[Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation. (E) signified English-language link]
Religion, Culture, and Society
- Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda says women with deficient Islamic dress “spy for the U.S. day and night” and are “more dangerous than explosives.”
- Hojjat al-Eslam Ali-Asghar Montazeri, assignments chief of the Islamic Propagation Organization of Iran, explains plans of activating 500 inactive mosques in suburban areas.
- Mohammad-Reza Movahedi, Deputy Coordination Chief of the Islamic Propagation Organization, says units will be formed to counter “psychological warfare of the enemy.”
Military and Security
· (E) Iran will target 32 U.S. bases if attacked.
· Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammad-Ali Ja’fari appoints Mohammad Assadi as new IRGC ground forces chief, and Hossein Ta’eb as Basij Resistance Force chief.
- Shamaghdari, cultural advisor to Ahmadinejad, criticizes Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting chief Zarqami for an animation on the downing of an Iranian airliner by U.S.S. Vincennes in 1988.
- According to Shamaghdari, the animation backs U.S. claims that it was provocations of the Revolutionary Guards speed boats which led to downing of the airliner.
- Two more kidnapped members of the Law Enforcement Forces are executed by terrorist organization Jundallah.
- Deputy chairman of National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament Mohammad-Esmail Kowsari, a former member of the Revolutionary Guards, says the latest war games demonstrate the power of the Islamic Republic.
- Chief of the Revolutionary Guards says structural changes in his organization are due to the change of the nature of the threat against the Islamic Republic.
Politics
· President Ahmadinejad’s cabinet distributes cash among children during Ahmadinejad’s provincial trips.
· Abdol-Reza Rahmani Fazli to be appointed as new head of Supreme Audit Court.
- Mir-Gharavi appointed new provincial governor of Ilam.
- Government spokesman Elham confirms minister of roads’ resignation.
- Seyyed Mohammad Karimi appointed new provincial governor of Mazandaran.
- Ridiculing the Iranian president’s claims that the U.S. contemplated to kidnap him during his trip to Iraq, Jomhouri-ye Eslami asks why the Iranian president fears kidnap, if the U.S. Army generals like him as much as the Iranian president claims, referring to another story of the Iranian president.
Media
· Khatami vice president Ebtahi discusses advancements in IT in Afghanistan, warns against monopoly of the state on television in Iran.
Diplomacy
· Iranian Shi’i youth Mansour Jokar gunned down in Karachi two days after Shi’a Pakistanis stage demonstrations in Tehran protesting against plight of their Shi’a brethren in Pakistan.
- Asr-e Iran condemns Iranian student activist Ali Afshari’s meeting with Rome’s mayor who is considering renaming the street at which the Islamic Republic embassy is located “July 9th Street” to honor the 1999 student uprisings in Iran.
- Meeting his Senegalese counterpart, Ahmadinejad says the Islamic Republic sees no problem in transferring technology to other Islamic countries.
- Alef News Agency publishes pictures of Rutgers Professor Houshang Amirahmadi, Track II activist, at Esteghlal Hotel in Tehran.
- The European Union expresses apprehension with regard to the missile tests of the Islamic Republic.
- Government spokesman Elham condemns “disgusting remarks of U.S. presidential candidate McCain,” who suggested cigarette exports as a means of solving the United States’ problems with Iran.
- (E) Ahmadinejad determined to win release of Iranian diplomats allegedly held by Israel.
- (E) Iranian-American professor blames U.S. negative views of Iran on media.
Economy
- Claiming that sound economic activities have always been the method of the prophets, the Iranian president says his government will expand the role of non-interest rate banking in Iran.
- Mazandaran provincial governor says minister of trade is the source of misery for agriculture in his province.
Trade
- Tabnak News reports on smuggling of gasoline into Afghanistan.
- According to ISNA, French oil company TOTAL says it will “never turn its back on Iran,” says it will not “abandon investments in Iran’s energy sector,” and is also contemplating “expansion in South Pars Gas Field.”
- Petroleum minister claims he has no knowledge of TOTAL’s withdrawal from Iran.
- Director-General of Foreign Direct Investments Office says FDI is increasing in Iran.
Human Rights and Labor
· Death penalty confirmed for imprisoned school teacher and Kurdish ethnic activist Farzad Kamangar. Also confirmed for Ali Heydarian and Farhad Vakili.
· Commemorating the assassination of KDPI leader Abd al-Rahman Ghassemlou in the hands of Islamic Republic agents in Vienna 19 years ago, shops close in Iranian Kurdish cities.
· (E) Autoworkers in Iran Khodro strike against contract labor.
Photo of the Day
· Drought hits Yasuj.
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