Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Ahmadinejad encourages the Iranian people to have more children: "In materialist thought, it is believed that there are some people who take care of the needs of the people, for example, governments. But in divine theory, it is God who is taking care of the needs. And it is interesting that religious commandments say that if you fear poverty you should marry, but we see that there are some who do not get married due to the fear of poverty. But God says if you fear poverty, marry and you will no longer be needy. In materialist theory, there are some who have placed themselves in the place of God and think that God is weak and imperfect like them. Take a look at those who say two kids are enough and allow you to have fun. There is no fun. What legacy is more valuable than having honest children? What beauty and meaning does life have without family?... We have once said that the "two-kids-is-enough scheme' is an imperialist scheme. There were those who started shouting and making noise, those very same people who think it is them who take care of the people. They are good people. But as time has passed, they have started to believe that they are the ones taking care of people's needs. They are wrong..."
• Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani addresses the people in Chalous: "After the emergence of the Imam of the Era - may God hasten his return - the government of justice will take shape and other governments [those prior to the emergence of the Imam of the Era] must subject themselves to it since there is a long distance between us and the government of justice... The first characteristic of this government is that the establishment of social justice and economic activities at the time of the emergence [of the Imam] will become halal [religiously permitted] and there will be equality in all affairs. In Mahdi'ist justice people live in dignity... The second issue of Mahdi'ist society is not to accept injustice and not to accept those engaged in injustice and imperialism. Human being is a social being and should the society be authoritarian it can't keep alive the element of Jihad [holy struggle] or hope for freedom..."

Military and Security

• According to JARAS, Revolutionary Guards Chief Mohammad-Ali Ja'fari answers a question about why IRGC members that "support the discord" – a reference to IRGC members sympathetic toward opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mouasvi - have not been dealt with: "Persuading this group of guardsmen is better than purging them." According to JARAS, Ja'fari continued: "Many of the doubts have been solved and they have been persuaded that the movement was wrong and this is better than to deal with them physically or purge them." JARAS mentions Mohsen Rashid, former head of the Center for War Studies of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohammad Ozlati-Moghaddam, head of the War Veterans Committee Supporting Engineer Mousavi, Hossein Alavi, Hossein Dehghan, Mostafa Ajorlou and Morteza Ghorbani along with 250 other IRGC members have been forced to retire from the IRGC.
• Masoud Jazayeri, Cultural and Propaganda deputy at the General Staff, says Iran's influence reaches "out to the very depth of the United States of America" and that the United States can't calculate the risk involved in military strikes against the Islamic Republic.

·         Kayhan editorializes: "Military attack is not a real option. It is just a psychological and media option to create domestic disorder, make American sanctions effective and force Iran to the negotiation table with an agenda desirable to the United States... The United States is absolutely not capable of managing the consequences of the military option."

·         Mir-Hossein Mousavi reacts to former Revolutionary Guards' Chief Mohsen Rezai and former Revolutionary Guards' Minister Mohsen Rafiqdoust's criticism of Mousavi's management of the Iran-Iraqi war efforts:

o   "These days, some claim they wanted to conquer Baghdad but the government of the time had prevented them. I still have not opened my mouth to talk about the first decade of the revolution and I have never desired to speak about it, but it seems I am forced to tell my untold stories to defend the brave warriors and able managers engaged in this field, in case the historical revisionism continues. I'll also be forced to say why I resigned in 1988..."

o   "The former cabinet minister, who knows how [the ceasefire] was imposed upon me at a time when the government had dedicated all its capacities to the front, claims today that had the capacities of the government been dedicated to the front we would have conquered Baghdad..."

o   "Let me say this: I don't know who has provoked you to appear in several interviews in a single week and speak against the government you once served. Had you been in charge of the cabinet, you would have done the same thing to the country and the public assets… what you did during your tenure as the head of the Foundation of the Oppressed..."

o    "I do not believe that you have forgotten that $4 billion out of $6 billion oil revenues of the country was used at the front for the war effort and the remaining $2 billion was spent to save the country which also can be interpreted as service to the Sacred Struggle [the Iran/Iraq war]. You are forcing me to say that... Had there been a stronger bond between the front and the cabinet and had the cabinet not been marginalized with the excuse of safeguarding secret war and defense plans, the operations would have achieved better results. Conquering Baghdad was not possible by leaving the cabinet in the hands of a couple of military commanders. The precondition for decisively defeating the enemy was not to sever the connection between the cabinet and operational management of the war and military plans. How this connection was severed is a different story to which I'll attend on another occasion..."

o   "For now, let me just disclose that the ball was sent to the court of the cabinet at a time when, to quote the late Zahirnezhad serving in the War Logistics Committee, 'the borders were being unzipped.' Al-Faw and the islands of the Hour were lost, and we were in a situation, where at the first meeting of the Commander in Chief Headquarters I presided, both Mr. Rahim Safavi, [former] Revolutionary Guards deputy and Mr. Hassani Sa'di, the Ground Forces chief, in their reports to the participants said: 'Consider Khuzestan [province] lost!' This was unpleasant because at the time our main forces were engaged in conquest of an unimportant height in Kurdistan called Shakh-e Shemran..."

o   "It was under these circumstances that I accepted the responsibility of becoming the head of the Commander in Chief Headquarters and participated at the meetings with a number of prominent managers and directors. One of the most effective of them was Mr. Behzad Nabavi, whom we know is facing troubles these days…”

o   "It was decided to transfer the greatest number of forces from Kurdistan... to Khuzestan...as soon as possible... It was our combatant brother Mohsen Mirdamadi... and others who dealt a hard blow to the mouth of the enemy..."

o   "This war has many untold stories and I have not seen Mr. Hashemi [Rafsanjani] as Commander in Chief speak of the coordination problems he had with the Army and the Guards."

·          Mehdi Karrubi attacks the Revolutionary Guards' monopolistic economic activities:

o   "If participation of the Guards in economic activities takes place within the framework of the law and regulation and without using force and might, this participation not only is not bad, but it could also help the country flourish and foster competition and progress.  But what has happened and been a source of concern over the past five years is the forced exit of the private sector and monopolization of the economy in the hands of the Guards..."

o    "In the current government, we are witnessing a strange phenomenon called privatization which helps the military men and a few individuals to monopolize the economy..."

o   "Handing over development projects without bidding, selling shares of some public enterprises such as the Telecommunications, and selling the property without proper regulations not only lead to corruption, but also make the private sector and its capital leave the country..."

o   "Monopolization of the economy has led to bankruptcy of many large privatized companies. Many projects are stalled because of the inability of this force [the Revolutionary Guards] to finish the projects and many have lost their jobs..."

o   "The military takes responsibility in affairs which they can't even finish and they tend to make the projects much more expensive than projected..."

o   "It seems as if large gas and oil project of South Pars, which is very important for the economic future of the country, is not within the capacity of the Guards. During the reform era, South Pars made an acceptable progress with domestic and international contributions and because of the work of the parliament and the cabinet. But as a result of adopting wrong policies and methods and creating tensions in [Iran's] international relations, it has a worrying situation..."

o   "Had my warnings against interventions of the military in politics in 2004 been taken seriously, we would not have faced such a monopolistic... presence..."

o   "Mr. Ahmadinejad’s government [has come to power] because of the overt intervention and cheating of the military men in both elections. And it is natural that a government which has come to power as a result of an electoral coup also works in the direction of their goals..."

·         Mehrdad Lahouti, parliamentary Development Committee member, commenting on a freeway project connecting Tehran to the north:

o   "It is possible that we face greater troubles in attracting foreign investment and financing to establish this freeway just as the issue of [attracting] Chinese finance has not been finalized... This Base [Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base of the Revolutionary Guards] has announced that it will no longer enter projects less than 1 trillion rials, which is also the demand of the Development Committee from the Khatam al-Anbia Base..."

·         [E] Iranian and Turkish security officials held their 13^th annual joint meeting in Tehran Monday, discussing border security, drug trafficking, and the movement of pilgrims.

·         [E] The Iranian Air Force plans to stage war games from July 31-August 7.

·         [E] Ahmadinejad: "[The Americans] plan to attack at least two countries in the region within the next three months.”

Diplomacy

• Two Iranian parliamentarians demand expulsion of the British ambassador to Iran in reaction to "his lies against Iran's peaceful nuclear activities."
• Kayhan condemns "asylum granted by the Nazis [Germany] to 50 rioters."

o   More details, here.

Nuclear Issue

·         Ahmadinejad addresses the leaders of the European Union:

o   "We are not looking for a fight. We do not welcome argument and sanctions. We want friendship and logic and anyone who has befriended us has profited from it. And you should know that such ill manners will have no effect but dishonoring you..."

o   "Anyone who should decide to act against the Iranian nation and inspect Iranian ships will immediately receive the reaction of the Iranian nation..."

o   "They say: 'We will sanction the gasoline.' It is one of my hopes that the gasoline is sanctioned. In two days we will produce 17 million liters. We have done all the work. The key is ready and in our hands. Whatever they want to sanction, just see. In the course of a couple of months, our experts will provide the best replacement for it... This is all what they can. Primitive and base individuals only show teeth. They don't know who they are dealing with and they do exactly as we want."

•  Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani addresses the people in Chalous: "The Imam of the Era fights against the imperialists because they are against human progress. Decisiveness in suppressing the enemy is one of the obligations of Imam Mahdi... Just as Iran announced, we are not pursuing a nuclear weapon and even representatives of the United States government have said that there is no trace of nuclear weapon in Iran's nuclear installations and power plants. But why are you pursuing your old policies?"
• [E] Canada has imposed a fresh round of sanctions against Iran's energy sector hours after the European Union approved similar unilateral measures.

o   [E] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: "We have already said many times that we consider unacceptable the practice of unilateral or collective sanctions measures against Iran that go beyond the Security Council sanctions regime in operation in the country.”

• [E] Iranian Minister of Energy reiterated Tuesday that the country's first nuclear power plant at Bushehr will begin operation in September.
• [E] Iran responded Monday to the questions raised by the Vienna Group (US, Russia, France and the IAEA) on the Tehran nuclear fuel swap agreement among Iran, Brazil and Turkey.
  • [E] Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi: "This is an answer to the technical questions, and we will present it in a session that we may have with the Vienna Group.”

Trade

• As the gasoline rations have declined to 60 liters per month, purchase of non-rationed gasoline increases to 7 to 7.5 million liters per day.
• Bimeh-ye Mo'allem [Teachers' Insurance] offers insurance to Iran’s shipping companies.
• Behrouz Alishiri, Foreign Investment and Economic Aid Organization director, says Turkish companies are keen to invest in Iran.

·         Javad Owji, National Natural Gas Company executive director, says Iran and Switzerland are finalizing an agreement on gas exports. Owji also says Germany and several other European countries are interested in importing natural gas from Iran.

·         Mousa Souri, Pars Special Economic Area executive director, says no foreign investor or company has left the South Pars gas and oil projects.

Economy

• [E] Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Distribution Company (NIODC) announced that the gasoline rationing plan has saved the country $11 billion since 2007.
• [E] Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeighami said that of the $26 billion required to make Iran self-sufficient in gasoline production in two years, approximately $8.5 billion has already been spent on refinery construction projects.

Religion, Society and Culture

·         Ahmadinejad congratulates the birthday of the Imam of the Era to the world: "The truth is that the festivity of the birthday of the Imam of the Era is the greatest celebration of humanity, because from the very beginning, all the eyes and hopes were looking at a final point and had this not been so, there would not have been any motive to move [forward]."

·         Hojjat al-Eslam Morteza Vafi, cultural secretary of the Jamkaran mosque, warns of activities of "the Bahais" and "deviant sects" in the area around the mosque from which Imam of the Era, according to the caretakers of the mosque, will appear on the day of reckoning to start a world revolution.

·         [E] Iranian architect Kourosh Farzami, who is best known for designing the main gate of Tehran University, has passed away at the age of 73.

Photo of the Day

·         Over two million Iranian pilgrims take part in a religious festivity at Jamkaran mosque.