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

Cleric close to late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri arrested; Mottaki elaborates on relations with Egypt; Ahmadinejad calls on Arab nations to take tough stance against Israel, adds ‘Israel will reach the end in no time if it meets some resistance’; Bahrain hails Iran’s role in regional stability; Supreme Leader’s representative to IRGC says ‘preserving the regime is worth 75,000 people killed’; new test carried out at Bushehr nuclear plant; Iranian officials accuse U.S., Israel of assassinating Iranian scientist; Iran pledges $30 million for reconstruction of schools in Afghanistan

Human Rights

• Mohammad Taghi Khalaji, cleric close to the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, arrested by Intelligence Ministry agents in his home. Mehdi Khalaji, fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington D.C. says it is unclear why his father has been arrested, but suspects his father's public criticism of treatment of protesters during the post election political crisis in the Islamic Republic may be the reason.

Politics

• Ahmadinejad visits Ahwaz.

Diplomacy

• Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki: "Egypt has a government whose deeds, especially Camp David, led to severing of relations between Egypt and Iran...We have not had political relations with Egypt for 30 years, but at the same time we have managed to maintain our relations and connectivity in a way which reflects our great potentials for interdependence... During my visit to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, the Foreign Minister of Egypt showed me the photos of his predecessors one after the other and said: 'This is the Foreign Minister who resigned after being asked to go to Camp David to sign the peace accord. The other photo is the one who went to Camp David, but resigned from his post at Camp David. The third Foreign Minister is the one who resigned on his way back from Camp David...We don't have political relations...but have an interest section in Cairo...We produce Iranian cars there and have also cement factories..."

• [E] Ahmadinejad calls on the Arab nations to adopt a tough stance against Israel. Meeting with Oman's visiting Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Ahmadinejad said:"If Arab states pressure Israel into stopping committing crimes against the Palestinian people, all problems will be solved. I hope that this is the course of action they will decide to take." He added: "Israel's current actions are not a sign of power. The extreme measures that it is taking indicate its weakness. Israel will reach the end in no time, if it meets some resistance."

  • [E] In a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Ahmadinejad emphasized prosecution of Israeli leaders. "Leaders of the Zionist regime [Israel] should face trial and rights of the Palestinian people should be restored because the regime is currently in a weak position." He underlined that the global front against imperialism had to become stronger.

• [E] Bahraini Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa has hailed Iran’s role in security and stability in the Middle East.

Military and Security

• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, the Supreme Leader's Representative to the IRGC, says "Preserving the regime is worth 75,000 people killed."

• Basij Chief Mohammad Reza Naghdi: "This assassination [of nuclear scientist Masoud Ali Mohammadi] shows that the West is not opposed to Iran developing a nuclear weapon, they are opposed to production of and development of science and technology...One must revenge such crimes and aim at the United States and thanks to divine wisdom it will be so."

• Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says 200 Iranian pilgrims are imprisoned in Iraq.

• Taheri, Deputy Director of Anti Narcotics Headquarters, says the United States, Britain and Canada actively distribute narcotics among young Iranians.

• [E] According to Fars News, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) has confirmed its role in Tehran's recent unrests.

Nuclear Issue

• Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says the Islamic Republic accepts a phase by phase exchange of nuclear fuel with enriched uranium.

• [E] The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says the second circuit of units of the country's first nuclear power plant has been successfully tested. The Russian reactor builder Atomstroyexport said on Tuesday that it had successfully carried out the test on the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

• [E] Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani accuses the U.S. and Israel of involvement in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear physics scientist in Tehran. "We had received information a few days before the incident that intelligence services of the Zionist regime [Israel] intended to carry out terrorist acts in Tehran in cooperation with the CIA," Larijani said on Wednesday.

  • [E] Commander of IRGC Forces in the northern city of Karaj Seyed Hamzeh Mirtaqi: "The assassination of martyr Ali Mohammadi indicates that the enemies of Islam and the Revolution are severely angry at the Islamic Iran's scientific progresses, especially in the nuclear field, and fulfill hostile measures to stop these progresses."

Trade

• Fars News Agency misquotes AEI research fellow Ali Alfoneh, writes that AEI believes sanctions against Iran will not prove efficient.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• [E] The Iranian government is planning to construct three schools in Ghazni province. Each of the schools would be built at the cost of $230,000.

  • [E] Iran’s Foreign Ministry has pledged a grant of $30 million for construction of schools in the Afghan cities of Mazar-e Sharif, Kandahar and Jalalabad.

• [E] Iranian national kidnapped in Nimroz Province has been freed.

• [E] Iranian and Afghan officials confer to seek ways of expanding trade relations between the two countries. Afghanistan’s imports from Iran last year reached $850 million, and over 30 Iranian private companies currently do business in Afghanistan.

• Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan will hold a trilateral meeting next week.

Photos of the Day

• Ahmadinejad visits Khuzistan.