Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Katherine Faley, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin.  To subscribe to this daily newsletter, e-mail [email protected].

Ahmadinejad, Mousavi neck-and-neck in new poll; Supreme Leader cautions against voting for president seeking to “acquiesce to Western powers”; Mousavi questions government’s policy of expanding engagements in Latin American, not in Caucasus; Rezai pledges constructive, effective engagement with U.S.; Ahmadinejad’s parliamentary supporters threaten to unseat Larijani; President promises to share oil profits with citizens if reelected; Foreign Ministry spokesperson calls for “practical changes” to U.S. policies; Larijani rules out recognition of Israel; Pakistan’s Zardari visits Tehran; Ahmadinejad accepts Russian President’s invitation to attend upcoming Shanghai summit; Iran’s Oil Minister announces investment of $70 billion in oil, gas industry; Tehran to build trade centers in China; Egyptian scholar pledges support for Iran in event of war with U.S.

• (E) In the latest poll of the Qom province, both Ahmadinejad and Mousavi have received 30 percent of the votes while Karrubi received 5 percent and Rezai nearly 1 percent.
• Interior Ministry Parliamentary Deputy Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad-Hossein Mousipour says release of polls is prohibited 24 hours to the presidential election. 
• (E) Ayatollah Seyyad Ali Khamanei cautioned the Iranian nation against voting for a president who would acquiesce to Western powers, stating: “Beware not to elect those who may seek to gain an international status by ingratiating themselves with Western regimes. They are of no value to the Iranian nation.”
• Election inspectors chosen among public servants who also are members of the Basij. 
• IRGC Political Department Chief Yadollah Javani says the recent protests against Basij intervention in elections are raised by those "who consider the Basij an obstacle in their path," and launches a counter attack against well known reformist theoreticians.   More.
• Reformist theoreticians Abbas Abdi and Hamid-Reza Jalaeipour discuss presidential elections at Sharif University. 
  • In a defeatist tone, Abdi says: "Today the people consider the ninth government's most successful field the field of foreign policy since they believe if enrichment [of uranium] has taken place, it is positive development. We on the other hand know which results this [enrichment of uranium] has... Our criticism of the Ahmadinejad government is a waste of time since the common people do not have our sentiments and have a different understanding."

• (E) Mousavi criticizes President Ahmadinejad’s foreign and domestic policies, including the weak economy and growing relations with Latin American.
• (E) Mousavi launches Kalameh Sabz (Green Word), a daily newspaper to explain his vision of the Iranian nation.
• Mir-Hossein Mousavi campaigns in Yazd, discusses economic issues, but also asks why Iran is expanding its engagements in Latin America and not in its own backyard, the Caucasus? 

• Mohsen Rezai says his government will have a "constructive and effective engagement with the United States."
• Rezai campaign chiefs in 20 provinces.
• Rezai promises to include Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mohammad Khatami in his cabinet. 
• Rezai denies having said that Ahmadinejad has "led the country into the borders of abyss" and promises to continue the good deeds and policies of Ahmadinejad.
• Tehran Mayor Qalibaf serves as Mohsen Rezai's pilot from Bandar Abbas to Tehran. 
• Ayatollah Na'im-Abadi, representative of the Supreme Leader in Hormozgan, welcomes Rezai to the province, urges the public to participate in elections in order to secure maximum participation. 

• Ahmadinejad's parliamentary supporters threaten to unseat Ali Larijani as Speaker of the Parliament.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Ghasem Ravanbakhsh, member of the scientific board of the Imam Khomeini Research Institute in Qom and political editor of Partov-e Sokhan:
  • "Today the Americans and the Europeans who have been dealt serious blows by Iran in various discussions including the nuclear issue are trying to work against reelection of Ahmadinejad..."
  • "They know Ahmadinejad will be reelected. Dennis Ross has said that Ahamdinejad will be reelected, but we must see to it that his vote is reduced…"
  • "Unfortunately internal movements against the government are in tandem with Westerners and the Americans and the Westerners have on numerous occasions supported them... Unfortunately opponents of the government are chanting the slogans of the Westerners and the Americans and say 'let anyone else but Ahmadinejad become president'. This is a sign of their cooperation with the Westerners..."
• Ahmadinejad, speaking at a seminar with major oil executives, says "the main hands of the oil mafia have been severed, now only a few hands have remained but God willing they too will be severed and annihilated..."
• Parliamentarian Daryoush Ghanbari finds "questionable the money being distributed during Ahmadinejad's provincial trips." 
• (E) Ahmadinejad pledges to share oil profits with Iranian citizens, if re-elected.
• Entekhab News reports an alleged meeting of 700 members of the Revolutionary Guards in which representative of the Supreme Leader in the Guards, Hojjat al-Eslam Saidi, discusses the elections and urged all the IRGC members to vote for Ahmadinejad but did so without mentioning Ahmadinejad's name.
• Ahmadineajd's campaign headquarters launches a website: http://dolateyar.ir
• Reza Hosseini is appointed Youth Campaign Chief of the Ahmadinejad campaign in Kerman.

• Former parliamentarian Mohammad Dehghan says he will publicize personal wealth of all Iranian officials. 
•  (E) Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hassan Qashqavi, challenged Obama to bring “practical changes” to Washington’s foreign policy approach towards Tehran.
•  (E) Saqqez, the second largest city in Iran’s Kurdistan Province, will host Supreme Leader Khamenei on the last day of his tour.
• Supreme Leader Khamenei speaking in Bijar: "Unity of the word of the nation with the ethnic groups and sects and all those following the great Imam [Khomeini] established a new civilization and a new political thought in the world whose guiding signs are visible in the Palestine, Lebanon and other issues and it has awakened all from North Africa to East Asia..."
• Khamenei also stressed unity of Shi'a and Sunnis has led to survival of the revolution. 
• Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani stated that the Islamic Republic will not recognize the Zionist regime in Israel, calling its recent proposal to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a “mere deception.”

• Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ghashghavi: "The fact that President Obama in an interview with Newsweek says 'our posture with regard to Iran has been wrong for the past thirty years and we must take a new posture' is a realistic statement... Like everyone else we are waiting to see how such realist statements are put to action... The question of change being real, strategic or tactical is their decision. One must give them time and we are waiting..."
  • Ghashghavi also warned the "statesmen of the White House" against being influenced by "propaganda of Zionist politicians and their lobby in America."
• (E) Pakistan’s Zardari heads to Tehran.
• (E) President Ahmadeinejad accepted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s invitation to attend the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. As an observer member of the organization, Iran seeks to join the SCO, which aims to counter NATO’s influence in Eurasia and Central Asia.
• (E) The May 19th summit for the Presidents of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan has been postponed due to the security crisis in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.

• (E) Asadollah Askaroladi announced plans to construct two trade centers in China as a result five economic delegations from China to Tehran over the past two months. 
• As the President of Uganda visits Khorasan-e Razavi province Governor General Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh explains the Khorasan private sector's capacity for investments in Uganda.
  • President of Uganda says Uganda will build an oil refinery with aid from Iran. 

• (E) IRI Oil Minister Gholamhoseyn Nowzari announced the investment of 70 billion dollars in the nation’s oil and gas industry.

• (E) Egyptian scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has promised to back Iran in the case of war with the United States, stating that, “all countries, including Iran, have the right to follow a peaceful nuclear program.”

• Alef News Agency, increasingly close to the Ahmadinejad campaign, says they have correspondence between the Revolutionary Guards, the Parliament and the President's Office from the Khatami presidency in which Khatami recognizes the division of the Basij into three main groups of which two are allowed to intervene in politics.
• Tehran Security Police Chief Commander Ali-Pour says police patrols will intensify in the Iranian capital.
• Former IRGC chief Rahim Safavi says there are 400,000 Basij members in Kordestan. 
• Zahedan Salman Base Chief Colonel Molla-Shahi reports military maneuvers.
• Eritrea’s authorities refute rumors of that Iran has shipped them arms. 
• (E) Iranian forces test their border patrolling techniques to combat terrorism in light of recent security crises in neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• (E) Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of the militant terrorist Jundullah group, has threatened to kill Sunni clerics for encouraging people in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province from voting in the upcoming presidential elections.
• Inaugurating the 27th Quran recitation competition of the Armed Forces, Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, representative of the Supreme Leader in the Revolutionary Guards, condemns the reform movement, says "in the past years the people in their wisdom and following the warnings of the Supreme Leader brought the Principalists to power." 
• Armed Forces Command Council Chief Firouz-Abadi condemns Republic of Azerbaijan's invitation to President of Israel. 

• (E) The Tuscany Film Commission in Cannes is sponsoring Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s latest production Certified Copy, his first film shot outside of Iran set in the Chianti countryside.
• (E) The 10th International Radio Festival and the Second Radio Forum begins today, in which 60 producers will discuss issues including music, radio drama, and performance of radio in expanding communications.

• Funeral of Ayatollah Bahjat in Qom.
• Supreme Leader Khamenei in Bijar, here and here.