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

• Supreme Leader Khamenei has hailed people’s participation in the Revolution Day rallies as a “divine miracle” and a “wake-up call” for the “enemies of the regime”:
  • "The Iranian nation, with wisdom, insight, energy and divine blessing, gave a final and smashing answer to all opponents of the regime of the Islamic Republic..."

  • "The enemies of the revolution and some other people who, knowingly or unknowingly, express the words of the enemy attempt vigorously to show as if the Islamic revolution has deviated from its path. But the reality is that the movement of the Islamic revolution today and its goals are the same depicted by the blessed Great Imam on the very first day of the revolution..."

  • "If anyone shows disloyalty towards the Islamic revolution, shows passivity, or opposes it on the enemy demand, he himself will pay the price..."

  • "For a long time, some Western leaders, including the president of the United States, have constantly talked about the Iranian people. But the vast presence of the people on February 11, 2010 humiliated them..."

  • "Before the election, it was said that the enemy was preying on us. In the post-election events, the people saw how the enemy was exploiting the situation, and therefore showed their presence in the arena and will do so in the future."

• E'temad reports on “extensive attempts” to dismiss Rafsanjani as the chairman of the Assembly of Experts.
  • Fars News Agency questions Rafsanjani's explanation that he is "studying abroad like any other ordinary citizen."

• Iran’s state-run television’s changing the green color of the country’s flag to blue has sparked controversy.
  • During Ahmadinejad's televised press conference, the Iranian flag appeared in the background in the three colors of white, red and blue.

Diplomacy

• Supreme Leader attacks Secretary Clinton’s Gulf tour:
  • "There are some imperialist governments, even not recognized by their own nations, which make statements showing as if the international community is opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran. But the international community, meaning the nations and many governments, is unhappy with the imperialist governments and does not have the slightest opposition against the Islamic Republic..."

  • "But these few imperialist governments controlled by Zionist companies have to be against the Islamic Republic because the Islamic regime has chanted the slogan of justice in the world...We should be sad the day the octopus of capitalism praises us!..."

  • "I announce it clearly that we are opposed to the imperialist world order and the hegemony of a few countries in the world. And we fight with it and will not allow these couple of governments to play with the destiny of the world..."

  • "Now, the Americans have once again sent their agent to the Persian Gulf region like a wanderer [reference to Secretary Clinton's latest visit] to repeat those very same lies but no one believes such words since the United States is not pursuing the interests of the nations of the region. On the contrary, it has tried its best to suppress the region for its illegitimate interests..."

  • "The United States has transformed the Persian Gulf into an arms depository, has attacked Iraq and Afghanistan, and is now threatening Pakistan. Under such circumstances, they spread lies about the Islamic Republic of Iran..."

• Ahmadinejad reacts to Secretary Clinton's statements on militarization of Iran: "We do not take her statements seriously. She has made some statements. She is the Secretary of State and must make some remarks. We see certain discrepancies between her statements and the position of Mr. Obama's entourage. We don't know if her statements are the statements of the United States government or the position of certain factions within the United States administration...Iran has a population of approximately 75 million. The entire world should know that 75 million guardians of the Islamic Revolution live in Iran. The entire Iranian nation guards its own identity, independence, values and culture...The history of United States government is full of military actions. Even today they have more than three hundred thousand troops in our region and are practically engaged in three fronts…”
  • Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki blasts Clinton's remarks: "We are sorry that the foreign minister of the United States has become a cyber and unreal personality who tries to conceal the truth about her own position and the positions of the United States with certain unnatural words and expressions, and tries to direct the public opinion in the region to unreal and incorrect issues."

• Canadian chargé d’affaires in Tehran is summoned by Iran’s Foreign Ministry to receive a demarche because of the revolution era relationship of Canada’s ambassador to Tehran and the CIA.

• Parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Committee Chairman Boroujerdi in a letter to the British ambassador to Tehran condemns "Britain's past record of interventions in internal affairs of Iran," and urges him to "ask the Iranian nation for pardon." Another member of the committee accuses the British ambassador of suffering from "a kind of political Alzheimer’s disease," while a third member of the committee, Mohammad-Karim Abedi says: "Relationship of the British with Iran has always been bad, and history shows that the British always fooled the Iranian nation...Britain is not trusted by Iran or any other country since it only thinks of its own interests..."

• [E] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah in a phone conversation discussed regional issues and the current situation in Lebanon.

• [E] Ahmadinejad stressed that the US would soon have to face the end of its supremacy due to the country's wrong approaches towards international issues.

• [E] Ahmadinejad said Thursday the Zionist regime would face its final fate if it repeated its previous mistakes in the region.

• [E] Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili in a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu here on Tuesday called for Turkey’s effort to break Gaza blockade.

• [E] Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Siarhiej Martynau on Tuesday said that economic crisis, terrorism, extremism and insecurity in the world are consequences of US and other world powers policies.

• [E] Iranian ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qomi said on Wednesday that a workgroup from the two countries will start examining land borders and rebuilding border poles from February 20 in the Iranian border city of Ghasreshirin.

Military and Security

• Kayhan's editorial describes as “stupid” and “ignorant” the U.S. government’s decision to impose sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards' Khatam al-Anbia contracting arm.

• Russian sources say transfer of S-300 missile system to Iran is delayed because of technical reasons.

• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, says the Guards will never become "a partisan instrument."

• Revolutionary Guards Political Bureau Chief Yadollah Javani, addressing a seminar of the Supreme Leader’s representatives to the Guards: "The conspiracies of the enemy in the shape of spreading Iranophobia and Guards-phobia is because the Islamic Republic has become a regional power with great influence, which is a serious threat to their interests in the Middle East...And weary revolutionaries acted in a way that the enemies concluded that there is a movement within the family of the revolution inside Iran, which has distanced itself from the ideals of the revolution..."

• According to Tehran Public Prosecutor, five foreign citizens were arrested on Revolution Day.
  • [E] Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi announced five foreign nationals have been arrested in Tehran on 11 February but three of them have been released. He told ISNA on Wednesday, five foreign nationals including two Russians, a French, a Japanese and an Afghan have been arrested on the sidelines of 11 February demonstrations that marked the 31st anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

• Ahmadinejad at a press conference: "We have documented proof of [the U.S. desire to invade India after Afghanistan] and this issue is completely clear. Following the policies of NATO and Western countries, we reach this [conclusion.] Given the posture they have taken and the spread of the war from Afghanistan to Pakistan, they seem to have no other way but to circumvent India and China...The United States and Western states may dream of [invading] Iran. But our February 11th [revolution] days over past thirty one years have totally dismayed them to use this method against Iran. And when they are boasting, we see they do not include Iran..."

• [E] Ahmadinejad says Iran will strongly defend the security of Hormuz Strait so that it will serve the regional nations’ interests.

• [E] “The solution for problems of the region is in important regional countries cooperation while superpowers measures help expansion of terrorism and growth of narcotics production,” said Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani.

• [E] A senior Iranian lawmaker on Wednesday slammed the United States' last-ditch efforts to keep members of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) inside Iraq.

Nuclear Issue

• Fars News Agency releases the text of a proposal allegedly by the United States, France and Russia regarding nuclear fuel swap.

• Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mahmanparast says "proposals leading to closure of Tehran research reactor will not be considered."

• Ahmadinejad answers a question regarding nuclear fuel swap:
  • "Question: First you announced that there was no problem with regard to the exchange of [nuclear] fuel, but after a few days you announced 20 percent enrichment at home. What happened that it was decided Iran should do the enrichment itself? 

  • Answer: Nothing has happened. One must look at the statements within the context. Also, now we say that we will exchange fuel even with the United States...If the United States comes for exchange of fuel, we will cooperate with it and we will also pay money in exchange for receiving fuel. But if it shows ill intentions, we will follow a different path." Ahmadinejad answers a question regarding nuclear fuel swap:

• [E] Iran's Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asqar Soltanieh reiterated that Iran would not give up even an iota of its nuclear rights.

• [E] Ahmadinejad says Iran has tested a new generation of centrifuges whose capacities are five times of the previous ones.

• [E] Qatari Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hamad bin Ali Al-Atiya on Wednesday visited the Iranian fleet of warships which has berthed in the port city of Doha.

Media

• Ahmadinejad elaborates on press censorship in Iran: "The press enjoys great freedom in Iran...The press deputy [appointed by the President] is neither allowed to ban newspapers nor to authorize publication. It is the Supervisory Board [of the Press] and not the Press Deputy [who banns newspapers.] Should there be a discussion of revoking the certificate for publication, this must go through a court of law and the issue must be investigated by a judge...It is not in the power of the government to revoke certificates..."

• Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi addresses the editors of Raja News. Link upon request.

Economy

• Ahmadinejad says the "people’s purchasing power has increased," adding: "The economic indicators showing rising inflation may be based on certain commodities which have become more expensive, while other commodities [are not taken into account]."

• Mohammad-Reza Farzin, the government's Economic Reform Scheme spokesman, says "all applicants will receive cash subsidies from the government this year."
  • According to Farzin, at the very minimum each applicant will receive 130,000 rials ($13) in cash on a monthly basis.

• Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani urges the authorities to control rising prices.

• The government owes electrical plants $5 billion.

• Parliament’s Economics Committee member Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh warns of "quadrupled prices" because of increase in public spending.

• According to Abrar-e Eghtesadi, Iranian authorities are discussing gradual increase of the gasoline price to reflect the market value of the commodity.

• Deputy Petroleum Minister Seifollah Jashnsaz says there is a need for $40 billion investments to complete various phases of the South Pars Gas and Oil Field.

Photos of the Day

• Islamic Republic style snake and ladder game: From the 1979 Revolution to the emergence of the Imam of the Era.

• Removing green from Iran’s flag.

• Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani allegedly wearing a green wristband while listening to former President Khatami at the Mosque of Jamaran.