Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by AEI Critical Threats Project Iran Analyst Will Fulton and Iran Intern Amir Toumaj, with contributor Mary Ella Simmons. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• National Security and Foreign Affairs Commission member MP Esmail Kowsari protested harshly the rumors of Jack Straw's attendance of President-elect Hassan Rouhani's inauguration ceremony and said, "No one has forgotten how they caused the country to face issues in the '88 [2009] sedition. I am announcing that if Straw comes, we will show the necessary reaction."
• Legal and Judicial Parliamentary Commission member MP Mohammad Ali Esfahani warned against the return of "seditionists" to the political sphere and stated, "[participants] of the [2009] sedition should not expect the judicial system to not react."
• Head of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani stated, "[The June 14, 2013] election results brought hope, peace, and rationality to the country, such that in the shadow of this hope [one] can take the country to a desirable situation with the help of the hopeful people and if there [are no] obstacles."

Regional Developments

• IRGC Imam Sadegh University Basij Students, Qom Seminary Teachers Society, and cleric Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi condemned in separate statements the EU's terrorist designation of Lebanese Hezbollah.
• ISNA reports that Oqtay Asadov, Speaker of the National Parliament of Azerbaijan, will attend Rouhani's inauguration on 13 Mordad (4 August) in Tehran.
• Ahlul Bayt News Agency has again accused al-Jazeera of broadcasting false propaganda in order to provoke conflict between Sunnis and Shi'a in Syria and Iraq, saying that al-Jazeera had reported that "Iraq has closed its border to the Syria people because it is very afraid of Syrian Sunnis sneaking into the country."

.Diplomacy

• Mokhtar Lamani, deputy UN special envoy to Syria, met with Mohammad Reza Raouf Sheeibani, Iranian ambassador to Syria, to recent recent Syrian developments, particularly the Geneva 2 Conference. Sheibani asserted that the Islamic Republic's presence at this conference was necessary for the success of the conference due to Iran's special position in and influence on regional and international developments, and reiterated that Iran would not withhold any effort to help bring about a resolution to the Syrian conflict.

Military and Security

• IRGC Navy Commander Admiral Ali Fadavi stated, "[IRGC] Navy's deterrence capability and defensive power have reached a level where they have erased the enemy's imagination of an attack."
• Head of the Artesh Political Ideology organization Hojjat al-Eslam Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashemi said, stated that the Sacred Defense culture is like an unconquerable fortress and said, "The most important duty of Artesh Sacred Defense veterans is expplaining this force's role in the early years of the Imposed War, because performing great works in the country can only be done with the culture of the Sacred Defense era."
• Head of the Basij Organization BG Mohammad Reza Naghdi discussed services to orphans and stated, "One must value service to orphans because many great and prominent humans in the course of history have been orphans."

Economy

• Tehran Stock Exchange reportedly grew 45% since March and equity trading reached approximately $4,879,166,825 during the month of Tir [June-July].
• Dollar and Euro exchange rates reportedly depreciated today.
• Former Pars Oil and Gas Company Managing Director Mousa Souri warned against ignoring safety measures in inaugurating the Southern Pars Phase 15 and 16 refinery.

Photo of the Day

• Mohammad Reza Aref, IRGC Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari and Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff MG Hassan Firouzabadi attend an address by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.