Nuclear Issue
- (E) Russian ambassador: Russia against any new UN Security Council Resolution on Iran.
- (E) Russian nuclear chief to visit Iranian nuclear plant.
- (E) Supreme Leader praises Iran’s resistance in nuclear dispute.
Politics
- Ahmadinejad presents an overview of his government’s accomplishments to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declares his support for the Ahmadinejad government for the second time.
- Ayatollah Khamenei called the government a “working government and full of initiative,” and praised the provincial trips of the president as a sign of the servitude of the government towards the people of Iran.
- Khamenei also praised the government’s struggle against “Westoxification and secularist tendencies unfortunately infiltrating the managerial body of the country.”
- Endorsing the nuclear policies of Ahmadinejad, the Supreme Leader stressed: “Some bullying and shameless powers wanted to claim ‘my way or the highway’ towards the Iranian nation, but the nation, and the very person of the president resisted their demands.”
- The Supreme Leader also warned that continuous criticism is character assassination.
- Government spokesman Elham attacks Rafsanjani’s criticism of Ahmadinejad.
- Ansar News, close to the Ansar-e Hezbollah vigilante organization which traditionally supports Ahmadinejad government, ridicules Mousavi Lari’s proposal on formation of a national unity government as an “elitist project,” contrary to president Ahmadinejad’s “popular project.”
- Asr-e Iran reports rumors on former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi running for president.
Religion, Culture, and Society
- Asr-e Iran reports re-installation of two highly symbolic statues at the gates of the old National Consultative Assembly, the first parliament building of Iran.
- The statues were dismantled by the Islamic authorities in 1979 because the revolutionary government considered the Lion and the Sun [Shir va Khorshid] as the coat of arm of the Pahlavi dynasty.
- Asr-e Iran deplores the catastrophic performance of the Islamic Republic at the 2008 Olympics.
- With one gold medal and one bronze, Iran reaches its worst Olympic result ever.
- Iranian Olympic swimmer Ali Rezai, who refused to swim in pool with Israeli swimmer, is claimed to have undergone surgery.
- A square in Tehran to be named after Iranian gold medalist Hadi Sa’i.
Diplomacy
- Gary Sick (disgraced conspiracy theorist now at Columbia University) urges the U.S. to improve relations with Iran.
- (E) Ahmadinejad says Bush missed opportunity for dialogue.
- Iranian president Ahmadinejad to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Pact in Tajikistan.
Trade
- Chinese and Indian firms to invest in development of oil and gas fields in the Iranian sector of the Caspian Sea.
Economy
- The Islamic Republic to issue 100,000 and 500,000 rial bills.
Military and Security
- Russia denies rumors on Iranian interest in purchasing Russian air defense systems.
- Ahmadinejad says Iran soon will launch a communication satellite.
- Iranian cargo ship seized by Somali pirates.
- (E) Iran seeks to release captured sailors.
Human Rights and Labor
- Wife of imprisoned Iranian civil-society activist Emad al-Din Baghi explains the plight of her husband.
Photo of the Day
