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

• Parliamentarian and Hojjat al-Eslam Hamid Rasaei, speaking in Bonab: "At the time of the birth of the benevolent Prophet, the people living in the realm of Iran were fire worshipers and we do not pride ourselves at all in the past. The kings usurped the people and palaces fell on their heads, and the people living in that era were living in ignorance. But as they became aware of his view on human beings the people, despite the efforts of the unbelievers of the time, the people encircled the benevolent Prophet... Is it at all possible that someone in society is the fellow of the Imam [Khomeini], be the Prime Minister of the Imam, but struggle today against the path of the Imam? Being devout is not what counts. Being the fellow of the Imam is not what counts. What counts is remaining faithful and a follower of the Imam...Today, the duplicitous Principalists are even more loathed than those who are straightforward and support the path of falsehood... A great event is in the making. Such discords take place so we learn from history..."

Diplomacy

• Supreme Leader Khamenei receiving "authorities of the regime and various classes of the people" on the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad: "The question is how come a vast group of people [the Muslim community of believers] with such characteristics is bewildered and lost and suffers from many problems such as poverty, discrimination, scientific backwardness and cultural weaknesses and is unable of defending its rights in the face of the bullying powers of the world…?

  • Usurpation of the historical and sacred land of Palestine and unending and continuous injustice of the criminal Zionists towards the innocent Palestinian nation is a huge wound which is inflicted upon the body of the Islamic community of believers and makes it suffer, but the world of Islam behaves in a way as if the Palestine issue is unrelated to it...

  • The false Zionist regime of Israel is a dangerous cancerous tumor...The only way to counter this fatal cancer and its backers is return to Islam and return to centrality of the teachings of the honorable Prophet of Islam...These hegemonic bullies are well aware that conflict and dualism dilutes the Islamic community of believers from the most important issue of Palestine. Therefore, by all means possible and by any excuse they ignite the fire of ethnic, sectarian and geographic discord in the hearts of the Shi'a, Sunnis and followers of other Islamic sects..."

• [E] Ali Larijani voiced Iran's readiness for transferring parliamentary experiences to its eastern neighboring country of Afghanistan.

Military and Security

• Law Enforcement Forces declare that change of the name of the "Police" into "Pas-Var" which had been approved by the Supreme Leader is again changed into "Police" after a letter of the Iranian Academy of Language and Literature to Supreme Leader changed his mind.

• [E] Former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency Hamid Gul says the United States is seeking to create and train terrorist groups in the region.

Nuclear Issue

• Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul says Iran is not pursing nuclear weapons.

• [E] Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stressed the necessity for finding a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear issue, shrugging off Washington's call for harsher sanctions against Tehran.

• [E] Iran's envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog says the director general's silence over Tehran's objections made to the report shows that he too recognizes its problems.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• A Kabul court has convicted two Iranian nationals of involvement in terrorist activities in Afghanistan and sentenced each to twenty years in jail.  The Iranian citizens told a court hearing in Kabul that they were members of Jama’at Tablighi [society for spreading faith] and were sent by Iranian clerics to preach religion in mosques across Afghanistan. The Afghan court ruled that the individuals belonged to terrorist groups. Three Afghans also received death sentences on charges of terrorism. 

• [E] Distribution of  stickers showing Iranian flag in the Afghan capital has antagonized Kabul residents. “I would have not pasted this sticker on the windscreen of my car had I known to it being Iran's national flag,” said Muhammad Asghar, a resident of Kabul, adding that he had pasted the sticker on his car because it was bearing the name of Allah. Raees Khan, a kiosk owner in the city, said he was selling 10 to 12 such stickers on a daily basis. Political analyst Abdul Ghafoor Liwal termed it a direct cultural invasion by the Iranian authorities. "It must be banned in the country," he urged. Ahmad Shah Zgham, teacher at the Kabul University, accused the Ministry of Information and Culture for its alleged neglect to take notice of the issue.

Religion, Society and Culture

• Grand Ayatollah Yousef Sane'i issues a fatwa in which he says those arrested in the aftermath of the presidential election are not "combatants against the regime" but were engaged in "self defense" and therefore should not be executed.

• Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi denies having issued a fatwa sanctioning execution of certain individuals arrested in the aftermath of the presidential election.

• The Islamic Republic of Iran Voice and Vision make a movie about arrest of Abd al-Malek Rigi.

Photos of the Day

• Supreme Leader Khamenei on the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.