Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by�Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and�Michael Rubin.��To subscribe to this daily newsletter, please visit this page, fill out the "New Subscribers" section, and check "Iran News Round Up" listed under "Projects."�
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(E) = Article in English

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Politics

• Kayhan Editor Hossein Shariatmadari condemns Ahmadinejad's attempt to sack Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi.
• The Dolatyar website, close to the Ahmadinejad government, writes that it is "concerned for the life of the Doctor [Ahmadinejad]," the martyrdom of whom would "delay the emergence [of the Imam of the Era] 20 years."
• Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi slams Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei's discourse of "the school of Iran" and "nationalism," accuses Mashaei of being a "Freemason."�
  
  • Mehdi Pour-Hossein, a former student of Mesbah-Yazdi, criticizes Mesbah-Yazdi for having paved the way for Ahmadinejad by endorsing his presidency as a "miracle" back in 2005.

Diplomacy

• [E] In a telephone conversation with Kuwaiti National Assembly, Iran's Parliament Speaker asked for promotion of diplomatic ties between Tehran and Kuwait City.
• [E] Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman says EU's sanctions against certain Iranian officials over alleged human rights abuses are "irrational imitation" of the US.

�Military and Security

• Mahramaneh News, close to Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, explains why Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi resigned from his post:
  
  • "Ahmadinejad tried to make an Intelligence Ministry which would play a role at international level and expand its agencies globally... In such a way, it can counter some problems and security conspiracies such as sabotage and bombing in our country which most certainly are rooted outside of the country..."
  • "Heydar Moslehi resigned because of his knowledge of the need for a great change in the Intelligence Ministry..."
• Sobh-e Sadeq calls the European Union's list of sanctioned individuals "the first political joke of the year!"
• Yahya Rahim Safavi, former Revolutionary Guards chief and current adviser to the Supreme Leader condemns Saudi Arabia's "intervention in internal affairs of Bahrain," and warns "this innovation may also be used against itself."
• Sobh-e Sadeq analyst Javad Rezai comments on the Saudi response to the crisis in Bahrain:
  
  • "Why has Arabia chosen this policy towards Iran...? The alarm bells are ringing for dictatorial rulers of the region... Arab countries of the Persian Gulf have tried to prevent protests through generosity and by making political promises...This stratagem did not work in Yemen and Bahrain..."
  • "Should the people in one of these countries revolt and topple the ruling regime, it would start a domino spreading fast to all this countries sparing none..."
  • "Therefore, Arabia and UAE's deployment of forces to Bahrain must be analyzed in this context..."
  • "Arabia has chosen a path which moves it further away from salvation. They think listening to popular demands will be considered a retreat which would invite further protests... They have chosen the dangerous path of suppression and they must certainly pay a very high price for it..."
  • "Arabia and the UAE which both deployed forces to Bahrain for suppression... knew that their level of legitimacy had reached a minimum among their own people... On the other hand, Arabia and partners were thinking of how they could increase American support for themselves. This is where the West and Arabia reached a common ground. Both groups made Iran [their enemy]... They took bolder positions against Iran and increased points of conflict in order both to mobilize Western and popular support. After this analysis and following military assault against Bahrain, [they] started a propaganda assault against Iran..."
  • "The Saudi system... produces dissidents... and Shia who are considered second class citizens have become even more dissatisfied... The public opinion in the world of Islam condemns Arabia's moves and it has also not reached any victory despite Western support..."
  • "[Saudi] authorities have discovered that they can't remain in Bahrain for long and engage in crimes. In case they do, they should expect extra-regional protests and legal complains."� �
• Foreign Policy analyst Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh slams Saudi intervention in Bahrain.
• Yadollah Javani, Revolutionary Guards Political Bureau chief:�"One of the pitfalls of the Islamic Republic during the past years is economic and sometimes moral corruption of some technocrats and executives of the country. Based upon very this issue, from within the caravan of the forces of the revolution and those connected to the Islamic regime, a newly rich class with great wealth has emerged. This counter revolutionary trend, which is contrary to the principle of justice in the Islamic regime, has grown to the degree that in the third decade of the revolution, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic has made fight against economic corruption is primary priority... One of the reasons why the people distanced themselves from some of the individuals who held key positions during the era of construction and reform in the ninth presidential election [reference to Rafsanjani and Khatami] was very this issue."
• Chief of the General Staff Hassan Firouz-Abadi explains the role of the armed forces in Supreme Leader Khamenei's concept of "Economic Jihad."
• Police seize over 2.5 tons of narcotics in past 30 days in the Hormozgan province of southern Iran. Anti-drug police together with other law enforcement units managed to disband eight armed rings involved in drug-trafficking activities and identify and stop 32 vehicles carrying drug cargos," Hormozgan's Police Chief Mohammad told reporters today.

Trade

• An unnamed Indian expert tells Bultan News that authorities in India use the "phantom of American pressure" to reduce the price of natural gas exports from Iran to India.

Religion, Society and Culture

• According to Shia News, Ali-Asghar Sijani, director of the controversial "Emergence [of the Imam of the Era] is Near" documentary has been arrested.
• Shia News warns against "Wahabi student activism" at universities of Sistan va Balouchestan province.

Photos of the Day

• Army Day parade.

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