Iran News Round Up

 A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Katherine Faley, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin.  To subscribe to this daily newsletter, e-mail [email protected].

(E) = Article in English

Ahmadinejad hails disputed elections; reformist leaders meet to discuss new ways to protest; clerical establishments backs Khamenei on endorsing elections; Iranian parliamentarian criticizes British interference in Iran’s internal affairs; China named Iran’s largest trading partner in Asia; IRGC chief calls for closer ties with Muslim countries; Russia criticizes Biden’s remarks on Iran; authorities say no post-election protestors hanged

Politics

• Tehran Governor General Tammaddon: "The most important driver behind the latest unrest is the anger of the enemies against the enthusiastic presence of the people in elections...The enemy will not cease its work and we must continue doing our job and always attempt to have healthy and glorious elections so no one can criticize it...We predict that participation percentage in elections of the coming years will be more than this year and it is even possible that election participation reaches 100 percent."
• Karrubi, Mousavi and Khatami met Monday to discuss political affairs.
• Ahmadinejad, speaking on national radio says, he has delivered his proposal to the parliament which creates a just subsidies system, and that the government is also planning to decrease the class divide by increasing wages of the lowest paid workers.
• (E) In Ahmadinejad’s address to the nation, he announced “major changes” within his cabinet and called the recent election “the soundest and fairest election in the world.” 
• (E) Mousavi’s aide, Abolfazl Fateh, has left for the UK despite a ban against him fleeing Iran due to his reported “role in recent developments and his efforts to arrange for the illegal gathering of Mousavi support.”

 Religion, Culture, and Society

• Morteza Moghtadaei, Dean of the Theological Seminary of Qom: "The latest presidential election of Iran is approved of by the Imam of the Era and by God...Belief in Guardianship of the Jurist equals to belief in someone whose words are the words of the Imam of the Era and who speaks in the interests of Islam, the country and society. Therefore, when the Guardian Jurist [Khamenei] says no fraud has taken place, it must be the final word..."
• Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, Head of the Association of Theological Professors at the Theological Seminary of Qom: "A Jurist, who lives up to the conditions of such, as the viceroy of the Imam of the Era, administers the Islamic regime within the framework of the Islamic law, not his personal viewpoints...the founder of the Islamic Republic and the Supreme Leader have said again and again that this regime will automatically be exported to the entire world and that the Muslims would submit to sovereignty of God."\
• (E) Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani will star in There Be Dragons by British filmmaker Roland Joffe.

Diplomacy

• Aftab-e Yazd criticizes suppression of Muslims in Western China.
• Javad Abtahi, parliamentarian attacks Great Britain: "If we study history, and documents published by the British government we see that this state has intervened in creation of geographic boundaries of Iran, conflicts between ethnic groups, coming to power of the Pahlavi government and created obstacles in the way of the Islamic revolution thirty years ago...undiplomatic behavior of the British government served as a green light to the media of this country to easily meddle in internal affairs [of Iran] and even to hire some mercenaries paid for with British Pound to make trouble for the regime...Unfortunately the British companies are benefitting from great economic projects including the grand Assalouyeh project, despite this country trying to challenge the Islamic Republic regime...Dealing decisively with the British government clarifies the price of meddling in internal affairs of Iran to other countries including Germany, Italy, France, Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands..."

Military and Security

• Qatar Armed Forces Command Council Chief visits the Iranian Defense Ministry and speaks of expansion of defense cooperation between the two countries.
• Farhad Rahbar, Tehran University dean, says he is doing his utmost to free imprisoned students from Tehran University Dormitory who were arrested in the unrest in the aftermath of the presidential election.
• Wife of Said Hajjarian, imprisoned reformist theoretician and Intelligence Ministry co-founder, says she has no news of the whereabouts of her husband.
• (E) Iranian Police Chief Ahmadi-Moqaddam announced the release of 100 protesters in custody.
• (E) Commander of the IRGC Jafari “call[ed] for friendly and deep ties with Muslim countries especially in the Middle East region” in an effort to secure the Persian Gulf.

Economy

• Abbas-Ali Noura, parliamentary Plan and Budget Committee member, says the Monetary and Guarantee Fund should work independently of the government and control cash flow to the economy.
• (E) A controversial bill redistributing energy subsidies will be passed by an Iranian parliamentary commission by the end of the week.

Trade

• Manufacturers Association General Secretary says bad trade policies have severely harmed production in Iran.
• China is Iran's largest trading partner in Asia.
  • Deputy Petroleum Minister Nour al-Din Shahnazi expresses hope that $6 billion worth memoranda on cooperation will be signed between Iran and China to build and expand oil refineries in Iran.
• Following establishment of the Dubai-based Sina Insurance Company, all goods transported by Iranian vessels will be insured.
• Russian contractors to develop electrification of the Tabriz/Azarshahr rail road.
• The Islamic Republic's ambassador to Turkmenistan Mohammad-Reza Ferghani says Iranian contractors have been granted a $600 million Iran/Turkmenistan/Kazakhstan rail road project.
• Since March 2009, import of rice has increased 219 percent.
• Mohammad-Hossein Moghimi, Vice President of the Development Committee of the Parliament, says Iran has failed to attract $2 billion worth of foreign investment.

Nuclear Issue

• (E) Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nesterenko responded to Vice President Biden’s comments on Israel’s right to attack Iran, stating: “We are very surprised at these remarks by US Vice President Biden. As we see, they are drastically out of line with the approaches that US President Barack Obama is declaring regarding the Iranian nuclear program, in particular, on the US readiness to enter a dialogue with Iran.”
• (E) On the topic of war with Iran, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen warned of the resulting unpredictable and “unintended consequences… in a very volatile, highly volatile part of the world.”

Human Rights

• (E) Speculation that the 20 drug traffickers hanged last week were really Iranian protesters prompted Deputy Tehran Prosecutor Salarkia to state that, “among those hanged there were no individual[s] who had been arrested during the recent unrest in Tehran.”’
• (E) A statement issued by the leaders of the G8 expressed “grave concern about reports of killings, ongoing arrests, use of excessive police force and the ill-treatment of detainees” in Iran.

Photo of the Day

• Opening of first naval base on Gulf of Aden.