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." 

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Autobiographic comments from Supreme Leader Khamenei.
• Recent shuffles in the government:
  • Acting foreign minister Ali-Akbar Salehi and Isfahan Governor General Ali-Reza Zaker Esfahani are the main candidates for foreign minister.
  • Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, says he does not expect more changes in the government.
  • Manouchehr Motakki condemns the "bad manners" of the Ahmadinejad government.
  • Parliamentarian Hojjat al-Eslam Hamid Rasayi, until recently an Ahmadinejad supporter, criticizes Ahmadinejad's recent dismissal of government officials:
    • "Even if we don't pay attention to [Mottaki's] refutation of [Vice President] Mohammad-Reza Rahimi's statement that Mottaki was aware of his dismissal from the Foreign Ministry earlier, and should consider the contradictory remarks a misunderstanding between Dr. Ahmadinejad and Manouchehr Mottaki, how can one explain the issue of dismissal of [National Youth Organization director] Mehrdad Bazrpash and appointment of the sister of the wife of Mr. Baghaei? What is the reason behind such hasty decisions? Had the President not the power to dismiss Mr. Mottaki at a time when the Foreign Minister was on Iranian territory…? Is it really necessary that even his replacement [acting Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi] was unaware of his own appointment...? According to news sources Mr. Salehi received news of his takeover of the Foreign Ministry by SMS..."
  • Parliamentarian Alireza Zakani condemns how Mottaki was dismissed.
• Attacks against Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei:
  • Parliamentarian Ali-Reza Zakani, participating at the weekly seminar of the Ansar-e Hezbollah vigilante group, says he has "documents" and "files" concerning "one of Mashaei's deputies." Zakani adds: "Unfortunately, they think whoever opposes Mashaei desires to take aim at the president, but this is not the case."
  • Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, addressing the Imam Sadegh Brigade, condemns Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei's statements on "the school of Iran," as a counter to "the school of Islam."
  • Ayatollah Mohi al-Din Haeri Shirazi condemns Mashaei's comments on music. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, addressing the Imam Sadegh Brigade, condemns Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei's statements on "the school of Iran," as a counter to "the school of Islam."
  • Mashaei responds: "There is no such a thing as a real man of learning who is not religious. There are many who think they are men of learning. This is what they think! There are also those who think they are religious. They think so... One can't separate science from religion..."
• Asr-e Iran ridicules Commander Mehdi Tavakoli's statements that in 1974 Iran had "15 million registered drug addicts," and points out that the total population of Iran in 1974 was 30 million.

Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad visits Turkey for the Economic Cooperation Organization's summit.
• Tabnak News Agency condemns former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's claims that the United States paid $200 million to Grand Ayatollah Sistani ahead of the invasion of Iraq.
• [E] Caretaker of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Ali Akbar Salehi in a meeting with the family members of the two German nationals jailed for illegal activities in Iran reiterated that their case was moving on its natural and legal track.

Military and Security

• Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi addresses the Revolutionary Guards.
• Revolutionary Guards Qods Force Chief Qasem Sulaymani commemorates the martyr Ahmad Kazemi.
• [E] Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says a fate worse than what Hitler experienced is waiting for the U.S. and Britain's leaders.
• [E] Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar underlined that the U.S. and Israeli spy agencies equip the anti-Iran terrorist cells based in Pakistan.

Economy

• State-controlled bread prices by province.
• [E] Iran has produced 30 million tons of petrochemical products during the first nine months of the current Iranian year, a senior Iranian petrochemical official announced on Tuesday.

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Ahmadinejad called on the West to revise its Iran policy, reminding that years of animosity, political pressures, sanctions and resolutions could not bar the Iranian nation from acquiring civilian nuclear technology and Iran has now turned into an established nuclear state.

Photos of the Day

• Parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Committee thanks Manouchehr Mottaki.