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

• Supreme Leader Khamenei travels to Mazandaran.
• Hossein Fadaei, parliamentarian, criticizes Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Khomeini’s political inclinations.
• Mohammad-Javad Larijani addressing students at Sharif University says it is "[Mir-Hossein] Mousavi who has attempted a coup and not Ahmadinejad."
  • Fars News Agency reports attempts to disrupt Larijani's speech.
• Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, member of the Assembly of Experts, says the Assembly has not accepted Ayatollah Yazdi's resignation from its leadership secretariat.
• Elias Naderan, parliamentarian, releases documents showing that Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi has on various occasions used the academic title "Dr." without having a doctorate. On top of Naderan's disclosures, Alef News Agency discloses that the so called "Belford University" allegedly located in Vancouver does not exist.
• Morteza Nabavi, Expediency Council member and Resalat editor:
  • "Those who prior to the [presidential] election considered themselves loyal to the constitution and followers of the path of the Imam [Khomeini] by forgetting their slogans ignited the fire of discord and chaos and demonstrated that they are neither loyal to the constitution nor to the path of the Imam and nor the national interests...”
  • "In Iran, the West supported the defeated project of a color revolution and wanted in reality to start a colored coup by mobilizing people in the streets..."
  • "Some time after the election it became clear that those who used the sacred green color, which is the symbol of the members of the household [of the Prophet Muhammed] and use religious slogans want to topple the Islamic revolution."

Diplomacy

• Said Jalili, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, meets former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Ja'afari.
  • Ja'fari meeting Ahmadinejad says the Iranian president will be remembered long after the end of his presidential tenure.
• (E) Iran's ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Kazemi Qomi claimed that Iran was not involved in the ongoing drought plaguing Iraq. He expressed that while Iraq has suffered from a water shortage for years, the issue has not emerged since the initiation of the new government.
• (E) Iranian officials deny any questionable involvement in Yemen’s internal affairs. The Iranian embassy in Bahrain published a statement addressing the claim, which wrote “Iran has always emphasized sovereignty, independence and national unity of Yemen. Iran and Yemen’s efforts were in line with accomplishment of peace, stability and security. We believe that intensification of a conflict that leads to bloodshed cannot aid peace, stability and national solidarity of Yemen.
• (E) President Ahmadinejad emphasized the importance of Iraqi unity in a meeting with former Iraqi Prime Minister Ebrahim Jafari. Ahmadinejad explained that the prospect of a united Iraq is feared by the state’s enemies and essential for the region.
• (E)Iran's Customs Administration Spokesman Mohammad Ahani said that experts were beginning to estimate the value of antique objects and artifacts that were smuggled by an Argentine diplomat. Authorities became suspicious about the items the diplomat attempted to take out of the country.
• (E) Like President Ahmadinejad, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani stressed the value of solidarity among the Iraqi nation in a meeting with Iraq’s former prime minister. According to Larijani, Iranians fully support a democratic Iraq. Larijani also alleged that the plight of the Palestinians was the gravest concern in the Muslim world.
• (E) Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani congratulated the head of the political office of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, for the release of five Palestinian women from jail. He said “This victory is an emphasis on continuation of resistance by Palestinian groups against the Zionist regime hostile encroachments.”
• (E) Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned that Israel poses a threat to the region, the United States, and Europe and urged countries to resist engagement with the regime. He called for the reconciliation of conflicting Palestinian groups and referred to the escalating pressures on Palestinians as a human rights violation.
• (E) Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili sat with representatives of the US, Russia, France, Great Britain, and Germany this past Thursday to discuss global concerns and Iran’s nuclear program. Jassim Hossein termed the talks “positive” and “constructive” and noted that there was interest to continue the discussions through the end of the month.

Military and Security

• Text of Khamenei's appointments in the Revolutionary Guards:
  • Supreme Leader Khamenei appoints commander Mohammad-Reza Naghdi as "Basij of the Oppressed" Chief, Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Seyyed Mohammad Hosseinzadeh Hejazi as Preparedness, Logistics and Industrial Research Chief of the Armed Forces Command Council, Hossein Salami as Revolutionary Guards Deputy and Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Amir-Ali Hajizadeh as Revolutionary Guards Air and Space Force Chief.
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Taeb, former Revolutionary Guards Deputy and former Basij Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, is appointed Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Chief.
  • Mowj News Agency prints biography of newly appointed Basij Chief Mohammad-Reza Naghdi: Naghdi is not Iranian, but is Iraqi, and was born in a clerical family in Najaf. He is the son of Sheikh Ali-Akbar Samani whose family was forced to leave Iraq by the Iraqi government and migrated to Iran in 1980 after which the family was based in Naghadah in Iranian Kordestan province. Mohammad-Reza Naghdi has experiences from Lebanon in the beginning of the 1980's after which he continued his activities in the military wing of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq and in Lebanon. Naghdi's activities in Lebanon took place in the framework of the Qods Force of the Revolutionary Guards, but was also later present in Bosnia with the pseudonym of Shams.
• IRGC Chief Mohammad-Ali Ja'fari's speech to the members of the Student Basij attending a seminar at the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran:
  • "In the field of the soft warfare the Student Basij has independence of action. Therefore, because of the conditions of space and time, directing this fight is not centralized..."
  • "The young commanders of the front of soft warfare should know the political and cultural spheres of this arena and by knowing what initiatives to take at any place must show suitable reactions, illuminate and should not await the orders of their superiors."
    • Mowj News Agency's analysis of Ja'fari's statements claims the Revolutionary Guards chief is urging the Student Basij to operate against oppositional forces without authorization which also means not accepting any responsibility for their actions.
• A certain Said Ghasemi, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards:
  • "[Mir-Hossein] Mousavi conspires with the enemy..."
  • "Today it is clear to the people that people like [former President] Khatami has had a meeting with George Soros, one of the leaders of the velvet revolution and has struggled against the ideals of the Imam [Khomeini] and the Leader..."
  • "Today Mousavi is lying. Before he defended the ideals of the revolution, why is he speaking of such things today? If he today is conspiring with the foreigners, most certainly he has also lied in the past and he said the things he did he did so because he was a hypocrite..."
  • "Today I tell Mousavi: You are not revolutionary, it is better if you go and rest since your mentality is Western..."
• Commander Eraghi, Mohammad Rasoul-Allah Revolutionary Guards Unit Chief in Greater Tehran, releases new information about the post election unrest.
• Commander Ali Razmjou, Second Revolutionary Guards Naval Operational Zone Chief - located in Bushehr - discusses the history of naval warfare between the Islamic Republic and the United States in the final phase of the Iran/Iraq war.
• Tose'e-ye E'temad-e Mobin Executive General says his company, which has bought a significant part of the shares of Iran Telecommunications, is not connected with the Revolutionary Guards.
• Two members of the Revolutionary Guards are killed by "the counter revolution" in Lorestan.
• Televised report on Kahrizak detention center. Video.

Nuclear Issue

• Rokhdad News releases news of a certain Shahram M.M.'s - a nuclear scientist at the Fordo Nuclear site in Qom - defection to Saudi Arabia.
• Ali-Akbar Salehi, Head of the Iran Nuclear Energy Organization, says Iran has mastered the entire fuel cycle.
• Agah-Sazi releases a piece published in Javan-e Farda which condemns the Ahmadinejad government's "capitulation" to the West in the nuclear issue despite earlier criticism of the nuclear policies of past governments.
• Ahmadinejad meeting IAEA Head El-Baradei: "There is not much to realize this slogan [of change of Obama] which means opportunities are evaporating.
• Alef News Agency quotes AEI scholar John Bolton comment that "the Geneva negotiation were another victory for Iran." More here.
• (E) The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi elaborated on the future of Iran’s nuclear program. Salehi detailed the way in which nuclear technology would develop in the short-term future and discussed Iran’s approach toward safety measures. Salehi hoped that the country’s heightened safety measures would eventually guarantee its independence from the organization.

Trade

• According to Alef News Agency Iran's attempts at persuading Nicaragua to repay its $164 million oil debt to Iran has been in vain.

Media

• Mohsen Rezai to publish Mellat-e Ma[Our Nation].

Religion, Society and Culture

• Fire at the Great Bazaar of Tehran.
• Ayatollah Zein al-Abedin Ghorbani, Representative of the Supreme Leader in Gilan, says the largest theological seminary of the Middle East to be established in Rasht.
• (E) Iran’s volleyball team is scheduled to compete with the Japanese team at the Asian match in order to qualify for the World Volleyball Championship. The matches will take place in Tokyo, Japan.

Photos of the Day

• Bazyab News Agency releases "hitherto unpublished photos of Iran's nuclear installations."