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]. 

Politics

• Supreme Leader Khamenei reappoints Zarghami as Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Chief.

• Tehran show trials:Hajjarian, Shariati and Atrianfar to discuss the destructive role of the humanities at Iranian universities and their role in the post presidential election unrest.

• Offices of Mehdi Karrubi, the office of E'temad-e Melli Party and the office of the Association of Defense of the Rights of the Prisoners, raided and shut down by plain clothes agents.

• (E) According to a spokesman for the National Trust Party (Etemad-e-Melli,) Iranian authorities have shut down the offices of opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate, Mehdi Karrubi. The security forces were given clearance by Teheran’s prosecutor general and seized party documents, films, and computers.

• (E) Iranian President Ahmadinejad is currently considering appointing Tehran City Council Chairman Mehdi Chamran as the first Vice President. Ahmadinejad originally appointed Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, the former head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization as the vice president in July, but was forced to accept his resignation following pressure from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Economy

• Aftab-e Yazd's survey shows increasing budget deficit ever the Ahmadinejad era began.

• Abrar-e Eqtesadi explains how the economic policies of the Ahmadineajd government have resulted in unemployment: Decline in investments in Iran, increased import of consumer goods, decreased investment in grand development projects in the oil and gas sector, difficulties in doing business inside Iran, decreased construction and development budget, incapability of the government to attract investments both from the private sector in Iran and Foreign Direct Investments, government preference for "mercantile capitalism" rather than "industrial capitalism."

Trade

• Hamid Hosseini, head of the Petroleum, Natural Gas and Petrochemicals Exporters' Association says there has been a 51 percent decrease in Iran's natural gas petroleum products-based exports during the first half of the year. Hosseini adds that Russia is gradually taking over the Central Asian market.

  • (E) The value of Iran’s oil products has decreased by 51 percent as a result of the global economic slump. The economic crisis has reduced energy demands worldwide and has caused the decline in prices from 147 dollars a barrel in July 2008 to 32.40 dollars a barrel in December 2008.

• Five parliamentarians in a letter to Ahmadinejad oppose the government's scheme to import gasoline from Venezuela which they claim is contrary to the goals described in the national budget.

• (E) Iran’s telecommunication, tourism, banking and steel sectors have attracted the attention of Qatari investors who want to expand inter-state trade opportunities. Iran's Deputy Economic Affairs and Finance Minister Behrouz Alishiri met with Qatar's Finance and Economy Minister Youssef Hossein al-Kamal to discuss the implementation of agreements between Teheran and Doha on tariffs and customs.

Diplomacy

• (E) Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi criticized the United States for its double standard regarding the rights of American and Iranian nationals. Qashqavi was referring to the seizure of computers, documents, and staff members by United States forces in the Iranian consulate in the Kurdish city of Arbil in January 2007.

• Rafsanjani meeting Saudi ambassador to Tehran demands removal of obstacles in the path of expansion of relations between the two countries.

• President of Kenya to visit Iran in February.

•  (E) Iran's Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, has expressed disapproval over the informal meeting between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Russia to discuss “sub-regional cooperation”. The meeting is not meant to directly address the status of the Caspian Sea and the division of the seabeds. However, the extremely valuable gas rich inland has been a source of disagreement in the area since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

• (E) President Ahmadinejad is scheduled to visit Turkmenistan in December for the inauguration ceremony of Iran-Turkmenistan new gas pipeline.

Nuclear Issue

• (E) The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu has refused to impose sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program. According to Ms. Yu, sanctions would be counterproductive and world leaders should focus instead on intensifying diplomatic efforts.

• (E) Iran is due to present its updated nuclear package to the Group 5+1, consisting of the United States, China, Britain, France, Russia, and Germany. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has expressed hope that this presentation will improve diplomatic discussions between Iran and the various world powers. However, President Ahmadinejad has explicitly stated that he will not yield on the issue of Iran’s current nuclear activities.

Military and Security

• Lebanese Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah refutes claims of Iranian intervention in internal affairs of Lebanon: "The Iranian leaders are so entangled in the problems of the presidential election that they don't have freedom of thought to intervene in affairs of Lebanon...Those who claim Iran is behind the scenes director of affairs in Lebanon are telling nonsense."

• General Staff Chief Firouz-Abadi expresses his support for Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, explains there is no conflict between supporting "liberation movements" and "Iran's national interest."

• Shamshiri, Defense Ministry Counter Espionage Chief, praises the security environment at the ministry.

• An unnamed member of the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence and Security Department: "There are some so-called reformist groups and individuals who hastily and by using insulting interpretations and questionable methods aim at reducing the value of disclosed intelligence and also try to claim that the disclosures are solely based on the confessions of the accused, but in most of the cases discussed is based on documented intelligence coupled with the confessions of the accused... Intelligence documentation is vast and has been delivered to the Judiciary in case it is deemed necessary and in case there is legal permission it will be released to the public so that the informed, devout and revolutionary nation can freely and with full information can make their own judgment when it comes to the claimants of freedom and those who deviate from the line of the Imam [Khomeini] and the revolution and can thereby distinguish between foes and friends of the sacred regime of the Islamic Republic."

• Ali Fazli, chief of the IRGC’s Seyyed Al-Shohada unit in Tehran, speaking at the former American Embassy in Tehran warns against unrest at university level. And here.

• (E) Rahmkhoda Torktaz, an Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) commander, has announced that troops are now prepared to counter any attack against the Iran. Tortaz vehemently asserted “It is now our responsibility to identify the enemy's plots and plan against these plots.”

Religion, Society and Culture

• Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani warns against attacks against integrity of the clergy and religious principles.

• Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi: "One can't administer a society through force."

Human Rights and Labor

• (E) Farhad Tajarri, a member of the Iranian parliament's Judicial Committee, has claimed that court hearings for suspects in the abuse of detainees after the June 12 elections at the Kahrizak detention center will soon be underway. Iran's Deputy Police Chief Ahmad Reza Radan has promised that all officers who violated the law in Kahrizak will be severely punished.

  • Reactions to accusations of rape of imprisoned political activists: Ayatollah Javadi Amoli expresses deep concern about documentation of maltreatment of the prisoners and promises to investigate the affair.

• Arrest of political activists:

  • Alireza Hosseini Beheshti, son of the late Ayatollah Beheshti and a close adviser Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
  • Morteza Alviri, former Tehran mayor.
    • Mousavi condemns arrest of Beheshti and Alviri.

• Student affairs:

  • Seven students at Qazvin University are summoned to the local intelligence branch.
  • 15 students at Kashan University are summoned to the Disciplinary Committee of the university, five suspended for the next term.

• Ali-Akbar Kheradnezhad, who was imprisoned at Evin, delivers eyewitness account of the last hours of a fellow prisoner Amir-Javadi-Far who was denied medical aid at Evin prison and died.

Health

• (E) According to the Iranian Health Ministry, the number of swine flu cases in Iran has stagnated at 357 Iranians. Deputy Health Minister Hassan Emami Razavi has suggested that the government allocate 20 million dollars for vaccinations.

Photo of the Day

• Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki meets with political representatives of the 5+1 group.