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, please visit this page, fill out the "New Subscribers" section, and check "Iran News Round Up" listed under "Projects." 

(E) = Article in English

Diplomacy

• 31^st anniversary of seizure of U.S. Embassy in Tehran:
  • "Students" demonstrate in front of the British Embassy and chant: "The British Embassy must be closed," "the British Ambassador must be thrown out," "the house of the old fox must shut down," "the den of sedition and corruption must close," "Death to America," "Death to the Israel," etc.
  • Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi: "Embassies of the United States in various countries have not been established in order to improve relations. Their main mission is espionage, conspiracy, [regime] toppling and betraying the governments and nations... Hostile acts of the United States concerning the military attack against Tabas, all out and overt support to Saddam in invasion of Iran and participation in the crimes of the Ba'ath regime of Iraq against the people of Iran demonstrated that had the Den of Espionage not been seized, this nest of corruption would have become the command center and war room of America."
  • Masoumeh Ebtekar, spokeswoman of the Students Following the Line of the Imam group: "None of those engaged in the seizure repent it."
  • Ezatollah Zarghami, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting director-general: "The United States has placed all its eggs in the basket of hostility against Iran."
  • Various declarations issued on the occasion.
• News related to inclusion of the Jundullah terrorist group to the State Department's list of terrorist organizations:
  • Fars News Agency condemns the "duplicity of the United States," accuses the United States of supporting the Jundullah group.
  • Asr-e Iran condemns the United States' inclusion of Jundullah on State Department's list of terrorist organization as "something done now that the group has been defeated."
• Foreign Minister Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast: "There are some who have threatened with inspecting our ships but in our region no such thing has taken place and I don't think that it will happen because they are aware of our might."

Military and Security

• Commander Ebrahim Jabbari is appointed Vali-ye Amr Army chief, and commander Mehdi Mahdavinezhad is appointed Qom Ali-Ibn-e Abitaleb Revolutionary Guards unit chief.
• Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi meets Khaled Mishal, Hamas Political Bureau director, at Iran’s Embassy in Damascus, Syria.
• Mohammad-Saleh Jokar, Student's Basij chief, says for every year's membership of the Basij, 45 days will be reduced from compulsory military service.

Nuclear Issue

• Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast: "The framework of our negotiations with the Vienna Group is the Tehran declaration. The content of the Iran/5+1 Group negotiations must be clarified..."

Economy

• Ahmadinejad threatens to "announce the names of the speculators" in the newspapers.
• The Central Bank's reports show significant increases in prices of daily products during the last week of October 2010 compared with last year.
• Mohammad Rouyanian, Transportation of Gasoline Usage Management chief, says the price of transportation will not increase more than 10% as a result of reform of the subsidies system.
• Ali Divandari, Mellat Bank executive director, says there are no obstacles to paying the interest rate in foreign exchange when account holders' funds are in foreign currency.

Trade

• Alireza Zaghimi, Oil Products Refining and Distribution Company executive director, says the Islamic Republic is in need of $46 billion to finance seven oil refineries in Iran. Zaghimi adds Iran has hitherto not been successful in doing so.
• Iran inaugurates a trade fair in Herat, Afghanistan.

Photos of the Day

• Commemoration of the November 4, 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.