Iran News Round Up

(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)

Politics

With 232 votes, Ali Larijani is elected speaker of the Iranian parliament. English.
Ansar News Agency quotes some passages from Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi’s Aftab-e Velayat in which Yazdi says the Islamic Republic is an early embodiment of the rule of the Imam of the Era.

Mostafa Zarghouni of Hemmat weekly says those who criticize president Ahmadinejad’s policies and insistence upon the importance of the Imam of the Era are against a hastened reappearance of the Mahdi

Commenting on the clerical critics of the Iranian president, he adds: “No wonder that according to Shi’a sources, the greatest opposition against reappearance of the Imam of the Era is expected from those who wear clerical garb.”
Zarghouni concludes that opposition to president Ahmadinejad is opposition to the Imam of the Era.

Mostafa Mohaghegh-Damad, head of the theological studies at the Academy of Sciences, says “anyone who experiences the Imam of the Era during his major occultation will keep it a secret, and those who speak of it lie.”
Hojjat al-Eslam Khosro-Panah says the problems of the Iranian society are due to lack of attention to the issue of the Imam of the Era, and that the president should talk more about him.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sends a message on the occasion of the inauguration of the newly elected parliament. Details in English.
Mohammad-Reza Khatami, brother of the former president, and his wife Zahra Eshraghi comment the marriage of their daughter to the son of Kamal Kharazi, former minister of foreign affairs, and claim the marriage ceremony was simple and not as luxurious as the Iranian press suggests.
Pour-Mohammadi, recently ousted as Minister of Interior, wonders why he has not been invited to the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected parliament.
Ansar News claims Mehdi Karroubi will try to bribe the people to vote for him at the presidential elections.
Nateq Nouri says he will not run for presidency, but Mehdi Karrubi says he is considering running for the presidency.
Rasoul Montakhab-Nia, deputy general secretary of the National Trust Party, says “criticism of the words of the Imam [Khomeini] is an aid to the enemy.”

Religion, Culture, and Society

Iranians complain of slow internet.
Ansar News condemns Jam-e Jam’s praise for pre-revolutionary films and cinematography in Iran.
Zahra Eshraqi, granddaughter of Ayatollah Khomeini, says Khomeini was happy if women would wear a small head scarf, and did not demand harsh restrictions against women.
Alef News Agency publishes a short article on the Iranian aviation industry.
Second edition of Zeitoun-e Sorkh, Ali Darabi’s book on Lebanese Hezbollah, published.

Economy

The Eighteenth Seminar on Monetary and Currency Policy takes place without the presence of Semsami, acting minister of economy and finance.

The Director General of the Central Bank uses his speech to criticize the economic policies of the government, and the seminar condemns “the cowardly flight of the government from responsibility.”

Trade

Diplomacy

Meeting Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal, Supreme Leader Khamenei says the “Zionist regime is incapable of facing the Palestinian nation.”
Tabnak News Agency propagates a book from the 1970′s claiming the Saudi royal family is Jewish.
Lebanese Hezbollah General Secretary, Nasrallah: “I am proud to follow the line of velayat-e faqih [Guardianship of the Jurist], and those who claim I’m ashamed of it are wrong.”

Nuclear Issue

Tabnak News Agency recommends an end to cooperation with the IAEA in the face of the latest report of the U.N. agency on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities.
According to BBC Persian, the latest IAEA report on Iran will have no other effect but will lead to more economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Military and Security

Media

Ansar News warns against a conspiracy against the Ahmadinejad government within Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

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