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  

Karrubi, Mousavi reiterate call for cancellation of election result; intelligence minister accuses British embassy of instigating recent unrests; cleric says Islamic Republic weakened by recent events; Ahmadinejad orders probe into death of protestor Neda; Larijani calls on U.S. to stop interference in Iran’s internal affairs; Britain demands release of local employees imprisoned in Tehran; televised Iranian confessions implicate Mousavi in recent unrest; IRGC chief says ready to crush riots; senior cleric decries suppression of people in Iran; Iran’s exports to Iraq predicted to increase by $2 billion by February 2010

    Politics

• Karrubi in a letter to the Guardian Council calls for annulment of the election result.
  • Mousavi in an open letter to the Guardian Council stresses that the tenth presidential election was fraudulent, and demands a re-run. 
• Mousavi in his eight statement expresses readiness to prove "how the criminals have shed the blood of the innocent." 
• Rumors that the Interior Ministry has suspended several reformist parties. 
  • Mojahedin-e Enghelab Party describes closure of political parties as the final step of a creeping coup. 
• Mahmoud Kashani, a professor at Martyr Beheshti University and son of the late Ayatollah Kashani, says Mousavi's statements about the rule of law are in sharp contrast to his attempts to mobilize the people on the streets to commit crimes. 
• Ali-Reza Beheshti, son of the late Ayatollah Beheshti, criticizes "a retrograde era which does not tolerate" his father’s open-mindedness. 
• A ceremony to commemorate the martyrdom of Ayatollah Beheshti at the Qaba Mosque in Tehran develops into a pro-Mousavi demonstration.
• In his first public statement since the presidential election, Rafsanjani says the recent events are a "complicated discord" planted "by mysterious elements" who are "trying to create distance between the people and the regime" and trying to "target public trust in the Islamic regime."
• The Expediency Council praises popular participation in presidential election, and urges the candidates to pursue their complaints within the law. 
• Abolfazl Fateh, Mousavi campaign's Public Relations Chief who has been barred from leaving Iran to continue his doctoral studies in Britain, says his belief in the Islamic Republic is not weakened, but that those responsible for his situation should be held responsible.
• Fatemeh Rajabi, wife of government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham, attacks Larijani, Bahonar, Mousavi and Rafsanjani.
• (E) Ahmadinejad called for an investigation of the death of Neda Aqa-Soltan, who has become an international symbol of the post-election violence.
• (E) The Guardian Council has given Mousavi five days to submit new proposals intended to “rebuild public trust” regarding the election outcome.

  Diplomacy

• Intelligence Minister Mohseni-Ezheh-i: "The British Embassy has played an important role in recent events and riots both through the media and through their local forces...This embassy sent individuals disguised as locals among the rioters and imposed its views on them and on the society. They also gathered intelligence by using some of the rioters. Some of those individuals who clearly took part in the riots are identified and video and pictures of them have been taken...some of them are freed and some are detained." 
  • Parliamentarian Parviz Sorouri says the Iranian parliament can no longer tolerate British meddling in Iran’s internal affairs. 
  • The British Foreign Office demands the release of its local employees arrested in Tehran. According to Fars News Agency, the eight Iranian employees of the embassy were arrested on charges of "planning the recent riots."
  • More here.
• (E) Recommending that the US end its foreign policy of interference, Majlis Speaker Larijani stated that “this change will be beneficial both to the region and to the US itself.”

  Media

• Live broadcasts of demonstrations in Iran and related events.
• Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting's report on killing of Neda Agha-Soltani's in the hands of the Basij. (video)
• Amir-Hossein Mahdavi, the chief editor of Andisheh-ye Now and a member of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Central Committee, confesses that the reform movement does not respect the law, accuses reformist theoretician Mostafa Tajzadeh of being the key figure of Mousavi’s campaign, and claims Behzad Nabavi directed the intellectual line of publications close to Mousavi. Mahdavi also confesses that "fraud allegations" were a "scheme" devised by the Mousavi supporters in order to express their demands "outside the framework of the law and the regime of the Islamic Republic." Mahdi also claims Mousavi was defeated because of being in harmony with "movements outside the country" and "lack of contact of Mousavi with the masses."
  • Video of Amir-Hossein Mahdavi's televised confessions.
  • Andisheh-ye Now claims Mahdavi has never been its chief editor.
  • Alef News questions the legality of televised confessions of alleged rioters who confess to being foreign agents.
  • Amir-Hossein Mahdavi, whose televised confessions are thought to haven been forced upon, says he has not been imprisoned "even for a single minute."  
  • Mosharekat reformist front condemns forced televised confessions. 
  • So does political activist Fakhr al-Sadat Mohtashami-Pour. 
• Alef News says the June 12 election defeat was the beginning of the end for the reform movement.

  Military and Security

• Mohammad Rasoul-Allah Revolutionary Guards Unit in Tehran in a statement expresses its resolve to crush riots.
• The Revolutionary Guards Cyber Crime Center claims the British Foreign Minister ran a website to incite riots in Iran and to provoke the British population to take "an anti-Iranian posture."
• (E) Iranian police reported the arrest of armed Basij imposters.

  Religion, Society and Culture

• Grand Ayatollah Montazeri condemns suppression of the people. 
• Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili, speaking to the members of the Guardian Council, says the recent events in Iran have weakened the Islamic Republic and urges the authorities not to use force against protesters. 
• Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani says staging public assemblies is the right of the nation, and demands an end to harsh treatment of the public. 
• Mojtaba Sharifi, the chief of the national soccer team’s disciplinary committee, claims the recent purge in the national team is unrelated to players’ green wrist bands in support of Mousavi.
• (E) A permanent art gallery in Paris will feature Persian artwork, including calligraphy, tile-works, and pottery.
• (E) The 10^th Tehran International Poster Biennial is set for October 2009, featuring graphic design work by Iranian and international artists. 
• (E) Iranian filmmakers to make film on Brazilian soccer player Ronaldo.

  Economy

• Welfare and Social Security Ministry Spokesman Ahmadi claims the number of people living under extreme poverty line has been reduced by 80 percent. 
• Abrar-e Eghtesadi reports dramatic rise of the price of potatoes. 
• Abu Dhabi branch of the Worley Parsons Consulting Bureau is engaged in Petropars' development of 12th phase of South Pars Gas Field. 
• Economy and Finance Minister Shams al-Din Hosseini says in one year inflation has decreased from 25 percent to 15 percent.
• (E) Chinese and Malaysian companies to develop Iran’s Resalat oil field. 
• (E) Two years after Ahmadinejad disbanded the Money and Credit Council, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has restarted the body.
• (E) Iran’s exports to Iraq predicted to increase by 2 billion dollars by February 2010.

Trade

• Iran to develop Resalat Oil Field in cooperation with Chinese and Malaysian companies. 
• Average gasoline consumption per week as of last week: 65.3 million liters.
• Ali Vakili, the Executive Director of the South Pars Gas Field Oil and Gas, says in four years time Iran will be ahead of Qatar in extracting oil and gas from the shared oil and gas field.
• Tabnak News runs a backgrounder on "Zionist attempts" at "suffocating" German businessmen and companies trying to engage with Iran.

  Nuclear Issue

• (E) EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said on Sunday: “We would like very much that soon we will have the possibility to restart multilateral talks with Iran on the important nuclear issues”

Photo of the Day

• Parliamentarian Pezeshkian attacked while urging the regime to show tolerance towards critics.