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

Military and Security

  • Mostafa Ahmadi-Rowshan, commerce director at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site, was assassinated on Wednesday at 08:30 a.m. local time in Tehran. According to Fars News, a motorcyclist attached a magnet bomb to Ahmadi-Rowshan's car. The blast killed Ahmadi-Rowshan and wounded two other passengers in the car. 
  • Hossein Alaei, founding father of the Revolutionary Guards Navy, publishes an open letter in Ettela'at  in which he indirectly compares mistakes of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi's:
    • "The government’s continued violent methods and severe suppression of the protests led the people to direct their opposition against the person of the Shah..."
    • "Open letters to the Shah... continued until the people decided to stop a lifelong dictator rule..."
    • Alaei also says the Shah should have asked himself these questions:
      • "Had I allowed the protesters to rally peacefully, and had I not accused them of demonstrating their power and mobilizing their forces, would they not have ended?"
      • "Had I ordered the authorities not to shoot the protesters, and instead calmed them with a strategy, would I not have reached better results?"
      • "Had I – instead of forcing the grandees into house arrest and exiling in faraway towns, and imprisoning political activists – opened the path of negotiation with them, would it have led to my escape from the country?"
      • "Had I not insulted people’s intelligence by accusing them of having been incited by foreigners, would I myself be forced to seek refuge among foreigners?"
      • Alaei concludes: "Dictators consider themselves the eternal right to rule over the people. When the palace is encircled by sycophants, there is no opportunity to ask such questions."               

Politics

Diplomacy

  • Ali Ahani is appointed the Islamic Republic's ambassador to France.

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