Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Alef News Agency "discloses" the "conspiracy of the second line of the discord," referring to the Ahmadinejad government and its political supporters as "a line of thought which is using messianism in order to isolate the clergy.
  • Hojjat al-Eslam Kazem Sedighi, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader: "There are those who speak of the Imam of the Era, but it is only their play with words... If someone speaks of him, but does not recognize the guardianship and leadership of the Supreme Leader and should want to make statements opposed to him, he has no knowledge of the Imam of the Era."
  • Alef News Agency republishes Supreme Leader Khamenei's letter to Ahmadinejad in which he demanded ousting of Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei as vice president.
  • According to Aftab News, several cabinet ministers protested against Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei's statements about "the school of Iran" at the latest cabinet meeting presided over by Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad defended his chief of staff by saying that his critics have not studied Mashaeis statements properly, added that the cabinet ministers have failed to understand the statements and that Mashaei's critics "character assassinate Mashaei in order to attack me indirectly." 
• Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam, parliamentarian, says "precondition for return of those who have left the realm of the regime back to the regime is their belief in guardianship of the jurist."

Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad receiving the Senegal’s foreign minister said "We are energetically expanding our relations with African countries."

Military and Security

• The Intelligence Ministry accuses Hossein Mousavian - former nuclear negotiator now based in the United States - of espionage for foreign powers.
• Ahmadinejad's post-Ramadan visit to Lebanon will include an Iranian "arms package" and "air defense systems" for the Lebanese army.
• [E] Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said that speed boats, specially the newly mass-produced missile-launching vessels, have granted high mobility and power to the IRGC Navy and made it a unique force in the world.
• [E] Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says the country's Navy has equipped its new high-speed vessels named 'Zolfaqar' with 'Nasr 1' cruise missiles capable of destroying 3-ton weighted vessels.

Nuclear Issue

• Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at a joint press conference with the foreign minister of Senegal in Tehran:
  • "If we take a look at the latest bill which has passed the Iranian parliament, we see that the government is obliged to produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity. This amount requires a huge fuel input and we are trying to provide for the fuel ourselves. We are a member of the NPT and it is our right to produce fuel and if we produce surplus fuel we will make it available for other countries through a fuel bank."
• Ali-Akbar Salehi, Iran Nuclear Energy Organization director, supervising transfer of fuel to the Bushehr nuclear power plant: "The Bushehr plant is the symbol of patience, resistance and insistence of the Iranian nation... I am convinced that after realization of this important issue, the cooperation between the two great nations of Iran and Russia will have a bright future."
• [E] Palestinian Islamic Jihad Leader Khalid al-Batsh lauds Tehran's right to access peaceful nuclear energy, especially the recent inauguration of Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. "Use of the nuclear energy is the inalienable right of the Muslim and noble nation of Iran, particularly when the energy is used for peaceful and civilian purposes," he said.

Economy

• Hamidreza Fouladgar, parliamentarian: "Some doubts exist with regard to transfer of ownership of companies from the public to semi-public sector. This has taken place within the 'justice shares' scheme and the real private sector has had a limited presence in this regard... We have also not been successful in attracting new foreign direct investments. Some work has been done to prepare the background for it, but both when it comes to poverty eradicatio,... and empowerment of the private and non-governmental sectors, not much has been done." 
• ILNA reports decreasing employment.

Trade

• Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi and the oil minister of Syria discuss natural gas exports from Iran to Syria, transfer of Iranian natural gas to the international market through Syria, establishment of oil refineries in Syria and establishment of oil pipeline through Iraq and Syria.
• Iran considers importing electricity from Russia and Georgia.
• [E] Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi announced on Monday that the newly inaugurated pipeline from Assalouyeh to Iranshahr in southeastern Iran is a major segment of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, adding that the city of Iranshahr will be the delivery point for gas exports to Pakistan.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• [E] Marking Afghanistan’s 91st Independence Day, nearly 500 people staged a demonstration in Jalalabad, the capital city of eastern Nangarhar Province, chanting slogans against Iran, Pakistan and the United States.
• Article in independent daily Hasht-e Sobh, entitled “Neighbors’ Aspirations for Afghanistan,” accuses Iran of meddling in Afghanistan. Citing regional summits on Afghanistan recently convened by Tehran and Moscow, the article says the two countries are trying to exert more influence in Afghanistan to benefit from untapped natural resources in the country. 

Photos of the Day

• Iran tests a new missile and unveils a new drone.