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

• Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani:
  • "It is a source of grief that [175] parliamentarians have written a letter to the Judiciary Chief asking why the Judiciary is wasting time when it comes to dealing with the heads of the discord..."
  • "We have, both when it comes to identification of the discord, its chiefs and their crimes, expressed ourselves bluntly and have never doubted, but they [the parliamentarians] should know that the Judiciary always makes moves in the direction of the grand policies of the regime of the Islamic Republic..."
  • "I do not want to claim that all things happening in state bureaucracy are the orders of the Leader...but someone appointed by the Leader does not have an opinion other than the Leader[’s opinion]..."
• Kayhan depicts NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen as "the friend of [Mohammad] Khatami...who warns against Iran's missile program...and who supported insulting caricatures of the prophet Muhammad,...with whom Khatami shook hands despite his hand being broken."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Rouhollah Hosseinian, parliamentarian: "In the discord of 2009, infidels came to wage war upon the Islamic revolution with all its forces."
• Kayhan editorial condemns "heads of the discord" because of their support for "terrorists" who were executed by the Islamic Republic authorities.
• Thirteen members of Ahmadinejad's cabinet decline to accept cash subsidies they are entitled to as part of the reform of the subsidies program of the government.
• Students at Khajeh-Nasir University protest against presence of IRGC Chief Ja'fari at the university.

Diplomacy

• Kayhan editorializes:
  • "The United States, along with the Zionist regime and some of its European and regional allies, has for years used the nuclear issue of our country as an excuse to isolate Iran internationally. But arrangement of two international summits and two successful war games of the Guards in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean demonstrate both the military and diplomatic power of our country..."
  • "The Group of 15's summit in Tehran was the sound of the crushing of the shallow stature of the United States as a superpower and its dominance upon developing countries in the world."
• Ali Vakili-Rad, murderer of Dr. Shapour Bakhtiyar, the last prime minister of the Shah, returns to the Islamic Republic as a hero after 19 years of imprisonment in France.
• Australian authorities have decided to expel a certain Dr. Laghayi, an Iranian Shi'a cleric.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi says of the three American mothers traveling to Iran to see their imprisoned children: "The Islamic Republic of Iran has for humanitarian reasons allowed them to travel to Iran even though the three individuals are spies who had entered Iran illegally. But we dealt with this issue based upon religious commandments and a humanitarian sense. Now we must see how a country which purports to [respect] human rights behaves. They have kidnapped innocent individuals and hold them in the United States..."
  • [E] Iran allowed the entry of the mothers of three American inmates- who were arrested by Iranian security forces in July after crossing Iran-Iraq borders - to visit their children.
  • [E] Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has described Tehran's treatment of the three US citizens as just.
• [E] Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Nizar Madani held a meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Thursday to discuss bilateral ties between the two Muslim states.
• [E] Iranian Ambassador to the Vatican Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar Nasseri in a meeting with Vatican officials stressed the development of all-out ties between the two sides, especially in the field of culture.
• [E] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Thursday hailed Iran-Kuwait age-old relations, and said the two countries share common positions on international and regional issues.
  • [E] Iran and Kuwait signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to boost parliamentary cooperation.
  • [E] Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Thursday interests of Iran and Kuwait are intertwined.

Military and Security

• Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, addresses the Principalist faction members in Sari: "[Should Israel attack Iran] it means that the Americans have made a deal with Iran in order to get rid of Israel... If there is an attack from the Zionist regime against Iran, this country [Israel] will not survive for more than a week...Annihilation of the Zionists in the hands of Iran requires less than ten days..."
• Ahmadreza Pourdastan, Army Ground Forces chief says the Army is capable of installing advanced weapon systems in operational areas in a very short period of time.
• Asghar Kazemi, SAIRAN Communications executive general, says "47,000 communication devices have been delivered to the armed forces in recent years."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi makes predictions about the anniversary of the presidential election: "With the suppression which took place, the movement of discord can no longer make any move..."
• Jundallah leader Rigi says he has had meetings with "a group calling themselves representatives from NATO" in Casablanca in order to organize Jundallah bases in countries neighboring Iran.

Nuclear Issue

• Jomhouri-ye Eslami slams the Tehran nuclear declaration of Iran, Turkey and Brazil: "First and foremost, they must explain what guarantees they have been provided with since they were ready to accept exchange of low enriched uranium in Turkey which is a NATO member...How come we have accepted that transfer of nuclear fuel to Iran should take a year?...Why has it not been considered to exchange gradually rather than our delivery of 1200 kilograms on one single occasion?"
• Foreign Minister Mottaki: "They [the West] should be aware that we are in the post- resolution era…"
  • Elias Naderan, parliamentarian, says one of the positive results of the Tehran nuclear declaration is that it "stops passage of resolutions against Iran."

o    Ali Larijani, speaker of the parliament, receiving the speaker of the Kuwaiti parliament says "exchange of fuel is a part of constructive engagement."

o    Ali-Akbar Salehi, Iran Nuclear Organization director general, says "the draft resolution [for sanctions against the Islamic Republic] is the final attempt of the Westerners."

• Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh, Ahmadinejad's special assistant, says the draft resolution for sanctions in U.N. Security Council "has no legitimacy."
• [E] Turkish President Abdullah Gul underlined the necessity for finding a diplomatic and peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear issue.
• [E] Brazilian President Louis Inacio Lula da Silva called on the members of the UN Security Council to adopt a positive approach towards the 'Tehran Declaration' on the swap of nuclear fuel between Tehran and the West.
• [E] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has cast doubt on the sincerity of the West about a proposal to provide fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.
• [E] Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, which is being built by Russia, is scheduled to begin operating in August regardless of any new sanctions against Tehran.
• [E] The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has backed an Iranian declaration which aims to end a standoff over Tehran's nuclear program.
• [E] Turkey has informally discussed Iran's nuclear declaration with Russia, one day after Moscow confirmed it had yielded to the US-led campaign for tougher sanction against Tehran.
• [E] The US president has hailed an anti-Iran UN Security Council (UNSC) draft resolution, ignoring Tehran's recent declaration on a nuclear fuel swap deal in Turkey.
• [E] One day after the US said an agreement was reached on draft sanctions against Iran over its nuclear work, the details of the proposed resolution is made public.
• [E] After Iran issued a declaration seeking to end the country's nuclear dispute, Brazil says slapping a new round of UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran would jeopardize a peaceful solution to case.
• [E] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday underlined Iran's constructive interaction with the international community over its peaceful nuclear program.
• [E] Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi announced on Wednesday that the next round of talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UNSC members plus Germany) is likely to take place in Turkey.
• [E] A senior Iranian legislator lashed out at certain western countries for their attempts to hinder diplomatic negotiations with Iran over its peaceful nuclear program, and blasted the US for presenting the UN Security Council with a draft resolution against Iran.
• [E] Kenyan Vice-President Stephene Kalonzo Musyoka on Wednesday voiced his country's support for the 'Tehran Declaration' issued by Iran, Turkey and Brazil on the swap of nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor.
• [E] The draft resolution against Iran over its nuclear activities which was presented by the US to the UN Security Council on Tuesday lacks legitimacy, a senior Iranian presidential advisor stressed on Wednesday.
• [E] Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Jassim Mohammad al-Kharafi, who is in Tehran for official talks, said that the Tehran Declaration on the swap of nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor was a diplomatic victory for Iran.

Religion, Society and Culture

• The government announces the names of 163 governmental institutions which must leave Tehran in order reduce the Iranian capital's population.
  • As a part of Ahmadinejad's decision to decrease the population of Tehran, representatives of the president at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education propose to transfer a number of universities out of the Iranian capital.
• Tabnak praises "resistance of the Shi'a" in the face of "government destruction of mosques in [the Republic of] Azerbaijan."

Trade

• China finances $1 billion worth of city improvement projects in Tehran.
• According to Mahmoud Zirakchian, 14 of Iran's oil fields in the Persian Gulf are shared with other states.
• The Islamic Republic builds an oil refinery in Indonesia.
• Reza Azimi, exploration chief of the Industry and Mining Ministry, says there has been a significant increase in foreign investment in mine exploration in Iran.
• The Islamic Republic will soon establish flights from Zahedan to Quetta and Karachi.
• [E] Members of the Iranian and Italian Chambers of Commerce attended a day-long conference in Rome to confer on opportunities for trade between the two countries.

Economy

• Iran Statistics announces that unemployment increased to 11.9 percent last year.

Iran in the Afghan Media

·         Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called recent anti-Iran demonstrations “inappropriate action” against “a friendly, brotherly country.” He said if people had concerns over the treatment of Afghans in Iran, they should let the governments of the two countries to address the problem.

Photos of the Day

• Training of Students’ Basij in Tehran.
• Jundallah leader Rigi in prison.