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, please visit this page, fill out the "New Subscribers" section, and check "Iran News Round Up" listed under "Projects." 

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Ahmadinejad addressing public sector managers in Ghazvin: "Act in such a way that the Imam [of the Era] keeps us in office [after his emergence.]"
• Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani criticizes the discourse of "school of Iran": "One should ask why these people, contrary to the statements of the Imam [Khomeini] who used to say 'pure Mohammedan Islam,' make such wrong interpretations? Did the Imam not say we should help Islam and was all he spoke of not Islam? We are proud of being Iranians and will struggle to defend every single centimeter of this soil, but we have our dignity from Islam and everything we have is from Islam."
  • IRNA publishes a different version of Larijani's speech in which Larijani calls for "continuity of Ahmadinejad's discourse."
• According to Javan Online, Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani plans to visit Canada.
• Canada based Houshang Bouzari accuses Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani of arresting and torturing him in the case of an oil contract in the 1990s.
• Fars News Agency explains how "decentralization schemes of the Ahmadinejad government" contributed to his reelection.”
• Former Islamic Nations' Party member Mohammad-Kazem Bojnourdi's memoirs, Mesi Be Rang-e Shafagh, shares Grand Ayatollah Khomeini's advice to him on Mehdi Bazargan appointing him Isfahan Governor General: "When you go to Isfahan, pay attention to two issues. First, don't let any nationalists, National Front and Mossadeq supporters to your administration. Second, in Isfahan, the clergy has two leaders. One is Mr. Taheri and the people around who are all with us. The second is Mr. Khademi, who himself is a good person, but there are some people around him. You must act in a way so that you have both leaders with you and work towards unity." Bojnourdi also says Khomeini appointed Mehdi Bazargan prime minister in order to "deceive the Americans."

Diplomacy

• [E] The relations between Tehran and Ankara can set a role model for the countries of the region, Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi stressed.
• [E] A prominent Iranian Shiite cleric lambasted the United States' “continued crimes” in the Middle-East, and asked Pope Benedict XVI to react to the issue.
• [E] Tehran's provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati praised Iraqis' vigilance in the political process of the country, and stressed that Iraq's political parties made enemies disappointed by electing Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister.

Military and Security

• Supreme Leader Khamenei speaking at a graduation ceremony of military officers stressed the importance of Iran’s self-sufficiency in the military field. 
• Commander Masoud Jazayeri, General Staff Cultural and Propagation Cultural deputy: "None of the current structures within the Islamic Republic are able to respond to the soft warfare and soft threats of the enemy."
• Mohammad Mottahari, Kerman 41st Sarallah Army chief, says Ashoura and Al-Zahra brigades of the Basij receive an annual $350 million budget.

Media

• Banned Etemad-e Melli appears in a single page edition.

Nuclear Issue

• [E] European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton has reportedly accepted December 5 for the resumption of talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).

Photo of the Day

• Ahmadinejad and Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, his chief of staff, on pilgrimage to Mecca.