(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)
Politics
- Alef News Agency attacks judge Morteza Razavi’s allegations against a Tehran parliamentarian.
- Ilam parliamentarian Daryoush Qanbari and 11 reformist parliamentarians barred from membership of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament, have established a parliamentary faction called “National Security and Foreign Policy.”
- Former speaker of the Iranian parliament Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel is elected head of the Cultural Affairs Committee of the parliament.
- Fatemeh Rajabi, wife of the government spokesman, once again stresses that the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the “Miracle of the Third Millennium,” also the title of her book about Ahmadinejad.
- Ahmadinejad stresses that it is not work which tires him, but lack of work, and says he never complains but in cases involving injustice done to the dispossessed.
- Advisor of Iranian president says the Iranian government considers its success as a sign of blessings of the Imam of the Era.
- Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani invited to the Iranian parliament to preach morality.
- Morteza Agha-Tehrani, the so called “teacher of ethics for the government” stresses that the rumors of existence of an empty chair, set aside for the Imam of the Era during Ahmadinejad’s cabinet meetings, is incorrect.
Media
- Tehran-e Emrouz, close to Tehran mayor Qalibaf, banned by the supervisory council on the media and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. According to Shahab News the closure comes after the newspaper’s criticism of Ahmadinejad and the performance of his government, which the newspaper called “poor.”
- Media advisor of the Iranian president explains the reasons why Tehran-e Emrouz, close to Tehran mayor, Qalibaf was banned.
- Iranian film maker Morteza Mir-Bagheri to make the television series “Wind and Wind Tower” to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Islamic Republic.
Religion, Culture, Society
- Fars News Agency publishes some details on evangelical activities in Iran.
- The news agency also reports of “home churches” in the Islamic Republic.
- Claims ”drug addicts, dissidents and university students” are subjected to missionary activities of evangelical groups.
- According to Jomhouri-ye Eslami, a “deviant sect” led by a certain “Seyyed Khorasani” has started its activities in Mashhad claiming that any government formed by imperfect human beings, and in absence of infallible Imams, is Taqouti [revolt against God] and must be defeated. The sect also seeks to prepare the ground for the hasty return of the Imam of the Era.
- For the second time, the office of Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi refutes accusations of Abbas Palizdar and others on the economic enterprise of the Ayatollah, especially with regard to accusations of being the “sultan of sugar in Iran.”
- Calls the scandal raised by Abbas Palizdar an assault against the clergy and sources of emulation.
- Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari releases new “information” on Abbas Palizdar who has scandalized 42 Iranian notables with allegations of corruption. According to Shariatmadari, Palizdar has “stolen top secret information on the Iranian military.”
- Kayhan criticizes a number of protégés of Rafsanjani for “being clerics, but getting engaged in mining business.”
- Nowsazi news agency condemns a Danish court decision to refute complaints against a cartoonist who had depicted Muhammad the prophet
- In a vague response to earlier criticism of crime in the holy city of Qom, Mostafa Barzegar Ganji, public prosecutor of the city, says crime rate is very low, but that he every once in a while must deal with people claiming to be medium of the Shi’a imams, and in a recent occasion, the “14th Imam of the Shi’as.”
- For more reporting on spread of “superstition” and “millenarianism” in the Islamic Republic see here.
- Obesity epidemic.
Trade
- Upon presidential decree, a $1 billion loan has been allocated to the development of the 15th and 16th phases of South Pars Gas field. In practice, the money is transferred to Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base, the contracting arm of the Revolutionary Guards, which heads the development schemes of the gas field.
- Young executives of Khuzestan province start a home page.
Economy
- Tehran provincial governor attacks the media criticizing power shortage in Tehran.
- Rafsanjani says blackouts in Tehran are dangerous for industry and business.
- Chief of Armed Forces General Staff, Firouz-Abadi says rising prices are a conspiracy against the state.
Diplomacy
- The Iraqi president’s office refutes the Iranian president’s claims of a ”foiled U.S. attempt” to “kidnap” him when he visited Iraq.
- Iranian table tennis team to visit U.S.
- Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami to speak on peace, gender equality, and such in Norway.
- An Iranian citizen is arrested in the Afghan city of Herat on charges of espionage.
Photo of the Day
- New phase of Ahmadinejad’s “Societal Security Scheme.”