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 subscribe to this daily newsletter, e-mail [email protected].

(E) = Article in English

Diplomacy

·  Khamenei, speaking at the graduation ceremony at the IRGC’s Imam Hossein University, responds to Obama's opening to Iran: "Those who today recommend the Iranian nation to return to the global order are the exact people who expressed displeasure with advances of the Iranian nation in the direction of the Islamic Revolution... The recommendation to return to the global order is the same thing as capitulating to the bullying powers and accepting the unjust world order. But the Iranian nation has during the past thirty years answered no to this ignorant and illogical demand... All the pressures against the Iranian nation and the regime of the Islamic Republic have only aimed to degrade the elevated position of the spiritual demands of the revolution. Naturally, they did not succeed in this, and they will also not succeed in the future..."

·  (E) Iran has asked the rotating president of the United Nations Security Council to stop Israeli threats against the Islamic Republic.

·  (E) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Oman’s Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi on Wednesday to discuss bilateral ties and regional and international issues.

·  (E) Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili called for the need to expand cooperation between Iraq and Iran to ensure the welfare of both states.  

Politics

·  Reformist theoretician Tajzadeh says the Principalists will "vote for Mir-Hossein [Mousavi] in secret."   

·  (E) Reformist Presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi claims that Iran’s nuclear achievements should not be used as an election tool.

• (E) Iran’s Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli has rejected calls by Reformist candidates to form a supervisory committee to oversee the presidential elections.

• (E) An advisor to the president claims that current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will seek reelection in the upcoming presidential elections as an independent candidate.

• (E) Reformist party Hambastegi formally expressed its support for president candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

• (E) Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei claims Iran will never give into an unjust world order just to gain the acceptance of the international community.

Nuclear issue

• Ahmadinejad speaking about the nuclear issue, in Kerman:

o        "Last year, we presented a package for negotiation. Today the circumstances have changed and during the past year, great transformations have taken place in the world. We will plan a new package. This package will be ready and we will present it. This must be based upon a guarantee of peace and justice, respect for the nations and their participation in solving global problems...

o        Today they have passed a statement to the effect that we should solve the problems through dialog and diplomacy. Very well! The Iranian nation supports logic, dialog and constructive cooperation based upon respect and commitment to the rights of the nations. We welcome it.

o        But we also give them some advice: We tell that you know yourself that you today are in a position of weakness and you can't achieve anything. Therefore you can't achieve anything with force. We advise you to change your rhetoric toward other nations and we advise you to respect the nations and not to talk to the Iranian nation with arrogance. Whoever talks to the Iranian nation in an arrogant way, the Iranian nation will answer in the same way that it answered Bush...

o        Thanks to divine wisdom, no power among the powers can impose the least upon the Iranian nation and will not have such an opportunity...We hear news from here and there. We have heard that after fifty or sixty years they want to take their nuclear bombs out of Germany and return them to their country. This of course is a good deed, but we think the fundamental deed is to assemble and annihilate all the nuclear arsenals of the world so that the nations can live in peace and tranquility...

o        What is the sin of the nations? Why should they live in the shadow of their nuclear arsenals? If they are pursuing real change, they must close their military bases and respect independence and values of the nations...

o        You saw that a couple of years ago they came and with lies and false excuses attempted to stop the advances of the Iranian nation through political games which aimed at harming the pride and path of progress of the nation. At the nuclear festivities I said that they told us in Sa'ad Abad [Presidential Palace] in Tehran and sometimes in Paris clearly asked their Iranian counterparts to close university courses related to nuclear science. They also demanded closure of the laboratories. When I visited Isfahan and Natanz for the first time, I saw that they have shut all the rooms and normal equipment...Four and half years ago, those who had gone for negotiations agreed to suspend everything and said to the counterparts that we want science and technology. Allow us to have twenty machines. But the insolent answer of the others was that if you want twenty machines you should negotiate for ten years, maybe after twenty years you will be allowed to have twenty machines...

o        But today, thanks to divine benevolence and unity of the Iranian nation and advice of the Supreme Leader which is followed by the nation, about seven thousand of those machines are spinning in Natanz and laughing at their beard!" 

• (E) France resumes a hard-line stance on the Iranian nuclear issue and urged Iran to freeze its nuclear activities.

Military and Security

• (E) Iran builds an advanced destroyer, named Jamaran.

• (E) Iran’s army is ready to defend the Islamic Republic from possible threats.

Trade

• (E) The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has denied reports that UAE firm Crescent offered a new price for gas imports from Iran.

• (E) Iranian companies are ready to grow agricultural crops in African countries.

• (E) National Iranian Continental Shelf Oil Company (NICSOC) announced that it will sign gas deals with European and Indian gas firms. 

Economy

• (E) Head of Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines Mohammad Nahavandian claimed that Iran’s private sector will have a greater share in foreign trade.

Photo of the Day

·         Iranian Air Force at Mehrabad Airport, Tehran.