Iran News Round Up
The Iran News Round Up ran from February 2009-September 2018. Visit the Iran File for the latest analysis.
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
- Presidential crisis:
- Reports on a special issue in the pro-Ahmadinejad paper Iran about the hijab, which condemns the black chador as retrograde:
- Mehr News Agency quotes five sources of emulation - including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's support for the black chador.
- Jahan News slams "the current of deviation" which it accuses of "in an insolent move direct a propaganda onslaught against the hijab."
- Farda News condemns Iran's "attack against a 7,000-year-old symbol of nobility and chastity."
- Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, deputy parliamentary speaker, expresses his sorrow about Iran's "breaking with ethics."
- Iran's Tehran headquarters encircled by the Law Enforcement Forces.
- Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei and Mehdi Kalhor make controversial statements about the hijab after a three month long period of absence from the political arena.
- Mashaei: "Ahmadinejad has two concerns. One is that a group of people - which themselves constitute a nation... have power and influence... We [on the other hand] must increase freedoms as we make progress. We can't limit the choice of the people to two options [those demanding personal freedoms and those loyal to the regime]."
- Kalhor: "The black chador is the worst kind of dress in the realm of the philosophy of the hijab... the law of the hijab can be compared with the Yasa of Genghis Khan..."
- According to Neda-ye Enqelab, Ahmadinejad has not participated at Tehran Friday prayer for months.
- Ayandeh underscores Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's criticism of the economy as criticism of Ahmadinejad's economic performance: "Mr. Ahmadinejad! Statistics will no longer solve your problems!"
- The Parliament's Research Center attacks Ahmadinejad's economic performance:
- "One can't accept that 765,000 jobs were created with around 6% growth during the first years of the fourth development plan, while 1% growth has created 1,600,000 jobs... Lack of strategy and a comprehensive investment planning guiding the investors has led to non-creative activities in various forms..."
- Reports on a special issue in the pro-Ahmadinejad paper Iran about the hijab, which condemns the black chador as retrograde:
Diplomacy
- Reactions to the end of the unrest in Great Britain:
- Hossein Ebrahimi, member of the parliament’s National Security committee: "The awakening of the British nation is inspired by the Islamic revolution of Iran."
- Kayhan: " British youth: We will resist to the end, we don't want monarchy."
- [E] Commander of Iran's Basij (volunteer) forces Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi deplored “vast and strong censorship in the mainstream media in the West,” and said what is reported from unrests in Britain is just tip of the iceberg.
- Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi warns against "conspiracies of the imperialists and the Zionist regime against Syria."
- [E] The Strategic Partnership Declaration between the US and Afghanistan (SPD) focused on the implications of a long-term US presence in Afghanistan is not acceptable as it poses a threat to the security of the entire region, a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official stressed on Monday.
Trade
- A senior source at Iran’s embassy in Baghdad says Iraqi authorities are pressing Iranian firms to leave Iraqi Kurdistan in the wake of the renewed skirmishes with PEJAK.
- Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi warns China against further delays and suspension of contracts, says the Revolutionary Guards companies are ready to replace Chinese companies in development of Iran's oil and gas fields.
- The Iranian contractor Kayson wins a $1 billion project to build 10,000 housing units in Venezuela.
Photos of the Day
- Fars News commemorates return of Iranian POWs to Iran.