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]. 

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• TABNAK releases the full text of Supreme Leader Khamenei's address to the Assembly of Experts.

• Rafsanjani addresses members of municipal councils: "The secret of democracy is that the winning party or winning parties function as a shock strut for that political regime. If those elected perform poorly, the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the winning parties and the regime remains unharmed...Islam gives a prominent place for the role of the people in governance and also the teachings of the blessed  Imam [Khomeini] consider the people the most important foundation of the regime. At present, with the growth of the media, a regime which has no popular base will not survive..."

• Sadegh Zibakalam, academic, praises the role of Reza Shah the Great, founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, on national television.

• Mohsen Rezai on his political future: "I consider myself the servant of the Iranian nation and there is no better political horizon than offering service. Wherever I see a need for help, I will go there and help..."

• Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari criticizes Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei's statements that Ahmadinejad is the medium through whom one can reach the guardianship.

• Tehran Justice Administration Chief Alireza Avayi says the legal case against Mehdi and Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani is being prepared.

• [E] Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday donated rls 200 million in cash to needy people who are covered by the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee.

Military and Security

• Fars News reports arrest of a "Mojahedin-e Khalq spy ring" in Qom.
  • According to Asr-e Iran, one of the "spies" was a professor of "Jewish Studies."

• Hojjat al-Eslam Mohseni Ezhehi, Supreme Prosecutor General, addressing a seminar of the Revolutionary Guards praises the role of the Guards in the post-election unrest.

• Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad Mohammadian, Supreme Leader’s representative to universities, addressing the University and Soft Warfare conference at Tehran University: "It was the Islamic revolution of Iran which started soft warfare in the world, and it was the Iranian nation which began this war which with the great movement of the Islamic revolution instigated soft warfare in the world...The soft warfare that we witness from the imperialist regimes against the Islamic revolution is the reaction of our Islamic regime’s rivals..."

Nuclear Issue

• Russia's Foreign Minister says Bushehr nuclear plant will become operational in 2010.

Diplomacy

• The Foreign Ministry calls the German ambassador to protest against the release of PJAK leader.

• [E] Former Director of Pakistan's Military Intelligence Organization General Hamid Gul described the United States as "the axis of evil", reiterating that Washington's policies have led to insecurity in the region.

• [E] Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar on Wednesday warned that the US and the other arrogant powers have hatched plots to promote Iranophobia in the region.

• [E] The Iranian foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned German Ambassador to Tehran Bernd Erbel to voice Tehran's protest against the release of the captured ringleader of the PJAK group by Germany.

• [E] Ahmadinejad said his country blames the US, and not Kabul, for the presence of the ringleader of the Jundallah terrorist group in Afghanistan because the US brought Abd al-Malek RigiRigi into Afghanistan without the permission or knowledge of the Afghan people and government.

• [E] Ahmadinejad arrived in Kabul on Wednesday and was welcomed by his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace.

Economy

• Executives of Mehr Financial and Credit Institute meet a number of clergymen in Qom to discuss principles of non-interest rate banking.

Photos of the Day

• Parliament’s open session.

• The Jamaran Destroyer.