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

Khatami’s joke about Azeris sparks controversy; Ahmadinejad defends close relations with Latin American countries; Karrubi’s team devising agenda for rapprochement with U.S.; Rezai emphasizes EU’s cooperation in Iran’s nuclear enrichment; Iran’s interior minister accuses Israel, U.S. of plotting suicide bombing in Zahedan to “plant discord among the Shi'a and Sunnis”; Supreme Leader’s representative in IRGC hints support for Ahmadinejad’s candidacy

Presidential Election: General

• Sobh-e Sadegh condemns former President Mohammad Khatami's joke about Azeris, which has been filmed and is widely distributed on the internet.
  • (E) Mir-Hossein Mousavi calls allegations that his supporter, former President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, insulted Azeri Iranians part of a larger “smear campaign designed to manipulate public opinion against him.”
• Mir-Hossein Mousavi attacked with slogans such as "Death to the Opponent of the Guardian Jurist" while Ahmadinejad is greeted with "Praise be the household of Muhammad, the scent of [martyred President Mohammad-Ali] Rajai has come" when the two presidential candidates arrived at the private home of Supreme Leader Khamenei to participate in Shi'a days of sorrow.
• Ahmadineajd advisor Mohammad-Ali Ramin says Rafsanjani is the key figure behind Mousavi, Karrubi and Rezai.
• Famous praise singer Haddadian singing at the passion ceremony of the Revolutionary Guards in Western Tehran begins his song with a lengthy attack against Mousavi and Rezai and defends Ahmadinejad. According to Shahab News Haddadian accused the former Revolutionary Guards Chief to "have forced the Imam [Khomeini] to drink from the chalice of poison [by ending the Iran/Iraq war]" and Mousavi for "painting rather than caring for the needy and poor." Haddadian ends his speech by saying: "Our vote is Ahmadinejad."
• (E) The use of colors for campaigning has taken center stage in this year’s election as some criticize the political exploitation of religious symbolism.

Presidential Election: Ahmadinejad

• Story about 200 parliamentarians supporting Ahmadinejad's candidacy refuted.
• Ahmadinejad launches his sixth attack against "traitors" who submitted to foreign pressures in the nuclear issue in 2004.
• Motalefeh Deputy General Secretary Asadollah Badamchian says "election [slogan of] 'anyone but Ahmadinejad'...pleases the world imperialism."
• Davoud Ahmadinejad, brother of the president, gets a cold reception in Abadan.
• Ahmad Khorshidi, father of Ahmadinejad's son-in-law, says Ahmadinejad's policies are fundamentally wrong, adds Ahmadinejad himself is the core of the problem since he rubs off on his friends but not vice versa. Khorshidi says he most certainly will not vote for Ahmadineajd.
• Former Industry Minister Eshagh Jahangiri attacks authenticity of statistics provided by Ahmadinejad.
• (E) Ahmadinejad’s student supporters march on Thursday, the official Iranian holiday that marks the demise of the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah Zahra.
• (E) Ahmadinejad responded to recent criticism of his foreign policy in Latin America, stating: “One of these gentlemen [rival candidates] still cannot understand the world affairs and this is why he asks us why we have focused on Latin America… When the Western countries were trying to isolate Iran, we went to the US backyard and I even delivered my strongest anti-US speech in Nicaragua.”
• (E) Ahmadinejad tried to discredit former President Khatami’s support for Mousavi by calling his meeting with French President Jacque Chirac in 2005 as “one of the saddest days of [his] life” because “Jacque Chirac was standing on top of the stairs and Iran's former president … had to climb several flights of stairs to reach him, that kind of behavior is insulting to us.”
• (E) President Ahmadinejad faces severe criticism for failing to provide adequate information regarding over 1 billion dollars of missing oil revenue from the 2006-2007 budget. 

Presidential Election: Mir-Hossein Mousavi

• Mowj-e Sevvom [Third Wave] releases Mousavi's campaign songs.
• Grand Ayatollah Sanei supports Mousavi's candidacy.

Presidential Election: Mehdi Karrubi

• Karrubi warns against Imam Khomeini Relief Committee's interventions in presidential elections.
• (E) Karrubi’s senior advisor Seyyed Mohammed Abtahi stated that Karrubi plans on setting an agenda for rapprochement with the United States, remarking that President Barack Obama could be the “next best thing” for Iran, “but at worst, he could pose also a much greater threat than the Bush administration.”
• (E) Another top aide, Abbas Abdi, announced that if elected, Karrubi will remove oil money from the budget to create a separate fund whose shares will be given to Iranian citizens.

Presidential Election: Mohsen Rezai

• Presenting his condolences to the family members of the victims in the terror bombing in Zahedan, Rezai says "million-strong participation in elections...neutralizes conspiracies of the enemy."
• Shahab News publishes parts of Rezai's speech which was censored by Fars News: "Enrichment of uranium can take place in cooperation with European states. Admittedly the ninth government with its resilience managed to secure Iran nuclear technology but with the bullying and adventurist posture it has taken one can't reach the goal..."
• Rezai sends Sadegh Tabatabaei abroad to raise the expatriate vote.
• (E) Breaking from his attacks on Ahmadinejad, Rezai challenges Mousavi’s economic agenda, stating: “Up until a few years ago, Mousavi believed in a state-controlled economy, just like Ahmadinejad… If his views have changed, he must make a clear and strong announcement and also explain why. Otherwise, I believe that the country's economy would not benefit from his viewpoints.”

Diplomacy

• Khatami meets former German Chancellors Helmut Schmidt and President Von Weizsäcker, along with former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo.
• (E) Majlis Speaker Larijani met with a delegation from the Iraq-Iran Parliamentary Friendship Group and expressed his pleasure with current economic developments in Iraq.
• (E) Iranian Governor General of Kurdistan remarked that an exclusive scientific exhibition held in Sulaimaniya, Iraq will strengthen diplomatic ties between the two nations.
• (E) Ecuadorian Defense Minister Javier Ponce Cevallos announced plans to shut down the US military base at Manta within four months and establish closer relations with Iran to help develop its own defense industry, stating: “we [Ecuador] have our own policies, our own geostrategic positions, and what interests us, with Iran for instance, is boosting information technology and our national defense strategies.”

Military and Security

• Suicide bombing at a Shi'a mosque in Zahedan kills or wounds more than 70 worshippers.
  • Higher numbers according to Shahab News.
  • Interior Minister Sadegh Mahsouli claims the perpetrators of the terror bombing were "Neither Shia, nor Sunni, but were Israelis and Americans who desire to plant discord among the Shi'a and Sunnis."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi, representative of the Supreme Leader in the Revolutionary Guards and his deputy Hojjat al-Eslam Mojtaba Zolnour, indirectly support Ahmadineajd's candidacy.
• The Revolutionary Guards Political Department Chief Yadollah Javani repeats Supreme Leader Khamenei's statements on characteristics of the good president. 

Trade

• (E) Iranian and Turkish officials met to discuss trade opportunities to improve diplomatic relations.

Economy

• (E) Iran’s Ambassador to Japan Abbas Araqchi announced that Iran plans to attract $30 billion in foreign investments from 2005 to 2025.

Religion, Society and Culture

• (E) On Thursday,Iranians nationwide mourned the passing of Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad, which is an official Iranian holiday.
• (E) The Iranian national soccer team arrived in Beijing on Thursday to prepare for its friendly match with the Chinese national football team next week.

Human Rights and Labor

• (E) Human Rights Watch is calling on the Iranian government to immediately release political prisoner Behrooz Javid-Tehrani and provide him with access to adequate medical care. The group says Javid-Tehrani is now on a 3-week-old hunger strike and in the "doghouse" section of the infamous Gohar Dasht prison in the city of Karaj, north of Tehran. His hands and feet are cuffed.
• A jailed student activist and her brother have been charged with "enmity against God" and "spreading propaganda against the regime" for being involved in student activities at a university. Shabnam Madadzadeh was arrested in February, and when her brother went to visit her in prison, he, too, was detained. [listen to an interview with their lawyer in Persian]
• The wife of noted labor leader Jafar Azimzadeh told Radio Farda that he was taken to section 209 of Tehran's infamous Evin prison where he was beaten during a 90 minute interrogation. [listen in Persian]
• Mohammad Seifzadeh, a lawyer and head of the Iranian Committee For Free and Fair Elections, has been ordered to report to court. He told Radio Farda that the court summons must be related to his campaign on behalf of election rights: "The authorities want to push it to the point where no civil movements can be active in Iran." [listen in Persian]

Photo of the Day

• Terrorists bomb mosque in Zahedan.
• Poverty outside of Bandar Abbas.