstrate to the international community that it holds the key to the Afghan solution. The author says Iran has aided extremism in Afghanistan over the past three decades, and questions Iran’s sincerity in working for peace in the country. He adds that Iran will use the summit as a platform for its anti-Western propaganda.
• [E] Afghan analysts say Iran’s plan to hold a regional conference on Afghanistan is just another way of Tehran exerting its influence in Afghanistan. "Iran wants to create obstacles for America by holding this conference," Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, head of the Center for Regional Studies, said.

Photo of the Day

• Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei declared "honorary journalist."