Iran News Round Up

Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad addresses Iranian expats in Tehran:
  • "Recently, the government of the United States has said that 'we want to engage in dialogue. We want dialogue at high levels.' We too are in favor of dialogue at higher levels based upon dignity and respect... During the presidency of Mr. Bush we announced that we are ready to talk with Mr. Bush in front of the media. They said he is afraid. I said no problem. He can take his advisers with him as well. Last year when we went to New York, prior to our departure, we said that we are ready for negotiations with Mr. Obama... Now that we are going to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, we say again that we are ready to face Mr. Obama in front of the media so we can put the world affairs on the table and find out whose solutions are best..."
  • "Back then we said that we welcome real change. I don't want to say that we have lost faith, but we have. He [Obama] did not use the historical chance that he had. In his calculations he would pay more attention to the Zionists and he still does so. But the Zionists are only a political party in charge of the media and the money. The nations on the other hand are important and one must stick to the nations. They have to answer this question: Is the government of the United States controlled by the Zionists or are the Zionists controlled by the United States…?   If Mr. Obama is powerless in the face of the pressure groups, he should at the very least appear on television and say that they pressure him and we are convinced that the American nation will deal with the Zionists in this case. They [the Zionists] do away with the honor of the American nation with their scandals..."
  • "We do not recognize the method that they have chosen in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are showing them the path of salvation, but they unfortunately come and talk to Iranian nation in the language of 200 years ago. They have to learn how to speak with the nations. They speak as if they are talking to their hereditary butler. Just see what it has come to. They publish documents so they can claim that their defeat in Afghanistan is because of the Iranians. They don't know that by doing so they only make Iran grander..."
    • Rutgers University professor Houshang Amirahmadi whose presence at the Iranian expats' seminar was called "undesirable" by Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, threatens to publish the invitation card issued to him by Ahmadineajd's office.
• Kayhan editorializes:
  • "Iran is, without doubt, a big headache for the United States. No country has at national, regional and extra regional dimensions disturbed the United States as much…"
  • "In the regional dimension, the United States only discovered the depth of [Iran's] power when it became neighbor with Iran... You [the United States] know better than anyone else that 'a regional solution' is the other name for recognizing the role and might of Iran and attempting to find ways to cooperate with it without losing face..."
• Jomhouri Eslami's editorial condemns the United States' for "encouraging" the "rogue actions of the Zionist regime."
• [E] Iran's envoy to Khartoum and Sudan's Interior Minister explored ways to bolster cooperation in combating drugs and terrorism.
• [E] Foreign Ministry Spokesman: "If US President Barack Obama expresses his readiness, the UN General Assembly [meeting] would be a good opportunity for face-to-face transparent talks” between Ahmadinejad and Obama.

Politics

• [E] Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged the Iranian people to increase their efforts to achieve total self-sufficiency.

Military and Security

• Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi visits Oman.
• Sheikh Ali Qourani, Lebanese Al-Da'wa party founder who is now based in Qom, recalls establishment of Hezbollah in Lebanon:
  • " After Saddam expelled Lebanese theological students from the Najaf Theological Seminary, I became acquainted with Seyyed Abbas Mousavi in Lebanon. There were 9 Lebanese theologians expelled.  Seyyed Abbas Mousavi was one of them... Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah was another...
  • Following their return to Lebanon I decided to establish a theological seminary for them in Baalbak and managed to establish the Imam Mahdi School... Some charitable Kuwaiti brothers helped funding the establishment of the school... Seyyed Abbas [Mousavi] was the manager of the school..."
  • " Back then, at a time where there was no institution or organization in Lebanon engaged in planning armed anti-Zionist activities, Al-Da'wa Party Organization established an armed cell whose members received military training from Fatah...."
  • "The situation in 1982 in Baalbak and Lebanon was such that following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and occupation of this country, the people raised the white flag on top of their roofs... Not only in the South, but in the city of Baalbak, and the Bekaa area. I and Mr. Ali Shamkhani went to Baalbak and told the people to remove the white flags and raise the red banner and it became so..."
  • "When the forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were based in the Bekaa area, I and Ali Shamkhani went to Baalbak and participated in several meetings in order to establish resistance cells. The individuals who established the resistance were some of the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards. Hojjat al-Eslam Seyyed Ali-Akbar Mohtashamipour, Ali Shamkhani and several others created the Islamic resistance of Lebanon. Some of these individuals were opposed to my presence in the leadership council of the resistance, because I was responsible for the Al-Da'wa Party of Lebanon. In order to join the leadership council of the resistance, I dissolved the Al-Da'wa Party of Lebanon and announced establishment of the Islamic Resistance of Lebanon. At this time Seyyed Abbas Mousavi registered at the first military training program... Back then my son Martyr Yaser Qourani was the head of the Personnel Affairs of the Islamic Resistance Organization..."
  • "[We dissolved the Al-Da'wa Party Organization] because we wanted to move in the shadow of the leadership of the Guardian Jurist, because the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was subjected to the leadership of the Guardian Jurist... There were some who opposed dissolution but I, as the founder of the wing of it, dissolved it and they all had to obey..."
  • "[It is incorrect that a delegation of Lebanese theologians came to Tehran and established Hezbollah following a meeting with Imam Khomeini]. Back then Mr. Mohsen Rezai was based in Damascus and Mr. Ali Shamkhani came to Baalbak and I had several meetings with him and it was decided that the resistance movement should be formed. Fundamentally, the resistance movement was established by the Revolutionary Guards and Mr. Mohtashamipour, then ambassador of the Islamic Republic to Damascus... The meetings at which dissolution of the Al-Da'wa Party was decided took place at the private home of Sheikh Sobhi Tofeyli and in presence of Mr. Shamkhani. Seyyed Abbas Mousavi was not present at the founding meeting of Hezbollah but agreed with the decisions made and participated in the first military training program... After returning to Damascus Mr. Mohtashamipour asked us what did you do and we told him that we have organized the affairs and he expressed his satisfaction..."
  • "Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah did not play any role [in establishment of Hezbollah]. Back then, he was a student of Seyyed Abbas Mousavi, but among special and chosen students... Seyyed Mohammad-Hossein Fadlallah had no idea about the phases of establishment of Hezbollah, despite some scholars presenting him as the founder or the leader of Hezbollah! Mr. Fadlallah approved the establishment of Hezbollah, and had some information of the details...
  • Back then the Syrians were opposed and made obstructions in the path of Hezbollah, would not allow it to be established and energetically opposed establishment of Hezbollah and the resistance movement... They [finally] approved of it because the coming of the Revolutionary Guards to Syria had political benefits for them... May God bless Hajj Hemmat, then representative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Syria. The Syrians wanted to know about the activities of the Guards. They would ask Commander Hemmat: 'Have you not come to Lebanon to engage in operations? Why don't you start the operation?' Back then I would move fourth and back between Lebanon and Iran. Mr. Hemmat would complain to me and say that 'whenever you go to Tehran, ask Mr. Mohsen Rezai and Mr. Ali Shamkhani why you are keeping us waiting in Lebanon? Why don't you want us to start operations against Israel? If we can't do anything in Lebanon allow us to return to the front of the war against Iraq.' It was the Syrians who would oppose [military operations against Israel]....

• [E] Commander of the Iranian Army announced that the country plans to launch a newly developed high-tech submarine in the next 10 days.
• [E] The Iranian Army has started using two home-made Cobra Chopper simulators in an airborne base in western Iran.

Trade

• Industry and Mines minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian says imports of products from countries sanctioning Iran will be banned.
• [E] The United States has fined the Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moeller-Maersk $3.1 million for breaching Washington's embargo on Iran.
• [E] The Iranian ambassador to Bahrain claims that Iran's gas exports to Bahrain will not be affected by the recent UN sanctions against Tehran.
• [E] Minister of Roads and Transportation said Iran was considering a plan to connect its national railroads to Lebanon's through Iraq and Syria.
•  [E] Russia's largest petrochemical holding SIBUR reached an agreement with the National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC) over the construction of major petrochemical plants after year-long negotiations.
  • [E] Two Turkish companies including Petrochemical Holding Corp. (Petkim) have also signed agreements with Iran to set up petrochemical plants.

Nuclear Issue

• [E] Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast: “As regards the (nuclear) fuel swap, good steps have already been taken…. We think that talks on fuel swap can be held at the earliest and we have no restriction in this regard.  We believe that the Vienna Group members are reaching preparedness.”
• [E] The Cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan approved on Tuesday a set of additional sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program that includes a freeze on the assets of 40 organizations and one individual.

Iran in the Afghan Media

• Afghan President Hamid Karzai will visit Iran to attend a tripartite summit among Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan.

Photos of the Day

• Ahmadinejad addresses Iranian expats in Tehran.