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].

 
 (E) = Article in English

Supreme Leader warns candidates against pleasing enemy; poll shows Mousavi’s slight lead over Ahmadinejad; Larijani denies endorsing Ahmadinejad amid increasing support for president in Parliament; Ahmadinejad steps up campaigning; presidential candidate Rezai advocates using “one strike” against Israel’s Damona nuclear complex; Mousavi unveils economic policies; Mousavi promises political freedom, civil liberties; Karrubi attacked over support for Bahais; Iran’s foreign minister urges Arab, Islamic states to sever relations with Israel; Ahmadinejad invited to upcoming Shanghai summit; Iran, Pakistan to sign Peace Pipeline project without India; Iran-India trade exceeds $13 billion; Ahmadinejad rejects Western proposal to freeze Iran’s nuclear program in return for lifting economic sanctions; Defense Minister inaugurates 30 radar, electronic warfare projects

Presidential Elections: General

• Khamenei speaking to family members of martyrs from Iran-Iraq war on anniversary of liberation of Khorramshahr urges presidential candidates to be wary: "Enemies of Iran and the Iranians dislike pride of Islam and Islamic values. Therefore all the authorities and presidential candidates should be wary of uttering words to the pleasure of the enemy."
• Khatami's Culture and Islamic Propagation Minister Ataollah Mohajeran, speaking from London exile, wants "anybody but Ahmadinejad" to win.
• As the Iranian parliament convenes, parliamentarians use green and red arm bands to signify their support to the candidate of their preference. Mousavi supporters wear green, the color of the prophet, and Ahmadinejad supporters use red, "the color of martyrdom."
  • Motalefeh faction condemns the Mousavi campaign's use of green arm bands, says it divides rather than unites the Iranians in the face of the enemy, adds the color signifies a "green light to the enemy." 
• (E) Former Iranian President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami encouraged a high voter turnout in the upcoming presidential election, stating that “it outweighs the result.”
• (E) Similarly, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called on Iranians to participate in the presidential election in order to “disappoint the enemies.”
• Election Headquarters Chief Kamran Daneshjou attacks candidates who demand a committee in defense of the vote for questioning servile attitude of the election headquarters. 
  • Interior Minister Sadegh Mahsouli says organized fraud is not possible in the presidential election. 
  • Ahmadinejad campaign chief Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh says "accusations of election rigging...are a method seen before." 
• Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, speaking at Tehran’s Friday prayers, says painting a black picture of state of affairs in elections harms the picture that the people have of the revolution.  Motalefeh agrees.
• Rafsanjani, speaking at Tehran’s Friday prayers, urges the public to participate in elections, stresses that every vote is important: 
  • "There are those who think that since a religious jurist with all the necessary qualifications is at the helm of affairs, an Islamic government has been formed. But even the Jurist has been appointed according to the Constitution and through popular will. What can the Jurist do without popular presence?
  • The morning after the elections, when we declare that more than 70 or 80 percent participated in elections, our regime will become more legitimate in the world and our enemies who out of envy are trying to create a gap between the people and the authorities will in practice and most certainly see that ashes of apathy is thrown on their heads..."
  • The Voice and Vision is a national media whose legitimacy is derived from popular satisfaction. From now on it should see to it that it acts in a just and non partisan way without supporting anyone and by abiding by the law so that the people go to the ballots confidently and a new sense of trust is created in society..."
• Reformist Camp Coordination Council in a statement condemns what they call unequal campaigning opportunities of different candidates. 
• (E) The Iranian government has unblocked Facebook, which young people had used to discuss their political views and presidential preferences.
• (E) The Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines (ICCIM) asked the presidential candidates to answer 25 questions regarding their economic visions for the country.
• (E) According to Ayandeh, Mir-Hossein Mousavi is leading the polls in 10 major cities, ahead of incumbent President Ahmadinejad by 4 percent.
• Tehran Police Chief arrests drivers exhibiting Mousavi's placards, prohibits use of placards on cars.
• Tehran Police Chief refutes the story.
• Former Vice President Mohammad-Ali Abtahi surveys various websites of the candidates
• Ali-Akbar Nateq Nouri, Head of the Supreme Leader's Inspectorate Office, says due to his position he should not comment on his personal views with regard to the candidates, says Iran is in need of several strong political parties and stresses that a good president is a president who abides by the law and cooperates with other state institutions.

Presidential Elections: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

• Abadgaran faction spokesman Mehdi Chamran says "prayer is not enough" to get Ahmadinejad reelected and calls for unity among the Principalists.
• Ahmadinejad attacks the reformist camp whom he accuses of trying to appease the enemy by "even plumbing chainsaws in this country," a reference to the previous government's alleged willingness to cooperate with the West in the nuclear issue.
• Attempts to unite the Principalists in support of Ahmadinejad comes to naught as Larijani and his 75 supporters deny the president their backing and support. Rouhollah Hosseinian mobilized 50 parliamentarians to support Ahmadinejad. At the end of the parliamentary session Hosseinian managed to increase Principalist endorsement of Ahmadinejad to 80 members of the Parliament. Larijani is reelected Speaker of the Parliament and Bahonar was elected his first deputy. More here.
  • (E) Nearly 70 percent of the Iranian Parliament has signed a letter endorsing President Ahmadinejad for re-election.
• Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh, Ahmadinejad’s campaign chief, claims his headquarters has no plans to campaign at street level, complains about "the oppositional press."
• (E) Ayatollah Mohammed-Reza Mahdavi-Kani has endorsed Ahmadinejad for re-election.
• Mehdi Khorshidi, Ahmadinejad's son-in-law condemns the press' use of his father's statements against Ahmadinejad.
• Ahmadinejad's televised address: "We are getting closer to taking greater decisions and we must all work to build a better Iran..."
  • Ahmadinejad adds that he believes in "divine blessing, unparalleled capacity and capability of the Iranian nation and executive management of the Imam of the Era."
• Ahmadinejad defends his record: "The greatest achievement of this government during the past couple of years is reestablishment of the self confidence of the nation and belief in them self… In different fields different and unparalleled achievements have been achieved. In the economic field, the government has served three times more than the past, in other fields the work done is ten times efforts of the past. In order to evaluate work done one only needs to compare with performance of past governments. The problems and weaknesses have always been there. One must see which problem has decreased. In this country, for the first time the prestige of the threat of sanctions collapsed... Is it the Iranian economy or the economy of world imperialism which has collapsed?
  • IRNA reports from Ahmadinejad’s speech to 12,000 student audience: The students shouted God is great, Death to the opponents of the guardianship of the jurist, "we are all your soldiers Khamenei", "Ahmadi, Ahmadi, we support you!", "death to America", "death to Israel", and the like. 
• Self-Sacrificers’ faction explains its support for Ahmadinejad, call him the candidate of "resistance [in the face of world imperialism]."
• Ali-Reza Zaker Esfahani, head of the Presidency's Research Institute, praises the Ahmadinejad government as the "iconoclast" of "the icon of Zionism." 
  • Zaker says that the Supreme Leader has approved of the nuclear policies of the Ahmadinejad government.
• Ahmadinejad's televised address.
  • Contrary to the regulations, Ahmadinejad revised his televised address to rebut issues raised by other candidates.
  • Shamghadari, cultural advisor to Ahmadinejad, denies Abrar's report.
•  (E) Ahmadinejad made his first election campaign broadcast address on national radio, stating: “Today’s conditions resemble a launching pad and through better and complete insight of national capacities and capabilities, we should continue the path to enhance dignity and grandeur of Iranian nation.”
• (E) Ahmadinejad defended his administration from political criticism, citing his election in 2005 as the turning point at which “the people returned to their revolutionary goals and chose the slogan of 'We Can.'”

Presidential Elections: Mohsen Rezai

• Mohsen Rezai says Ahmadinejad is unconvincing in his claims that he has not had enough economic opportunities to live up to his promises, promises to correct mistakes of past governments in the economic field, stresses that distribution of money among the people "produces beggars" and is "unproductive." 
• (E) If elected, Rezai promises to ease tensions between Iranians and Arabs by clearing long-standing misunderstandings.
• (E) Regarding women’s rights, Rezai promised to “put Iranian housewives on the government's payroll and… officially register the role that they are playing in the society as a job.”
• Rezai's televised address.
  • Rezai calls for a social, political and cultural transformation of society.
• Rezai campaign refutes rumors that he will leave the campaign to benefit Mousavi. 
• (E) To stop a nuclear attack on Iran, Rezai advocates using “one strike” against Israel’s Damona nuclear complex, stating: “My government... understands missiles and tanks as well as foreign policy and knows exactly where Israel’s sensitive spots are.”

Presidential Elections: Mir-Hossein Mousavi

• Mousavi explains his economic policy in very general terms such as lesser reliance on the oil revenue, poverty eradication, and the like.
• Former President Khatami urges the Iranians to vote for Mousavi as "a religious and revolutionary duty and a way of choosing your own destiny."
• Mousavi to answer questions from Iranians living Europe on Jam-e Jam Television.
• Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, brother of the former president and the former president's daughter Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani increase their activity in support of Mousavi.
  • Ethnic groups’ committee of the Mousavi campaign on the other hand is dissolved. 
•  (E) In his first televised campaign address, Mousavi criticized the Ahmadinejad administration for its economic and diplomatic failures, noting in particular high inflation rates and an isolationist foreign policy.
• Parliamentarian Mohammad-Hossein Moghimi, praising Mousavi's managerial skills and economic policies, says the people "did not taste poverty during eight years of war."
• Mousavi's first televised address (transcript): "I would like to use this opportunity to thank all those people welcoming me [at rallies]...I did not transport them with cars to the rallies, had neither the means to do so nor cash and I also firmly believe that it is not in expectation of opportunities that people welcomed us. It is because they feel responsible towards the revolution and the country..."
  •  Mousavi also thanks the family members of the martyrs from the Iran/Iraq war, criticizes the government for importing rice rather than purchasing rice produced by Iranian farmers, claims while 6000 tons of sugar is piled up around Iran, the government imports sugar, and says economic mismanagement harms both workers and capitalists. The rest of the televised address is used for criticizing economic policies of the Ahmadinejad government, rising inflation, and chaos in the banking sector. 
• Farshad Momeni, the Mousavi campaign's chief economic strategist, promises that Mousavi will continue Ahmadinejad's economic policies. 
  • During a lecture Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani. commenting on Mousavi's televised address, says he wished he had died and not heard Mousavi's comments and asks why no one takes a look at what good Ahmadineajd has done during the past four years.
• Mahdavi Kani refutes the story.
• Youth supporters of Mousavi rally at Mellat Park in Tehran. 
• Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, says the Islamic Republic is badly in need of NGO's and other civil society institutions capable of keeping the president of the republic in check. 
• (E) In his election speech at Tabriz University, Mousavi called for an opening of society based on political freedom and civil liberties, warned against the dangerous consequences of a police state.

Presidential Elections: Mehdi Karrubi

• Karrubi's televised address. 
• (E) Karrubi stated that if the presidential election is between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi, he will endorse Mousavi over the incumbent, stating: “I would definitely support Mousavi, and as far as I know my friends would do the same.” 
• Karrubi meeting tribal elders in Fars urges them to give a "Great No" to the current state of the affairs.  
• Karrubi's televised address. 
• Karrubi urges the Islamic Republic of Iran Voice and Vision to invite external experts to discuss elections. 
• Parliamentarian Mahmoud Ahmadi Bi-Ghash attacks Karrubi for supporting "the Bahai sect." 
• Speaking in Hormozgan, senior Karrubi campaign advisor Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi criticizes Ahmadinejad's policies and says he has a 35 point plan to solve Iran's problems: "The Socialist economic experience in Iran has led to defeat... There are some who instead of an Islamic Republic speak of an Islamic Government which Karrubi finds dangerous...If the Islamic character of our nation becomes like that of the Taliban we don't accept it… At nuclear seminars we should not make such a great thing out of it and threaten the entire world and we should not make it an excuse for economic sanctions against our country..." 

Politics

• (E) Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki applauded Supreme Leader Khamanei for his successful efforts uniting Shi’ites, Sunnis, and different ethnic groups in Iran.
• Social Welfare Minister Abd al-Reza Mesri announces increase in retired state employees pay. 

Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad speaking to university students in Tehran says a Saadabad Treaty was imposed upon the Iranian nation [Apparent reference both to the Khatami administration's promise of suspending uranium enrichment and Qajar-era Golistan and Turkmanchai treaties--Editor]: 
  • "One of the other issues was that of passivity in the nuclear issue. The nuclear issue was not only an issue about nuclear technology, but it was also the issue of independence of the Iranian nation, and the excuse [of the Khatami government] was that we want to reduce tensions. Step-by-step retreat was made which made the enemy bolder and more aggressive and they increased the level of their demands. At Saadabad, a shameful and unilateral treaty was imposed upon the Iranian nation and they said that the Iranian nation is forced to voluntarily suspend all its installations. They even said we should shut down laboratories and university courses related to it. And Mr. Blair at an interview declared we have reaped the fruit of [invasion of] Iraq in Saadabad...
  • They came and said Afghanistan is the first step. Iraq is the second step and they were emboldened to the degree that Mr. Bush frankly declared 'we want to occupy Iran.' His Vice President said that Iran should be erased from the scene, another one of them said we want to dry up the root of the Iranian nation. All this happened during the policy of detente in our diplomacy. In the Afghanistan issue, we had cooperation with them but they accused the Iranian nation of terrorism. In Iraq, we cooperated with them, but the called the Iranian nation Axis of Evil. On 15 occasions, they posed invasion of Iran...
  • The greatest criminals of history accused the Iranian nation of invading the realms of others, of violating human rights and they arranged the heaviest psychological warfare under circumstances when the greatest cooperation and respect was shown towards them...”
• Former IRGC chief Safavi, in Kerman: "The government of the United States has not differed the least compared with before and it is only the color of skin of the president of this country which has changed and the words and policies of the United States government towards Iran and other countries in the Middle East has not changed..." 
• Foreign Minister Mottaki asks Arab and Islamic states to sever relations with "the Zionist regime." 
• Jomhouri-ye Eslami condemns Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden's support for the March 14 faction in Lebanon, backs Lebanese Hezbollah's claim that the United States is interfering in internal Lebanese affairs.
• Ahmadinejad hosts Afghanistan president Karzai and Pakistan president Zardari at Saadabad Palace. 
  • Prime Minister of Japan thanks Iran for the Saadabad Summit and its attempt to stabilize Afghanistan. 
  • Presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan meet Supreme Leader Khamenei.
• (E) Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta hopes that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will attend the G8 conference in June.
• (E) In order to strengthen diplomatic ties, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced the reopening of the Iranian and Gabonese embassies in each country’s capital.
• Ahmadineajd invited to the Shanghai Pact Summit in Yekaterinburg. 
• Vice President Parviz Davoudi says "resistance" of the people against world imperialism in Latin America is inspired by the Islamic Republic. 

Economy

• (E) In an inaugural ceremony Wednesday, Industries and Mines Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian announced that the Shahroud Cement Factory doubled its daily output, helping Iran become self-sufficient.
• Head of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, in an open letter to the authorities, demands attention towards economic problems of the capital. 
• Poll shows that 72 percent of the population in Tehran would like to invest their money in private banks. 
• Statistics on the 3,000-5,000 interest free banks in Iran.
• Lack of finance slows development of the 17th and 18th phases of the South Pars Gas Field. 
• Commerce Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi says 30 percent of the inflation in the economy is due to inflation in the housing sector. 
• (E) Iranian Minister of Economy and Finance Shamseddin Hosseini announced the circulation of one billion dollars worth of bonds for oil and gas projects as a way to arrest the economic recession.
• (E) CEO of Bank Melli of Iran (BMI) stated that European sanctions have no bearing on the bank’s performance and that BMI will file complaints against the European Union.
• Economist Ali Nasiri says only 10 percent of privatization schemes are actually privatization while the rest is transfer of ownership of public-owned enterprises to other public owned enterprises.
• Deputy Agriculture Minister Farid Jalali says state subsidies for mechanization of farming in Iran increases with 55 percent.
• The government proposes establishment of a new bank specializing in the economic free trade zones of Iran.

Trade

• Mehdi Fakour, Production and Logistics Director General at the border areas oil company, says more than 80 percent of the reserve parts for wells are produced in Iran and that American companies are interested in supplying Iran with the remaining 20 percent of the equipment.
• Iran and Pakistan to sign the Peace Pipeline project without India. 
• Iran-India trade surpasses $13 billion. 
• Armenia to export electricity to Iran in exchange for natural gas imports from Iran.

Nuclear Issues

• Ahmadinejad speaks at a press conference:
  • “We have announced that we have answered the 5+1 Group's proposal and that we also will present a package. If there are going to be negotiation it will take place after the elections...Our nuclear issue is finished and we are advancing within the framework of the IAEA... The negotiations - with anybody - solely serves the purpose of managing world affairs and for the sake of peace and security for all and the Iranian nation does not allow anyone to discuss outside the legal frameworks of the IAEA...
  • The Zionist regime is a forged regime and founded upon threats, occupation and war and without war and threats it is dead...not even those greater than the Zionist regime are able of doing anything against Iran.
  • They will not do such a foolish thing, not even to attack Lebanon or Syria. This kind of noise does not prolong their life since they have been unmasked and everyone has become convinced of the forged and propagandistic nature of this [Israeli] regime. Therefore such noise is not worthy of attention..." 
• (E) Ali Ahani, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Education and Research, stated at a press conference in Moscow that Iran’s nuclear program was intended for peaceful purposes only, adding, “We have already announced that nuclear arms have no room in Iran’s military doctrine.”
• Following sometimes IRGC theoretician Hassan Abbasi's claim that Hassan Rowhani, Expediency Council Research Institute Chief has promised former British Foreign Minister Jack Straw a decade suspension of uranium enrichment, the Public Relations Department of the Expediency Council Research Institute says that then Supreme National Security Council Secretary Rowhani did not make such a promise and threatens to release its negotiations with the Europeans. 
• (E) Ahmadinejad reiterated that Iran’s nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes and added: “We think those who assume restoring nuclear weapons can have the upper hand in political equations are politically retarded.”
• (E) Ahmadinejad rejected a Western proposal to “freeze” Iran’s nuclear program in return for an end to economic sanctions.
• Ahmadinejad says Iran is ready to take over leadership of nuclear disarmament in the world.
• (E) Hassan Rowhani, former secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and top nuclear negotiator, invited President Ahmadinejad to a debate on Iran’s nuclear program.
• (E) Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini supported efforts to engage in dialogue with Iran over its nuclear program in order to stop the emergence of another nuclear power.

Religion, Society and Culture

• (E) Iranian calligrapher Yadollah Kaboli laments the lack of museums to collect calligraphy artwork.
• (E) Turkey’s Golden Boll International Film Festival will showcase works by Iranian filmmakers including internationally acclaimed Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi.
• (E) Ayatollah Taskheeri thanked Egyptian Awqaf Minister Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzooq for his calls to revive religious unity between Shi’a and Sunnis.  

Military and Security

• (E) Iranian security officials have apprehended gang members intending to disrupt security in the province of Western Azerbaijan in order to sabotage upcoming presidential elections.
• (E) The Khosravi border crossing between Iran and Iraq will be reopened after closing last month when a series of bombings killed over 60 Iranian pilgrims.
• (E) Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani disputed the claim that Iranian missiles represented a threat, arguing instead that they provide the region with great security.
• (E) Iran dispatched six navy ships to the Gulf of Aden and other international waters to demonstrate the country’s high level of military preparedness.
• (E) The production of six-passenger hovercrafts has begun in Iran, as part of its military defense program. 
• France to establish a military base in Abu Dhabi.
• Student Basij Chief Reza Seraj speaking at the Sistan va Baluchistan University in Zahedan: "I believe that the movement which was formed in this country under the name of reform movement in reality was a propagator of corruption which proliferated to the political, cultural and societal parts and even threatened Iran's national security... A book titled Third Wave of Democratization written by Samuel Huntington was translated into Persian by [transitional government Foreign Minister] Ebrahim Yazdi...and spread quickly among reformist theoreticians. In reality this book was the holy book of American reformists who in addition to deciding the strategy...also taught Islamophobia and the fight against Islam..."
• Ahmadinejad, in Semnan, says Iran will "make the base of launches of attacks against Iran hell."
• Basij Chief Hojjat al-Eslam Taeb: "The United States and Israel have for the sake of securing their existence been forced to change posture and have reached the conclusion that military strategy [against Iran] has been defeated...  In reality, today it is Iran which decides the issue of negotiation or non-negotiation."
• Law Enforcement Forces Chief says closure of the eastern border will be completed next year.
• Defense Minister Najjar inaugurates 30 radar and electronic warfare projects. 
• Armed Forces commemorates liberation of Khorramshahr.
• Kayhan accuses the United States of being a state sponsor of terrorism, especially in Iraq.
• Basij Chief Hojjat al-Eslam Hossein Ta'eb says the Basij will do its utmost to increase and maximize popular participation in presidential election. 
• Law Enforcement Forces Chief Ahmadi-Moghaddam says in two years Iran will introduce electronic passports, biometric and DNA tests at its borders. 
• IRGC activates a new generation of helicopter gunships.  More.
• Rafsanjani speaks at the Non-Active Defense seminar. 

Media

• Press TV placards in London Metro.

Human Rights and Labor

• (E) Emadedin Baghi, founder of the Society for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights and winner of the 2009 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, tells Radio Farda, "I highly value the interest of people in other countries about human rights in Iran."
• The lawyer for Sylva Hartounian, who was arrested in 2008 with HIV/AIDS activists Kamiar and Arash Alaei on charges of planning a "soft overthrow of Iran's regime," says prison officials "have suggested that she convert from Christianity to Islam."
• Released U.S.-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi arrives at Dulles International Airport. 
• Unpaid teachers from the Literacy Jihad demonstrate in front of the Parliament. 

Photos of the Day

• Defense Minister Najjar inaugurates 30 radar and electronic warfare projects.
• Karrubi campaigns in Shiraz, Mousavi in Isfahan and Tabriz, and Rezai in Khoramshahr.