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

Politics

• Presidential crisis:
  • Asr-e Iran analyzes Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy calculations:
    • "The foundation of Ahmadinejad's foreign policy is based on the principle that the enemy will under no circumstance engage in a military attack to topple the regime in Iran. With such a principle, Ahmadinejad operates with a completely open mind concerning his policies... Ahmadinejad follows the same policy in domestic politics. In other words, he believes that the pressure and criticism against him, regardless how harsh and bitter, in the end do not threaten his presidency and he can end his second term in office..." 
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Mojtaba Zolnour, former deputy representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards, addresses the prayers at the Ahl-e Beit Mosque in Qom:
    • Commenting on whether Ahmadinejad could meet the same destiny as Abol-Hassan Bani-Sadr, Iran’s first president after the 1979 revolution: "It is possible that this happens. We can't refute it, but God willing it will not be so."
    • "This current of deviation is even more dangerous than the reformist current, since the reformists had secular foundations and they showed it... But this current of deviation has powdered its face with religion and the religious government. It is wearing the mask of religion and Messianism [Mahdaviat]... They don't say, 'we are opposed to the guardianship of the jurist.’ They say something worse. They say, 'we are connected with the Imam of the Era and that the guardianship of the jurist is subjected to the guardianship of the Imam of the Era.'"
    • RAJA News, which has taken contradictory positions during the presidential crisis, in a reaction to Zolnour's statements calls them "ridiculous."
  • According to Mojmal News, Ahmadinejad has a "cold and defensive relationship" with the Intelligence Ministry.
  • Haft-e Sobh, close to Ahmadinejad, calls the plan to separate male and female students at universities "the stupidity of the autocrats."
• Mehdi Khazali, son of Ayatollah Khazali, visits the grocery store of Mir-Abdollah Mousavi, the brother of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, in the poor Tehran neighborhood of Darkhoungaah. Mir-Abdollah says his family hosted their relative Ali Khamenei for three months when he was persecuted by the police before the revolution. Mir-Abdollah adds he has no news about his brother who is imprisoned: "They don't allow visits, but his children who were allowed to visit him say he is in good health."

Military and Security

• According to Al-Ahram, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has in a letter to President Obama warned the United States against intervening in Syria.
• TV Program 20:30's hidden camera hunts "bad hijab." Video.
• [E] Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi says the country has adopted proper measures to counter the United States' new cyber and spy war on Iran, dubbed as "Internet in a suitcase".
• [E] The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has put into operation new home-made long-range radar that enables its forces to monitor low-altitude satellites.

Photo of the Day

• Meydan-e Edalat [Justice Square] theater performance slams "World Zionism."