Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh and Ahmad Majidyar. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Diplomacy

• Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei receives Ahmadinejad and his cabinet:
  • "[West’s enmity with Iran is because of] the constant progress of the Islamic Republic, revival of the slogans of the revolution, the great and most important awakening of the nations of the region, and [Western attempts] to prevent the rise of Iran as a role model in the eyes of these nations." 
  • "These days some ask:  'why do you create enemies,' but such words are because of wrong analysis."
  • "At the time of Imam Khomeini too there was no end to the enmity of the Arrogant [powers] because the Imam decisively defended the revolution, Islam and Iran. This truth shows that whenever the authorities and the Iranian nation take a tough position, the face of the enemy will become sourer. Of course, the Arrogant [powers] will never prevail when facing this nation..."
• Student activists of the "Islamic Awakening," along with student activists from Yemen and Bahrain arrange a symbolic street trial of the King of Bahrain in front of the Bahraini Embassy in Tehran. The trial condemned the King to 100 times execution. 
• [E] A senior Iranian MP condemned the attempts made by the US and its allies to hamper the presence of the Non-Alignment Movement member states in the upcoming summit meeting of the grouping in Tehran, and said the presence of Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi in the conference will be deemed as a great failure for Washington.
• [E] A spokesperson of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced in a statement on Thursday that the UN chief plans to confer with Iran on the crisis in Syria on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran next week. 

Military and Security

• Mohammad-Mehdi Tehrani, former head of the Student Basij at Tarbiat-e Modares University, refuses to discuss his involvement in the attack against the British Embassy in Tehran.
• Farda News reports on the arrest of "35 individuals who had traveled to East Azerbaijan province under the guise of helping people in the earthquake," but in reality "are counter revolutionary cells such as the BBC and the VOA trying to raise exorbitant sums by spreading rumors and false news and by propagating the Bahai [faith]." According to Farda News, "among them, there were Bahais, Monafeqin [members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization], communist elements and some individuals related to the so called National Front." Farda News also writes that "some of these elements use the raised money to buy luxury cars, but have road accidents leading to injury of the passengers, whom they present to the authorities as earthquake victims so they can receive free treatment." According to Farda News, the arrested individuals were in possession of "synthetic narcotics and alcoholic beverages" at the time of their arrest.
• The Israeli officials' war rhetoric against Iran serves psychological purposes rather than being an actual threat, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said, but in the meantime, underlined that Tehran deals with all threats seriously.
• [E] Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayyeri played down the US and EU pressures and sanctions against the Islamic Republic as ineffective, reminding that Washington and its western allies are now at their weakest position ever, while Iran is moving on an upward trend of progress. 

Economy

• Khamenei urged the cabinet to use the entire capacities of the government and nongovernment sectors to solve the economic problems of the people, fight against economic corruption, support national production and fight against waste. Khamenei said the cabinet is "famous for being hardworking," and added: "Even international monitoring institutions confess Iran's progress, however, some of them suffer from delusion because of wrong assessment." 

Trade

• According to Fars News, Iranian tankers are transporting Iran's oil to Singapore. 

Photos of the Day

• Khamenei meeting with the cabinet. 
• Symbolic "street trial" of the King of Bahrain in Tehran.