Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Mehdi Karrubi meeting the family of imprisoned labor leader Mansour Osanlou says "even the Shah's regime - with all its corruption - did not behave in such a way with the family members of political prisoners."
• Imprisoned journalist Isa Saharkhiz defends himself in the Tehran Revolutionary Tribunal.
• The bazaar tax strike:
  • Kayhan editorializes: "Here and now the government can and has legal mandate to ask the main elements behind this unsuitable act [strike in the bazaar], whom we know are fabulously rich, 'Where does the wealth come from?' One can also ask devout and loyal bazaaris who do not join the conspiracy of this small group: What is the affinity between you - for whom the highest hope is establishment of religious societies, pilgrimage, charity to the needy and other God pleasing acts - and a group of profiteers who plunder the money of the people who have gained fabulous wealth and spend their summer in Hawaii and the winter skiing in Switzerland?"
  • Iran attacks the "greed of the bazaaris" who "decide their own tax" and whose tax contribution to the national budget is significantly lower than taxes paid by public servants.
  • Mahmoud Shokri, taxation executive deputy, says the tax increase will be fixed by unions and guilds.
    • Shokri adds that 70 percent increase of the value added tax was only a "rumor."
• [E] A third representative from Sistan-Baluchestan in Iran's Majlis has resigned from his post following the terrorist attack in Zahedan in protest to what they called the inability of authorities to maintain security in their constituency.

Military and Security

• Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says "Iran has strong evidence" which documents Jundallah ring leader Rigi's links with the United States.
  • Larijani accuses the United States of being behind the terrorist attack in Zahedan.
  • [E] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani: "Today is the day of shame and embarrassment for the US which has had a hand in such a horrible crime.”
  • [E] "Terrorists enter Iran from neighboring countries, particularly Pakistan,” said the head of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. 
  • [E] Iranian Interior Minister announced a plan to reorganize Iran’s border security.
  • [E] Iran's Deputy Police Chief said Saturday that his troops arrested 40 outlaws in the southeastern city of Zahedan after the blast there last Thursday.  The terrorist group called Jundallah has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
• Elias Naderan, parliamentarian, says using the words "privatization" and "competition" are a "joke" when there is only one buyer for Iran Telecommunications: The IRGC.
• Kayhan slams BBC Persian's panel debate on the role of the Revolutionary Guards in Iranian politics, concludes such attempts at spreading "Guards'-phobia" will strengthen the Guards in Iran.
• [E] Iranian Defense Minister announced Monday the country’s plans to deploy a newly developed submarine in early August.

Diplomacy

·          [E] Iran announced on Monday that it has turned down the offer to talk from the US Congress’ Foreign Affairs Committee, stressing that the conditions are unripe for negotiations between the two sides.

o   [E] "Under the current conditions there is no room for negotiations,” said the head of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.

·         [E] Iranian academic Shahram Amiri: "[US officials] told me if you say that you are an agent of Iran's intelligence services, the US could swap you as a spy who has been arrested in a foreign country with the three American spies who were arrested near the Iraqi border inside Iran.”

·         [E] Iran's Ambassador to Masqat announced Saturday that the Omani government has decided to release 102 Iranian nationals held in the country's prisons for different crimes.

·         [E] Bolivian President Evo Morales is due to visit Tehran in midsummer to meet with Iranian officials and discuss ways to expand bilateral relations between the two countries.

·         [E] Iranian and Venezuelan officials in a meeting in Caracas underlined expanded cooperation in the air transportation sector.

·         [E] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani is due to participate in the third meeting of the speakers of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva, Switzerland, from July 19-21.

·         [E] Armenian Defense Minister stressed Iran's strategic role in important developments in the Middle East region.

Economy

• Mehdi Sadegh, parliamentarian, says privatization of Iran Khodro and SAIPA car manufacturers has failed to transfer the ownership of state owned enterprises to the private sector.
• [E] Iran announced that it plans to boost the annual production of petrochemicals to 100mln tons by March 2016 through the implementation of 70 different projects.

Trade

• Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi says gasoline sanctions against Iran are "a joke" and continues: "For the time being we produce 44.5 million liters of gasoline per day and we can also produce 20 million barrels per day in petrochemicals, something which we do not find necessary to do now, but we can reorganize our petrochemical industries to produce gasoline.  We have tested this for a week."
• Commerce Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari says the private sector in European and Asian countries do not recognize the sanctions against Iran and are interested in expanding relations with Iran as before.
• The Islamic Republic is planning to establish a trade center in Malaysia.
• Iran establishes a joint Iranian/Egyptian bank in Tehran.
• Mahmoud-Reza Sajadi, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Russia, says Iran to establish a trade center in Moscow.
• Turkey’s Energy Minister says Turkey may sign a contract for participation in development of South Pars gas and oil field.
• Housing Minister Ali Nikzad says Turkish companies will build various housing projects in Iran.
• Abrar reports declining exports to Iraq.

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Tehran on Monday declared that it is ready to cooperate with Japan to build new nuclear power plants in Iran under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Iran in the Afghan Media

• Afghan Foreign Minister has urged his Iranian counterpart to participate in the Kabul Conference.

o    [E] Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in Kabul Monday afternoon to attend an international summit on Afghanistan scheduled for July 20.

• NATO and Afghan forces have killed a Taliban commander who was allegedly carrying foreign insurgents from Iran to Afghanistan. Afghan security officials said Mullah Akhtar, the Taliban commander was in western province of Farah during the NATO air-strikes."These men were carrying weapons and ammunitions from Iran to Afghanistan. Five of them were wounded during clashes, who were taken back to Iran," Mullah Akhtar Farah Police Chief Faqir Ahmad Askar added.

Photos of the Day

• Imam Khomeini International Airport.