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

Politics

• Parliamentarian Ali Mottahari says a new parliamentary faction composed of both principalists and reformists may form.
• Judiciary spokesman Hojjat al-Eslam Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ezhehi says the Judiciary has formally summoned Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani to court.

Diplomacy

• Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari says the New York Times' disclosure of the Islamic Republic's cash transfers to President Karzai as "a reaction to fiasco in Afghanistan."
• Sobh-e Sadegh'sreport on foreigners attending Supreme Leader Khamenei's speeches in Qom, stress that Khamenei is "the vice regent of the Imam of the Era," and "the leader of the entire world, not only the leader of Iran."

Military and Security

• Payam-e Enghelab monthly of the Revolutionary Guards, attacks Ahmadinejad's questioning of parliament’s role:
  • "Making superficial, literal and figural interpretation of the bejeweled statements of the Imam of the Muslim community of believers [Khomeini] and presenting it upside down, which may secure the interests of some people for a shorter period of time, is an incorrigible mistake... Why do such a wrong interpretation and a crystal clear mistake take place? Only in order to shield [the government] against the supervision and sensitivities of the principalist parliament in the face of deviation of statesmen [Ahmadinejad]…?"
• Basij Chief Mohammad-Reza Naghdi expresses hope that the teaching materials on "defense preparedness" at school levels will be updated to take into account the "attacks of the enemy."
• According to the Student Basij chief, 600,000 out of Iran's 3.7 million students are members of the Student Basij.
• Sobh-e Sadegh editorializes:
  • "One can consider November 4, [1979] as the day of unity of all political factions within the regime in their fight against the Great Satan. The day where domestic liberal political movements and those gravitating towards or dependent on the United States parted ways from the followers of the Line of the Imam [Khomeini]. Three decades after seizure of the Den of Espionage, this still symbolizes the unity of political groups of the Line of the Imam and the Leader and provide a distinction with deviating political movements dependent on the foreigners..." 

Trade

• Switzerland’s IGL abstains from signing a gas contract with Iran.
• Bolivia to buy military airplanes and helicopters from Iran.

Photo of the Day

• The Green Movement prepares for the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran: "Mercenaries prohibited."