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 receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.
 
(E) = Article in English

Politics

• According to Etemaad, a parliamentary committee is preparing a plan to change presidential system into a parliamentary one in Iran. In an interview with ILNA, Hojjat al-Eslam Mesbahi Moqaddam explains: "Although the president is appointed commander in chief by the Imam, this was not a natural position for him [the president] in the law. At that time the presidency was completely ceremonial and [had a] coordinating [responsibility] amongst the three powers [of the state]." 
• Intelligence Ministry co-founder and reformist theoretician Said Hajjarian addresses a group of students: "One of the biggest achievements of the reformists in 2010 and 2011 was to make the inter-Principalist rivalry for the parliamentary seats, the parliamentary board and parliamentary committees very real... It is impossible that this divided group reaches unity in the presidential election and in such a condition their defeat is guaranteed."  

Diplomacy

• [E] Iranian Vice-President Hamid Baqayee is due to visit Cairo in the near future to invite Egypt's new President Mohammad Mursi to attend the 16th heads-of-state summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran late August. 

Military and Security

• Khatam al-Owsia Construction Base of the Defense Ministry is assigned to develop the Sumar oil field.
• Ahmad Malakouti, Assalouyeh Revolutionary Guards commander, says 1,200 Basij members are employed in the South Pars gas and oil field.
• [E] Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi announced Tehran's readiness to withdraw its lawsuit against Russia if the latter delivers the complicated S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran.

Nuclear Issue

• Parliamentarians discuss Iran's negotiations with the 5+1 Group:
  • Ahmad-Reza Dastgheib: "The position of the Westerners is not related to the nuclear issue. They are looking for pretexts rather than reaching a shared discourse. Therefore, they raise other issues at the negotiations. If they want the negotiations to reach a conclusion, they should return to the [previously] defined issues... Second, the West should prevent the influence of the Zionist lobby so that the negotiations return to their right track." 
  • Abd al-Reza Mesri: "The Westerners say negotiations have failed, meaning what they failed in their attempt to impose what they wanted upon the Iranian nation... The West is trying to take advantage of the situation in Syria, but Iran will not allow them to do so..."  
• [E] Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereidoon Abbasi rejected the media reports claiming that a new malware has attacked the country's nuclear installations in Natanz which hosts enrichment facilities.

Photos of the Day

• Air pollution in Tabriz.