A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin.  To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.
 
(E) = Article in English

 

Diplomacy

  • Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi's office dismisses reports about the ayatollah moving to Najaf in order to become a source of emulation.
  • Iran’s Embassy in Damascus dismisses having any contact with opponents of the regime in Syria.
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, Chief Inspectorate head, discusses Iran-United States relations:
    • "Presence of the Americans, in diplomatic and official way in Iran, or relationship with the United States, rather than being to our benefit, is to the benefit of the United States. In order to attend to our global needs, there are many countries with which we can have exchanges. The world is big and competitive. The competitors don't show mercy to each other. Anyone tries to marginalize the other...
    • It is the United States which needs us. We don't need them as much. Should the United States abandon its violations, its colonialist nature, its unjust and patronizing behavior - for example by abandoning its violations in our region - should it be loyal to rational behavior and compensate its past mistakes towards our nation, under those conditions we will accept to have relations with it. But even those relations would benefit her more.
    • In the region we have greater maneuverability... Under such circumstances, we have also freer hands when it comes to states which have many points of contact with the United States. For example, when we consider the Zionist regime a usurper and illegitimate, we act much easier, and can just as easily criticize those countries which have exchanges with the Zionist regime. We have not recognized a principle, and because we did not recognize it, we can create obstacles in its paths easier. Had we surrendered to the [diplomatic] norms, in reality and contrary to our beliefs, we would have been forced to operate within those very same structures."
  • Mohammad-Javad Larijani, Iran Human Rights Committee director: "I recommend the Saudi brothers to learn from the destiny of Saddam who was trapped because of the provocations of the Americans and degraded his country by attacking Iran. They [the Saudis] should not become an instrument [in the hands of the United States]."
  • [E] Iran said the Arab League's decision to suspend Syria was unhelpful and played into the hands of foreign countries at a time when President Bashar al-Assad's reforms should be given a chance.
  • [E] Iran's UN Envoy Mohammad Khazayee, in letters to UN General Assembly President Nassir al-Nasser and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, criticized Saudi Arabia for sponsoring a draft resolution in the UN General Assembly over US allegations about Tehran's involvement in a terror plot against a Saudi envoy.

Military and Security

  • A new website defending the Revolutionary Guards Qods Force displays videos of the attacks of "the Iraqi Hezbollah" against the United States Army.
  • News stories about Saturday's blast in Malard:
  • Commander Mohammad Kowsari commemorates the late Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam, Revolutionary Guards Self-Sufficiency Organization commander.
  • Basij Commander Mohammad-Reza Naqdi: "Today, the army of the enemy is totally defeated and events of the recent years show that they do not have the capacity to realize their wishes... The result of the heavy casualties and disgrace of the United States in Iraq led to emergence of a pro-Islamic Republic government and in Afghanistan they are dealt a major blow every single day... I say with certainty that the United States is so weakened that if we attack them today they not only lack the ability to counter it, but will also beg Iran for negotiations. But through various media means they show the situation in a different way..."
  • Basij Commander Mohammad-Reza Naqdi announces that war games in the coming weeks will involve "250,000 Basij."

Nuclear Issue

  • [E] International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chief Yukiya Amano announced on Thursday he wanted to send a high-level mission to Iran following his agency's release last week of a report on Iran and Tehran's strong response and warnings that it might withdraw from the UN body.

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