Iran News Round Up - August 22, 2017

Fatemiyoun Brigade members Mosatafa Shah Hosseini, Asadollah Zavari, and Mohammad Faghiri were buried in Rey, Tehran Province, on August 21. All three were reportedly killed in Syria. (Mehr News Agency)

Green Movement leader Mehdi Karroubi was re-hospitalized on August 19 following an issue with his pacemaker. Karroubi’s return to the hospital follows the end of his hunger strike last week. Karroubi’s son, Mohammad, stated that his father was only “half conscious.” Karroubi and fellow Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have been under house arrest since 2011.  (Radio Farda)

• Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei denied reports of the removal of security forces from Karroubi’s home. Karroubi had demanded the removal of security forces as well as a public trial as conditions for the end of his hunger strike. Ejei stated that the decree issued against Ejei and the other Green Movement leaders “remains in force.” (BBC Persian)
• Reformist former President Mohammad Khatami called on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to lift the Green Movement leaders’ house arrest. He stated that “it is only with the attention of [Khamenei] that this issue will be solved.” Khatami echoed Karroubi’s demands for security forces to be removed from the leaders’ homes in order to end “a siege within a siege.” (BBC Persian)
• Deputy Parliament Speaker Ali Motahari criticized Ejei’s comments in an open letter. Motahari stressed that “the unjust tradition of house arrest in Tehran” should end. Motahari stated that “the Supreme National Security Council can never act in place of the and determine that [in individual] should be under house arrest for life without a trial or hearing the defendant’s [case].” (BBC Persian)

President Hassan Rouhani met with his second-term cabinet for the first time on August 20. Rouhani stated that the “Iranian people and officials around the world rejected calls for [Iran’s] isolation through their presence” at Rouhani’s inauguration. Rouhani added that the government’s legitimacy “lies in [the government] providing a clear and precise response to [the] people’s wishes.” (Fars News Agency)

• Rouhani made additional non-ministerial appointments following the approval of his cabinet by Parliament. Rouhani appointed former Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mahmoud Vaezi as his Chief of Staff. Rouhani also appointed former Chief of Staff Mohammad Nahavandian as Vice President for Economic Affairs. (Fars News Agency)   

Parliament voted to confirm all of President Hassan Rouhani’s proposed second-term cabinet members on August 20 with the exception of proposed Energy Minister Habibollah Bitaraf. Defense Minister Artesh Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami received the largest vote of confidence with 261 in favor and just 10 opposed. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also received 236 votes in favor and only 26 votes of opposed to his appointment. Rouhani has not yet announced his selection for Science Minister. (BBC Persian)

Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to the Supreme Leader Ali Akbar Velayati met with Iraq’s Islamic Virtue Party Head Abdol Hossein Mousawi. The Islamic Virtue Party is a Shia Iraqi political party that draws its primary support base from Basra.  Velayati stated during the meeting that “there are scarcely two countries in the world that have as much in common as Iran and Iraq.” (Mehr News Agency)

Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari stated that “Lebanon and other regional countries” must assist in resolving the Syrian crisis during a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. Bassil thanked Jaberi Ansari for Iran’s part in negotiating de-escalation zones in Syria as part of the Astana process. Jaberi Ansari also met with Lebanese President Michel Aoun. (ILNA) (Mehr News Agency)

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi as Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) deputy chief, and Artesh Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi as Artesh Commander. The move is notable, as Khamenei appointed Mousavi as AFGS deputy chief in June 2016. Khamenei also promoted Mousavi to the rank of major general. Before his appointment as AFGS deputy chief, Mousavi had served as Artesh Deputy Commander.

• Artesh Brig. Gen. Aziz Nassirzadeh was appointed Artesh Air Force Deputy Commander on August 19. Nassirzadeh previously served as the Artesh Air Force Coordination Deputy. (Mehr News Agency) (ILNA)
• Khamenei appointed former Defense Minister IRGC Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan as a special advisor on matters of defense industry and armed forces support on August 20. Artesh Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami replaced Dehghan as Defense Minister in President Hassan Rouhani’s second-term cabinet. (Fars News Agency)