Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Mehdi Karrubi slams Ahmad Jannati, the chairman of the Guardian Council and a temporary Friday prayer leader in Tehran: "A group of people have become world famous through hypocrisy, cheating, demagogy, murder, and false and pretentious piety. If you are not the incarnation of all this, you have at least paved the way for such people."
• Rafsanjani defends his children and criticizes Ahmadinejad’s government for incompetence: "They can't answer the demands of the people, and they therefore try to upset the public mind."
• Rafsanjani attacks the Ahmadinejad government on the occasion of the Marsad Operation:
  • "There is a group which considers the genuine clergy, experienced combatants, the veterans of war, valuable executives of the past, intelligent people, and most importantly the glorious thought of the Imam and his legacy as obstacles in the path of their political ends. And they don't abstain from anything to marginalize and isolate them. But the people of Iran have proven throughout history that they will not allow any group to abuse the ebb and flow of the ocean of their thoughts and derail the Islamic revolution, which is the result of the hundreds of thousands of martyrs in the years of struggle and the sacred defense."

Military and Security

• Ahmadinejad warns of U.S.-Israeli attacks in the Middle East:
  • "The United States and Israel want to attack two other Middle Eastern countries during the next three months in order to pressure Iran."
  • "Iran will begin negotiations with Western countries in mid September. Tehran still desires presence of Turkey and Brazil in the negotiations."
• Basij Chief Naghdi says the purpose of sports is to prepare the youth for "soldiering for the Imam of the Era."
• Iranian authorities refute rumors on explosion of a Japanese tanker in the Iranian waters.
  • Tabnak writes: "Imagine an exchange of fire and beating of war drums in the Persian Gulf region, what would happen in the region and which power will be capable of reestablishing the security now taken care of by the Islamic Republic of Iran?... If, God forbid, war should take place in the region, the region will become a hell for them [the Western powers] and they will suffer the greatest economic, political and security blows."
  • [E] A source linked with Fars News Agency maintains that the explosion on a Japanese supertanker occurred outside Iran's territorial waters.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Mojtaba Zolnour, deputy representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards: "Should they want to threaten Iran or engage in the slightest move against Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf will become unsafe for them."
•  [E] Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar says nine individuals have been arrested in connection with the Zahedan terrorist attack, which left 27 people dead.

Economy

• Pishgaman-e Kavir-e Yazd Company demands compensation for being barred by the Revolutionary Guards from bidding for ownership of Iran Telecommunications.

·         [E] Ahmadinejad inaugurated two major petrochemical projects in the southern city of Assalouyeh on Wednesday.

o   [E] Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazzemi announced that Iran plans to boost investment in its petrochemical projects.  The value of exported petrochemical products reached $9.2 billion in 2009 from $2.3 billion in 2004.

o   [E] Mir-Kazzemi also said that the country will turn into a gasoline exporter by 2013.

Trade

• Reactions to the European Union's sanctions: 
  • Kayhan slams the E.U.’s sanctions against Iran.
  • Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee member: "Despite the sanctions, many countries and European companies have maintained their secret commercial relations with Iran."
  • Mohammad Jahromi, Saderat Bank executive director: "The new sanctions by the European Union are not a new issue and will not create disturbances in operations of this bank."
  • Javad Farshbaf Maherian, Central Insurance Company director general, says every sanction "will be turned into an opportunity."
  • Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief of staff: "If we say the sanctions will not have an effect, it is because that these sanctions can't stop the work of the Iranian government. The fifth resolution of sanctions is just a joke, and no one takes it seriously. Today, the Iranians are awakened, and elites are involved in affairs...In my conversations with European and Asian diplomats, there was not a single person saying the sanctions was workable."
• Ahmadinejad in Asalouyeh: "In the past, they [foreign companies]… completed projects in eight years rather than three years and increased the costs as well. But today, our contractors start the projects in the shortest possible time and all the contractors, consultants and deliverers of all parts of projects are Iranian. And I hope that all products are made by domestic companies in the near future."
• Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi says the petrochemical industry is ready to produce 15 million liters per day under extraordinary circumstances.
• Mohammad Owji, National Natural Gas Company executive director, heads a delegation to Iraq to negotiate the export of Iranian natural gas to Iraq.
• [E] High ranking Iranian and Iraqi officials have started new round of talks to confer over the transfer of Iran's natural gas to Iraq's power plants.
  • [E] "We envisage that Iran would be able to supply Iraq with its required gas in the next two years [if] negotiations were finalized," said Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC).

Religion, Society and Culture

• Local theologians in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran predict the end of the world and appearance of the Imam of the Era between 1412 and 1420 (Persian calendar years).  
• Asr-e Iran reports on the birthday celebration of the Imam of the Era near Jamkaran.
• [E] Iran is due to host an international conference on philosophy to coincide with UNESCO’s World Philosophy Day in November.

Nuclear Issue

•  [E] Russia announced that it welcomes the presence of representatives from Turkey and Brazil in negotiations between Iran and the P5+1.
• [E] Australia has announced a fresh round of sanctions against Iran's energy resources a few days after the European Union approved similar unilateral measures.
• [E] Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi referring to the Tehran declaration on fuel swap: "If our [nuclear fuel] needs are met through other means, we are prepared to review domestic fuel provision.”

Iran in the Afghan Media

• The Afghan Council of Ministers blocked the broadcast of a private Afghan TV Channel for allegedly inciting sectarian divide in Afghanistan. Head of "Imroz" TV (today TV), Najibullah Kabuli, described the decision as a hasty action taken under the pressure of the Iranian government. He added that his anti-Iran stance and disagreements with the Iranian government have played a significant role in the decision taken by the Council of Ministers.
  • President Hamid Karzai has warned the Afghan media against publishing material which could harm Afghanistan’s national interest and national unity. He said any action inciting sectarian tension will not be tolerated. Karzai’s warning comes after the Afghan Council of Ministers banned Imroz TV for broadcasting material reportedly provoking Sunni-Shia tension in Afghanistan.

Photo of the Day

• Yaser Khomeini meets Mohsen Armin, reformist theoretician.