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

Military and Security

  • Revolutionary Guards Navy Chief Morteza Saffari:

    • "As the Supreme Leader explained, there were some elites who did not pass the exam in the post-election events...How can we consider some individuals, groups and movements as the followers of the path of the Imam [khomeini] when they, in their speeches, postures and deeds, enchant the United States, the Zionists and all the sworn enemies of Islam and the Islamic revolution?.."
    • "Why have some faces and groups become collaborators of the United States, Britain, the Zionist regime, the monarchists, the secular forces, domestic hypocrites [Monafeghin, a reference to the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization] and other sworn enemies of Islam and Iran?..."
    • "Elite background is not a sign of their infallibility. As the blessed Imam [Khomeini] expressed in his Political Will, what counts is the present state of the individuals. It is because he [Khomeini] knew that men commit mistakes, deviate from the path and fail at exams and may sell out all Islamic goals and ideals to the benefit of the enemies..."
  • (E) Saeed Jalili, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, met with the head of the International Maritime Organization to discuss the issue of modern piracy. Alien warships have been discovered in the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea and Jalili has pressured the regional community to join Iran in taking action. Iran has cooperated with the IMO and has sent multiple fleets of warships to the Gulf of Aden.

Iran in the Afghan Media

  • A group of Afghan parliamentarians say Iran is meddling in Afghanistan for political reasons.

    • They say that Iran is politically benefting from instability in Afghanistan, such as Afghanistan’s inability to prevent the waters of Helmand River from freely flowing into Iran and not being exploited inside the country. The parliamentarians say that the discovery of Iranian-made weapons and mines shows Iran is interfering in Afghanistan.
    • Muhammad Naeem Farahi, a member of Parliament from Farah Province bordering Iran, accused Iran of supplying arms and weapons to the government’s opposition in Farah and Herat provinces, and complained that the Afghan govenrment remained silent over the issue. Khodai Nazar Saramchar, a member of Parliament from Nimroz Province bordering Iran, also accused Iran of meddling in Afghanistan.
    • But an Iranian official at Tehran’s embassy in Kabul refuted the accusations, saying Iran was playing a stabilizing role in Afghanistan. “Not only does Iran not interfere in Afghanistan’s affairs, but it is trying to solve the country’s problems.”
  • Some Afghan parliamentarians accuse Iran’s border police of invovlement in drug traffickign along the Afghan-Iranian borders.

    • They say that Afghanistan’s fledgling police force is incapable of preventing drug smuggling, but that Iran’s police does not act despite being well-equipped and ready for the job. The western Afghan province of Herat is said to be main transit route for drug smuggling from Afghanistan to Iran and Turkmenistan. General Muhammad Daud, deputy of counternarcotics department at the Afghan Interior Ministry, said:: “At present, 80 percent of heroin is produced in Helmand Province which is smuggled to the province of Herat.”
    • Officials at the Iranian embassy in Kabul refute the allegations, reasoning that Iran has sacrificed 3,000 border guards in the fight against drugs. They stress that over 3,000 Afghans illegally enter Iran on a daily basis and that it is difficult to detect the smugglers amongst them. More, here.

Media

Economy

 

  • (E)Iran's OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi stated the unparalleled importance of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries for the oil market. Khatabi boldly claimed that "OPEC enjoys enough power to prevent non-OPEC parities' control over the oil market" and dismissed speculation as to the potential effects of Russia’s fierce entrance into the oil market.

 

Religion, Society and Culture

 

  • (E) Iran is expected to host an Asian canoeing trip in late September of 2010. The trip will be held in the Azadi Lake in Teheran.

  • (E) Two Iranian chess players are scheduled to participate in the Sri Lanka Open International Chess Championship in Colombo. The event began on September 13th and includes 74 representatives from 15 countries.

  • (E)One Day after the Tenth Day, a film produced by Iranian filmmaker Narges Abyar, is set to be screened at Georgia’s Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in late September. The 25-minute movie portrays the way an old man bonds with his camel.

 

Diplomacy

 

 

Nuclear Issue

 

  • (E) An Iranian National Security advisor explained that Iran’s package of proposals presented to the five members states on the UN Security Council and Germany did not address Iran’s nuclear program. The official reiterated that the nuclear issue was left out of the framework discussions because “there had remained no technical or legal aspect of the (nuclear) issue unsolved.”

  • (E) Ali Asqar Soltanieh, Iran’s representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency, reported that Iran’s proposal to add a paragraph to the IAEA working agenda prohibiting attacks against “under construction or operational” nuclear installations was approved in the General Committee.

  • (E) Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, met with the head of the Russian energy organization, Sergei Kiriyenko, to discuss plans for bilateral cooperation. The two also addressed the Bushehr Nuclear Plant and discussed future joint-plans for the establishment of new nuclear plants.

  • (E) Javier Solana, chief foreign policy executive for the European Union, has said that talks between Iran and the six major world powers will probably take place in Turkey. The date of the event has already been set for October 1, 2009.

 

Photos of the day