Iran News Round Up

 A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar, Brianna Rosen and Michael Rubin.  To subscribe to this daily newsletter, e-mail [email protected].

Ahmadinejad officially unveils new cabinet; Iranian lawmakers warn of clash over some appointments; clerical group question Supreme Leader’s ability to rule; Mousavi backs Karrubi’s call for probe into allegations of sexual abuse in Iranian jails; senior cleric defends post-election prisoners at Tehran’s show trials; Supreme Leader tells Syrian President ‘Zionist regime’ becoming weaker, urges unity between Tehran, Damascus; Ahmadinejad outlines plans to fight U.S. gasoline 'plot'

Politics

• Ahmadinejad officially presents his cabinet to the parliament:
  • Kamran Daneshjo, Minister of Science, Research and Technology
  • Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, Interior Minister
  • Manouchehr Mottakki, Foreign Minister
  • Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, Cultre and Islamic Guidance Minister
  • Reza Taghi-Pour,Communications and Information Technology Minister
  • Abd al-Reza Sheikh al-Eslai, Labor and Social Affairs Minister
  • Sousan Keshavarz, Education Minister
  • Seyyed Masoud Mir-Kazemi, Oil Minister
  • Mohammad Ali-Abadi, Energy Minister
  • Mehdi Ghazanvari, Commerce Minister
  • Ali Nikzad, Housing and Urban Development Minister
  • Hamid Behbahani, Roads and Transportation Minister
  • Habibollah Bour-Bour, Agricultural Jihad Minister
  • Ahmad Vahidi, Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Minister
  • Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi, Health Minister
  • Fatemeh Ajorlou, Welfare and Social Security Minister
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Mosleh, Intelligence Minister
  • Ali-Akbar Mehrabian, Industry and Mines Minister
  • Seyyed Shams al-Din Hosseini, Economy and Finance Minister
  • Mohammad Abbasi, Cooperatives Minister
  • Morteza Bakhtiari, Justice Minister.
    • Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad-Reza Bahonar says some of Ahmadinejad's candidates for cabinet positions will not get a vote of confidence.
    • Asr-e Iran releases its assessment of whom among Ahmadnejad's candidates for cabinet positions have the best chance of achieving a vote of confidence.
• Questioning Supreme Leader Khamenei's qualifications for being Guardian Jurist and Head of State:
  • An assembly called "A group of religious scholars and wise men of the theological seminaries of Qom, Isfahan and Mashad" in an open letter to the Assembly of Experts demands examination of Supreme Leader Khamenei's qualifications to be the Guardian Jurist and Head of State.
  • A group called "Assembly of Various Sessions of the Islamic Consultative Assembly [the parliament] - The Green Wave of Freedom" in an open letter to Assembly of Experts demands the Assembly lives up to its constitutional duties.
    • Agah-Sazi News Agency explains the constitutional preconditions for dismissal of the Supreme Leader and Guardian Jurist.
  • Ayatollah Dastgheib demands an extraordinary session of the Assembly of Experts to discuss the current political crisis.
• Fatemeh Rajabi, wife of former Justice Minister Gholam-Hossein Elham, says the Expediency Council should either change significantly or dissolve itself.
• Karrubi, in an open letter to Judiciary Chief Sadeq Shahroudi:
  • "Ever since the day after June12, 2009, I have postured, issued statements and letters to the people and to some of the authorities ranging from the Judiciary to the Intelligence Ministry and others. I have attempted, by demanding transparency with regard to the election and in defense of the people's right, to do away with the dissatisfaction and increase a national understanding and solidarity.
  • But unfortunately I have not received a suitable answer and the Law Enforcement Forces and paramilitary and security organizations have demonstrated their harsh methods and lack of understanding.
  • Lately I also received documented reports on sexual harassment in addition to physical torture... But unfortunately, those who always prefer to see a chaotic state of affairs in the country not only did not accept a just and impartial investigation of this issue, but made it an angle of attack against me and disturbed the public mind. This is the very sign of some things which they prefer to keep secret. From the sacred tribune of the Friday Prayer I have been insulted, they have made disclosures which is alien to the simplest of all Muslims let alone those delivering the sermons of the Friday Prayer...The national media have reflected the same line...If you find it expedient do choose a member of the fact finding commission of the parliament with whom I can share my documentation on rape of the inmates."
  • Mousavi supports Karrubi's demand for investigation of rape of inmates in Iranian prisons.
• The Tehran show trials:
  • Grand Ayatollah Sanei defends the accused and asks: "These people have all been at the helm of the Islamic Republic. Would anyone believe they were trying to topple it?"
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Mohsen Do'a-Gou, Shemiranat Friday Prayer Leader: "Existence of a 'velvet revolution' , a political coup and conspiracy to topple the Islamic Republic among presidential candidates and fellow Iranians is the product of the fantasies and wrong thinking of the claimants of analysis and political intelligence..."
  • Seyyed Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi warns against marginalization of political forces in the Islamic Republic with the "fantasy" of velvet revolutions as excuse.
• (E) Vice-Speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar predicts that Parliament will reject up to five of President Ahmadinejad’s cabinet nominees in its August 30^th vote.

Diplomacy

• Supreme Leader Khamenei meeting Syria’s President Assad: "The resistance camp must use this great opportunity to strengthen its relations and cooperation... The result of this unity [between Iran and Syria] is clear in the affairs of Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and the entire region... Their [U.S.] attempts have not reached any result yet and the sword of America in the region has grown less sharp by the day... Also the Zionist regime is facing many internal problems and is getting truly weaker despite their propaganda...Regardless who is in the White House, he would not have been able to pursue a different policy in the region..."
  • (E). President Ahmadinejad told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “the resistance of regional nations has won,” as Assad congratulated Ahmadinejad on his reelection, which “taught the enemies a big lesson.”

Religion, Society and Culture

• Alef News Agency reviews a picture book about the late academic charlatan and pseudo-philosopher Ahmad Fardid.

Trade

• (E) President Ahmadinejad said the U.S. “plot” to weaken Iran through toughened oil sanctions will be “ineffective.”

Military and Security

• Moscow shows readiness to sell weapons to Tehran. "If Iran were interested in military transport planes, or tactical battle aviation, we would look at this request," Iranian news website quotes Alexander Mikheyev, the deputy director of Rosoboronexport.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• Afghan lawmakers turn to Iran to help construct Khaf-Herat railway after failing to find other donors. According to Afghanpaper, Iran has almost completed the railway between Khaf and Herat border, but no donor country is willing to fund construction of the part connecting the railway to Herat city. Citing analysts, the report says that foreign countries are unwilling to fund the project in an effort to downplay Iran’s construction and humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan. 
• Iran’s counternarcotics officials say nearly half of Iran’s two million drug addicts are under 29 years old.

Photos of the Day

• Ahmadinejad's candidates for the tenth cabinet.