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

• Mohsen Rafiqdoost, former Revolutionary Guards minister, says "there is more insubordination towards the guardianship in this government."
• Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad-Taghi Rahbar, head of the clerical faction of the parliament: "The hijab situation during the Ahmadinejad government is worse than during the government of reform [the Khatami era]."
• Farda News discusses the role of students of Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani in the Islamic Republic's cultural planning.

Diplomacy

• News related to the 31st anniversary of the U.S. embassy seizure:
  • Supreme Leader Khamenei, addressing assembled students, comments on U.S. relations: "These statements [from U.S. presidents] may seem soft, but in reality there is a cast iron fist underneath a velvet glove... This act [seizure of embassy] is the symbol of bravery and boldness of the young revolutionary generation in the face of the prestige of the United States. The takeover of the Den of Espionage…shook the United States and forced the United States onto its knees... The small group of people who on chanted slogans against this anniversary last November 4th were in reality trying to rebuilt the prestige of the United States."
  • Coordination Council for Islamic Propagation, announces the programs of "the Day of God, November 4th" which among other things includes "showing of the remains of a helicopter [from the failed rescue mission] as a symbol of hollow threats of the United States..."
  • Javan Online hails anniversary of the "Storm against the nest of the spies."
  • Parliamentarian Hojjat al-Eslam Hamid Rasayi discloses hitherto unknown individuals who were involved in seizure of the United States Embassy in Tehran, but were "traitors": Hatam Ghaderi, Javad Mozaffar, Taghi Mohammadi, Khosro Tehrani, and Abbas Zaribaf.
• Ahmadinejad addresses the people of Bojnourd: "If they think they can cancel an arms delivery contract and that the Iranian nation will retreat in the face of the imperialists such as the government of the United States, such a thing will not happen. The Iranian nation does not need their missiles and the Iranian youth and nation will through consolidation and unity create such a power which will make them small in their own palaces... Now all their hair has fallen off. If you really are capable, attend to the affair of your own countries and do something for your own nations. You can't even blow your nose!"
  • "Imperialist powers" of "producing microbes in their laboratories" so they can "sell medicine to us and fill their pockets."
• Egyptian authorities say Iran should extradite 65 individuals to Egypt as a precondition for normalization of diplomatic relations with Iran.

Military and Security

• Mohsen Rafiqdoost, former Revolutionary Guards minister, says he is opposed to interventions of the Guards in the economy.
• Basij Chief Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, says conditions for membership of the Basij will change.
• Ali Fadavi, Revolutionary Guards Navy chief, says the IRGC Navy is "organizing and instructing 60,000 Basij pupils."
• Hafez Esmail, son in law of Molavi Abd al-Hamid, Zahedan's Sunni Friday prayer leader, is arrested by the authorities.

Nuclear Issue

• Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, the Islamic Republic's Ambassador to IAEA, stresses that Iran "has no intention of producing a nuclear weapon and building a nuclear bomb is considered as a strategic mistake for Iran."

Economy

• The Foundation of the Oppressed demands to develop the entire Tehran/North Freeway project.

Trade

• Turkey may use Turkish lira rather than the U.S. dollar in its trade with Iran.
• Georgian Airlines resumes Tehran/Tbilisi flights.

Religion, Society and Culture

• Video of young girl in Orumiyeh is beaten by moral police because of "deficient hijab.”

Photos of the Day

• Students Following the Line of the Imam seizing the U.S. Embassy in 1979.