Iran News Round Up

[Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation. (E) signifies English-language link]

Economy

Labor and Social Affairs Ministry claims unemployment has been reduced to 9.6 percent.

Human Rights and Labor

On the anniversary of the 1999 student riots, Iranian authorities arrest a number of student activists in Tehran and Mashhad:
Ali Gholizadeh, secretary of the Islamic Student Association of Shahroud University
Background information on Gholizadeh.
Ali Saberi, former secretary of Islamic Student Association of Polytechnical University
Salman Sima, Azad University student activist,
Mehdi Khodayee, Azad University student activist
Reza Arab, Mehdi Qodsi, Amir Sarabi, Majid Asadi, Mojtaba Emadpour, Bayat, Towhid Dowlatshenas, Mohammad Zera’ati, Farzad Hassanzadeh, Sajjad Rajabi, Mohammad Mizban, Ashkan Arshian, student activists
Mohammad Ehsani, both Sistan va Balouchestan University student activist and also the former secretary of the Islamic Student Association.
Student spokesman Abdollah Moe’meni condemns arrest of student activists on anniversary of 1999 student uprisings.
Advar News says the imprisoned student activists are being held at section 209 of Evin prison.
Deutsche Welle confirms reports on widespread arrest of student activists.
Judiciary absolves Hamadan prison authorities of responsibility for death in custody of young doctor Zahra Bani-Yaghoub.
Alireza Zakani, former head of Student Basij and Mostafa Tajzadeh, reformist politician recall the student uprisings of 1999.
(E) Labor Union leader Osanloo, head of Islamic Republic’s first independent trade union, marks end of 1st year in prison.

Military and Security

Tabnak News Agency publishes video of the Revolutionary Guards Navy’s latest war games in the Persian Gulf.
Asr-e Iran reports the Revolutionary Guards launched another missile launch.
(E) More.
According to Aftab the case of former Greater Tehran chief of Law Enforcement Forces Zare’i (caught in a house of ill-repute with naked women whom he said he was praying with) has not been sent to the Armed Forces Court.
Chief of the Revolutionary Guards says the latest war games of the IRGC should be a lesson to the enemy.
Tabnak News Agency claims the Revolutionary Guards Navy has tested the fastest “submarine missile,” which “not even the Americans have managed to produce.”
(E) Test-fires surface to sea missiles.
Law Enforcement Forces call for applicants for Police Academy.

Diplomacy

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry says there is official Iranian involvement in a film depicting assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat as a “traitor.”
Ahmadinejad ridicules Bush, and says even if president Bush orders an attack against Iran, the U.S. armed forces will ignore his orders.

Trade

Total says it will not participate in Iran’s natural gas development.
NASR Consortium begins building of an oil refinery as the 12th Phase of South Pars Gas Field.
Syria and Iran establish a joint bank.

Economy

The Iranian government orders establishment of an economic development zone in Shahr-e Kord.
Health Ministry official claims 96 percent of the medication needed in Iran is produced in Iran.

Politics

Tabnak News Agency warns of a “tumultuous political atmosphere in Iran” and urges the political players to demonstrate calm.
The National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament will be divided into two committees.
Hojjat al-Eslam Do’a-Gou’s analysis of the Palizdar affair as a ”plot to marginalize the clergy” also gets coverage in Tabnak.

Media

Commenting the Persian home page of Al Arabiya television, Tabnak News warns against the “Saudi cultural onslaught” against Iran.
According to Tabnak, Al Arabiya Persian broadcasts Hollywood movies with Persian subtitles, and Egypt is also contemplating a Persian broadcast service.
The news agency asks what Iranian authorities will do to counter such “cultural invasion.”

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