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

• Alef News Agency's columnist urges Mousavi to "return to the bosom of the revolution" and not betray the heritage of "Khomeini the Great."
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Hamid Rasayi addressing the students at Ghazvin International University, accuses Mir-Hossein Mousavi of being a counter revolutionary, and demands his prosecution along with prosecution of Mehdi Karrubi and Mohammad Khatami; praises the Supreme Leader for defending Iran in the face of a "velvet coup."
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Hadi Ghaffari defects from the Mousavi camp and says "I consider myself someone who abides by the orders of the Supreme Leader."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Grand Ayatollah Khomeini, has lunch with Supreme Leader Khamenei, discusses political affairs.
• (E) Tehran's judiciary officials and police chiefs met on Monday to discuss adopting more stringent anti-narcotic laws. The participants underlined the importance of consistency between the law enforcement and judiciary in implementing anti-drug campaign.

Diplomacy

• Kayhan editorializes: The Saudi regime is only "two steps away from collapse."
• Jomhouri-ye Eslami condemns the Ahmadinejad government's diplomatic opening towards Egypt.
• Parliamentarian Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh attacks Russia for not finishing the Bushehr nuclear plant and accuses Russia of using Iran as a bargaining chip with other powers.
• In a public announcement, the Student Basij at Martyr Beheshti University urges the Saudi authorities to "stop their savage behavior the Yemeni Shi'a."
  • Sobh-e Sadegh's analyst says Saudi Arabia's intervention in Yemen will lead to collapse of the Saudi regime.
• Mohammad Karamirad, member of the National Security Committee of the Parliament, demands that the reformists make their position clear with regard to the United States.
• Speaker of Turkmenistan's Parliament will travel to Iran in four days.
• (E) Seyed Mohammad Kazzem Hejazi, an Iranian Parliamentarian, claimed that President Obama’s recent decision to renew sanctions against Iran reflect his true ambitions in foreign policy. Hejazi assumed that President Obama’s call for “change” throughout his campaign was simply an innovative method to achieve US objectives. Hejazi also reiterated that US sanctions against Iran have proven ineffective in the past 30 years and will continue to be futile in impeding the Iranian economy.
• (E) Omani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Youssef bin Alawi Abdullah emphasized the strategic importance of the Oman-Iran relationship and declared that no third party can inhibit their mutually beneficial policies. The Omani official also announced his plan to visit Tehran next month to strengthen Tehran-Masqat ties.
• (E) Iran's Ambassador to Turkmenistan Mohammad Reza Forqani announced that Turkmenistan's National Assembly Speaker is scheduled to visit Tehran on November 21^st at the invitation of Iranian Parliament members to discuss increased collaboration between Turkmenistan and Iran. President Ahmadinejad has planned to visit Ashgabat to meet with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.
• (E) Russian Energy Minister Sergey Ivanovich Shmatko is scheduled to visit Tehran on November 30^th to attend the 8^th Iran- Russia joint commission meeting. Russia’s completion of Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr will be a focal point of the commission meeting.
• (E) Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on his two-day trip to India. The political officials discussed a diverse set of issues, ranging of counter terrorism measures to joint infrastructural projects.

Military and Security

• Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah says the "resistance forces" will target beyond Haifa should there be another round of military conflict between Lebanon and Israel.
• Foreign Ministry of Italy refutes rumors on Italian engagement in launching the Iranian satellite Mesbah.
• Sobh-e Sadegh reports clashes between the Law Enforcement Forces Border Security troops and PEJAK members.
• Passive Defense Chief Gholamreza Jalali explains the work of his organization and the need to improve the non-military infrastructure in future wars.
• Alireza Azimijahed, Revolutionary Guards Chief in Sistan va Balouchestan has held the fifth seminar of "unity of tribes."
• Yadollalh Javani, Revolutionary Guards Political Department Chief, criticizes Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff.
• Alef News Agency claims Alireza Asgari, IRGC Commander who has been missing for more than two years, is kidnapped by the Mossad, the German, and British Intelligence Services and is now being held prisoner in Israel.
• Parsineh reports that the Palestinian Fatah Movement has sent considerable food aid to the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization's Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
• According to Commander Gholamreza Jalali, Basij of the Central Administration becomes an integral part of the Passive Defense Plan.
• Commander Jazayeri, Cultural Deputy of the Armed Forces Command Council, demands decisiveness toward "the coupists" in the Green Movement.
• (E) Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi stated that Russia remains prepared to deliver the anti-aircraft S-300 missile system to Iran. While the delivery is six months overdue, Russian officials have explained the delay as a result of “technical problems.”

Nuclear Issue

• Hojjat al-Eslam Hossein Ebrahimi, Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament, says exchange of low enriched uranium with highly enriched nuclear fuel is definitively canceled.
  • Parviz Davoudi, senior presidential adviser, says Iran should first receive 20 percent enriched uranium fuel and then export 3 percent enriched uranium out of the country.
• Aliasghar Soltaniyeh, the Islamic Republic's Ambassador to the IAEA, says El-Baradei's latest report on Iran's nuclear program is "usual" and "repetitive."
  • (E) Chief Mohammad ElBaradei, the departing head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, released a report revealing the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. While charges have been made against Iran regarding the country’s failure to adhere to Additional Protocol to the NPT, Iranian officials hope the case will settled outside of the Security Council.
• (E) Iranian Envoy to the International atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asqar Soltaniyeh stressed that Iran will not relinquish its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Iranian officials highlight that the Islamic Republic is a signatory tot eh Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is permitted to extend nuclear technology for use in civilian projects.

Human Rights

• Video address of Dr. Ramin Pourandarjan, medical doctor at the Kahrizak Detention Center who has committed "suicide.” Video.
• Afghan counternarcotics policemen return home after receiving training in Iran.

Trade

• (E) According to the State Committee on Statistics of the Republic of Tajikistan, the value of trade of goods and services between Iran and Tajikistan has exceeded 100 million dollars in the past ten months. Tajikistan exported mainly aluminum and cotton to Iran, while the Islamic Republic exported engineering services, chemical products, and construction materials.
• (E) Iranian automaker company, Iran Khodro, showcased its first Iranian-made diesel engine to be used in care. The new engine is expected to cost less than 1000 dollars when it is mass produced.

Religion, Culture, and Society

• (E) The Iranian delegation is schedule to compete against the Egyptian delegation at the World Volleyball Competitions Cup tomorrow. The World Volleyball Competitions Cup will take place in the Japanese cities of Osaka and Nagoya and will last until November 24^th.
• (E) Four Iranian films are set to be showcased at the Stockholm International Film Festival, taking place from November 18^th through November 24^th.

Iran in the Afghan Media                        

• Afghan government officials in Char Borjak district of Nimroz Province accuse Iran of obstructing the construction of a water dam in the district. The Kamal Khan dam, if built, would limit the flow of water to Iran to about 26 cubic meters of water per second. Nimroz governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said the dam could easily be built and people would help to secure the construction process, emphasizing that only a strong determination was needed. The construction of the dam, scheduled for next year, is expected to create thousands of jobs in the province.
• Article in Hasht-e Sobh, entitled “Hostility against Afghans in Neighboring Countries,” laments persecution of Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan. Muhammad Ali, an Afghan refugee recently deported from Iran, says the Iranian police forced Afghan refugees to dance half-naked.

Photos of the Day

• Ahmadinejad's wife at the First Ladies' Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Rome.