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].

Politics

• Hojjat al-Eslam Sedighi leads this Friday's prayer in Tehran.

• Parliamentarian Esmail Kowsari says "instigators of discord" are the only hope of the United States in Iran.

• Arash Kousha, chief of SAIPA car manufacturer's football team has previously worked in the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization and is also related with Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei.

Human Rights

• Five individuals arrested during the post election unrest are condemned to death by the Judiciary.

Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad receiving cabinet ministers from Venezuela says "Obama is incapable of making true change in strategic policies of the United States."

  • (E) In a meeting with Venezuelan officials, Ali Akbar Mehrabian, Iran’s Minister of industry, announced that President Ahmadinejad will lead a delegation of government officials and Iranian businessmen on a tour of Latin American countries to explore furthering economic cooperation. The delegation will visit Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela.
  • (E) In a meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicholas Maduro to discuss strengthening bilateral ties, President Ahamdinejad questioned President Obama’s ability and determination to achieve a significant shift in Washington’s foreign policy. Ahamdinejad boldly claimed, "Obama is unable to make real changes in the strategic policies of the US."
  • (E) Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki held a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro in Tehran to discuss the expansion of bilateral ties. Mottaki highlighted the similar Iranian-Venezuelan understanding of regional politics in the Middle East and the burgeoning relationship between the two countries. 

• (E) Kuwaiti Prime Minister Nasir al-Muhammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah is scheduled to lead a delegation to Iran next week to discuss forms of Iranian-Kuwaiti cooperation and international issues. Al-Sabah expressed his satisfaction with Iranian foreign policy and said that stability in Iran would spread to the region as a whole.

• Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking in India says "world power" is being transferred to Asia.

• Parliamentarian Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Mirkhalili:

  • "The United States of America is like a man drowning in the sea and uses any tool to rescue himself. This is proof of weakness of the United States with regard to Iran..."
  • "Anyone who takes a position against the Guardianship will receive support from the Americans, but the people will isolate him and there will be nothing else but shame and repentance for such people..."
  • "The deeds of the Green Movement after the election have renewed the hopes of the United States, and since this movement is called the reformist front, the Americans consider the reformists as their vanguard..."
  • "No movement must engage in actions which attracts support...of the United States and the West since those engaged in such wrongdoings will become loathed by the public..."

Military and Security

• Hojjat al-Eslam Mojtaba Zolnour, Deputy Representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards, in Qom:

  • "In an Islamic regime, Guardianship and legitimacy of the Guardian Jurist is derived from God, the Prophet and the infallible [imams] and it is not so that the people give legitimacy to the Guardian jurist and remove him whenever they desire..."
  • "The people prepare the ground for realization of the Guardianship of the Jurist and they do so by electing the theologians of the Assembly of Experts. But the members of the Assembly of Experts do not appoint the Guardian Jurist, they discover him. It is not so that whenever they desire they can remove the Guardian Jurist..."
  • "The principle of the Guardian Jurist is not only irrefutable, but its absolute character is also recommended by reason. But absolute does not mean that the Guardian Jurist intervenes in all affairs of the people, but it means that the Guardian Jurist has all the prerogatives which answer the needs of the Islamic society..."
  • "As Guardian Jurist, Ayatollah Khomeini did not remain within the limits of law, but acted in an extra legal way. For example, for several years he called off the pilgrimage, which is regulation of primary commandments..."
  • "The Guardian Jurist must have free hands to solve the problems of society and it is wrong when they say the Guardian Jurist must act within the limits of the law..."

• Mohammad Abdalsalam, spokesman of the Al-Houthi fighters in Yemen, says the United States is intervening in the Yemeni conflict through Saudi Arabia, and welcomes Iran's mediation between the parties.

• Gholamreza Gheibparvar, the Revolutionary Guards Fajr unit Chief in Fars province: "During the latest events, rootless individuals without any knowledge of the revolution entered the arena. Just to mention one example, the son of an elite member paid two billion rials to hooligans in Southern Tehran so they set banks, shops and buses ablaze and rape women..."

Trade

• (E) Turkey intends to funnel the gas it will purchase from Iran through the Nabucco gas pipeline and deliver it to EU member countries. The Nabucco pipeline, a $7.9 billion project, envisages gas supply from the Caspian region to EU countries. The project will be completed by 2014.

Economy

• (E) Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir Kazemi announced a plan for the Islamic Republic to overcome US sanctions on fuel supplies to Iran by producing more gasoline. Like other members of Ahmadinejad’s administration, Kazemi asserted that US sanctions had been unable to impede the Iranian economy previously and Iran’s robust economy will remain unaffected.

Public Health

• (E) Last week, 42 more people died from the swine flu in Iran, increasing the national death toll to 100. The Iranian Health Ministry reported 466 new cases of the swine flu, brining the total number of affected citizens to 3128.

Religion, Culture, and Society

• (E) Iranian, Jordanian, and Georgian rugby teams are set to compete at the 4th round of international matches Iran’s southern island of Kish. General of the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) Ross Mitchell has agreed to attend the match and hold talks with prominent Iranian sports officials.

• (E) Music Box, an Iranian film by Farzad Mo'tamen, is scheduled to be screened at the 16th edition of the annual International Film Festival, Listapad-2009 in Belarus.

• (E) The Iranian national volleyball team enjoyed a victorious match against their Egyptian competitors at the Grand Champions Cup. The competition opened today in the Japanese cities of Osaka and Nagoya.

• (E) A mild earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale hit Boldaji city in Iran's southwestern province of Charmahal and Bakhtiari. There have been no reports of damages or casualties.

• (E) The Steering Committee on Establishment of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Nanotechnology Network held its first meeting in Tehran. Delegates from the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Turkey as well as representatives of the ECO Secretariat attended the meeting.

Photos of the Day

• Ahmadinejad receives cabinet ministers from Venezuela.