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

Khamenei calls on authorities to measure and coordinate responses; Foreign Minister Mottaki meets with Syrian President al-Assad; Venezuela lifts visa requirement for visiting Iranian nationals; Rafsanjani remains silent "because no one listens" according to his brother; parliament releases a report on the Kahrizak Detention Center; nuclear organization spokesman denies report that Iran suspended nuclear enrichment for the last two months; Law Enforcement Forces and plainclothes agents detain 33 mothers of arrested political prisoners during a weekly gathering; pro-regime mobs target three clerics   

Politics

• Supreme Leader Khamenei in Qom:

  • "The hearts of the entire nation aches because of the disrespect [Ashura clashes] but we must all be vigilant and not through disorganized acts aid the discord efforts of the enemy...”

  • "The rogues show enmity and there are others who support the rogues, but if one acts without precision and insight it is possible that innocent people who loathe the villains are harmed. Therefore, everyone must avoid rogue action and all things must take place according to the law..."

• Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, speaking at the Razi Medical Congress:

  • "His Holiness Noah never accomplished management despite his 950 year life. This is because he did not establish justice..."

  • "The reason why we today are proud of Razi and Bu-Ali Sinais not so much because of their tall stature in history, but rather because of the lowness of the following generations. Bu-Ali Sina may have had a tall stature in his own era, but he should not be a source of pride to the people a thousand years later. It is a sign of poverty of the people in the following decades, since it shows that the opportunity for blossoming has not been there in several eras..."

• Hamid Baghaei, National Heritage and Tourism Organization Director, addressing the Silk Road Congress: "Marco Polo's travels were politically motivated and his motive was to establish the West against the East. One may even say that Marco Polo's travels were motivated by espionage and he aimed at collecting intelligence for the Westerners, since the Silk Road was of extreme importance to them and they had great economic benefits from that..."

• Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani, brother of the former president, says his brother has chosen silence "because no one listens."

• First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Finance Minister Shamseddin Hosseini appointed government spokesmen.

• Parliamentarian Hojjat al-Eslam Ghodratollah Alikhani condemns the armed attack against Mehdi Karrubi. 

Military and Security

• Parliamentary report on Kahrizak Detention Center.

Diplomacy

• Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottakki travels to Damascus, Syria.

• The Islamic Republic no longer demands visas citizens of Azerbaijan.

• (E) Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki conferred with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on bilateral ties and regional issues in a meeting in Damascus on Monday.

• (E) The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the Palestinian charge d'affaires to voice Tehran's protest against the release of insulting remarks by Maryam Rajavi, leader of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), against Iran on one of the PA-affiliated websites. "The MKO has been recognized as a terrorist group on international scene and the move accounted for a new phase of cooperation with the group," Head of the Foreign Ministry's Middle-East Department Gazanfar Roknabadi said at the meeting.

• (E) The Venezuelan government said it enacted an agreement which lifts visa requirement for Iranian nationals willing to visit the Latin American state.

• (E) The third and the last court hearing of the French national, Clotilde Reiss, who is on trial on charges of action against Iran's national security, will be held in Tehran on Saturday, her Iranian attorney Mohammad Ali Mahdavi Sabet announced today.

Religion, Society and Culture

• JARAS News reports systematic attacks against offices and households of independent sources of emulation since the passing of Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri. According to JARAS' analysis clerics subjected to the harshest treatment in the hands of pro-regime mobs are Ayatollahs Sane'i, Dastgheib, and Sadoughi.

• Kuwaiti Al-Ra'y releases documents purporting to be Greek municipal papers about Kamran Daneshjou, Higher Education and Research Minister, who allegedly converted to Christianity and took the name "Georgius" in order to marry a Greek lady.

Media

• Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, daughter of the former president, says she has never had a Facebook profile.

Nuclear

• (E) Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Shirzadian rejected a report by an Israeli newspaper alleging that Iran has suspended its uranium enrichment activities for the last two months. "The enrichment process is continued and the Iranian nuclear program has not been suspended," Ali Shirzadian emphasized.

• (E) A senior Iranian legislator on Monday hailed construction of a new uranium enrichment plant in Fordo, near the holy city of Qom. "Given the threats posed by the enemies against our country's indigenous and advanced nuclear technology, the (Iranian) authorities moved to set up a new site for (uranium) enrichment in a strategic and well-calculated measure," Rapporteur of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazzem Jalali told reporters.

• (E) Iranian envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog said on Monday that he and his colleagues from Cuba and Egypt, as the Troika of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), met with IAEA Chief Yukiya Amano to discuss NAM's expectations.

Human Rights

• According to the International Human Rights Campaign in Iran, 33 mothers of arrested political prisoners who were arrested in Laleh Park by the Law Enforcement Forces and plainclothes agents, have been transferred to a detention center.

• Details on circumstances of the mothers’ arrest.

Photo of the Day

• Fedayeen-e Eslam terrorist group.