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

• Supreme Leader Khamenei addresses the people of Isfahan:
  • "Here and there, we see some pessimists who create an atmosphere of pessimism, hopelessness, and division and accuse the Islamic regime of things benefiting the foreigners... They are in reality acting on behalf of the enemies of the nation and are attempting to counter balance the propaganda failures of the Zionists and the Americans, but the nation knows that such acts are clear acts of treason."
• Ahmadinejad at the Public Libraries Annual Summit:
  • "Those who say Iranians have no achievements in the field of Islamic thought are so stupid that it is not in need of answer. They should know that even the Arabic grammar was prepared by Iranians and followers of pure Islamic thought."
• Mohammad Dehghan, member of the commission solving the problems between the cabinet and parliament, says Kadkhodayi is not the spokesman of the commission, and the president, according to Article 113 of the Constitution, has not the right to issue warnings to other powers of the state."
  • Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani and parliamentarians Bahonar, Tavakoli, Dehghan and Aboutorabi, defend the position of the parliament in a letter to Ayatollah Jannati.
• As Ahmadinejad declares that "the ideal age for marriage for girls is 16, 17 and 18 years," Mohammad-Esmail Motlagh, high ranking Health Ministry official warns that "23% of the girls risk side effects of teenage pregnancy."

Diplomacy

• Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri visits Tehran.
• Indian authorities protest against Supreme Leader Khamenei's Hajj statements about "solidarity with the nation of Kashmir," and calls it intervention in internal affairs of India.
• Mohammad-Javad Larijani, the Islamic Republic Human Rights Headquarters director, accuses Britain of assassinating Neda Aghasoltan.
• China apologizes for using the term "Arab Gulf" instead of "the Persian Gulf."
• Emeritus Berkeley professor Hamid Algar on UNESCO's decision to boycott a philosophy seminar in Iran:
  • "It is clear that their decision is propagandist and is part of the propaganda program of the United States and its allies against Iran. It is clear that these gentlemen, I mean the United States authorities and those dependent on it, don't have anything to do with philosophy. They have also nothing to do with freedom of speech. They just want to use any occasion to harm the Islamic Republic. However, such petty issues and those bigger than this have no importance for the nation and the regime of Iran. In reality, they are deceiving themselves. Why they do so and why they consider their stupid act important? It is because some Iranians based in the United States, those lovers of the so called Green Movement support any hostile act of the United States against Iran. But they too have deceived themselves. These gentlemen think the Islamic Republic is unstable and t he Iranian nation no longer supports the regime and is opposed to it and that sooner or later everything will collapse. They say this kind of adventures for themselves and others. Therefore, some of those working in United States Department of State and other governmental institutions in the United States listen to these Iranians (if one can call them Iranians!) and think they are doing something important."
• [E] Iran has set February 6 as a new prosecution date for two Americans charged with unlawful entry into Iran and espionage, their lawyer Masoud Shafii says.  

Military and Security

• Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi announces that Iran will build a new generation of Jamaran II class destroyers.
• Commander Mohammad-Hossein Mansourian says the Islamic Republic has "successfully tested a replacement for the S-300 [air defense system.]"
• According to Lebanese Al-Diyar, the United States "and the Zionist regime intend to use commander Alireza Asgari of the Revolutionary Guards as witness in the Hariri Tribunal."
• Qassem Suleimani, Qods Force chief, addresses an assembly of IRGC commanders in Sirjan commemorating martyrs and commanders of the war with Iraq, says the war with Iraq "had the smallest cost for the regime because of the unprecedented popular support."
• Video of two German citizens confessing to espionage on Iranian state television.
• News related to the occasion of the Basij Week:
  • Former Revolutionary Guards Chief Yahya Rahim Safavi says the Basij has 10 million members.
  • Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi says the spirit of the Basij is the dominant spirit in society, praises the role of the Basij in "countering the sedition of 2009."
  • "Sacred Defense" become an academic discipline "at all universities."
• [E]Commander of a Palestinian resistant group cautioned that the Zionist regime is seeking an excuse for a new incursion into Gaza, and warned that any new Israeli attack will be reciprocated with a Palestinian response.

Nuclear Issue

• [E] India supports Iran’s right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, said Foreign Secretary, Sunday in New Delhi.

Photos of the Day

• Early 1980s photo of Ahmadinejad and Samareh Hashemi in Kordestan province.