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

Plainclothes agents prevent Mousavi from leaving office; Iran’s Foreign Minister travels to Sudan; Iran accuses U.S. of illegally arresting Iranian citizens abroad; Iranian lawmakers call for review of relations with Russia, China; Iranian police arrest over 200 individuals on Student Day protest in Tehran; Supreme Leader’s advisor accuses Arab countries of plotting against Iran; Syria, Iran vow joint efforts to repel external threats; Ahmadinejad says five of ten new nuclear sites identified; Iran’s Defense Minister emphasizes domestic uranium enrichment; Iranian leaders voice opposition to Obama’s announcement of more forces to Afghanistan; Iran accused of aiding Taliban 

Politics

• Plainclothes motorcyclists prevented opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi from leaving his office at the Iranian Academy, by circling the building on December 7. Mousavi approached the agents and said: "You are agents. Complete your mission. Kill me, beat me or threaten me." Elsewhere in Tehran, Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, was attacked by plainclothes agents who sprayed her face with pepper spray while she was demonstrating in front of Tehran University.

• Former president Mohammad Khatami receiving family members of imprisoned political activists: "The current situation is not a war between principalists and reformists...Now, many principalists are also concerned about the state of affairs. Today, even thoughtful principalists are purged [from the regime] and this is very dangerous. Let me warn that this is to the detriment of the Islamic Republic..."

• Abdollah Ka'bi, a member of the Path of the Imam faction of the parliament, says the continuity of the current situation is dangerous for the regime, urging that Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani's mediation efforts be taken seriously.

• Parliamentarian Ahmadreza Dastgheib calls for a vote of no confidence to the Industry Minister in order to solve the problems of Iranian industries.

Diplomacy

• Foreign Minister Mottaki travels to Sudan.

• Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast: "Some of our citizens have been arrested in Europe or in other countries by the Americans and some of them have been transferred to the United States…This happens over long periods of time and in an unofficial manner. Unfortunately, despite a long time since their arrest, some of the legal processes have not taken place...We consider this method illegal and incorrect and we strongly protest against this issue. We will do our utmost to free our citizens...The list of 11 individuals imprisoned in the United States is correct..."

  • Iran’s Foreign Ministry unveils names of Iranian citizens allegedly imprisoned in the United States.

• Mohammadmehdi Shahriari: "During the past couple of years most experts have warned that neither the Russians nor the Chinese are trustworthy...The Chinese do not have a transparent foreign policy and their strategy is based upon mysterious foundations...Bearing in mind their $300-400 billion trade with the United States, it is clear that they would never sacrifice their own interests for the interests of other countries...The Russians are using us as a card. Otherwise, they absolutely do not desire a nuclear power near them..." But opposing his own statements Shahriari added: "Taken into consideration our position in the international scene, we must also preserve our relations with Russia to some extent...We must keep our relations with Russia and China but we must not give them concessions."

  • Parliamentarian Mohammadhossein Farhangi demands that Iran review its relations with Russia in the face of Russian support to the latest IAEA resolution against the Islamic Republic.
  • [E] A member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Heshmatollah Falahat-Pisheh, also calls for a review of Iran’s relations with Russia and China. "Russia and China are Iran's political companions rather than strategic friends and their political relations are based on cost and effect."

• [E] Iranian Minister of Industries and Mines Ali Akbar Mehrabian met with Icelandic President Olafur Grimsson in Vienna, Austria. During the meeting held on the sidelines of the General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the two sides underlined expansion of Iran-Iceland energy cooperation.

• [E] First Vice-Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, addressing the 4th general assembly meeting of the Asian Parliaments Assembly (APA) in Indonesia:  "The measures adopted against the oppressed Palestinian people and Gazans by the regime [Israel] are conspicuous samples of crime against humanity condemned by the international community."

• [E] Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad Khazaee asked the international community to fulfill its undertakings in the campaign against drug production and trafficking, especially in Afghanistan.

Military and Security

• Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi says the "invisible hands" behind the post-election unrest will soon be prosecuted.

• Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi addressing the press in Damascus, Syria: "The Zionists will not be safe from retaliation in any possible scenarios to threaten Iran. They are fearful of conducting any first, pre-emptive and aggressive strike, and they fear the nightmare of suffering a retaliatory action as well...Iran's first response would be aimed at their plants producing chemical, dirty and illicit nuclear weapons..."

• Commander Ali Fazli to be appointed Basij Deputy.

• Revolutionary Guards Commander Rajabzadeh, the chief of Greater Tehran Law Enforcement Forces, says 204 individuals were arrested during the December 7 student unrest in Tehran.

• Parliamentarian Daryoush Ghanbari says violent behavior of the authorities is a sign of weakness on the part of the security forces and will only further provoke the protesters: "The more they [the protesters] are humiliated and the more violent the behavior [of the security forces], the more violent the reactions will be, and the atmosphere will get more radical."

• Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi lectures chiefs of the Revolutionary Guards Navy visiting Mashhad.

• The Intelligence Ministry reports on the release of a number of Iranians kidnapped by brigands in Sistan Va Balouchestan province.

• [E] Supreme Leader's Advisor for Military Affairs Major General Seyed Yahya Rahim Safavi says that Iran is faced with conspiracies and plots hatched by certain Arab countries on the southern rims of the Persian Gulf. Safavi made the remarks in a meeting to study the different aspects of the recent bombing in the city of Sarbaz in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan Va Balouchestan by Jundullah, which killed several senior IRGC commanders, including IRGC Ground Force Lieutenant Commander Brigadier General Nourali Shoushtari. "Shoushtari was martyred by the plots of intelligence agencies of the US, Britain, Pakistan and other rich states on the southern rims of the Persian Gulf and we are tangled with them in the region," he added.

• [E] Syrian Defense Minister Lieutenant General Ali Mohammad Habib Mahmoud underlined Iran and Syria's joint efforts and cooperation in repelling potential threats and attacks. "We will jointly confront any attack on Damascus or Tehran," the Syrian defense minister said in a meeting with his visiting Iranian counterpart Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi in Damascus.

Nuclear Issue

• Ahmadinejad says five nuclear sites have been identified and five more sites will soon be chosen for uranium enrichment.

  • [E] More, here.

• The Foreign Ministry Spokesman says that Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who disappeared during pilgrimage in Mecca, has been extradited to the United States by Saudi authorities.

• [E] Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi views domestic supply of nuclear fuel and construction of enrichment sites as "an obligation of vital importance" to Iran. "Given the fact that the [International Atomic Energy] Agency has not fulfilled its obligations and the West is not honest in its talks and rather pursues other objectives, the [domestic] supply of fuel and construction of [uranium] enrichment centers have now turned into an obligation of vital importance," Vahidi told reporters before leaving Tehran for Damascus on Tuesday night.

Media

• Hadi Khamenei, Supreme Leader’s brother and Editor of Hayat-e Now, banned several days ago, urges the daily’s journalists to continue the path of Hayat-e Now and oppose censorship.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• U.S. Ambassador to London Louis Susman says Iran does not support the Taliban.

• Afghan border guards have seized an ammunition depot in Herat, just three kilometers from the Iranian border.

• An Italian daily, Milan il Giornale, writes that the Italian intelligence agency has discovered links between the Taliban and Iran. According to the report, Taliban commanders in western Afghanistan send their fighters to Iran for training. The report names two Taliban commanders, Mullah Lal and Abdul Rahim, who both operate between Shindand district of Herat and Khak-e Safed district of Farah. Abdul Rauf Ahmadzai, an Afghan police spokesman in Western Afghanistan, confirms that the two commanders operate in the area, but maintains that he has no solid evidence to prove Iran is assisting the insurgents. But Mohammad Rafiq Shahir, the head of the Professional Council of Herat, says that Iran undoubtedly supports the insurgents. He adds that Iran’s support for the insurgents includes treatment of their wounded soldiers, military supply and logistical assistance.

• Reacting to President Obama’s decision to dispatch 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says increasing forces is not a solution to Afghanistan’s problems and urges the transfer of authorities to Afghans.

  • Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says sending more troops shows that America has failed in Afghanistan.

• Hasht-e Sobh publishes a detailed analysis of Iran’s current economic problems, entitled “Iran: Persian Gulf’s ailing person.” The article says that Iran is suffering from spiraling inflation, soaring unemployment as high as 50 percent in actual terms, lack of foreign investment, endemic corruption, lack of transparency, poor infrastructure, and weak public services. The author concludes that Iran’s continuation of nuclear program in defiance of the world community will exacerbate its domestic problems.

Photo of the Day

• Iranian Defense Minister meets Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.