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

(E) = Article in English

Politics

  • Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei met with Judiciary officials earlier today. In his speech, he discussed the implications of the elections and the nuclear program and emphasized the necessity of helping President-elect Hassan Rouhani:
    • Election implications: “The total defeat of the enemies’ plans and goals; the nation’s expression of trust toward the Islamic system and election supervisors and executives; the existence of stable security as the infrastructure of progress and development; other candidates’ decency and acceptance of the law regarding the President-elect; and the Islamic Republic’s strength and power in defending national interests are the important points of the elections.... This election’s truths and prominent points must be analyzed and given continuous attention.”
    • “The enemies and opponents of the Islamic Republic attempted to either prevent the elections from being held or [foster] the nation’s inattentiveness and cold [reaction].... They also had plans after the elections so that they could have pursued their ominous goals with various excuses, but with God’s grace, the nation demonstrated its skill and greatness on election day, and what occurred was 180 degrees opposite of the enemies’ desires.”
    • “Shedding doubt and creating uncertainty about the elections’ legitimacy was one of the enemies’ methods to make the people hopeless, but the nation acted in such a way that the [West's] propaganda machines were forced to confess to the people’s passionate and grand presence on election day.”
    • “The secret of the nation’s grand presence in this year’s elections was trust and general interest in the Islamic Republic system, trust in election supervisors and executives, and the nation’s hope for Iran’s continuous movement and progress; and this is a very important and undeniable truth.”
    • “On [election] day, it was said that if, by chance, there are those who [are not supportive of] the system but value Iran and its national interests, they should [still] participate in the elections, which maybe some voters fall in this category.... This truth demonstrates that even those who do not support the system trust in the system and its elections, because they know that a strong Islamic Republic stands like a lion against the greedy and defends national interests and national pride well.”
    • “In council elections, due to complicated tribal, regional, and racial backgrounds, it was possible for conflict to break out or instability to occur, but with divine grace and in the ray of the nation’s cooperation and the efforts of officials and related organs, there were no signs of instability in the late elections.”
    • “In these elections, [one] could have made excuses, and by implementing divisions and fighting, [one] could have ignored the nation’s great and glorious presence [in the elections] and made the people bitter. But the honorable and law abiding behavior of other candidates brought the feeling of calmness and happiness to the people, and this obedience of the law must be a lesson forever and for everyone.”
    • Nuclear program: “Just as it was said on the first day of Nowruz, some countries that constitute the anti-Iranian front and [lie to the international community] do not want the nuclear issue to be resolved, but if they set aside [their] stubbornness, [then] resolving the Iranian nuclear issue is simple, easy and smooth.... The nuclear issue has progressed to the point of resolution many times, but the Americans pursued new excuses.”
    • "[T]he Agency has acknowledged that the issues that it has had with the Iranian nuclear [program] have been resolved, therefore the Iranian nuclear case should have been closed. But the Americans immediately introduced a new issue because they consider the nuclear issue an appropriate point for threatening and pressuring Iran.”
    • “The Islamic Republic has acted legally and transparently in the nuclear discussion and possesses strong logic in [any] argument, but the enemies’ goal is maintaining pressure, tiring the nation, and changing the system therefore they will not allow the issue to be resolved.”
    • “Although enemies say in private discussions and letters that they do not want to change the system, their behavior demonstrates the opposite of [such statements].”
    • “For them, the nuclear issue, human rights, democracy and nothing else matters. They are seeking to block the nation’s progress and the renew dominance of our dear Iran, but the Islamic Republic has stood with strength, independence, reliance on the people and trust in God and defends Iranian interests.”
    • “Experience has also shown that anyone who perseveres in the path of righteousness will be victorious, and without a doubt the Iranian nation will also slap the enemies in this field.” 
    • Aiding Rouhani: “Managing the country is truly difficult and all individuals and organs must [support] the people’s presidential choice.”
    • “Healthy criticism and protest is certainly beneficial for the people, but we must all remember that being on the sidelines and criticizing is easy, but execution is difficult and hard; therefore, we all must all help the President-elect.” 
  • Al-Mostafa al-Alemiyeh Society Science Commission member Hojjat al-Eslam Mohsen Qorouyan stated, “In the field of the return [of 12th Shia Imam Mahdi], individuals who determine the companions of the Imam of the Age, place and time of emergence, and matters of this nature are liars....These individuals have been the source of some deviation and formation of deviant sects in the history of Islam.”
  • MP Nader Ghazipour said that the Parliament’s summoning of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to court was an initiative by MPs regarding the travel of Ahmadinejad and the family of his deputies to New York City. 
  • Article Ninety Commission Spokesman Mostafa Afzali Fard announced that a complaint case against President Ahmaidnejad’s Advisor and disqualified Presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei has been sent to the Ministry of Intelligence due to “…Mashaei’s statements regarding Iranian doctrine, [Shia] Imams, David the Prophet’s management, Jesus and the Zionist regime…” 

Regional Developments

  • Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouq has reportedly left Cairo to Lebanon to meet with a senior Iranian delegation and later with Lebanese Hezbollah officials to discuss tensions in the light of the Syrian conflict. Another Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar reportedly travelled to Iran via the Rafah passing yesterday, and the Palestinian news paper that broke the story speculates that these meetings demonstrate Hamas’ desire for a fresh start of relations with Iran.
  • An editorial in the Supreme Leader’s unofficial organ, Kayhan, claims that the killing of Egyptian Shi’a cleric Sheikh Hassan Shahte and four of his followers yesterday by Salafists has a “Zionist footprint” and is “…an imported conspiracy; The Saudi Regime, which is seriously afraid of the gravitation of North African nations towards the Shi’a religion, is at the source of this adventure. After the Islamic Awakening in Egypt, the Zionist regime has placed its strategic fundamentals toward this powerful Western neighbor [in order to create] religious and racial instability. This regime has created sedition between Copts and Muslims and will also create a Shia and Sunni war in time.”
  • Head of the Society of Qom Seminary Teachers Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi wrote a letter to the Egyptian al-Azhar Seminary Sheikh regarding the killing of Egyptian Shi’as yesterday, condemned extremist Sunni preachers and invited al-Azhar Seminary to a scientific dialogue. It reads in part:
    • “Unfortunately, dear Egypt has confronted a Zionist conspiracy that has targeted its stability, security and strength, and it is possible that its dimensions will spread to the region without an appropriate search for solutions.”
    • “Unfortunately, the anti-Shi’a project in Egypt, which has taken place by some ulamas and extremist currents, has caused the intensification of sectarian [violence], emergence of crimes and legalization of bloodshed. It is probable that the roots of these unconventional events in Egyptian society [is the result] of fatwas and statements by regional takfiri scholars, which has caused the stimulation of some ignorant youth and has led them to brother killing.”
  • Senior cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani condemned the killing of Egyptian Shi’as at the hand of a Salafist mob and said, “It is necessary for all Muslims to not be silent and demonstrate their disgust against this crime that has caused the spilling of the blood of some innocent Muslims and the damaging of Islam’s image” and, added, “It is expected that Egyptian al-Azhar ulamas will demonstrate their disgust by condemning this crime.” 

Diplomacy

  • Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi stated that “we do not have a problem” in establishing a straight Tehran-Washington flight. 
  • President-elect Hassan Rouhani responded to the Head of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas’ message of congratulations and affirmed the expansion of “brotherly and friendly” Iranian-Palestinian relations as one of the priorities of Iranian foreign policy.
  • President-elect Hassan Rouhani expressed his gratitude to Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and said, “Expansion of relations with China in all fields is one of the special priorities of the next administration’s foreign policy.”
  • Following a message of congratulations by the Kuwaiti Emir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, President-elect Hassan Rouhani said, “The friendly nation of Kuwait has continuously had a special place in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and this place will have continuity.” 

Military and Security

  • Law Enforcement Forces Commander BG Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam stated, “The type of Islamic system in our country creates security. When a small problem emerged in the [2009] sedition and problems were created on a small geographic [scale], we were affected greatly, but these problems are continuous in many countries and harm their officials.” He added, “In Islamic Iran, the people consider themselves to be the rulers and if they have any criticism, because they are not cloistered, they feel that [the criticism] must be introduced, and they express it with full freedom, which these conditions are satisfactory.”

Nuclear Issue

  • Foreign Ministry Ali Akbar Salehi announced that President-elect Hassan Rouhani would make the necessary decisions regarding the next round of negotiations with P5+1 after he takes office.
  • The Iranian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Ghorban Seifi announced that the next round of negotiations between Iran and P5+1 may possibly be held again in Almati.

Economy

  • According to the Iranian Statistics Center, the inflation rate stands at 32.6%. 

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