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

Iranian diplomat in Norway reportedly resigns to protest ‘murder of protesters in Iran’; Iranian officials hail strong ties with Syria; Bahrain seeks closer relations with Tehran; Iran’s Foreign Minister in Baghdad for border dispute talks; IRGC begins war game in Strait of Hormuz; report accuses U.S. of supporting Jundallah; Iran to unveil hi-tech satellite next month; senior Iranian lawmaker warns of increasing uranium enrichment unless West responds to Iran’s proposal in one month; Larijani stresses ‘Iran’s nuclear program poses no threat to neighbors’; Iran inaugurates new projects at Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research Center 

Politics

• A delegation from Nishapur in northeaster Iran, dressed in white death shrouds, visit Supreme Leader Khamenei to renew allegiance.

• Hojjat al-Eslam Sedighi to lead this Friday's Prayers at Tehran University. 

  • Gholamali Haddad Adel to speak at Friday Prayers in Tehran to discuss "post election discord." 

• Rumors of resignation of Welfare Minister Sadegh Mahsouli.

• Mohsen Rezai defends himself following public criticism at his attempts to mediate between Mir-Hossein Mousavi and the regime. 

  • Omidvar Rezai, brother of the former Revolutionary Guards chief, writes to Kayhan editor Shariatmadari, "We want collaboration, not executions." 

Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad visiting Turkmenistan announces expansion of its relations with Iran.

  • [E] The Iranian Red Crescent Society will open an office in the Tajik capital city of Dushanbe.

• Mohammadreza Heydari, diplomat at the Islamic Republic Embassy in Norway, resigns from his post in protest against "murder of protesters in Iran." 

• Alef News Agency's account of war time activities of the Students Following the Line of the Imam Khomeini releases new names of individuals involved in seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran: Kheirollah Mousavi, Masoud Ansari, Ali Hatami, and Mohammad Fazel. 

• [E] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani addressing an open session of the parliament also attended by the visiting Syrian Speaker, Mahmoud al-Abrash, hailed relations between Tehran and Damascus. "…The Syrian government is among those governments which have very strategic and age-old relations with Iran and it has close cooperation with Iran on political issues and different issues related to the establishment of security in the region."

  • [E] Iran's Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani also lauded the age-old relations between Tehran and Damascus, and said that the ties between the two states can play as a role model for all the regional states.

• [E] Bahraini Parliament Speaker Khalifa Bin Ahmad al-Dhahrani has left Manama for Tehran to boost bilateral ties between the two countries. During his five-day stay in Tehran, he is scheduled to hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Ali Larijani, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili.

  • [E] In a meeting with al-Dhahrani in Tehran, Ahmadinejad said, "The era of bullying powers is over and future belongs to all nations." Ahmadinejad called on Muslim nations to act in unison to “foil enemies' plots and pave the way for Muslims' progress," adding: "World Arrogance has taken steps to take Middle East and Muslims under its control through the establishment of Zionist regime and launching wars."

  • [E] Bahraini Parliament Speaker Khalifa Bin Ahmad al-Dhahrani has called for bolstering relations between Iran and Bahrain.  

• [E] Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on his trip to Baghdad says Iranian and Iraqi officials will hold a series of meetings next week to discuss the issues related to their shared borders.

Military and Security

• Revolutionary Guards Navy starts war game near the Strait of Hormuz.

• Ayatollah Mohammadtaghi Mesbah Yazdi addressing a group of Revolutionary Guards commanders at Imam Khomeini Research Institute in Qom, warns against the threat of discord from abroad.

• Fars News Agency accuses Mosharekat [Participation] reformist front of illicit contacts with foreign embassies in Tehran. 

• [E] An unattributed report claims that the U.S. is helping the Pakistan-based Jundallah militants to enter Iran through the Persian Gulf and carry out terrorist acts in the country.

• [E] The IRGC has announced plans to hold a major defense exercise in the Strait of Hormuz in late January. "The sensitive conditions of the Middle East region have multiplied the need for us to be ready to defend the country," commander of the IRGC Navy, Rear Admiral Morteza Saffari said on Tuesday.

• [E] Ahmadinejad has announced a plan to unveil several hi-tech home-made satellites in February. "These satellites which can be sent to high altitudes will be launched into the space next year," Ahmadinejad said, addressing a gathering of Iranian expatriates in Turkmenistan.

• [E] Commander of Iran's Anti-Drug Police Squad has blamed U.S. and Britain for increasing drugs production in Afghanistan. "The presence of the U.S. and Britain in Afghanistan has not led to a decrease in the cultivation and production of drugs, rather it has resulted in an increase in opium production," Brigadier General Hamid Reza Hosseinabadi said in a meeting with a delegation of Sudanese police on Wednesday.

Human Rights

• Arrest of political activists: 

  • Ahmad Ahmadpour, Mosharekat Party member in Qom, is arrested. 

  • Behrang Tonekaboni, Farhang Va Ahang editor, and Keyvan Farzin, music critic, arrested. 

  • 53-year-old Parvaneh Rad, mother of two, missing since the Ashoura demonstration, revealed to be arrested.

  • Amirkhosrow Dalir Sani, political activist, arrested. 

  • 35 students arrested at Khayam University of Mashhad.

  • An unnamed popular rap singer is arrested in Tehran.

Media

• Mohammadali Ramin, Press Deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, says the press should be thankful for "close supervision and warnings," otherwise "they will pollute the atmosphere." 

Nuclear

• [E] The head of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has said that Tehran will resume its enrichment activity to produce 20-percent enriched uranium, if the West refuses to reply to Iran's proposal for the nuclear swap deal within one month. Hossein Ebrahimi said that Iran has voiced its readiness for a staged nuclear swap deal in Japan, Brazil, Turkey or the Kish Island in southern Iran but the West has not yet replied to the proposal.

• [E] Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says Iran's peaceful nuclear activities pose no threat to the neighboring countries and Iran's military capabilities are only for defense purposes. "Conspiracy of enemies of Islam will not overshadow friendly relations between Iran and its neighbors," he said during a meeting with Bahraini counterpart Khalifa Ahmad al-Zahrani in Tehran on Wednesday.

•  [E] Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi inaugurated several new projects at the country's Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research Center earlier this week. 

•  [E] Speaker of the Syrian People's Assembly Mahmoud al-Abrash on Wednesday underlined his country's support for Iran's right to use nuclear energy. "The nation and government of Syria loudly announce their principled and friendly stance that nuclear energy is an inalienable right of the Iranian nation." He added: "The Syrian nation will stand right beside the Islamic revolution with all its force and strength, and it believes that this is a role model for Islamic nations in the region," he added.

Trade

• Iranian Minister of Industries and Mines Ali Akbar Mehrabian arrived in Ankara, Turkey Thursday morning to review expansion of mutual industrial cooperation with the Turkish officials. Mehrabian is visiting Turkey at the invitation of his counterpart Nihat Ergun. During his stay, the two countries are due to hold talks on the establishment of their first joint industrial commission.

• [E] Presidents of Iran and Turkmenistan attended an official ceremony on Wednesday to inaugurate a second gas pipeline which is due to transfer gas supplies from the Central Asian state to Iran. The pipeline which passes through Dauletabad, Sarakhs and Khangiran regions will facilitate the hike in Turkmenistan's gas exports to Iran up to 20 billion cubic meters annually.

  • [E] Ahmadinejad has said that the major economic projects inaugurated during his visits to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan will cause a major change in the region. He noted that new gas pipeline would play a key role in energy exchange with Europe and the Persian Gulf region.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• Iran’s Foreign Ministry announces an additional grant of $30 million for Afghanistan’s reconstruction, and promises to allow Afghan refugees to enroll in Iranian universities. Also, here.

Photo of the Day

• Photo of former Intelligence Ministers Ali Fallahian and Mohseni Ezhehi as young men.