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, please visit this page, fill out the "New Subscribers" section, and check "Iran News Round Up" listed under "Projects." 

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Hojjat al-Eslam Sagha-ye Biria, Ahmadinejad's clerical affairs adviser:
  • "There are some who claim to be principalists but took part in last year's sedition... If someone comes under the banner of principalism but his actions are against its foundations, should one not filter them?"
  • "One of the benefits of the sedition of 2009 was that many masks were lifted and they showed their faces. This is one of the achievements of the regime. In our regime we have always had purity and filtering and one should not ignore them."
• According to parliamentarian Ramezan Shajaee Kiasari, a pamphlet against speaker of the parliament Ali Larijani, was distributed at the memorial service of Ali Kordan.
• Ilam Petrochemicals executive director is arrested charged with embezzlement of $100 million.

Diplomacy

• Rutgers Professor Houshang Amirahmadi: "Let's assume Amirahmadi is a middleman. Is it bad to be a middleman? Wall Street does nothing but act as middlemen. Fortunately I have not taken any money for myself in this work. I have the normal life with my salary as a university professor."

Military and Security

• Commander Hassan Salami, Revolutionary Guards deputy, commemorates liberation of Susangerd: "Obeying the Guardian Jurist united different ethnic groups in defense of Iran..."
• Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi:
  • "Should anyone believe that last year's election was a struggle between two individuals, he is badly mistaken since the election provided imperialism with an opportunity to operationalize its plans..."
  • "It is the Guardian Jurist which resists many things and controls the regime. Therefore, the enemy tries to replace our [values] with commercialism and nihilism..."
  • "Zionism is moving toward a direction which attracts all religions towards it, just as it created Christian Zionists for Christians, Wahabi Zionism and Shi'a Zionism. This is a serious warning that one should not easily ignore. Scientific institutions should plan and engage in substantial intellectual work [to counter it.]"
  • Moslehi added: "Also worthy of attention are that new sects such as Satanism and feminism use religion in parts of their work..."
• Mohammad-Ja'far Assadi, former IRGC Ground Forces chief, addresses the "Sacred Defense" book exhibit in Bandar Abbas.
• [E] Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi cautioned that enemies are continuing their plots against the Islamic Republic through soft tactics and are spending billions of dollars to overthrow the Islamic establishment in Iran.
• [E] Iran announced that it has arrested a number of perpetrators of the recent terrorist attacks on the country's scientists and university professors.

Nuclear Issue

• Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli: "Nuclear energy is just like armor which protects us from the enemy's attack."
• [E] Tehran's provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said Israel, the US and Britain were responsible for the assassination of Iranian university professors.
• [E] The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in a statement reiterated its stance on Iran's nuclear issue, underlining that the Tehran-West nuclear debates should be resolved through diplomatic means.
• [E] China reiterated its strong opposition to the West's unilateral sanctions against Iran, and welcomed the upcoming talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).
• [E] A senior Iranian diplomat stressed the close cooperation between the country's nuclear scientists and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and criticized the UN atomic body for disclosing the classified information of Iran's nuclear scientists.

Trade

• Parliamentarian Hojjat al-Eslam Majid Naserinejad says a gradual increase of gasoline prices will pressure on the consumers.

Photos of the Day

• Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani's Basij membership card.