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

• Rafsanjani presides over the Assembly of Experts meeting.  

  • Rafsanjani says: "Some lovers of the regime and charitable individuals are working on some strategies to change the current situation in the country into an atmosphere of truthfulness and constructive criticism, without conflicts which could have negative implications."

• Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari clarifies that the Supreme Leader's statements on the confessions of the accused in the Tehran show trials do not mean that "other individuals" are not guilty.

  • Iran quotes parliamentarian Esmail Kowsari as saying that the Supreme Leader’s statements do not mean that the instigators of the unrest will go unpunished.

• Quoting George Soros, Kayhan accuses former President Mohammad Khatami of having had two meetings with the Hungarian-born billionaire. The paper connects the meeting with George Soros' statements of support to the so-called Green Movement of Iran.

  • Iran quotes Soros as claiming that he was invited by former president Khatami to engage in Iran.

• Ahmadinejad appoints Nasrin Soltankhah his deputy in science and technology.

  • (E) President Ahmadinejad increased the number of women in his cabinet and appointed Nasrin Soltankhah as the vice-president for Science and Technology. Soltankhah previously acted as the head of Research and Training Institute for Management and Development Planning. Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi, the current Minister of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, was the first women appointed as a minister in Iran this past September.

• Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the late Khomeini, meets family members of political prisoners Mohsen Mir-Damadi, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Behzad Nabavi, Tajer-Nia, Arab-Sorkhi, and Tabatabayi.

  • IRNA complains that Hassan Khomeini has time to visit family members of the "rioters," but had no time to attend the presidential inauguration. 
  • Ayatollah Emam-Jamarani condemns attacks against "the household of the Imam [Khomeini]." So does Mohsen Rezai.

• Hojjat al-Elam Mohammad-Javad Montazeri, the head of the Administrative Justice Court, says that the televised transmission of the Tehran trials was "contrary to religious and legal principles." 

•  (E) Ahmadinejad left Tehran to attend the 64^th annual UN General Assembly meeting in New York. The Iranian president is among the few heads of state that have been allotted time to address the General Assembly. Historically, President Ahmadinejad’s visits to New York have successfully advanced Iranian foreign policy initiatives.

• (E)Iran plans to offer comprehensive solutions to global issues at this week’s annual UN General Assembly meeting. President Ahmadinejad reiterated that Iran would have an influential presence and would contribute heavily to discussions regarding global concerns.

• (E) The Chairman of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, urged the diverse population in Iran to unite. He also referred to the strong Iranian presence at the Quds Day demonstrations this past Friday.

Diplomacy

• (E) A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll found that up to 60 percent of Iranians support bilateral ties between Tehran and Washington. A similar percentage of those polled favored direct talks between the two nations. However, only 16 percent of the polled Iranians had confidence that President Obama would pursue appropriate foreign policy.

  • Abrar wonders how come Kayhan quotes an American opinion poll result showing that 63 percent of the Iranians are in favor of diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States. Abrar reminds that six years ago the Iranian Judiciary arrested a number of political scientists employed at the Ayandeh Institute, including Abbas Abdi and Hossein Ghaziyan, who had presented a similar polling result.

• Rafsanjani inaugurating the convention of the Assembly of Experts: "In the international field we must have an active diplomacy and one should not delay the affairs until tomorrow, waiting and hoping for the day of events. Our enemies are very active. They are engaged in psychological warfare and I urge that we are prepared. We are not demanding anything more than our rights."

• The President's Office launches a website to cover news about Ahmadinejad's visit to the U.N. General Assembly.

• Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, the head of the President's Office, is among Ahmadinejad's entourage to the U.N. General Assembly.

• (E) Iranian Envoy to Moscow Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gregory Kerasin to discuss the legal status of the Caspian Sea. The area has been a point of contention amongst surrounding states since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Caspian Sea is said to contain between 17 and 33 billion barrels of oil reserves.

• (E) Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that in order for the US and European countries to engage in serious talks with Iran, they must undergo a period of trust-building.

• Tabnak News Agency releases rumors that the following individuals are appointed new ambassadors to the E.U. countries:

  • Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Hosseini as Iran's ambassador to Italy
  • Mehdi Safari as the ambassador to Britain
  • Ali-Reza Salari to Iran’s embassy in Switzerland
  • Sajjadi as the ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

• Gholam-Reza Bagheri-Moghaddam is appointed ambassador to Bulgaria.

Military and Security

• Commenting on the "U.S. retreat from the missile defense program," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qashqavi says: "Iran welcomes any moves which reduce classical arms race. We hope that in order to avoid threats to the world peace and global security, the great powers pursue policies which are not expansionist or domineering and engage in transparent and serious efforts...Such analysis [on the missile defense program to counter Iran’s missiles] has no foundation in reality and is undocumented. Since the very beginning, the claim on the missile threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran was a trick, politically motivated by a United States seeking dominance. And as the time has passed, more dimensions of the truth of this issue have been clarified."

• Kayhan's analyst Sa'd-Allah Zare'i claims Saudi Arabia has for long occupied several Yemeni islands and provinces, aspires to see Yemen divided and is against Yemeni Zeydi Shi'as, whom the Saudi government considers an obstacle to its goals.

  • (E) Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi expressed concern that a humanitarian crisis has emerged in Yemen. The Yemeni government accused Shiite Houthi fighters in the northern Saada Province of trying to reestablish Zaidi imamate that governed Yemen until 1962. The Houthi’s have vehemently denied those claims.

• Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saidi speaking in Qazvin says the Palestine issue has become the centerpiece of world affairs.

• The Revolutionary Guards commemorate the Iran/Iraq war.

• In reaction to Karrubi's accusations of rape in Iran’s prison system, Yadollah Javani, the Chief of the Revolutionary Guards Political Department, wishes "Karrubi died" rather than "to join the ranks of the counter-revolution."

• (E) The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps targeted and shot down glowing objects soaring above the Persian Gulf. Once Iranian intelligence identified that these objects were not Iranian aircrafts, the IRGC successfully targeted them. The objects have not yet been found.

  • Commander Ali Razmjou, the Chief of the Second Revolutionary Guards Naval Operational Zone in Bushehr province, confirms targeting the illuminated object.

• Manouchehr Kazemi, Army Operational Headquarters Chief in Western Iran, praises the role of Iranian mine sweepers who have been cleansing the Western parts of Iran of mines and unexploded devices from the Iran/Iraq war.

• Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces displays its newest military productions in the annual commemoration of the Iran/Iraq war. More, here.  

  • (E) Iran showcased Sejjil missiles, the most modern home-made ballistic missiles, in its military parade this afternoon. The missiles significantly boosted Iran’s defense capabilities.
  • (E) Iran displayed Saeqeh (Thunderbolt) fighter jets designed by its defense industries at the military parade this afternoon. Iranian Air Force Commander Brigadier General Hassan Shahsafi expressed that "By mass-production of home-made Saeqeh fighters, we move past all the gorges of designing and building of this fighter and we will strive to use more high-tech and updated models in our fleet in the future."

• Ghorb-e Kowsar Chief Commander Zia al-Din Hozni explains the activities of this section of Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base of the Revolutionary Guards, which is engaged in development projects in the rural areas.

• Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad-Ali Al-e Hashem, the Army Ground Forces Ideological/Political Indoctrination Organization, says cooperation and coordination of the activities of the Army and the Revolutionary Guards have enhanced Iran's military might.

• (E) To start of the Week of Sacred Defense, President Ahmadinejad declared that Iran could defend itself against any form of aggression. He claimed “the Iranian nation is powerful in defending its rights and territory and will stand against all its enemies by relying on the instinctive might and power of its armed forces." The president also warned foreign nations from aggressive behavior, threatening the full might of the Iranian army.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• In response to U.S. military commander in Afghanistan Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s recent statement that Iran and Pakistan are helping the Taliban, Afghanpaper says the U.S. is accusing Afghanistan’s neighboring countries to “justify the defeat of the U.S. and NATO forces in the country.” The paper adds that the general’s recent accusation against Iran comes after Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta recently rejected such allegations against Iran. It says the U.S. has no evidence to prove Iran’s aid to the Taliban. 

• Residents of Afghanistan’s Nimroz Province, bordering Iran’s Sistan Va Baluchistan, say Iran is undermining security in the province. According to a report in the Roz News Agency, suicide attacks are on the rise in the province and the local police in Nimroz had earlier arrested two Iranian would-be suicide bombers with explosive vests. Nasir Ahmad, a 26-year-old resident of Nimroz capital city Zaranj, says that it is not just the Taliban and smugglers who undermine the security situation, but that the country’s shared borders with Iran plays a role in insecurity and suicide attacks in the province. Provincial Governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad says suicide attacks are increasing in the province and points out that the two Iranian suicide bombers arrested were trained in religious seminaries in the Iranian city of Zahedan. The report adds that in addition to suicide attacks, Iranian border guards have repeatedly attacked borders posts in Nimroz, and that without permission the Iranian police carry out operations against drug smugglers inside Afghanistan.

Economy

• According to Iran Statistics, a majority of urban households have a monthly income deficit of 500,000 rials.

• Following Ahmadinejad's decree, euro will replace dollar in Iran’s foreign exchange reserve fund. 

• Forty percent of Iran's petrochemical plants will be privatized.

• Fifty percent of the shares of Iran Communications [Mokhaberat] will be privatized this Sunday.

Trade

• Hosseini-Sadr, a member of the Parliament’s Energy Committee, says Iran will export natural gas to the United States in ten years. "The United States will run out of natural gas in ten years. Therefore, this country [the United States] or other remote countries, such as Canada, will need Iran's natural gas. And it is not economically reasonable for us to export our natural gas to other countries as usual...Iran's natural gas exports must be in the shape of LNG and this will not materialize unless we increase natural gas production. Then, we can hope that Iran will export natural gas to the United States."

Religion, Society and Culture

• Mashhad Friday Prayer Leader Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda criticizes sources of emulation who announced Monday as the end of the Ramadan and urges them to follow the instructions of the Supreme Leader, who had announced Sunday as the end of the Ramadan.

• Shia News warns against "Wahabi missionary activity" in Khorram-Shahr and Ilam.

• Former Kayhan columnist Mohammad Nouri-Zad is expelled from Iranian PEN because of his critical articles on the role of the Supreme Leader in the post-election affairs. More, here.

• Deutsche Welle releases an interview with Hassan Yousefi Eshkevari discussing Messianism under Ahmadinejad.

Nuclear Issue

• (E) Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi expressed his hope that the global arms race would subside and nations would embrace disarmament. Referring to the US missile shield scheduled to have been deployed in Eastern Europe, Qashqavi also called on the world powers to forgo their hegemonic policies to make way for global security.

• (E) The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced that leading scientists are building new centrifuges. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei confirmed that all of Iran’s nuclear products and machineries are under the IAEA’s inspection.

• (E) Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili commented that the upcoming talks between Iran and the five member state in the Security Council and Germany would be based around the previously presented Iranian nuclear package. The talks are set to begin on October first.

Human Rights

• Four days after the arrest of three grandchildren of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, the security forces in Qom arrest other members of the Montazeri family. The arrested individuals include Grand Ayatollah’s three other grandchildren Hamed, Naser and Hajar Montazeri;  Hamed Montazeri’s wife Marziyeh Elahi-Nia; Naser Montazeri’s wife Sara Azizi; late Ayatollah Rabbani Omleshi’s daughter Lo'iya Rabbani; the Grand Ayatollah's daughter-in-law Batoul Mostafavi Montazeri; and Grand Ayatollah’s grandchildren Mohammad-Hossein Rabbani and Zahra Doust-Mohammadi. Some of the arrested were later released.

• Mohammad-Ali Abtahi's brother-in-law Mehdi Mousavi-Nezhad is arrested.

• Human rights activist Mehdi Mahmoudian is arrested.

• According to Tagheer News, 200 individuals have been arrested at the Quds [Jerusalem] Day demonstrations in Tehran and 50 others in Mashhad.

Photos of the Day

• Rafsanjani stares at Ahmadinejad at the Eid-al-Fitr prayer in Tehran.