Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh and Ahmad Majidyar. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English   

Politics

• Responses to Supreme Leader Khamenei's call for unity and warning against public row by officials: 
  • Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani thanks Khamenei's for his advice. 
  • Judiciary Chief Sadeq Larijani says he has understood Khamenei's "message of unity" with his "life and heart."
  • There is no response from Ahmadinejad.
• Ahmadinejad appoints Gholam-Hossein Elham as spokesman of the government.

Diplomacy

• Negotiations with the United States:
  • Majid Omidi, the President’s Political Affairs director:
    • "Unfortunately, there were some people who claimed that the president was pursuing negotiations with the United States... Ever since the revolution until now, we have had certain frameworks for negotiations with the United States... Negotiations in themselves are not bad, but we approve of negotiations based on certain frameworks which still do not exist... The government has not had any secret or overt negotiations with the United States..."
  •  Abbas Eraghchi, Foreign Ministry Asia and Pacific director: "If we want to negotiate with the United States, we will not do it secretly."
  • The General Staff, in a statement commemorating the anniversary of the takeover of the United States Embassy in Tehran calls "whispers about negotiations with the United States" "suspicious," and stresses: "The United States is still the Great Satan and number one enemy of the revolution and the regime of the Islamic Republic." 
• Asr-e Iran columnist Amir-Hossein Teymouri criticizes what he calls "backwardness" in the field of American Studies in Iran.
• [E] Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi in a meeting with Syrian Oil Minister Said Maza Hanidi blamed the US and Israel for unrests in Syria, and stressed Tehran's continued support for the Syrian people and government. 

Military and Security

• [E] Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for Cultural Affairs and Defense Publicity Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri played down the power of the Zionist regime's so-called Iron Dome, and stressed that no missile shield in the world can withstand Iranian missiles.

Economy

• Mohammad-Ali Bozorgvari, parliamentarian, says 70% of the economic problems are due to the sanctions and 30% because of government incompetence. 
• According to Mohammad-Reza Farzin, National Development Fund executive director, says the savings in his fund have reached a total of $42 billion.
• The government's Special Economic Measures Committee prohibits export of precious metals without Central Bank authorization.
• Gholamreza Khademizadeh, Labor Union Organizations Board director, comments on the parliamentary minimum wage discussions: "When the inflation rate is not stable and we face daily and even hourly changes, referring to the law in order to decide salaries is not efficient..."

Photo of the Day

• Mohammad Nourizad, former Kayhan columnist turned regime critic, is thrown out of the Press Expo.