[Compiled by Ali Alfoneh; (E) signifies English link]
Diplomacy
- According to president Ahmadinejad, Turkish president Abdullah Gul warned him against the “machinations of the Zionists.
- Ahmadinejad in Turkey: “The Zionist regime is on the verge of collapse… A correct path was opened in Geneva.”
- Explaining the extreme security measures in Istanbul during Ahmadinejad’s visit to Turkey, the Turkish president says Ahmadinejad faced “grave security threats.”
- According to Sobh-e Sadegh, Turks at the Sultan Ahmed Mosque of Istanbul in which Ahmadinejad prayed during his visit to Turkey, chanted “death to Israel” and “death to America” after the prayers.
- Iraqi president Talabani to visit Tehran soon.
- Ali Jalali, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic, says the security situation in Iraq is improving.
- (E) More on Iraq security.
- (E) Nechervan Barzani visits Ahmadinejad in Iran.
- [Barzani earlier visited Israel secretly, on his way to the United States, Kurdish sources say—ed.]
- Kirkuk is the main issue of the Iraqi Kurdistan’s Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani’s visit to Iran.
- Vice president Mashayee who earlier extended a hand of friendship towards the Israeli people says there is no more hateful word than the name “Israel” in the entire literature of the world, and calls his critics “sell outs.”
- The Revolutionary Guard’s Yadollah Javani condemns Mashayee’s comments on friendship with the people of Israel.
- BBC Persian’s Ayoub Arvin discusses the reasons behind failure of King Amanullah (r. 1919-1929) in Afghanistan.
Military and Security
- The Islamic Republic to launch its first satellite into space this week.
- (E) Iran says it launched satellite successfully.
- Yadollah Javani, chief of the Political Bureau of the Revolutionary Guards, says the Islamic Republic “has made the Middle East a theater of defeats of the United States.”
- United Arab Emirates summons the Islamic Republic’s charge d’affaire after Iran opens “an office” on the disputed Abu Musa island.
- In a separate telegram, it is clarified that the office is a naval installation.
- Revolutionary Guards chief Ja’fari says Iran will give fatal blows to the counter revolutionaries in northwestern Iran.
- Ghader Ghaderi, Ghader Nazmi and Hamzeh Abdollah-Pour are killed in the Revolutionary Guards anti-terrorist campaign in northwestern Iran.
- Anti-aircraft guns of Western Tehran activated for a second night last week.
- The Islamic Republic Air Force chief Ahmad Mighani says Iran has produced a radar with a 1,000 kilometer range.
- Mighani says the Islamic Republic fighter jets can reach 3,000 kilometers without refueling.
- (E) In English.
- The Revolutionary Guards is planning youth forum within its organization.
- Armed Forces Command Council to initiate strategic cooperation with research centers and universities.
- Basij Resistance Force establishes Basij of the [Religious] Praise Singers.
- Sobh-e Sadegh considers the Basij to be Iranian soft power in the face of U.S. threats.
- According to Sobh-e Sadegh, 70 percent of the Iranian clergy are members of the Basij.
- Sobh-e Sadegh publishes a report on seminar of the political commissars of the Revolutionary Guards. More.
- Sobh-e Sadegh describes housing areas dedicated to members of the Revolutionary Guards and their families: Shahid Kolahdouz City, Shahid Mahallati City, Bahman City and Imam Hossein University.
- (E) Two Iranian businessmen kidnapped in Afghanistan.
Terrorism
- According to Partov-e Sokhan, mouthpiece of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, General Secretary of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt urges formation of a united Shi’a and Sunni front against the “Zionist regime,” and adds that his organization is ready to “fight under the banner of [Lebanese] Hezbollah.”
Nuclear Issue
- Kargozaran faction spokesman and former Tehran mayor Karbaschi says insistence on the right to nuclear energy is not an invention of the Ahmadinejad government but something the reformists have insisted upon ever since prime minister Mousavi in the 1980′s.
- United Arab Emirates calls upon international expertise to develop nuclear energy.
- According to the Egyptian presidential spokesman, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak have discussed Iran’s nuclear aspirations and urge Iran not to follow the path of Saddam Hussein.
- According to Asr-e Iran, Egypt stresses upon the Islamic Republic’s right to develop nuclear energy.
- According to Hurriyet, the Turkish president urged Ahmadinejad to accept the incentive package of the 5+1 Group to end the nuclear crisis and avoid “escalation of the crisis into a serious situation for your country and your people and for the region.”
- In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, the Islamic Republic says the sanctions against the financial sector of Iran are not legally mandated.
Human Rights and Labor
- According to Abrar, “due to the intervention of the Wise Leader of the Islamic Revolution” imprisoned student activists Majid Tavakoli, Ahmad Ghasaban and Ehsan Mansouri are pardoned and released.
- Imprisoned Office of Strengthening of Unity activists Mohammad Hashemi and Bahareh Hedayat freed.
- Seminar on mass executions of 1988 in the Islamic Republic to be held in Sweden.
- The home of Emad al-Din Baghi, who is on medical leave from prison, becomes center of political discussion.
- (E) Union protests intensify against floggings and executions.
Religion, Society and Culture
- Mashad Friday Prayer Leader Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda: “Our society, at the helm of which a qualified jurist reigns, has been ready for the emergence of the Imam [of the Era] for the past thirty years.”
- Adds: martyrdom of Iranians is a sign of “thirst” of the Iranians for emergence of the Imam of the Era.
- Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Sa’idi, representative of the Supreme Leader in the Revolutionary Guards, says “the vast extension of the discourse of the waiting for the Imam of the Era forced the United States to invade Iraq.”
- Friday prayer leader of Qom attacks deficient hijab of Iranian women.
- The “Wahabis” demand a certain certificate from Shi’a pilgrims to perform certain prayers.
- Speaking at the last day of the major conference on the Imam of the Era, Rafsanjani says it is of utmost importance to “disclose the charlatans claiming relations with the Imam of the Era.”
- Tehran Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Khatami says the Imam of the Era could potentially unite all the Muslims of the world.
- Mozaffar, member of the Expediency Council, suggests mosque councils as a way of countering the “Cultural NATO” threatening the Islamic Republic.
- Number of typhoon victims in Iran reaches 73.
- Michigan University’s Mo’addel says the Islamic identity of Iranians is being replaced with Iranian nationalism.
- “Not accepting the dominant trends in the world is the true understanding of the culture of awaiting [the emergence of the Imam of the Era].
- According to Sobh-e Sadegh, Iranian poet Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou’s Kahroba which attacks Iranian intellectuals, has been published under the pseudonym of Joseph Babazadeh.
- Reza Baraheni’s novel Razha-ye Sarzamin-e Man [Secrets of my country] has obtained publication permit from Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Politics
- Ahmadinejad’s main holocaust theoretician, Mohammad Ali Ramin, says he is considering a legal process against former presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami for not pursuing the fight against Zionism.
- Nateq-Nouri in search of a “balanced” and “centrist” statesman to run for presidency and form a “national unity government.”
- Seyyed Hassan Khomeini says Iran’s extra regional power should also be reflected on the dinner tables of the Iranians.
- Media advisor of the Iranian president Javanfekr says the entire issue of interior minister Ali Kordan should be explained by Kordan himself.
- Ministry of Higher Education to investigate the Iranian interior minister’s fraudulent Oxford degree.
- Presidential advisor Javanfekr says the Iranian interior minister’s Oxford degree must be investigated and, in case it is forged, the president should give the Iranian public an apology.
- Interior minister Kordan appoints Ahmad-Reza Asef as an advisor and Hossein Khan-Ahmadi as head of security of the ministry.
- Agah-Sazi publishes a background interview with Hashem Aghajari of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.
Economy
- In a frontal attack against the Ahmadinejad government, Rafsanjani says the Islamic Republic can’t be a role model for the Muslims of the world so long as the Iranian government can’t provide natural gas for heating in the winter, electricity for cooling in the summer, or gasoline to the people.
- Authorities publish schedule for next week’s blackouts in Tehran.
- According to the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic, power blackouts are due to lack of investments in new power plants.
- In a background interview Behzad Nabavi explains economic decision-making in prime minister Mousavi’s government in the 1980′s.
- Agah-Sazi warns against the end of the era of expensive oil and its consequences for Iran’s economy.
- Agah-Sazi reports deep divisions among economic decisionmakers and advisors of the Ahmadinejad government.
- The Islamic Republic Central Bank issues 1,000,000 rial ‘travelers check’ featuring Persepolis.
- A report from the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic shows that Iran had $81 billion oil income last year and $56 billion imports.
- Electricity price to be exempted from the state subsidies.
- Minister of Agriculture says agricultural products and the agricultural sector will be exempted from the economic reform scheme of the Ahmadinejad government.
- Minister of Industry and Mining says $5 billion will be injected into the industrial sector.
- Minister of Roads and Transportation to launch Chaharbahar – Mashhad railroad.
- Head of the Iran Engineering Society says only 15 percent of the buildings in Iran are built to code.
- Newly-appointed Economy an Finance minister says the economic reform scheme of the government should be conducted in such a way not to shock the economy.
Trade
- Economic advisor to Iraqi government and head of the Mines and Industries section of Iran Chamber of Commerce say Iran will play a greater role in development of Iraq.
- Answering a question on U.S. sanctions on Sepah and Melli banks of the Islamic Republic the head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce says the private banking sector will be more involved in Iraq.
- According to Abrar-e Eqtesadi, Turkmenistan is yet to decide the price of natural gas which will be exported to Iran.
- Iranian president Ahmadinejad says delay of signing of a major oil and gas contract is due to some “delicacies.”
- Tehran Chamber of Commerce Chief suggests merger of ministries of commerce and industry.
- (E) Iran and Turkey sign five agreements.
Photos of the Day
- Jamkaran mosque (from where the Hidden Imam will return).
- Ahmadinejad lauded in Turkey.