Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Cabinet nominees Hamid-Reza Haji-Babayi, Majid Namjou and Sadegh Mahsouli expected to be presented to the parliament next Sunday. 

Diplomacy

• Kayhan's front page: "This November 4th, more energetic than ever before, was the slap of the Iranian nation in the face of the United States and made tears come pour out of its eyes."

• Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari editorializes: "Had [George W.] Bush not been a murderer and a criminal, we would have prayed to God to prolong his life. Having stupid enemies is a blessing..."

  • Regarding Vice President Joseph Biden's comments on Iranian influence agents having lured the Bush administration to invade Iraq: "African natives would anger and provoke the monkeys so they would throw coconut at them from the trees. The natives were clever and the monkeys stupid, since the natives got what they wanted."

• Kayhan condemns the "threats" of the U.S. President on the occasion of the anniversary of the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran which according to Kayhan "once again showed the iron fist of the United States."

• [E] Meeting with visiting Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid al-Mualem, Ahmadinejad says regional conditions are changing today in favor of Tehran and Damascus. "The relations between Iran and Syria have roots in the depth of the revolutionary culture of resistance," Ahmadinejad pointed out. The Syrian foreign minister emphasized, "The two countries' relations are so strong that no third country can ever harm them the slightest bit."

  • [E] Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili has called on the regional countries to maintain vigilance about plots hatched by foreign powers. Jalili told Syrian Foreign Minister that Tehran and Damascus could play key roles in promoting more constructive relations in the region.

• [E] The chairman of the foreign policy and defensive affairs commission at the Japanese Parliament has said that Iran has become a major power in the Middle East region and that Tokyo is willing to promote its bilateral relations with Tehran.

• [E] Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says German Chancellor's remarks on Iran's nuclear issue came under influence of Zionist lobbies and against Germany's national interests.

• [E] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said efforts are underway to create a rift between Tehran and Baghdad, but stressed that all such efforts are in vain. "Iran and Iraq have great potential for economic cooperation. That is why serious attempts are made to prevent them from establishing deep ties," Larijani said during a Wednesday meeting with Iraqi lawmakers in Baghdad.

• [E] Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammad Khazaei said that the report by the fact-finding mission of the UN underlined that the Zionist regime has committed crime against humanity. Addressing the UN General Assembly Wednesday, he added that Goldstone's report has endorsed serious negation of human rights and conspicuous violation of international norms by the Zionist regime in Qaza.

• [E] Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani arrived in the Iranian capital, where he is scheduled to meet high-ranking officials in Tehran during his one-day visit.

Economy

• Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and other parliamentarians, criticize the Ahmadineajd government's reform of subsidies.

• The National Iranian Oil Company reports decline in production in 13 oil fields.   

• According to Abrar-e Eqtesadi,237 days after its inauguration, offshore fields of South Pars Gas Field still do not produce natural gas. 

Trade

• The Islamic Republic opens its second bank in Belarus, Eftekhar [Honor]. 

• [E] Iranian minister of industries and mines has called for the expansion of industrial and economic cooperation with Cuba. Ali-Akbar Mehrabian made the remarks during the 14th Tehran-Havana joint economic cooperation Commission in Havana.

Military and Security

• Non-Active Defense Plan becomes a university course at the Imam Hossein University of the Revolutionary Guards. The course includes "deception," "hiding," and "camouflage."

• Revolutionary Guards Navy Deputy Commander Fadavi praises the work of Iranian missile scientists and claims the Islamic Republic's ground-to-sea missiles have "one hundred percent precision."

• According to Soleyman Rigi, the Rigi tribe has denounced Jundallah leader Abd al-Malek Rigi.

• Siavash Nosrat-Panah, the IRGC Non-Industrial Research Deputy, explains his field of work in an interview to Sobh-e Sadegh.

• Abrar reports randomly sent SMS messages to mobile phone owners who are warned against engaging in "illegal acts" on November 4, 2009 - commemoration of the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran.

• Islamic Republic of Iran Navy begins building of a "super modern ship."

• [E] Three Iranians have been arrested in the southeastern Pakistan for alleged involvement in the recent bombing in Iran's Sistan Va Baluchestan province.

• [E] Lebanon's Hezbollah has rejected Israeli allegations that a huge shipment of arms seized by Tel Aviv forces was bound to reach the resistance movement.

Nuclear Issue

• Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Rowhani, head of the Strategic Studies Center of the Expediency Council: "Sixteen years ago we were looking for fuel for the Tehran reactor. The IAEA played the role of the middleman and Argentina provided the fuel, but today, in order to give us fuel for the Tehran reactor - and it is their legal obligation to do so - they are making up conditions. They say, give us the amount you have enriched so we process it, we enrich it to 19.75 percent and return it to you. Is there such a thing in the world? Whoever wants to purchase fuel goes to the bazaar and buys...For a year and ten months I was responsible for the nuclear issue...Back then interventions of the United States were clear. The mayhem they [the IAEA] made with regard to Natanz was made by the Americans. They received their information from their spies and afterwards the spies were...arrested...After that the Americans provided the Monafeghin [Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization] with the information and they made the interviews after which the CNN and other news agencies created a mayhem against Iran. These acts happened at a time the United States was preparing itself for the invasion of Iraq...Right after their victory in Iraq they started the pressure against Iran in the IAEA...We prevailed...In my case, the Americans only won in one case which was disruption of our negotiations with the three European countries..." 

• According to Kayhan the Kuwait’s foreign minister has called Iran's nuclear program as "peaceful."

• [E] The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chief Mohamed ElBaradei has warned that any Israeli attack on Iran would "turn the Middle East into a ball of fire". ElBaradei said he was convinced the Iranians were prepared at one point to stop their enrichment program but that the previous US administration and the European powers missed an opportunity to end the standoff by imposing conditions on Iran that were "impossible to accept".

Media

• IRNA accuses CNN of "manipulating" and "misrepresenting" the commemoration of the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran in its reports and attempting to "depict a picture of Iran as a country in crisis."

• Alef News Agency accuses VOA Persian, BBC Persian, Al-Alam and Al-Jazeera television of broadcasting footage from earlier uprisings and unrest to depict commemoration of the seizure of the American Embassy as a day of unrest in Tehran and the provinces. 

• [E] Saudi-run satellite operator Arabsat continues to ban Iran's al-Alam from broadcasting on the air despite the news channel's request for an explanation. Arabsat has accused Iran's Arabic-language news channel of violating the rules of broadcasting.

Photo of the Day

• Ahmadinejad receiving the Emir of Qatar.