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

• Ahmadinejad to speak at the upcoming Friday Prayer in Tehran.
• The Tehran Show Trials:
  • The Prosecutor General's official indictment against the accused.
  • The fourth session of the trials featured prosecution of political activists and journalists Behzad Nabavi, Mohsen Safayi Farahani, Fez-Allah Arab-Sorkhi, Abdollah Ramezan-Zadeh, Mohsen Mir-Damadi, Said Shariati, Kian Tajbakhsh, Mohsen Amin-Zadeh, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Sadegh Nowrouzi, Shahab Tabatabayi, Hedayat Aghayi, Masoud Bastani, Hamzeh Ghalebi, Said Leylaz, Ali Tajernia, Ahmad Zeid-Abadi, Mohammad Ghouchani, Said Hajjarian and Mohamamd-Reza Jalayi. The Tehran Prosecutor General also demanded the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution and Mosharekat [Participation] Front to be dissolved.
  • Intelligence Ministry co-founder and reformist theoretician Said Hajjarian, who has developed a speech disability following an attempt on his life, entered the court assisted by two helpers. Then, he begged the judge to let another person read aloud a text of confessions on his behalf. Hajjarian confessed to having acted against the national security of the country, provoking the people, propagating the idea of electoral fraud during the presidential election, preparing strategic documents and propaganda material against the Islamic Republic, and the like. The Prosecutor's Representative added further allegations against Hajjarian, which included, "having relations with foreign elements against the security of the country, urging the youth and students to act against the election, committing character assassination of the legal government through speeches and in writings, cooperating with the BBC, and insulting the authorities of the Islamic Republic especially the Supreme Leader." The Prosecutor's Representative also stressed that the Intelligence Bureau of the Sarallah Base of the Revolutionary Guards had systematically collected incriminating evidence against Hajjarian. Hajjarian is also accused of having had contact with an alleged British spy, and the German philosopher Jurgen Habermass, who was presented to the public as "the theoretician of civil disobedience."
  • In his confessions Mohsen Safayi Farahani, member of the Mosharekat faction, said Ahmadinejad had solved the economic problems of Iran. He added that he did not believe in demonstrating in the streets in the third world, and that his support for Mir-Hossein Mousavi was imposed on him by the party he was a member of.
  • Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said he had been in solitary confinement for the past 74 days. He said he could not disclose where he was being held in jail, and that he did not know anything about electoral fraud.
    • For the rest of Ramezanzadeh's confessions, see here.
  • Amin-Zadeh's confession.
  • Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, son of Ayatollah Rafsanjani, refutes allegations made against him in confessions of political prisoners put on trial Tuesday August 25, 2009.
• (E) Top aides to former president Mohammad Khatami, including former deputy intelligence minister Saaed Hajjarian, go on trial for undermining the presidential election’s results.
  • Prosecutors seek “maximum punishment” for Hajjarian, who confesses “grave mistakes” but denies “enmity towards the Iranian nation,” according to a defense statement.
  • Mohammad-Reza Khatami, Khatami’s brother, accused of seeking “foreign support” for “soft coup.
• (E) Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, President Ahmadinejad’s chief of staff, says that due to Ahmadinejad’s “historic” world popularity, “the international community has no choice but to cooperate” with the regime.
  • “Iran is now ranked amongst the top 10 countries in the world,” he says.
• (E) As parliamentary committees discuss President Ahamdinejad’s proposed cabinet, lawmakers stress “piety, moral standing, qualifications, and experience,” as key criteria.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Mesbah Yazdi, son of Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, explains his father’s relationship with Ahmadinejad.

Nuclear Issue

• Kayhan editorializes: "Discussions over national security issues are slowly emerging in Iran’s foreign policy atmosphere. As street level unrests disappeared in Tehran and Westerners realized that the new government of Iran would forcefully continue its work and that they would have no option but to deal with a resolute and persistent person like Ahmadinejad over the next four years, pre-election issues especially Iran’s nuclear program are brought back on the table. In the days after the election, the Westerners hoped that their reformist friends would solve the Iran issue from within, as Mrs. Clinton bluntly said that they had provided them aid behind the scenes. But this project has now failed, and the West is today forced to face the 'Iran issue' once again. What happens in the future completely depends on how much the Western intelligence agencies have distanced themselves from stupidity and what they have learned from recent events in Iran. The signs, however, are not encouraging...Now, Iran’s nuclear issue is revolving around two different dimensions. The first is related to the upcoming report by Mohammed El-Baradei in September...which the Americans for certain reasons are trying to make as negative as possible. What the Americans want is...that El-Baradei claims that Iran's nuclear program has military dimensions...The second dimension is more important. As always, confusing analysis of Iran’s internal affairs by Westerners has apparently led them to the conclusion that conditions are ripe to put pressure on Iran and that they can radicalize internal unrest inside Iran by taking measures such as disrupting the export of gasoline. One main reason that the United States, Europe and the Zionists are pressuring the IAEA to publish a very negative report on Iran is to enhance their bargaining position with Russia and China, which are currently opposed to such sanctions. The West think that now they have an opportunity to force Iran into a corner because the internal situation of Iran will not allow this country to choose resistance as an option...The Westerners have for a long time believed that the gasoline is truly the Achilles heel of Iran. Let them shoot this arrow as well..."

Human Rights

• Karrubi releases complaints of a rape victim in an Iranian prison and says four individuals are ready to openly file complaints and address the Iranian public.
• Mahmoud Rezayian, the Executive Manager of Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery, refutes reports on "secret nocturnal and illegal burial" of individuals killed in the post-election riots.

Diplomacy

• Iran’s Foreign Ministry delivers a demarche to Argentine charge d'affair in Tehran, condemning Argentina's accusations against Ahmadinejad’s candidate for the Defense Ministry, Ahmad Vahidi.

• Tabnak News Agency asks as to why the Iranian government and non-governmental organizations supporting Palestinians and the Shi’as in Lebanon do not protest against alleged "mass killings of the Shi'as in Yemen."

Economy

• Jam-e Jam runs a backgrounder on Ahmadinejad’s new economic team. 

Trade

• India has decided to invest $10 billion in developing Iran's electricity network.
• The Islamic Republic orders 12 tankers from China.

Military and Security

• Hojjat al-Eslam Al-e Hashem, the Chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Political/Ideological Indoctrination, appoints Morteza Maddah as the chief of the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base. 
• Lebanese Hezbollah calls on Muslims to rise in support of the Quds, Jerusalem.
• Iran is considering purchasing air defense systems from China.

Media

• Ahmad Tavakkoli in a letter to the newly appointed Judiciary Chief Larijani says that the banning of E'temad-e Melli is illegal.

Photos of the Day

• Said Hajjarian at the Tehran Show Trials.
• More photos from the fourth session of the trials.