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].

Politics

 ·  Supreme Leader Khamenei will lead Friday Prayers in Tehran this week, which marks the death anniversary of Grand Ayatollah Khomeini and comes a few days before the first anniversary of Iran’s controversial 2009 presidential election. President Ahmadinejad will also address a crowd at Khomeini's mausoleum.

·   Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani's office issues a press statement:

o   "On Saturday morning...when employees of the Islamic Federation of Women's Sports showed up at work, they saw an unexpected scene: door locks were broken, rooms disorganized, desks and documents scattered all over the place..."

o   "Everything shows that a group with enough time and unworried about legal prosecution engaged in the opening and breaking the locks...not for the purpose of stealing anything, but trying to instigate fear and do harm...This attack looks like the Mongol invasion of Iran..."

·     Ayatollah Morteza Moghtadayi, theological seminaries dean, says: "Appointment of Ayatollah Khamenei as leader was divine, which members of the Assembly of Experts reached in a consensus and still consider him the best individual after two decades..."

·    Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani answers if he will run for the president: "This is one of the strange affairs of life. Even if I drink water, you will have an interpretation of your own...I have no reason to enter such arenas..."

·    A number of 326 state-owned companies are ordered to leave Tehran.

 Diplomacy

 ·         Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the Islamic Republic supports indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel.

·         Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani: "With regard to Russia, one must pay attention to two factors. First, Russia is a neighboring country and has definitively shared interests with us... Relations between Russia and Iran have had many ups and downs."

·         Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, member of Parliament’s National Security Council:

o   "The Russians are not Iran's strategic friends, and are mainly pursuing political goals to maximize gains in international developments. Therefore, one should not have a strategic view on Russia..."

o   "This time, the Russians took a number of negative positions against Iran by taking part in preparing the draft resolution against Iran. The Russians attempted to derail the good path which the Tehran Declaration had opened. In other words, derailing the good and internationally legal path and leaning towards the violent path of the 5+1 Group, especially the [path of] the United States..."

o   "Ever since the Cold War problems ended, the Russians, as usual, has started to conspire with other states against Iran… Iran's behavior showed that it was aware of this conspiracy, and did not have the previous trust towards the Russians with regard to its nuclear program. The peak of this [distrust] was Iran's unwillingness to deposit nuclear fuel in Russian territory and Iran's acceptance [to ship nuclear] fuel to Turkey..."

o   "One must use this opportunity to break the taboo of Russia in Iran's foreign policy. Russia has attempted to show that the Iranians can't advance their policies in the international field without Russian support...This is a home-grown taboo created by the Russians...This taboo must be wiped out and Iran must define a strategy for its foreign policy in which it correctly identifies countries which play a negative role towards Iran. It should also absolutely not look at Russia as a strategic [ally.]"

·         [E] Supreme Leader Khamenei condemned the “savage attack of the Zionist regime” against an international aid convoy heading towards Gaza, and said the Israeli regime proved that it is more brutal than fascists. "This criminal raid should have proved to all that Zionism is the new and more violent face of Fascism, which is this time supported and aided by the governments which claim to be advocates of freedom and human rights and more than others by the United States' government," Khamenei said in a statement on Tuesday.

o   [E] Member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Fatemeh Alia lambasted the “deadly silence” of the U.S. and Britain on Israel's “brutal raid” on an international convoy of aids to the Palestinians in Gaza.

o   [E] Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Saeed Jalili underlined the necessity for coordination among regional and Islamic states to confront Israel in a phone conversation with Qatar’s prime minister.

o   [E] Ahmadinejad expressed his condolences to the Turkish people and government over the killing of a number of Turkish human rights activists in Israel's raid on an aid cargo heading for the Gaza Strip.

o   [E] Ahmadinejad has asked the U.N. Security Council to issue a decisive resolution against Israel.

o   [E] The West and the U.S. are responsible for the Zionist regime's crimes against international human rights activists and Gaza aid convoy, a senior Lebanese Hezbollah official said Tuesday.

·         [E] The new government in Bishkek is resolved to reinvigorate its relations with Tehran in trade and economic fields.

Military and Security

 ·         Khaled Meshaal, Hamas Political Bureau chief:

o   "Hamas has no problems with the United States or its interests... The United States is a great country, but its interests should not be to the detriment of others and the nations of the region."

·         After the Pars Oil and Gas Company's signed a memorandum of understanding with the Revolutionary Guards' Khatam al-Anbia [Construction Base] on the development of the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th phases of South Pars [Gas and Oil field], the 13th and 14th development phases are contracted to a consortium of companies which include Khatam al-Anbia.

·         Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani's press conference:

o   "Q. Taken into account the news about the Revolutionary Guards' signing of a $10 billion oil contract in the oil sector and the doubts surrounding the transfer [of ownership] of [Iran] Communications to the Revolutionary Guards, it seems that the armed forces' entry into the economic field signifies the collapse of the private sector and the armed forces’ moving away from their main obligations. Will the parliament not take a position regarding this issue?"

o   "A. Of course, the part of the Guards which performs such tasks is the service and logistics part of the Revolutionary Guards, while the military part of the Guards is engaged in its own work... The logistics part of the Guards remains unused in peace time. All over the world, unused forces are used in peace time and the same is the case in our country...The Guard entering the economy of the country is to the benefit of the economy. A great investment capacity of the country does not remain unused… But it would not be right if they behave in a way where they don't give any opportunity to the private sector. Once I told the Khatam al-Anbia Base chief 'you should not be the rival of the private sector and the Khatam al-Anbia Base of the Guards should not be an obstacle to economic competition in the country similar to large government institutions..."

·         Former Revolutionary Guards Chief Rahim Safavi reacts to former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani's television interview: "Bani-Sadr was a total traitor, and I have no doubt about this. We must say these things and should not remain silent. I have enough reasons [to prove] his treason. By fleeing from the country and opposing the Imam [Khomeini], Bani-Sadr betrayed the vote of the Iranian nation... This era is the era of discord. Why do some commanders choose silence in the face of the discord and refuse to condemn it in clear terms?"

·         Basij Chief Mohammad-Reza Naghdi says the Basij will soon announce its new recruitment techniques.

·         Basij Chief Mohammad-Reza Naghdi says, "Today there are some who instrumentally and selectively use the will of the Imam [Khomeini] without paying attention to the necessities of time..."

Nuclear Issue

 ·         Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani: "In case the West ignores the Tehran Declaration, this declaration will be void. In this case, the parliament and the government will take a decision on how to cooperate with the international institutions."

·         [E] Larijani reiterated that the good and age-old relations between Tehran and Rome require Italy to adopt an independent and fair stance on Iran's nuclear issue.

·         [E] The move made by a number of western states to impose a ban on Iran's shipping lines and activities is destined to failure, Iranian Minister of Commerce Mehdi Qazanfari stressed.

Trade

 ·         The Iranian government has decided to invest $70 billion in the oil industry in the course of the next three years in order to counter the threat of sanctions.

·         Abrar-e Eghtesadi's commentator Ahmad Karimi condemns imports of rosewater from China, which according to Karimi, threatens the rosewater industry in Kashan.

·         Abrar-e Eghtesadi deplores imports of carpets worth of $18 million to Iran.

Religion, Society and Culture

 ·         Pakistani Shi'as commemorate the death anniversary of Grand Ayatollah Khomeini.      

·         Mohammad-Sadegh Koushaki, academic: "The recent [cases of] bad hijab is a discord of its own discussed by the Supreme Leader, who sensitively underlined the issue of cultural assault so that the society is aware of such threats and vulnerabilities."

·         Hamid Baghayi, Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization director, addressing a conference on women issues, says: "Most of the headworkers and head authorities building Persepolis were women, which is documented in history. Women who have been builders of Persepolis are aware of their [elevated] position more than anyone else. This is why there are no obscene pictures related to Iranian culture in Persepolis because women themselves have built it."

 Human Rights 

·         Ahmad Montazeri, son of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, is summoned to the Special Clerical Court.

·         JARAS releases the names of 100 political prisoners in Section 350 of Evin Prison.

 Media

 ·         Raja News condemns radio anchor Farshid Manafi's cooperation with "the CIA radio," a reference to Radio Farda in Prague. Link upon request.

·         Ezzatollah Zarghami, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting director general: "We are not afraid of BBC Persian and VOA Persian...We have all the resources of the regime at our disposal."

 Photos of the Day

 ·         Azam al-Sadat Farahi, Ahmadinejad's wife, inaugurates the Women's Week stamp.