(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation; E signifies English link)

Nuclear Issue

Politics

  • Ebtahi, Khatami’s vice president, criticizes the topics Ahmadinejad raises when addressing the clergy: “The clergy are not so ignorant about world affairs [to believe] exciting stories about foreign plots of kidnap of the Iranian president [while visiting Iraq], or… stories of the president’s relations with the Imam of the Era.”
  • In an earlier note, Ebtahi had asked why the Foreign Minister hadn’t summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, to receive a reprimand for the plots of kidnap of the Iranian president, if the story is true.
  • Organization of the Holy Warriors of the Islamic Revolution announces Mohammad Khatami as their candidate for 2009 presidential elections.
  • Mar’ashi, Kargozaran’s spokesman, says the faction is yet to decide which candidate to nominate for presidential elections.
  • The Iranian president’s former candidate for the ministry of interior, Mohammed-Reza Rahimi, appointed to a central position at the Council of Conflict Resolution of the Local Islamic City Councils.
  • Parliament speaker Larijani stresses the importance of “respecting the norms of the society,” especially in the parliament.
  • Jomhouri-e Eslami editorializes: “Palizdar’s investigations have links to military contracts… Don’t let him get away easily.”
  • Montakhab-Nia, deputy general secretary of the National Trust Party, commenting on the Palizdar affair says “Disclosures is the method of the hypocrites [the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization].”
  • Documentation Center for the Islamic Revolution publishes a volume on the pre-revolutionary Islamic credentials of Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi, who has come under attack for not being a part of the revolutionary family prior to the revolution.

Religion, Culture, and Society

Diplomacy

Economy

Trade

  • Valfajr Shipping company [of the Revolutionary Guards] establishes tourist lines between Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Dubai.

Human Rights and Labor

  • Two students at Sistan va Baluchestan University imprisoned for arranging student meetings criticizing the Ahmadinejad government’s foreign policy.

Military and Security

  • Colonel Naser Arab-Beygi, head of the Self Sufficiency Organization of the Revolutionary Guards Army, says his organization has succeeded in producing a prototype of a tank called Tousan, a modernized version of the T-55 tank.
  • (E) Iran to produce quick reaction tanks.
  • Commander Ali Fazli appointed chief of the Seyyed al-Shohada Army of Tehran province. In the new structure of the Revolutionary Guards, each province will have an independent army composed of the local commanders, the Basij Resistance movement and heads of the armies and divisions of the ground forces of the Revolutionary Guards.
  • At the appointment ceremony, Hejazi, Deputy Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, said the new structure serves to do away with parallel institutions, improves coordination and strengthens the guards in dealing with external threats. Commander Morteza Shaneh-Saz, the current Basij chief of Tehran, is appointed deputy chief of the Seyyed al-Shohada Army of Tehran province.
  • The unnamed director general of the counterespionage bureau of the Intelligence Ministry commenting a recent arrest of Iranian citizen Ali Ashtari for allegedly spying for Mossad said the arrest is due to the increased activities of the ministry.
  • According to the director general, the arrested individual is “intelligent”, “around 44-45 years old,” “a share holder, who sometimes dealing with foreigners,” “a part of his activities has been to purchase electronic equipments for military purposes.”
  • Alef News Agency says Ali Ashtari has given consultancy to several sensitive centers, especially the Nuclear Energy Organization of the Islamic Republic, but also some military institutions.
  • According to the reporting Ashtari has also succeeded in “delivering contaminated devices to the Islamic Republic.”
  • For Ashtari confessions, here. In English (E) here.
  • Report of death sentence, here.

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