(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)
Trade
- Bonyad-e Mostaz’afan [Foundation of the Oppressed] signs a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Oil and the National Iranian Oil Company, paving the way for foundation activity in the international crude oil and petrochemical market. The contract breaches the monopoly of the National Iranian Oil Company to export Iranian oil.
Economy
- According to acting minister of economy, economic growth in Iran is 6.7 percent.
- The Iranian president says economic growth rate is 7.8 percent.
- Law on value added tax passes the Iranian parliament.
- In a phone conversation with the Iranian president, Ayatollah Nouri-Hamadani complains about rising prices.
Nuclear Issue
- Iran says it feels pressure to withdrawal from NPT.
Politics
- Head of the personal security force of the Iranian president talks about Ahmadinejad’s simple and ascetic lifestyle.
- Senior presidential advisor Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh says “there are some forces who do not want the president to succeed.”
- Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi relates his memories of Ayatollah Khomeini. Mesbah-Yazdi stresses that he and his followers have “breached with eclecticism” and not with the “line of the Imam.” More.
- Hojjat al-Eslam Mohtashami-Pour says the Mesbah-Yazdi was a member of the Hojjatiyeh secret society prior to the revolution of 1979. The Hojjatiyeh, in turn, Mohtashami-Pour says was formed by the secret service of the Shah to promote secterianism and division among religious movements.
- Ahmadinejad gives television interview to explain and defend the policies of the Iranian government. More here.
- According to Kayhan, parliamentarian Ahmad Tavakkoli gave Abbas Palizdar information which can scandalize Islamic Republic elites.
- The Student Basij unit of Tehran University, in a vague reference to the Palizdar affair, demands justice in the fight against economic corruption.
- Questions about whether Abbas Palizdar’s degree from a U.S. university is legitimate.
- Members of the Islamic Student Association of Hamadan explain how they came to invite Abbas Palizdar to deliver the speech on economic corruption in the Islamic Republic.
- Habibollah Peyman recalls his memories of the formation of the Islamic Republic Party headed by Ayatollah Beheshti.
Media
- Agah-Sazi says the banning of Tehran-e Emrouz, close to Tehran mayor Qalibaf, occurred after it interviewed IRGC chief Ja’fari, whose comments on social injustice in Iran, the editor spun as criticism of Ahmadinejad.
Military and Security
- Hosseini, foreign ministry spokesman, says Israel is not in a position to threaten Iran.
- Warns Israel of overwhelming response.
- Warns that Israeli attack would shatter world economy.
- Shahrvand publishes a series of interviews with people who knew the “martyred” son of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, Mohammad Montazeri, who was close to the group which formed the Revolutionary Guards.
Diplomacy
- Human Resources advisor of the Iranian president repeats the Iranian president’s claims that the U.S. forces in Iraq had planned to kidnap Ahmadinejad during his visit to Iraq, and also claims the Iranian president’s bodyguards foiled an attempt to assassinate him while attending the FAO summit in Rome.
Photo of the Day
- Harvesting in Fars.
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