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

• Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Bagher Qalibaf visits sources of emulation in Qom Thursday.

Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad slams Russia’s stance against Iran in a speech in Kerman:  
  • "Iran and Russia are historical and natural friends...We are both neighbors and two neighbors can't avoid being friends. But friendship has its own rules. The first requirement is to respect mutual rights and defend the dignity of the counterpart..."
  • "It has become difficult for us to explain the behavior of [Russian President] Medvedev to the Iranian nation..."
  • "The Iranian nation does not know whether the Russians are our friends or opponents. If I were in the place of the Russian president, I would have practiced greater care and concentration when dealing with the issues of a great and powerful nation like the Iranian nation..."
  • "We would not like to see our neighbor to support those who have shown enmity against the Iranian nation for the past thirty years at sensitive times..."
  • "This issue is not acceptable for us. The Tehran Declaration is the best opportunity and there are no more excuses. They used to say the Westerners were applying pressure, so you should say something and do something important. We expressed something important and did something important. There are no more excuses. They should not say we [Russia] are under pressure..."
  • "We are under pressure as well. Can we work against the Russian nation just because we are under pressure?..."
  • "They [Russia] should not allow that the Iranian nation counts them among its historical enemies..."
  • Addressing President Obama, Ahmadinejad continued: "Mr. Obama must know that the Tehran Declaration is a historic opportunity for him to show he wants change, respects the rights of the nations, abandons wrong and inhumane issues of the past, and to treats the nations based upon justice and fairness. If he does not use this opportunity I consider it unlikely that the Iranian nation would give this gentleman another opportunity in the future."
• Ahmadinejad addresses the people in Kerman:
  • "Even if all the imperialists, bullies, and even those rebelling against God unite, they can't isolate the Iranian nation. What they say about isolation of Iran, [U.N.] resolutions and sanctions is their attempt to save themselves. It is the Iranian nation which isolates countries of this kind..."
  • "Thanks to the divine wisdom, in the near future the ugly and inhumane corpus of imperialism will collapse like the way Saddam was destroyed..."
• Hamid-Reza Taraghi, Moetalefeh international affairs deputy, says the interests of Russia and China are tied to Iran’s.
• The United States hosts 10,000 Iranian university students.
• [E] The Iranian president has slammed what he described as the “tyrannical policies of the West,” saying “no bullying power or corporate structure can isolate the Iranian nation.”
• [E] Belarusian First Vice-President Vladimir Semashko and Iranian Ambassador to Minsk Abbas Hosseini reviewed ways to develop bilateral ties between the two countries.
• [E] Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych held a meeting with Iran's new Envoy to Kiev Akbar Qassemi to confer on bilateral relations and other issues of mutual interest.
• [E] Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar reiterated Tehran's major role in regional developments, and said the country enjoys a high position on the international scene.
• [E] The Iranian parliament welcomes the upcoming visit by a number of European Parliament members to the country, Rapporteur of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazzem Jalali said.

Military and Security

• Moqtada al-Sadr refutes news that he is a source of emulation.
• Former defense minister Ali Shamkhani on live television: Video.
  • "Bani-Sadr was not a traitor. He wanted us to prevail in war, but his strategy and motives were wrong because he wanted to use victory in the war to achieve a political victory in Tehran."
  • "[Answering a question as to whether the post-election events were an act of war] Was this a war? A war? With which foreign enemy? What foreign threat?!"
  • "[Answering a question about reasons to end the war with Iraq in 1988] In my opinion there was no capacity to continue the war. We could not even provide boots..."
  • "[Answering a certain Dr. Hassan Abbasi's provocative phone call to the program] This Abbasi and Abbasis who have not even spent a single day at the front even don't know the difference between a nuclear bomb and a chemical bomb. The people who make such statements have not participated in the war. I know who this Abbasi is. I know what kind of a man he is."
    • Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards: "I deplore the analysis and viewpoint of Mr. Shamkhani...He must correct his views regarding [certain] individuals, parties and political movements of the country and have a deeper view about such societal groupings...All those individuals who were with the Imam [Khomeini] are valuable for us. But today, even individuals who were with the Imam thirty years ago are not with the Leader and are of no value to us." Link upon request.
    • Raja News attacks Shamkhani as a "well-known reformist." Link upon request. 
• Hassan Firouzabadi, chief of the General Staff: "After widening the gap between the poor and rich in society and failing to make progress anymore, they created a political movement called Mosharekat [Participation] with the aim of eradicating the thought of the Imam [Khomeini]."
• Revolutionary Guards Chief Mohammad-Ali Jafari addresses the Seyyed al-Shohada Revolutionary Guards Unit of Tehran:
  • "Last year’s events could have damaged all the past struggles of the revolution and everything which is considered as the achievements of the blood of the martyrs and the holy struggle of the Imam [Khomeini] and the martyrs of the history of Shi'ism. In this context, external enemies and internal opponents tried to prevent the revolution to pursue its divine path and utilized one of the obstacles in political discussions, which was the presidential election..."
  • "The Guards must take effective steps in order to achieve even greater preparedness in defense of the revolution and achievements of the regime of the Islamic Republic, and reach a better and more desirable position compared with previous years..."
  • "The Guards must not solely defend the revolution with arms. Before being a military organization, the Guards is a security/political organization and the philosophy of its being is to defend the revolution and its achievements, and it must prepare itself according to the threats of the day..."
• Commander Hossein Hamedani, Mohammad Tehran Rasoul-Allah Revolutionary Guards unit chief, says "Some five million people have registered to participate in the memorial service on the occasion of the passing of Imam Khomeini."
• The Intelligence Ministry produces a "documentary" about the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan in order to "document" Western involvement in the murder.

Human Rights

• Imprisoned filmmaker Jafar Panahi is bailed out of prison.

Trade

• [E] Iran's exports from its free trade zones have increased more than 36 times in the past few years, Commerce Minister Mehdi Qazanfari announced.

Economy

• [E] Iranian technicians successfully tested a new method for oil well perforations through percussion drilling at an oil well near Iran's western city of Dehloran, an official announced on Thursday.

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Iran urged all countries to take serious steps to dismantle all nuclear weapons in the world as the main objective of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and called for setting a deadline by the international community to this end.
• [E] Sanctions and pressures against Iran over its peaceful nuclear program have no effect on the country, Chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation Shokri Ghanem said.
• [E] Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sent letters to the leaders of France, Russia and the US on the 'Tehran Declaration' on the swap of nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor.
• [E] Russia has pledged to "actively support" the Tehran Nuclear Declaration on condition that the landmark fuel swap proposal is fully implemented.
• [E] Turkey has criticized the US for 'turning a blind eye' to the progress in diplomacy efforts to resolve the nuclear standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

Iran in the Afghan Media

·         Iranian embassy in Kabul has called on the Afghan government to prosecute Afghan lawmaker Ramazan Bashardost for making inflammatory remarks against Iran. The embassy has accused Bashardost of issuing death threats against Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan. Bashardost has criticized Iran for executing Afghan citizens without a fair trial.

Photos of the Day

• Shi'a News redicules Tehran fashion.

(E) = Article in English