Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Hojjat al-Eslam Rasoul Montajab-Nia, National Trust Party Deputy, refutes rumors on Mehdi Karrubi's hospitalization or even death.
• Mehdi Karrubi's Nowrouz message:
  • "This government is in power and must be held responsible. It must answer to the people despite lacking legitimacy and not being legal since it has not received popular vote..."
  • "We desire the true Islamic Republic for which the people voted at the referendum of 1979. I'm a cleric. In the past the people of the street would respect clerics. Sometimes they would make some jokes, but God is witness that today what is being said in the propaganda and accusations against me do not sorrow me as much as the jokes of the past, since I know for myself that I am not a counter revolutionary and opposed to the regime. Nor am I an agent of the foreigners and I don't know how the people who say and write such things want to answer God. They attack other people in a similar way. They have come to our residence twice, and the second time they assembled in our new residence to which we have not yet moved and disturbed the people and the neighbors, painted the walls, wrote slogans and plundered closed circuit cameras and smashed the windows, even insulted one lady who is a neighbor. Is this not shameful for the Islamic Republic? Is this good for the regime and brings honor and respectability for the regime…?"
• Mir-Hossein Mousavi's Nowrouz message:
  • "The Iranian nation is a great, advanced and civilized nation and it is not right to deal with it as an uncivilized and ignorant nation and decide for it. Allow the thoughts and ideas of the nation and the national will realize in their presence which most certainly will prove Islamic and will also prove efficient as it will propel Iran towards progress and development along with justice and freedom. We should not fear [this], we should fear ignoring the wishes of the nation."
• Ahmadinejad visits Qom, pays his respects to Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, Ayatollah Nouri Hamadani and Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi.

Military and Security

• The Revolutionary Guards reports to have downed a United States drone in Shalamcheh, near the Iraqi border.
• Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces at Quds Base of the IRGC engage in skirmishes with the Jundallah terrorist group.
  • [E] Iranian security forces killed a number of members of the Jundallah terrorist group during a clash erupted in southeastern Iran. Among the dead is a key member of Jundallah, Barekat Zamrani, who was behind the assassination of Brigadier General Nourali Shoushtari, a top commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

Diplomacy

•  [E] Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Thursday urged the Islamic states to take proper measures against the provocative acts recently shown by the Zionist regime of Israel.

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang reiterated Beijing's stance on finding a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear issue, saying that China is holding talks with relevant parties to find a peaceful solution to the issue.
• [E] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow will honor all its commitments to Iran in developing nuclear power for peaceful uses.

Photos of the Day

• Grand Bazaar of Tehran just before Nowrouz.