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].  

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader:
  • "The Supreme Leader is constantly aware of the schemes of the enemy... He speaks for God and lives for him. This is a great blessing for which we must be thankful."
  • "The Supreme Leader of the revolution is a man who stops the problem whenever a problem is about to surface, doing so through oral and written statements and through his positions. During the past year we saw that he suffocated and suppressed the fetus of corruption."
  • "The enemy is the same lunatic who does not know what to do and we saw that they burned the Quran which is an act of lunacy."
• One month after Ahmadinejad's appointment of Baghaei, Mashaei, Zohrehvand and Akhoundzadeh as his foreign policy representatives to various regions, Ahmadinejad appoints them as foreign policy advisers.
  • According to Ebtekar, Ahmadineajd's redefinition of the titles comes after the Supreme Leader's insistence upon avoiding establishment of parallel institutions and parliamentary protest against the appointments. The new decree appoints Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei as Middle East adviser, Mohammad Abbasi as Latin America adviser, Mohammad-Mehdi Akhoundzadeh as Caspian Sea affairs adviser, Shams al-Din Hosseini as African adviser, Hamid Baghayi as Asian affairs adviser, and Abolfazl Zohrevand as Afghanistan adviser.

Diplomacy

• [E]Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan underlined his country's resolve to boost trade ties with Iran.
  • [E]Iranian and Turkish officials signed several memoranda of understanding on mutual cooperation during the visit to Turkey by Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.
• [E]Ahmadinejad is scheduled to travel to Syria and Algeria on his way to attend the U.N. General Assembly session in New York.

Military and Security

• Yahya Safavi, former Revolutionary Guards chief, at Tehran Friday prayer: "After eight years of sacred defense of the Iranian nation, the school of resistance has been shaped throughout the world and today this school has been transferred to Lebanon and Palestine. The entire world has seen what calamities fell upon the Zionists during the 33 days of war [with Hezbollah in 2006]... This school will also make the occupiers face defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan just like the Afghan nation expelled England and the Soviet Union from its country, it will also expel the occupiers. The Muslim nation of Afghanistan has learned the lesson of resistance from Iranian fighters... Iran is the greatest power in the region and the Americans can't ignore this power in regional affairs. They must recognize this power and deal with it... The enemies have no other choice but capitulating in the face of the political regime and demands of the Iranian nation. The power of the Iranian nation is the result of the ideology of the Islamic revolution... Every American war vessel is within the reach of surface-to-sea missiles of our navy. Of course, they are aware of the strength of Islam, the Supreme Leader and the Islamic revolution...Management of the Supreme Leader - twenty years after the passing of the Imam [Khomeini] has been very good and he has saved the country from harm in the region despite three wars..."
• Kaleme website releases a number of power point slides "identifying the heads of the discord," their organization and methods. According to Kaleme the slides were produced by a "security agency."
• Jahan News warns of the Green Movement's plans to infiltrate the Basij.
• Video of a Basiji addressing Ahmadinejad in presence of the Supreme Leader: "The cabinet should know that the nation does not engage in an eternal bond of brotherhood with the government unless the government moves in the path of the Imam [Khomeini], the Leader and Islam..."

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan reiterated his country's support for Iran's right to use peaceful nuclear energy.
• [E]Chairman of Iran's Experts Assembly Hashemi Rafsanjani stressed that his country's nuclear activities are fully within the legal boundaries.

Religion, Culture and Society

• [E]Thousands of demonstrators in Tehran on Friday voiced their strong protest at the recent insult to the holy Quran on the 9/11 anniversary in the U.S.
  • [E] Iranian diplomats in the European states also issued a statement on Friday condemning the act.  
  • [E] Tehran's provisional Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati condemned the recent insult to the Holy Quran in the U.S., and stressed that the move is a sign of U.S. weakness.

 Photo of the Day

• Supreme Leader Khamenei addresses Assembly of Experts.