A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by AEI Critical Threats Project Iran Analyst Will Fulton. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Politics

  • Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed representatives from Islamic countries at the 26th Conference of Islamic Unity in Tehran:
    • “Today the main policy of the Global Arrogance [the West] in dealing with the Islamic awakening is to create divisions and have Muslims at each other’s throats in Islamic countries; therefore the duties of religious, political, and academic leaders of the Islamic world is to explain the enemy’s design for the ummah and seriously try to make slogan of Islamic unity a reality.”
    • “After decades of pressure and Western dominance of the Islamic world, Muslims are feeling that Islam is the foundation for the realization of their independence, pride, and grandeur and all the wishes of the Islamic ummah can be realized with the grace of Islam.”
    • “The Islamic awakening that began 34 years ago in Iran and is currently spreading in the Islamic world is a sign of the realization of divine will and the movement towards victory.”
    • “From the beginning of the Islamic awakening’s movement, the Global Arrogance has attempted to create difficulties and obstacles for [the movement], but if Muslims trust in God and take serious step then the enemy’s obstacle will certainly not stop the movement of the Islamic world, and they will reach additional victories with every step.”
    • “The only path to confront the conspiracy of division [between Sunni and Shia] is [creating a sense] of unity amongst Muslims and also between groups, religious, and different factions in every single one of the Islamic countries."
    • “The recent efforts undertaken by Westerners…to dominate African countries is the result of divisions and Muslims’ preoccupation with one another.”
    • “Every division between Muslim countries or within an Islamic country is certainly playing in a field that the enemy has designed.”
    • “Intellectuals of the Islamic Ummah, while explicating the enemy’s dangerous design to sow division, must also avoid division or agitation of superficial emotions because the fire of divisions will blacken the destiny of nations.”
    • “If the prophet of Islam were amongst us today, he would invite all Muslims to unity and to avoid conflicts.”
  • Head of the Society of Qom Seminary Teachers Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said the calls for ”free elections” today, five months before Iran’s presidential election, are a conspiracy for after the elections:
    • “In the sedition of 2009 they conspired and this took place even before the elections, then they said that there has been cheating.” 
  • Head of Iran’s Inspection Organization Mostafa Pour Mohammadi addressed Habibollah Asgarowladi’s recent expression of support for Green Movement Leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi:
    • “I completely agree with Mr. Asgarowladi’s opinions that we must attempt to institutionalize criticism and allow all views to be explicated.”
    • “That we allow everyone’s return and create an environment for return of certain individuals is a positive note because we should not pursue all issues with pessimism and one-sided judgment, and I agree with this environment, but I will not comment regarding personal positions….I think that the model that he has pursued is a rather good model and is worthy of praise and value and we must encourage and strengthen this environment.”
  • Senior Advisor to the Supreme Leader for Foreign Affairs Ali Akbar Velayati said that he suggested the idea of forming the 2+1 coalition  that will announce a single candidate among principlists for the upcoming presidential elections:
    • “With attention to the sensitivity of this issue, I first discussed it with Mr. [Mohammad Bagher] Qhalibaf and then with Mr. [Gholam Ali] Haddad Adel, and fortunately both of their graces accepted, and based on the principle of this design all three individuals accepted it. The principle of this plan is that it should be the goal of the three of us to not have more than a single candidate between believers in Islam, the system, the Islamic Republic, the Constitution, and velayat-e faghih (guardianship of the jurisprudent)....  [D]ivision and animosity amongst candidates will not result in a positive outcome for the election.  Particularly because we are in a sensitive situation,
    • it can be said that it is the most sensitive election conditions in the history of the Islamic revolution. and therefore, there are no options other than preventing deep [electoral divisions].  This matter has characteristics and the first one is that all three of us are prepared to accept the candidacy of the chosen person without quarrel, and [we] have promised to strengthen him unless that individual is not of [us three]. This is the main pact of this coalition and it is a new subject in the history of presidential elections that is taking shape.” 

Diplomacy

  • Iranian ambassador to Iraq Hassan Danaeifar, in a meeting with the governor of Basra, Iraq, affirmed cooperation between that province and the province of Khuzestan in Iran.  Danaeifar is to meet with sheikhs of various tribes in southern Iraq. 

Military and Security

  • Member of the National Security and Foreign Policy parliamentary commission and IRGC BG Mohammad Esmail Kowsari said that Expediency Council Chairman Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s opinion regarding elections, the call for ”free elections” based on international standards specifically, is not in line with the Supreme Leader’s:
    • “Unfortunately the standards of Mr. Hashemi regarding issues related to election is the standard and criteria of imperialist countries whose elections only represent the views of certain classes of society and the majority of the people, especially the lower class, are not represented.” 

Economy

  • Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei criticized the suspension of Iranian oil and gas exports:
    • “We are self-sanctioning ourselves and this will damage our economy more than the aliens’ sanctions.” 

Nuclear Issue

  • Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani asserted that Iran “has never said” that talks with the US are a “red line.” He added, “The Supreme Leader addressed this topic during a speech in Mashhad [when he said that] we will analyze the Americans. Therefore, one must assess the behavior [of the US] during the president’s  new term.”

Photo of the Day

  • Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani meets with Grand Mufti of Syria Sheikh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun in Tehran.