Iran News Round Up

Politics

• Tehran Friday Prayer sermon led by Hojjat al-Eslam Sedighi:
  • "We do not want nuclear weapons. We seek technology..."
  • "Because our enemies are uneasy, adventurous, occupiers, monopolists and want ever more, we too have to have defensive power in order to defend dour values. We have secured deterrence weapons and we will get hold of some more..."
  • "We do not aim to attack or invade and the weapons have a dimension of religion and prayer. It is in order to be immune from evil of the evil doers that we have these weapons and show them to the entire world and we do not allow any invader the right to deny us our rightful rights..."
  • "During these days the representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran have presented a 'package' to the 5+1 Group and we have also witnessed the issue of the Qom site. The honorable and secure site for our nuclear installations are among the honors of the regime but the world of imperialism and the world of deception and lies has made this issue into an issue of propaganda, but the very foundation of such secure installation immune from enemy's attack is a part of long term thinking of this regime and shows its initiative..."
• An unnamed member of Assembly of Experts discloses hitherto undisclosed parts of Rafsanjani's speech at the latest convention of the assembly:
  • "There are some who think I have said that the legitimacy of the regime is based upon the popular vote. I consider legitimacy of the regime as relying upon the Guardianship of the Jurist...
  • "The very proof of my statements is that we, under current circumstances, have no one better and more capable than him to administer the country..."
  • "Whenever I want to get closer to the Supreme Leader, a mysterious movement does not let me..."
  • "You are unaware of my efforts to ease tensions, and have no idea of how much time I have spent having meetings with different people..."
  • "When has someone wanted to deal legally with regard to accusations against members of my family and I resisted? I can't even force them to abstain from engaging in certain activities. Some deeds of my family members has nothing to do with me...I did not recognize Ahmadinejad, but I also did not support Mousavi and Khatami and Karrubi. I and Nateq Nouri pursued consensus upon a candidate other than Ahmadinejad...Also during my presidency they said that there is conflict between me and the Leader, but I have a history of 50 years of friendship with the Lord. Back then I was with the Lord and a member of the Society of the Professors called. Back then it was said that there was a conflict between the Lord and me. This person had called, the Lord took the phone, that person did not recognize the voice [of Khamenei] and the Lord gave me the receiver. That person said: We are concerned about the conflict between you and him and we want to send a delegation from Qom in order to establish peace between you. We were both listening to the statements. When I disconnected the phone we laughed both. I am trying to tell you how close we are to each other, but how other people make up things about us..."
  • "Some friends who want to see the Lord, regardless what high positions they have, they must wait for a long time before they can see the Lord. But the relationship between me and the Lord is so close that whenever I have an urgent issue and want to see the Lord or want to speak by phone I immediately meet or speak on phone with the Lord..."
  • "The people who think there is a conflict between me and the Lord don't know the position of the Guardianship. But I am a devout believer in Guardianship of the Jurist...I the human society of today there is no parallel to the Guardianship of the Jurist. If there is no Guardianship of the Jurist in Iran the country will either be partitioned or will collapse….”
• Hojjat al-Eslam Sedighi praises the choice of Assembly of Experts in 1989 to appoint Khamenei as Supreme Leader.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Khomeini continues to protest against the Ahmadinejad government by staying away from Ayatollah Mohaghegh Damad's classes in Qom.

Religion, Society and Culture

• A certain Hojjat al-Eslam Ali-Ashraf Fathi discusses metamorphosis of Sadegh Khalkhali, the hanging judge of Tehran and says today, Iran is in need of another Khalkhali, "not his bad characters, but his honesty."

Media

• Massih Mohajeri, Jomhouri-ye Eslami editor, takes leave from the newspaper.
• Radio and Television Union of Islamic Countries to discuss "psychological operations of the VOA Persian and BBC Persian."
• Ahmadinejad addressing the Radio and Television Union of Islamic Countries:
  • "Today, the media is not only a means of public information but an unparalleled instrument of advancing policies, cultural onslaught and a means of imposing that upon the nations and today it is used as the most efficient weapon of the enemies of humanity against the nations..."
  • "It is the media activities of the enemy which has helped the Zionist regime survive..."
  • "The media are also a means of toppling independent regimes in the world..."
  • "Look at what they did in Venezuela. A coup, supported by then United States government, depicted itself as victim of injustice and portrayed the legal government as inhumane..."

Diplomacy

• Said Jalili, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, refutes rumors on bilateral negotiations between him and the American representative at the Geneva talks.
• Venezuela's Ambassador to Tehran:
  • "90 percent of the signed contracts between Iran and Venezuela are to Iran's benefit. Also in the field of trade 70 percent of the contracts are to the benefit of Iran and we are struggling to deepen trade and commercial relations between the two countries...The level of bilateral contracts reach $20 billion..."

Military and Security

• According to Mehr News Agency, the Basij will soon be integrated within the organizational framework of the Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces. Former Basij Chief Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Taeb’s leave from his position is explained as a part of this reform. Commander Naghdi, Industrial Research Chief of the General Staff, Commander Nejat, Vali-ye Amr IRGC unit Chief and Commander Pakpour, the Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces Chief are claimed to be the main candidates for takeover of the Basij.
• Special Office of the General Staff refutes reports of Brigadier General Firouz-Abadi leaving his post as Chief of the General Staff.

Nuclear Issue

• IAEA secretary-general El-Baradei visits Iran, allegedly in order to discuss nuclear fuel for Iranian reactors.
• Fars News Agency runs a backgrounder on nuclear negotiations in Geneva:
  • "Iran explained its updated 'package' which it had presented a month ago extensively. As Iran had said before, it discussed within the frameworks of it [the 'package'] and discussed its execution. The European party wanted to discuss the nuclear issue on its agenda which was not accepted by the Iranian party and therefore will not only for this session, but also in future sessions not be on the agenda."
  • "The Iranian party accepted...to continue negotiations at two levels..."
  • "It was decided first to negotiate at Supreme National Security Council Secretary Deputy level negotiating with Javier Solana's deputy..."
  • "At the next level negotiations will take place between the level of Dr. Said Jalili..and Solana..."
  • "It was decided that the negotiation should take place within the next month and its agenda will be shared issues which the two parties will extract from Iran's 'package'..."
  • "Iran is not opposed to IAEA inspection of the Fordou site and will allow the agency to inspect this site...the time of the visit will be decided but as for now no date has been decided. It was also overtly said that this issue is one between Iran and the agency..."
• "The second issue is about the necessary fuel need for the research reactor of Tehran. As the President of Iran announced it, Iran in a letter to the agency, has asked for twenty percent enriched fuel for the research reactor in Tehran which produces medicine. The agency, as obliged, as informed this issue to some countries with fuel. Several countries have expressed readiness to provide for Iran's need...It was decided that representatives from Iran and the vendor countries should meet on October 18th..."
  • See also Said Jalili's comments.
• Venezuela's Ambassador to Tehran: "Venezuela has always expressed its unity and solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran and will do so [in the future]. We support peaceful use of nuclear energy in Iran and we are totally against to any kind of any political, military or sanction threat against Iran..."
• Speaker of the Parliament Ali Larijani meeting Algeria's Ambassador to Tehran: "The nuclear issue has had a clear trend which is the excuses of bullying powers of the world who seek more power all the time..."

Photos of the Day

• Tehran Friday Prayer.

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].