Iran News Round Up February 4, 2013

• Parliamentarians reacted negatively to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's playing of an audio tape during an open parliamentary session that purportedly contains a conversation by Larijani's brother, Fazel, implicating the entire Larijani family in corruption:
  
  • Head of the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said, "'[t]he president's expressions are feeding foreign media."
  • Member of the Parliament's Cultural Commission Ali Motahhari said, "Ahmadinejad's action was illegal and against religious law, and the impeachment session revealed part of his true nature. I think with this attempt we are getting closer to the endpoint of the crisis." 

Diplomacy

• [E] Head of Iran’s Interests Section in Egypt Mojtaba Amani said, “Syria is a common topic of discussions between Tehran and Cairo; no date has been fixed for a trilateral or quadrilateral meeting on Syria, but Iran is committed to continue consultations with Cairo based on Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi's initiative for resolving the Syrian crisis.”

Military and Security

• IRGC Commander MG Mohammad Ali Jafari said during the First Conference on Understanding Defense Doctrine [maktab-e defa’i] Based on the Thoughts of Imam Khomeini and the Supreme Leader, “After the [Iran-Iraq] War a number of our country’s officials tried to merge the Artesh and IRGC and reduce the size of the armed forces because of the costs. But the Supreme Leader stood against this deviant view and protected the IRGC and determined its military nature…. Today no one has the courage to threaten the revolution militarily. This is a result of the Supreme Leader’s perspective after the war…. The emphasis on intelligence superiority over the enemy is something that the Supreme Leader constantly emphasizes to the armed forces and, today, this perspective is followed well in the IRGC.”
  • [E] Jafari said regarding the Israeli strike on Syria, “Of course, the powerful country of Syria has resisted so far, and we hope that Syria will give a response to this aggression, too, because the only way to stand against Israel is resistance, persistence and retaliation.”
• [E] Armed Forces General Staff Basij Affairs and Defense Culture Deputy BG Massoud Jazayeri said, “Damascus's response to the recent Israeli aggression will send the Zionist regime into a coma…. In the new era, the criminals should know that behind their every blow lies a massive retaliatory blow, whose time, level and magnitude will be determined by the resolve of the free and anti-hegemonic nations.”
• IRGC Deputy Commander BG Hossein Salami said, “[Israel] resorted to this [military] operation [in Syria] because they failed to make any achievement in the region; but this operation cannot change the power equation in the region or in Syria…. The Syrian army and government are making advancement and heading forward in the battlefield and foreign countries lack the power to wage a massive military intervention, and thus they resort to such fruitless moves.”
• Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili said, “[r]ecent Zionist behavior is an important indication that they are desperate to create divisions within Syria and pursue their goals and have turned to practical actions.” 
  • "We believe today after the Islamic Awakening there is an opportunity for the unity of the world of Islam around the Axis of Resistance and a great test for the Islamic world is to play its historical role."
  • "Syria is an important part of the Islamic world that is at the front lines of the Islamic world's confrontation with the Zionist regime, and the world of Islam will never allow an attack against Syria."  
• Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Executive Officer Amir Shahrokh Shahram said that nuclear installations have become completely damage proof:
  • “Key installations, particularly nuclear installations, are part of our special mission and we will [devote special attention to] defending these installations.”
  • “We have a doctrine called 'defense in depth.'  Meaning that if any threats against us are to begin beyond the depths of our border, we can discover it in the shortest amount of time.  The term that we use in the air defense unit is 'fraction of a second.'”
  • “More than 35-35% of air defense attacks are conducted in low altitudes, and more than 50% of air defense attacks are conducted at medium altitudes. So if we have weapons that allow us to conduct defensive [operations] in these situations, then we will have good capabilities.”
  • “Today our detection networks, from optical to radar and sonar, are observing all activities and interactions that are considered threats. We have a particular method for each threatening scenario and we have tested some in our open exercises and some covertly.”
  • “Today air defense is not a [combat service] but it uses all of the country’s capabilities, from university elites, the Basij, Law Enforcement Forces, Artesh and IRGC forces. [It] even draws from the people in passive defense areas, because if threats become serious we will need the people’s force in passive defense.”
  • “Around our country many flights are taking place that are all recorded.  As soon as we record the smallest offensive and a threat is sensed, and we feel that an airplane or a flying object is [headed] towards Iran, with our radar and even with our sonar and visual [networks] we can sense it.”
• Coordination Deputy of the Supreme Leadership Representation in the IRGC BG Mohammad Hossein Sepehr commented on the historical division of Iranian territories, the IRGC's global cyber ranking, and Israel's destruction:
  • "Unfortunately, in past eras, due to non-observant, capricious, coward rulers who were separated from the people and a lack of people's presence in guarding the country, whenever an attack on the country took place or agreements with foreigners by weak government administrators [were reached], part of the country's soil was conceded to foreigners or we would give heavy concessions to the barbarians.  [In] the past 200 years 4/5 of the country's soil has been separated and only a fifth of true Iran has remained."
  • While adding that the IRGC is the fourth-ranked cyber power in the world, he said "[c]urrently the IRGC's deterrence capabilities are threatening all American interests in the region and capable warriors in Palestine and Lebanon will soon wipe out Israel." 

Photo of the Day

• Defense Minister BG Ahmad Vahidi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Head of Iran's Aerospace Organization, BG Manouchehr Manteghi, attend the unveiling of the Ghaher 313 fighter jet.