Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Supreme Leader Khamenei addresses the people of Bushehr:
  • "This dusty circumstance is sometimes such that even some elites also commit mistakes and are wrong. Therefore, in an era of discord one is in need of standards..."
• Rafsanjani addresses family members of the martyrs:
  • "Today, anyone who causes disunity among the people - even should that be with the best of intentions - this would be a huge and strategic mistake..."
  • "The Islamic regime achieved victory with unity and solidarity of the people and this was how revolts of the counter revolution were neutralized, how the sacred defense ended successfully and how that destroyed was rebuilt..."
  • "Under the present circumstances, when we are more in need of unity than ever before, there are visible and invisible hands beating the drums of disunity..."
  • "How come there are some people today who allow themselves to insult the great household of the Imam [Khomeini] in the name of religion, Islam and the revolution?"
• Kayhan demands punishment for "heads of the discord."
• Ahmadinejad addresses the Judiciary seminar: "The first step towards establishing justice is to correct legislation. Should the legislation not be made based on justice, the problems can't be solved or addressed." He continued: "We are also in need of a just executive which executes the law correctly."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Morteza Agha-Tehrani releases a background article about the history of cooperation between the parliament and the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution on the occasion of the conflict evolving around transformation of Azad University into a Waqf.
• Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, addresses the people in Shushtar: "Iranians never engaged in slavery..."

Military and Security

• Javan Online analyzes the United States' "Iran Office" in Dubai:
  • "During the 1970's and 1980's, at a very minimum, 30% of Iran's economy and labor force was organized in the Arabian Peninsula. This was especially true of southern provinces such as Khouzestan, Bushehr, Fars, Kohkilouyeh va Boyer-Ahmad, Kerman and Hormozgan. In some provinces the rate of exported labor force was 40%. The Americans believed that the Iranian immigrants in the peninsula would enable intelligence collection, make connections and recruit. But Iranian immigrants who are sent to the Persian Gulf region are among the most patriotic people and lack of recognition of their sectarian beliefs in the region in the political regimes of the countries of the Persian Gulf region makes them more devoted to their country. But this issue is completely absent in the analysis of the Americans when it comes to their assessment of Iranians seeking work in the peninsula. Another issue in the Dubai office is that of attracting and recruiting elite members. This group can be attracted to Dubai under the pretense of work, commerce or holidays and be connected with this office."
  • "During the George Bush presidency which coincided with the Khatami presidency in Iran, the Dubai Office under the Vice President's control became more active and more overt. One report says that this office through connections in Iran was attracting elites from the ministries of culture and Islamic culture, and the ministry of science, research and higher education. These groups which reached 20 to 100 individuals were identified with people like Kian Tajbakhsh and were sent to Dubai and from there to the Netherlands or the United States.  The groups reached more than 7,500 individuals and the groups were engaged in 15 to 30 days seminars. The most important issue which was studied in the period was the issue of 'change in Iran' and rather than being theoretical were operational."
  • "Also a specialized bureau was established in Tehran...at the helm of which was Mostafa Tajzadeh, but Javad Eta'at was the apparent director... The office published books by the secular element Hossein Bashiriyeh."
  • The Netherlands Office attempted to attract Iranians based in Europe."
  • "The Washington Bureau is dominated by the neocons."
• Jahangir Karami, academic, says the unrest in Kyrgyzstan is the result of the policy of establishing artificial borders between the Persian speakers in Central Asia.
• [E] The Habilian Association, an Iran-based human rights group, called for UN efforts to prepare the ground for the expulsion of the ‘terrorist’ Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from Iraq's soil
• [E] Hundreds of Iranians protested outside the French embassy against a rally held in Paris on Saturday by MKO members.  “If the French want to continue relations with Iran, they should root out their relations with Zionism and those who are hostile to Iran such as the MKO, and confront them,” a parliamentarian said.·   

Diplomacy

• [E] German Ambassador to Tehran Bernd Erbel: "The relations between the Iranian and German nations are beyond the ties among other countries and there are spiritual ties between the two nations."
• [E] Lebanese Nasseri Party President praised Tehran's support for the Lebanese and Palestinian nations.
• [E] Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi congratulated Meles Zenawi on his reelection as the Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
• [E] Iran's aid, escorted by a group of legislators, is due to be sent to the Gaza Strip through Lebanon, an Iranian lawmaker said, noting that the country has changed its decision to dispatch the convoy through Egypt.
  • [E] Iran's Red Crescent Society announced on Sunday that it has postponed the dispatch of a humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip due to further restrictions imposed by Israel on Gaza-bound aid cargos.
• [E] German Ambassador to Tehran: "The relations between the Iranian and German nations are beyond the ties among other countries and there are spiritual ties between the two nations.”
• [E] The Iranian foreign ministry on Saturday opened a consulate office in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, which hosts millions of Iranian pilgrims every year.
• [E] Ahmadinejad: "Iran and Turkey should expand their cooperation in all fields, especially in healthcare, and render service to all nations, Islamic and poor countries in particular."

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani stressed that the country would never succumb to the sanctions and pressures imposed by the West to undermine Iran's nuclear progress.
• [E] Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez in a meeting in Caracas underlined their support for Tehran's right to access and use nuclear technology.
• [E] Ahmadinejad: "Iran's huge energy is about to be released, meaning that even sanctions will have no effect.”

Trade

• Iran proposes to build the telecommunication infrastructure in Iraqi Kurdistan.
• [E] Iran's oil sales dropped by more than 24 percent to $59.5b in the 11 months ending February 2010.
• [E] The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) says the nation's foreign currency reserves have increased by $9b through gold sales and currency exchanges.
•  [E] An Iranian official at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) told Dow Jones Newswires that the NIOC is in the final stages of negotiations to finalize an oil-fields deal with Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia's OAO Gazprom.

Economy

• [E] Iranian Deputy Oil Minister: "Despite sanctions, Iran will be self-sufficient in gasoline production within two years and after that we can begin exporting gasoline.”
• [E] French oil group Total has stopped selling gasoline to Iran after the US Congress imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran last Friday.
• [E] A senior Iranian oil official announced that the National Iranian Oil Company has discovered a second gas field in the country's northeastern province of Khorassan Razavi.
• [E] TAM Company, a subsidiary of Iran's largest car-manufacturer Iran-Khodro Company (IKCO), earned $442m in profits in 2009.  It attributes its growth to diversification into non-automotive sectors, like the petrochemical and rail industries.
• [E] An Iranian economic official urged Brazil to invest in railway projects in the southern parts of Iran.
• [E] Phase three of a major steel complex in Natanz became operational.  The factory is the largest producer of industrial steel round bars in the Middle East.

Human Rights

• "A group of Muslim bloggers" call for release of Hossein Derakhshan.

Photos of the Day

• Judiciary seminar.