Iran News Round Up - May 24, 2017

Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a senior adviser to Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, said that “ensuring Israel’s security... attracting Saudi Arabia’s investments to the US, selling weapons, and increasing Washington’s revenues” are the top goals for President Trump’s visit. (Fars News Agency) (E)

 Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghassemi strongly condemned President Donald Trump’s allegations against Iran as “interfering, repetitious and baseless.” Ghassemi said President Trump is “fomenting Iranophobia as a tactic to sell more arms to the regional states.” Ghassemi also called on the Trump administration to recognize the “real sponsors of terrorism” and stop selling arms to them. Ghassemi added that President Trump’s rhetoric will not force Iran to change its policies. (Tasnim News Agency) (E) (Fars News Agency) (E)

 Fatimiyoun fighter Sultani Ahmadi and Zeinabiyoun fighters Aghid Hossein, Jawed Hossein, Safar Ali, Aftab Hossein, and Zulfeqar Ali will be buried in Qom on May 24. The dates of their deaths are unclear. (Rooykard 24)

 Former presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi called for an investigation of the “voting irregularities” in a letter addressed to the Guardian Council. Raisi attached “hundreds of pages of documentation” as proof of the “voting irregularities” to his three-page letter. Raisi stated, “All of us in the sacred Islamic Republic are obliged to preserve the republican system and guard the people's vote… I cannot be silent when the rights of the people are oppressed.”

• Similarly, senior hardline politician Gholam Ali Haddad Adel supported Raisi’s claims and demanded that “election violations” must be “lawfully investigated.” Adel mentioned that the “incumbent government’s victory is not a surprise, because they have control over media and other means” to support themselves. (Iran Wire) (E) (Ghatreh) (Fars News Agency)

Reformists won all 21 Tehran City Council seats during city and village council elections throughout Iran on May 19. Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, received the highest number of votes. Some consider Hashemi Rafsanjani a favorite to replace conservative former presidential candidate Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as the mayor of Tehran. (Tasnim News Agency) (E)

President Hassan Rouhani thanked the late Expediency Discernment Council Secretary Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and reformist former President Mohammad Khatami during a televised address on May 20. He also stated, “Today the world knows that the nation chose a direction toward cooperation with the world and opposed to violence and extremism… [the election showed that] the nation wants to live in peace and friendship with the world and at the same time will not accept humiliation or threats.” (al Monitor) (E)

• Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the Supreme Leader Ali Akbar Velayati congratulated Rouhani on his victory. He also praised the voter turnout as demonstrating “the people’s unity and support for the religious democracy” of Iran. (Tasnim News Agency) (E) (Mehr News Agency)
• Defense Minister IRGC Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan stated that the voter turnout “guarantees the country’s power and security and indicates [the] people’s loyalty and trust in the holy” system of the Islamic Republic. Dehghan also called the turnout a “response to the Supreme Leader’s invitation and advice” to the people to vote. (Fars News Agency) (E)
• The Assembly of Experts congratulated President Hassan Rouhani on his re-election but called on him to avoid being influenced by particular political groups, a likely reference to Iran’s reformists. The Assembly of Experts also hailed the elections as a “crushing response to the hostile enemies” of Iran. (Tasnim News Agency) (E)
• Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghassemi said the voter turnout “indicates that… Iranians have learned that they can and should use the ballot box and peaceful means to initiate development and prosperity.”  (Fars News Agency) (E)
• Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani urged the president to prioritize addressing the demands of the people in a statement of congratulations to Rouhani published on May 21. (Tasnim News Agency) (E)
  
  

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the “the Iranian people and the Islamic Republic” the “winner” of the May 19 presidential elections during remarks on May 20. Khamenei stated that the political establishment has “succeeded in profoundly winning the trust of this great nation… despite the enemies’ plots.” Khamenei called on the incoming administration to improve its care for the poor and its fight against corruption. Khamenei noticeably omitted any statement of congratulations to Rouhani in his remarks. (Fars News Agency) (E) (Leader.ir) (E)

President Hassan Rouhani discussed the election, U.S.-Iran relations, and other issues during a press conference on May 22.

• On the election: “With this election, people wanted to say that no faction, group, idea, and school of thought” can “be eliminated… everybody is present and we must make of use of everyone to build Iran.” He continued, “No one has the right to drag [the Islamic] Revolution in its own tent… The people have said, “we will maintain respect for our institutions, and will not allow a small group to control an entity that belongs to all people. The Supreme Leader belongs to the entire Iranian nation, not a particular group. The people said “no” to the reduction of the Supreme Leader, the IRGC, the Basij, and the armed forces.”
• On Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia: "The assembly in Saudi Arabia, I believe, was a sham assembly without any political and practical vision.”
• On the possibility of U.S.-Iran talks: “We are waiting for the new US administration to reach an established position with regard to its way of thinking and stances, as well as future plans and we hope that it can reach an established position to let us have a more precise judgement about the group at work in Washington.”
• "The other point is that unfortunately, Americans have always made mistakes with regard to our region, when they [attacked] Afghanistan and Iraq, when they imposed sanctions on us, and in Syria and Yemen… I hope that the US administration [thinks] about the interests of the American people, regardless of the fact that they are not thinking about the interests of other nations… Our policy is interaction with the world and for development, peace and stability in the world, we have no way other than interaction with other countries…. We had no problem with [the U.S.] but they started animosity with our nation and revolution. If [the U.S.] did not hold hostility, we would have no problem with them.”
• On the U.S. reaction to Iran’s elections: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Iran to stop supporting terrorist groups and to end its ballistic missile testing in his response to Rouhani’s re-election. Rouhani stated, "These are dreams… Our weapons and missiles are for peace and if Iran does not have weapons, if we do not build missiles, there are some who will make mistakes again in their calculations like they did before when they [dragged] the region into wars… The American authorities must know that whenever we need to test-fire missiles for technical reasons, we will test them and will not await permission from them.”
• On terrorism: "I don't think the people of the United States would be willing to trade the blood they gave in 9/11 with billions of dollars [in arms sales], surrendering to [terrorists] in the region. The US administration has never [combated] terrorism but the people of that country are against terrorists and want it eliminated.”
• “We will eradicate terrorism by the power and strength of God; over the next four years, we will restore stability to the region… We wanted to tell the world that we are willing to cooperate and interact, by means of mutual respect and through common interests. We want to tell the world that regional development is not possible without unity and harmony.” (President.ir) (E) (Fars News Agency)