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

• Rafsanjani: "I don't want to part from this regime and I'll stay [with the regime] as long as possible and as long as I am able to serve."
• Attacks against Ahmadinejad:
  • Ali-Reza Marandi, newly elected parliamentarian: "Ali Khamenei never expected that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at one point would oppose him... If he is careless, his tenure may come to an end."
  • Alef News criticizes the Ahmadinejad government’s "superficial" and "generalist" approach to politics.
  • Gholam-Hossein Elham, former government spokesman and justice minister, says the "principled [faction, Osoulgarayan] never recognized Ahmadinejad as its candidate."
  • A pro-Ahmadinejad blogger warns against "hegemonic" attempts by the "principled [faction]" to completely wipe out the "discourse of the Islamic revolution." 

Diplomacy

• Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader: "This election [the parliamentary election] was a warning slap to the enemy, and one of the signs of this hard slap is the humiliating retreat of the United States in the field of sanctions... 11 miserable European countries are no longer a part of the sanctions." 

Trade

• Parliamentarian Mohammad-Reza Bahonar says "Iran will bypass any sanctions... In the face of sanctions, Iran will sanction and in the face of threats, it will make threats." 
• [E] Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar underlined her country's need to secure energy resources, and voiced Islamabad's determination to move ahead on the gas pipeline project with Iran.
• [E] India's Minister of External Affairs Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna said that New Delhi is studying the impacts of the Western sanctions against Iran on India, but at the same time stressed that the sanctions will not affect the country's trade with Iran. 

Photo

• Friday prayer in Tehran.