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

Politics

  • Student activists ask tough questions from Ahmadinejad at an iftar meeting:  
    • Mohammad Jafarinejad, Justice Seeking Student Movement secretary: 
      • "Seven years of [unasked] questions are suffocating us, and now they say you have no more than five minutes. Mr. President, what would you have said in our place...? The discourse of demanding justice in this country began with the Supreme Leader, and as different groups joined the movement, it became a dominant discourse... This is how Ahmadinejad came to power. But to do this, it seems he neither had the right team nor a program... Your performance in the economy was inconsistent. You chanted the slogan of the oppressed, but it was your government which started the privatization of higher education, health, and the like... In the first months of the subsidy reforms, there was close supervision which contained inflation. But now it feels you and the government no longer do so. Sanctions impacted the current situation, but we believe that factors such as the erroneous structure of the Iranian economy and poor management in the public sector are also to blame for the rising prices... Erratic fluctuations in the gold and foreign currency market are signs of poor management of the economy... Mr. President, you say some present wrong statistics, but is it not because the governmental institutions under your own supervision either do not present any statistics or produce contradictory statistics...? You shut the doors to those who want to help you and then complain: 'They don't help us!'" 
    • Ali Mousavi, Islamic Student Association secretary:
      • “The people will most certainly suffer because of the sanctions against Iran and fluctuation of the foreign currency market. What is the plan of the government to control these fluctuations? What policies has the government adopted for its remaining year in office...? The student society has a question: Is the human awakening that you speak of the same thing that we see in Syria, while the Islamic Republic supports the [government] of Syria? Until when will we support Syria, and what is our final red line? What is the transparent policy of our government concerning this issue...? Your deputies are not capable of attending to the economic issues which you have relegated to them. Therefore, we expect that you will enter the arena directly and take the economic management of the country in your own hands at a time when the sanctions are getting harsher every day and the people suffer under its pressure... There are hands behind the rising prices and you must sever these hands..." 
    • Ahmadinejad responds:
      • "The main struggle of the government is against the Zionist and American hegemonic regime, which is administered by the Zionists... Today, we consider negotiations with the United States wrong, but in the war of media and power, we have not dismissed the principle of dialogue in a just and respectful atmosphere based on dignity of man and the rights of the Iranian nation. What is needed is the United States stopping its behavior and policies towards the Iranian nation..."
      • "Enacting Article 44 [privatization] was the duty of the government, and the duty of the government is to enact the law. In this context, the government did its utmost to pair execution of this law with [social] justice..."
      • "The ninth and tenth cabinets were the only cabinets which did not act in an inconsistent manner in the economy, but pursued their plans in a transparent way." 

Military and Security

  • Fire in Bandar-e Emam Petrochemical Plant kills and wounds 17, but the local governor says there has been no interruption in the plant's activities. 
  • Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader:
    • "This is a calamity [situation in Syria]. Everyone has been mobilized to defeat this country. The United States, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are all united. I don't understand what intervention in internal affairs of other states means. What is the meaning of all your lies? Who is unaware of your direct and armed intervention in internal affairs of Syria? Authorities of some of these states have declared that the problem is neither Syria nor Bashar Assad. The issue is Israel and the resistance. The war is over this issue; not over Syria or Bashar Assad. We too may have problems with Syria and Bashar Assad, but the issue is resistance." 

Economy

  • Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader:
    • "The economic crisis is global and there are also other countries struggling with that... The economic crisis is in reality a war which the enemy is waging against Iran because of the defeats it has suffered in previous wars. One must know that this is not a normal issue that one can easily ignore. Every individual, and the Iranian nation, all the forces of the country and the authorities must deal with this issue. During the imposed war, the entire nation was mobilized; even women were helping behind the front... The recent price rises are a temporary crisis. Of course, every era has its own problems, and such things are unavoidable in human life. But we must crush this wave; we must not capitulate and drown. This can be done... The recent price hikes are not an economic crisis, but a political crisis. We must take this matter into consideration that the main problem is the United States. The United States desires to regain its hegemony by economically defeating Iran. Now, what is our duty in this regard...? Don't think that the authorities have forgotten you..."    

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