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

Diplomacy

• Iraqi Shi’a leader Muqtada al-Sadr warns the Bahraini regime that any attempt on the life of Ayatollah Isa Ahmad Qasem, Bahraini Shiite leader, will be seen as an attack on the entire Shi’a Muslims. 
• [E] Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya will visit Iran next week, Hamas movement announced in a statement. 

Military and Security

• News stories about Iranians kidnapped in Syria:
  • The opposition in Syria releases a video on YouTube in which a group of suspected Revolutionary Guards members confess they were deployed to Syria to suppress the popular uprising. The spokesman of the group asks Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to withdraw the Iranian forces from Syria so that they too can return to their families. Video: 
  • According to Fars News, 11 Iranian citizens were kidnapped while on pilgrimage in Syria. 
    • More details provided by Asr-e Iran. 
• Bultan News writes that Molavi Mostafa, a Sunni religious leader assassinated in Rask city of Sistan va Balochestan, was a Basij commander. 
• [E] Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu underlined that his country will not allow the NATO to use its territory to strike Iran. 

Economy

• The Central Bank warns the foreign currency exchange bureaus: "The price of U. S. dollar in foreign currency exchange bureaus is 3 to 5% higher than the reference rate [of the Central Bank]... If you don't abide by it, you will be shut down." 
• Deputy Economy Minister Mohammad-Reza Farzin:
  • "In recent years, the government has had a trade surplus. Therefore, foreign currency enters the Central Bank rather than being withdrawn from it..."
  • "In 1390 [beginning March 21, 2011] the oil revenue has been $55 billion and [other] exports reached $22.5 billion while imports in the same period were $40 billion..."
  • "[However,] the economic actors thought that the government's foreign currency reserve is not in a good situation and some profiteers began manipulating the exchange rate by buying and selling it..."
  • "Due to high demand, the Central Bank began selling the foreign currency infused to the market in order to... [stabilize the Iranian currency] but could not satisfy the increased demand... The first decision [by the government] is to create a single exchange rate because official rates [existing in parallel with the market rate] fuels corruption..."

Trade

• Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Ebrahimi, Parliament’s National Security Council member, says Iran will stop its oil exports to the European Union next week. 
• [E] Turkish lender Halkbank will continue to handle customers' oil payments to Iran as long as they comply with international, and not the US, regulations, the bank's general manager said in the wake of fresh, unilateral US and EU sanctions against Tehran. 
• [E] Islamabad officials underscored once again that Pakistan is resolved to expedite its gas pipeline project with Iran despite the US pressures and warnings. 

Photo of the Day

• Friday prayer demonstration in Tehran against suppression of the Shi'a in Bahrain.