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

• Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's speech on Tuesday. Video: 
• Abd al-Hossein Rouh-al-Amini, Development and Justice party general secretary whose son was killed in police custody in the aftermath of the 2009 presidential election: "Ahmadinejad was not without guilt in the post election events." 
• Mashreq runs a backgrounder on parliamentary elections in Iran since 1980. 
• Shafaf News runs a chronological backgrounder on the formation of the United Principled Alliance. 
• News stories about the Islamic Resistance Front:
  • Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi addresses members of the Revolutionary Guards:
    • "We were under circumstances in which the elected president in reality acted against Islam, the Imam [Khomeini] and the interests of the state. He was even guilty in shedding the blood of hundreds of innocent martyrs... Despite the president being elected by the people, [the voters] did not know him and were deceived by his appearances... One can't say there was electoral fraud and that he came to power by fraud. There was no fraud. However, there was lack of knowledge. After that some events took place and we understood that we were mistaken [in our support to Ahmadinejad]." 
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Mojtaba Mesbah Yazdi officially begins his political career by speaking at the last Islamic Resistance Front seminar prior to the parliamentary election. Mojtaba said: "Opposing the Resistance Front is opposition to original Islam." 
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Morteza Agha-Tehrani calls the existence of the Islamic Resistance Front "a divine act of benevolence." 

Diplomacy

• Jomhouri-ye Eslami editorializes:
  • "The al-Khalifa must have realized that with the present conditions Bahrain's crisis will not end. The crisis will only end when the popular will is realized. The majority of the Bahraini people do not consider the present regime a legal regime, demand its resignation and want free elections. Foreign governments, too, contribute to the crisis in Bahrain and prevent the victory of the people. In the Bahrain issue as well it is the Saud clan which plays a major role in debilitating the popular struggle of the Bahrainis. The Saud clan fears that establishment of a popular regime in Bahrain in which the majority of the people are Shi'a would create problems to the Saudi society and the regime in Riyadh. They fear that the revolution would spread to Saudi Arabia. Under any circumstances, such attempts can't prevent the victory of the popular revolution in Bahrain in the long run and with the present trend the autocratic regime of Bahrain too will be thrown into the dustbin of history." 

Military and Security

• Law Enforcement Forces Commander Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam:
  • "For the time being there are no security problems anywhere in the country and the police is totally prepared for execution of a healthy and enthusiastic election..." 
• The Revolutionary Guards Navy receives an unknown number of frigates called Tondar. 
• Ramezan Sharif, Revolutionary Guards Public Relations commander:
  • "The Revolutionary Guards can't be defined within the narrow circle of factions and political movements. Viewpoints expressed by some individuals related to the Guards is their personal viewpoints and has nothing to do with the official positions and policies of the Guards..." 

Nuclear Issue

• Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, the Islamic Republic's permanent representative to the IAEA, does not rule out that the IAEA inspectors could visit the Parchin nuclear site in the future. 
• [E] Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in a phone conversation conferred on the latest developments related to Iran's nuclear issue and the negotiations which are due to be held in Turkey between Tehran and the world powers. 

Trade

• [E] Pakistan says it is keen to increase oil imports from Iran. 
• [E] Managing-Director of the National Iranian Gas Company Javad Oji announced that the country is due to export 21.5mln c/m of natural gas to Pakistan per day after the expedition of the two countries' joint gas pipeline. 

Photo of the Day

• Father and brother of Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi in Khomeini-Shahr.