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:
  • Ahmadinejad has dismissed three cabinet ministers, and has yet to appoint acting ministers.
  • Parliament’s Speaker Ali Larijani says he and Ahmadinejad met with Supreme Leader Khamenei in order to "regulate the relations" between the legislative and executive branches of government. Larijani added: "It is clear that the conflict must, according to the constitution, be solved by an authority which is none but the Guardian Council." Larijani insisted that cabinet ministers in charge of merged cabinet ministries are in need of Parliament’s vote of confidence. 
  • Ahmadinejad appears on live television Sunday evening:
    • "Merging cabinet ministries and downsizing the cabinet has been one of the needs for the past twenty five years... The government must reduce the number of the ministries to seventeen... I am the acting oil minister..."
  • Pro-Khamenei blogger threatens to assassinate Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei in case Ahmadinejad and his team "insist upon their position."
  • Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi: "I am more than 90 percent sure that Ahmadineajd has been bewitched [by Mashaei]."
    • First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi: "Is it at all possible to administer a country by exorcism…?"
  • Hossein Qasemi, former Shiraz governor who was dismissed because of his criticism against Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei's "school of Iran" ideology, accuses Mashaei and the "deviant current" of real estate speculation and economic corruption.

Diplomacy

• Mashreq News writes that Iranian officials’ family members do not observe hijab in the United States. 
• [E] Ahmadinejad's special envoy will visit Qatar on Tuesday to submit a written message to the Qatari Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Military and Security

• Former Revolutionary Guards Chief Yahya Rahim Safavi and Mehdi Mahdavi-Nezhad, Basij chief inspector, held "private visits" to sources of emulation in Qom.
• Commander Hossein Hamadani, Tehran Mohammad Rasoulollah Revolutionary Guards unit chief addresses the Guardsmen at the Quds Garrison, warns against "continuity of the sedition in 2011."
• Basij members stage war game in Tehran. Also, here.

Photo of the Day

• National wrestling team prior to a trip to Uzbekistan.