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

Excerpts of these translations may only be used with the expressed consent of the authors.

Politics

  • Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Assembly of Experts members and reacted to a potential American strike on Syria and discussed his support for President Hassan Rouhani’s administration:
    • “The main reason for all of these hostilities [with the Islamic Republic] is Islam.”
    • “This notion that the Islamic Awakening has been eliminated is an incorrect thought. The Islamic Awakening was not a purely political event that is eliminated with the coming or going of some individuals. Rather, the Islamic Awakening is self-belief and reliance on Islam that has expanded in Islamic societies.”
    • “What we are witnessing in the region today, in reality, is the reaction of Arrogance [the West], with America at its center, to the Islamic Awakening.”
    • “The presence of Arrogance in this region is invasive, bullish, greedy and has the goal of eliminating any resistance against this presence, but the Arrogance Front has not been able to eliminate this resistance and will not be able to going forward.... In the recent Syrian matter, which began with the excuse of chemical weapons, this is the goal. But the Americans try to pretend with their rhetoric that they have entered into the matter with a humanitarian goal.”
    • “The Americans currently claim [to promote] humanitarian issues, [but] in their record exists the prisons of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, silence against Saddam’s use of chemical weapons in Halabcheh and Iranian cities, and the massacre of the innocent Afghan, Pakistan and Iraqi people.”
    • “No one in the world believes that the Americans are pursuing humanitarianism.”
    • “We believe that the Americans are committing a mistake in Syria, and on this basis they will feel the inflicted impact and will certainly be harmed.”
    • “One of the benefits of the current circumstances is the coming of a fresh administration with a group of capable and determined individuals [who seek to] advance the country toward [its] goals.”
    • “In such circumstances, all must aid the administration, and just as I have supported all administrations, I will also support this administration.”
    • “Of course, my support for administrations does not signify the approval of all their acts and it is possible for mistakes to exist as well, but these mistakes must not prevent aiding the administration.”
    • “In addition to aiding the administration, benevolent advice must also be given.” 
  • Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Gholam Ali Na’im Abadi praised President Rouhani’s speech in the assembly as “hopeful,” adding, “We must all support [him] so he can improve the country’s economic problems.” 
  • Assembly of Experts First Vice-Chairman Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi said, “The events in Syria are bitter and God will aid the Syrian people so they can persevere against the threats of superpowers and the Quds occupying regime. We hope that it turns out in this way and ends to the detriment of the superpowers and the occupying regime.” 

Regional Developments

Diplomacy

Military and Security

  • IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari discussed the IRGC’s responsibility regarding the revolution while addressing members of the IRGC Quds unit (Gilan province) , 16th Quds Operational Division, and Imam Hossein battalions of Gilan:
    • “Understanding the mission of defending the Islamic Revolution is the [IRGC’s] current issue.”
    • “[IRGC] executes missions in the various hard, semi-hard and soft arenas.” [These three categories are how the IRGC defines the conflicts in which it is engaged or could be engaged in.]
    • “Guardianship is not an occupation, rather it is a religious and revolutionary duty that the Guards are responsible for.”
    • “If we classify guardianship responsibilities, some of these are described with law and provisions, while executing some [IRGC] missions is conceptual.”
    • “Guardianship is higher than organization, post and occupational duties.”
    • “The Guards must execute their duties based on a task-centeredness and not limit their duties to the organizational level.”
    • “In military missions, territorial, geographic, and all capabilities are identified, and the necessary control is in place, but the soft-war arenas are different than security and defense designs.”
  • IRGC Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami addressed families of IRGC members killed in combat with PJAK [Kurdish separatist] rebels:
    • “In the past thirty-five year history of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian nation has surpassed difficult and formidable [periods], and has gone fist to fist with great enemies, each of whom had the capability to destroy the planet multiple times. From the beginning of the revolution until now, they have confronted enemies that have stood in a global line to fight the Islamic Iran’s transcendental ideals and goals.”
    • “All Iran's people consider each point in Iran as their homeland, and this is a truth in the heart of Islamic Iran's people. This unprecedented spirit is the secret of the system’s overcoming of the secessionist conspiracies of the revolution’s enemies and also anti-revolutionaries.”
    • “Today, Islamic Iran is the anchor of security and stability in the region. This is due to the blessing of Islam, velayat-e faghih, the Muslim nation, Artesh, IRGC, Basij and also national unity and solidarity, which are the primary sources of capital for the country’s growth and greatness.”  
  • Former IRGC Commander Mohsen Rezaei said, “If American officials attack Syria, they will have committed a big gamble. Many international wars began from a small event, but after it begins, it gets out of control…. If a war occurs in Syria, it will be limited but its challenges will take years.”
  • In a meeting earlier, the Defense Propaganda Headquarters discussed regional and Syrian developments and affirmed the necessity of “employing all of the country’s media capacities and confronting the enemies’ media creation.”
  • Head of the Basij Organization Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi stated, “The first goal of today’s fire fanning in the region is saving the Zionist regime from the blockade of the Islamic Awakening and total destruction…Today, Arrogance confronts the introduction of Islamic Iran as a model for humanity and this is the second goal of the Zionist regime.”

Nuclear Issue

Economy

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