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 

Presidential hopeful Rezai proposes uranium enrichment on Iranian soil monitored by U.S., E.U., Russia; IRGC chief’s call for Basij intervention in elections sparks controversy; new centers for Basij Elite Members to recruit 11,500 indoctrination instructors; Tabnak questions Roxana Saberi’s release through president’s intervention; Mousavi blames Ahmadinejad for isolation of Iran from world community; paper reports 222% growth in U.S.-Iran trade since 2008; Central Bank Director General resigns in protest at government’s withdrawals from foreign exchange reserve; Iran’s foreign exchange reserve reportedly down to negative %15 billion; Supreme Leader blasts Wahhabis, Salafis for instigating discord among Muslims

Nuclear Issue

·         Rezai in an interview with Tages Spiegel, proposes uranium enrichment on Iranian soil monitored by the United States, the Europeans and Russia.

Military and Security

·         Agah-Sazi slams IRGC Chief Mohammad-Ali Ja'afari's call for Basij intervention in presidential elections.

o    Hojjat al-Eslam Majid Ansari member of the Association of the Combatant Clergy criticizes Basij intervention in elections on live television: "When some people functioning as political indoctrination instructors of the Basij participate at conferences and say it is a religious duty to vote for this or that candidate, it is a source of concern, but the body of the Basij does not in its entirety abide by such orders."

·         The Revolutionary Guards Public Relations Department issues an official statement commenting on the "the campaign against Basij political activities":

o    "The tenth Islamic presidential elections in Iran are extremely important due to the political/security developments in the region and in the world and due to interconnectedness of the issues, especially failure of the Americans in dispatching troops to the regime and helplessness of the Zionist regime in facing the regime and nation of Iran and due to the new threats of the enemies...

o    During the past days and weeks… some misunderstandings and accusations have been directed against the Guards and the Basij in which they are accused of potentially intervening in the elections. In order to illuminate the public opinion a few points are presented to the noble and revolutionary Iranian nation:

§  1. According to Article 150 of the constitution, the IRGC has, over the past thirty years, done everything in its power to live up to its obligations…to guard the revolution…

§  3. Attacks against the Basij and accusations against it will never exclude the Basij from serving the nation...

§  4. People should not provide for happiness of the enemy by making unseasoned statements...

§  5. Members of the Basij can be divided into normal Basij, active Basij and special Basij, or honorary Guardians...

§  6. The principle of non-intervention of the armed forces is correct...but does not apply to all Basijis...

§  7. The 20 million man Basij...is not the same thing as military Basij..."

·         IRGC chief says his organization has "multifaceted plans to counter the cultural invasion of the enemy... The largest part of the budget of the IRGC for cultural activities is earmarked for the Basij... The Salehin [the qualified ones] is a scheme which is being conducted at Basij bases in order to improve and elevate the political insights of the Basij members."

·         IRGC deputy chief Mohammad Hejazi makes general comments with regard to the state of affairs in the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij.

·         Ham-Mihan releases information about preferential treatment of the Basij members for university admittance.

·         Centers for Elite Members of the Basij to be established at provincial capitals. The centers are expected to employ the 11,500 indoctrination instructors of Basij.

·         Fariborz Mahroban, Army Intelligence Deputy and former military attaché in Armenia, dies.

Diplomacy

·         Is U.S. official Vali Nasr visiting Iran?

·         Tabnak News Agency mouthpiece of presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai asks why Roxana Saberi, convicted of espionage for the United States and condemned to eight years of imprisonment, "is suddenly released from prison through presidential intervention."

·         Academic Sadegh Zibakalam discusses Iran-U.S. relations on live television, insists the United States has changed during the first 100 days of Obama’s aministration, slams his opponents for not recognizing the U.S. government willingness to change. Zibakalam mentions Obama's call for closure of Guantanamo Camp, declarations with regard to leaving Iraq, its commitment to improve the situation in Afghanistan, and enmity of the Israeli press against Obama as signs of change in the U.S.

o    Zibakalam also says whatever Obama had done to please Iran the opponents of normalization of Iran/U.S. relations would have not been satisfied and would have claimed it is not "enough change".

o    Zibakalam also says the issue of frozen Iranian assets in U.S. banks is a non-issue and the money has been paid to Iranian exiles whose money and estates have been confiscated by the Islamic Republic. 

o    Explaining the reason behind the Islamic Republic's enmity towards the United States, Zibakalam also accuses the Iraniamn leadership of being a group of conspiracy theorists and Marxist-inspired ideologues who have inherited the Soviet/Manichean world view that the world is divided into the forces of good and bad...

o    Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani expresses "grief" about "defense of America in the public and through the national media" and "questioning of the era of the Sacred Defense [Iran-Iraq War]," and demands a "hearty warning" to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, urges IRIB Director General Zarghami to "pay more attention. Such issues are sensitive and important and must be discussed with the greatest care."

o    Parliamentarian Mohammad-Ali Bozorgvari, reacting to Zibakalam's comments on Iran-U.S. relations, calls him a "clown."

·         Mousavi says thanks to Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy, Iran has become isolated internationally and has not a single ally.

·         Agah-Sazi interview with Hezbollah Front Secretary discussing presidential elections and national security:

o    "Q. Now that the people of our country are struggling with their own economic problems at different points we support the people of Afghanistan, Bosnia Herzegovina, Iraq and the like with finances and other means. What is your view on such support?

o    A. The Islamic Republic has based its diplomacy upon Islamic values. It considers itself responsible for all Muslims and all human beings... All Muslims constitute a single community of believers and the Islamic Republic of Iran government is responsible to base its general policy upon the foundation of alliance, unification and unity of Islamic nations and struggle and attempt to realize a strategic unity of the world of Islam. According to this verse all Muslims all over the world are equal and brothers of each other and being Muslim does not recognize boundaries. But from the national security strategy such attempts and aid are in the interest of the national security of the country since we support the struggle of friendly and Islamic states to provide for the basic needs of their people. Aiding development of a nation and a country plays a vital role in propagating our national economic techniques, raises the income level of recipient states. In national strategy this is a development scheme with financial or economic means in order to take the leadership of an Islamic order countering the new American order."

·         Ahmadineajd discloses some "miraculous" dimensions of his appearance at the Durban II Summit in Geneva:

o    "It would be wrong to believe that the mission of the Imam of the Era only begins after his reemergence. The infallible Imam is already managing the affairs of the world...  Human beings are moving in an evolutionary development and it is the infallible Imam who is directing this movement...It was on my mind that since they in Europe have insulted our {rophet I should absolutely mention the name of the prophet, then I prayed [a certain prayer]...suddenly I saw someone throwing a plastic object at me to instigate fear in us and make us leave the summit. For a moment all the events of Columbia University passed through my mind which made me laugh. In my heart of hearts I said, God wants them to be humiliated today…! After that individual was forced out of the venue I began, prayed those exact prayers just for the sake of being registered, and after a few minutes some of the Europeans left the venue and interestingly, they also wanted to follow them but this did not happen and inside as well as outside everyone was applauding us. Interestingly, in the pictures transmitted by Western media the camera is only filming the Iranian delegation so unity of support for Iran is not shown...The atmosphere was changed as if this is the burial ceremony of liberal democracy..."

·         Former Turkish Prime Minister Erbakan, speaking at the Ma'soumiyeh Theological Seminary in Qom, criticizes "transfer of nine percent of the money from pilgrimage to Mecca to the bank accounts of the Jews. This happens even though the Jews commit the worst crimes against Muslims in Palestine and want to occupy Iran, Turkey, Arabia and Egypt in order to establish Greater Israel."

Politics

·         Mehdi Karrubi declares his readiness to debate Ahmadinejad on live television.

o    Karrubi, speaking at the Kermanshah branch of the Azad University, says interventions of the Guardian Council in presidential elections has endangered the republican principle of the Islamic Republic.

o    Members of the Iran Freedom Movement meet Karrubi campaign headquarter staff.

o    Karrubi urges all those demanding change to participate in elections.

o    Karrubi, speaking at the Martyr Chamran University in Ahwaz, recalls a meeting with Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi before the revolution: "In 1973, I asked Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani about the whereabouts of Mr. Mesbah and asked how come there is no news of Mr. Mesbah who a few years ago supported the Imam [Khomeini]. Mr. Hashemi [Rafsanjani] answered that he has changed and believes whoever revolts in the absence of the Imam of the Era will be beheaded."

·         Government Spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham attacks the Iranian parliament's vetoing of the government’s legislative attempt to reduce the voting age to 15, accuses the parliamentary majority of "founding a secularist movement...by accepting the taboo of 18 year age limit."

·         At an important session of the Ahmadinejad supporters featuring Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashayi, Gholam-Hossein Elham, Agha-Tehrani, Esmail Kowsari and others, the Ahmadinejad shares his thoughts about changing the Constitution so Iranian presidents can be elected to more than two consecutive terms "like our friends do in Latin America."

·         Rafsanjani, visiting the Towhid Tunnel Project, stresses the importance of "institutionalization of development in Iran."

·         Welfare and Social Security Minister Abd al-Reza Mesri says he has not appointed Bazrpash as the new head of the Social Security Organization, but he has "nothing against that appointment."

·         Isar-Garan Faction Secretary Fadayi says a committee in defense of the vote in reality is a "committee instigating crisis."

·         Mousavi says he respects the Basij and that he has "not thrown away my Basij uniform."

o    Student Basij members attack  Mousavi's meeting at Azad University, in response Mousavi says "long live my opponent." 

·         Tabnak News Agency releases hitherto undisclosed biographic information about former IRGC chief Mohsen Rezai whose real name is "Sabzevar Rezai Mir-Gha'ed," allegedly born in the provincial town of Lali. Tabnak also discloses that the name "Mohsen" was chosen as a code name of Rezai in Mansouroun pre-revolutionary terrorist organization.

o    Tabnak News releases Khomeini's letter praising Mohsen Rezai and the Revolutionary Guards for averting airplane hijackings.

o    Pelak News releases news of "second defection of Ahmad Rezai, son of Mohsen Rezai.

·         Rafsanjani, Hassan Khomeini and Hassan Rowhani to discuss future of reform movement.

·         Khamenei in Sanandaj:

o    "Today, as opposed to the era of the revolt against God, the governments visit the provinces and different cities and even people in the remotest areas witness the presence of the President, the cabinet ministers and other authorities..."

o    “All the candidates who are announced by the Guardian Council are qualified but one must not suffice with minimal requirements when it comes to an issue as important as presidential elections. One must - based upon indicators - choose the best and most qualified candidate among the candidates...I don't express any opinion about any of the individuals...Choose someone who knows the problems of the country, is aware of the problems of the people and feels pain by knowing the pain of the people, is in unity with the people and is sincere, someone who lives a simple life and himself and his family and those persons close to him are far away from corruption and aristocratic behavior and wasteful lifestyle since aristocratic tendencies among the authorities is a huge danger..."

·         Combatant Clergy Association Secretary Mousavi Khoeini-ha says "if we wanted someone to take decisions for the people, what reason was there to engage in a revolution?"

·         Hojjat al-Eslam Morteza Agha-Tehrani, speaking at the Spontaneous Student Movement In Support of Ahmadinejad seminar in Isfahan, accuses former President Mohammad Khatami of not knowing "the meaning of martyrdom."

·         Hojjat al-Eslam Ghorourian mentions the Ahmadineajd government's "bad relationship with the clergy" as "a contributing factor to doubts and hesitation of the societies to declare their support for the Ahmadineajd candidacy for presidency."

o    Agha-Tehrani also adds despite Ahmadinejad not being a cleric, "he was very close to theological seminaries."

o    Addressing Ahmadinejad's rivals, Agha-Tehrani warns: "The elections will be over in a month, don't buy yourself a ticket to hell in the next couple of months. Don't lie, don't deface others by your claws, but also don't let anyone deface Islam with their claws."

·         The government manages to shut down the parliament for the next 14 days.

Trade

·         E'temaad reports 222 percent growth in U.S.-Iran trade since 2008.

·         Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister says the Islamic Republic of Iran has hitherto participated in water, irrigation, silos and oil and gas projects in Syria but "unfortunately the Iranian private sector has no share in such investments."

·         The Roads and Transportation Ministry along with the Foundation of the Oppressed sign a contract with the China’s STA Consortium to develop a 32-kilometer freeway from Tehran to the Caspian region.

·         Swedish companies help improve road security on Bojnourd/Mashhad road.

·         Eight airports in Iran are declared international airports.

·         Direct flights between Kish and Belarus to begin soon.

·         Saudi Ettesalat Mobile Phone Service Provider expects explosive growth in the Iranian market but adds it considers the disputed islands of the Persian Gulf as Emirati.

·         Export of saffron reaches $91 million.

·         Tabnak asks why Iran did not participate at the Natural Gas summit in Bulgaria.

·         Three unnamed European oil companies express interest in investing in Bushehr oil projects.

·         Mrs. Fatemeh Rahbar, member of the Motalefeh faction, demands execution of Communication Minister of the Khatami government who signed a contract with Turkcell.

Economy

·         Deputy Oil Minister Nour al-Din Shahnazi says 7 oil refineries are projected to secure the Islamic Republic's gasoline self-sufficiency.

·         Roads and Transportation Minister reports that the government has not managed to involve the private sector to cover 50 percent investment in development of road projects.

·         Central Bank Director General Mahmoud Bahmani resigns in protest against government withdrawals from the foreign exchange reserve and "disagreements with certain cabinet minister," becomes the third Central Bank Director General to resign during the Ahmadinejad presidency.

o    Aftab-e Yazd claims the foreign exchange reserve has reached negative $15 billion.

o    The latest statistics from the Central Bank show 316 percent increase in withdrawals from the foreign exchange reserve compared to a year ago. In total numbers the report specifies that during the past ten months $34.6 billion was withdrawn from the foreign exchange reserve. According to this report the foreign exchange reserve has been down to negative $14.9 billion.

·         Reserves of petrochemical products reaches zero.

·         Abrar-e Eqtesadi publishes a Persian translation of the main points of the latest IMF report on the state of Iranian economy.

·         Larijani criticizes the Rapid Employment Generating Plan of the Ahmadinejad government as well as distribution of the so called Justice Shares to more than five million Iranians mostly in the rural areas.

o    Larijani adds he finds it very difficult to believe that "95 percent" of the rapid employment generation plans have been successful.

o    Labor ministry deputy claims the Rapid Employment Generating Plans of the government have created 405,000 jobs per year during the past four years.

Human Rights and Labor

·         Tabnak News, quoting a Swiss newspaper. claims it was through intervention of Swiss authorities during Ahmadinejad's visit to Geneva that Iranian/American journalist Roxana Saberi was released the other day.  

Religion, Culture and Society

·         Khamenei in Sanandaj:

o    "From the viewpoint of the Salafis and Wahabis, the Shia and those members of the Sunni community who feel love towards the members of the household of the Prophet and followers of the Qaderi sect among the Sunnis, are all apostate wherever they may be in the world, but the truth is that the followers of this poisonous thought are agents of instigating discord among Muslim brothers.

o    So are those Shi'a who out of ignorance or malicious thoughts insult sacred beliefs of the Sunni community. They are agents of planting discord. At any rate, the behavior of both groups is religiously prohibited and illegal..."

·         Tabnak News condemns Danish writer Kaare Bluitgen's translation of the Quran which is to be released soon.

·         Khamenei's Menschenrechte und Freiheit published in Berlin.

·         Media expert Fazlinezhad claims "many world philosophers are in the pay of the CIA."

·         Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Saffar Harandi complains about "too few pictures of prayers on television."

Iran in the Afghan Media

·         Iran bans Afghan women from work.

• Iran’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has warned Iranian businesses not to employ Afghan women refugees without legal work permit or face cash penalty and imprisonment. Afghan parliamentarians condemned the move as in breach of international law.

·         Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission has announced that there will be no polling stations in Iran and Pakistan for the Afghan refugees to vote in the upcoming presidential election. The move will deprive over one million eligible Afghans from voting.

·         Iran renders humanitarian aid in eastern Afghanistan. The aid package was donated by Iran’s consulate in the eastern province of Nangarhar to victims of a recent earthquake in the region.

Photo of the Day

·         Rezai visits Tehran International Book Exhibit.

·         Khamenei in Kordestan.