[Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation; (E) signifies English link]
Diplomacy
- Ali-Reza Hosseini, consultant at the Strategic Studies Institute of the Foreign Ministry, says no deadline has been agreed upon with regard to the nuclear negotiations of Geneva and urges the Iranian statesmen not to take ultimatums of the United States seriously.
- Foreign minister Mottaki says no deadline was agreed upon in the nuclear negotiations in Geneva.
- (E) Iran rejects nuclear deadline
- South African and Iranian foreign ministers meet, say the two countries have mutual interests.
- (E) Iran, Belarus discuss further coopersation.
Politics
- Speaking on the occasion of the opening of the eleventh Annual Conference of the Union of Islamic Student Associations government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham says the reform movement in Iran is a “reactionary secular movement desiring Iran’s return to the era of Jahiliya [paganism]” and is the Samaran golden calf which paves the way towards Pharaonic rule and away from the way of Moses.
- Presidential hopeful Mehdi Karrubi says it is highly unlikely that the Council of Guardians will reject the candidacy of former president Mohammad Khatami for upcoming presidential elections.
- Parliamentary minority spokesman Hojjat al-Eslam Ghodratollah ‘Ali-Khani says the policies of the Iranian president will not have a blessed destiny.
- Indicates there are similarities between the exiled first president of the Islamic Republic Abol-Hassan Bani-Sadr and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
- Says: “The only reason why Khomeini tolerated Bani-Sadr was out of respect for the millions of people who had voted for him. As time passed, the people realized the weaknesses of Bani-Sadr.”
- Also says the Iranian president’s talk of “economic mafia” in Iran is “propaganda” serving the purpose of deflecting responsibility for the economic ills of the Islamic Republic.
Military and Security
- Commander Jowkar, chief of Pupil’s Basij of the Islamic Republic, speaks to student assemblies.
- The Revolutionary Guards chief of Bushehr, Colonel Heidar Mohammadi, praises the role of the Basij in Bushehr.
- Ansar News Agency, close to the Ansar-e Hezbollah vigilante, organization accuses former chief of the Revolutionary Guard Mohsen Rezai of departing from social justice as a fundamental principle in the Islamic Republic.
Economics
- (E) Iran to lop off zeros from currency as inflation grows?
Photo of the Day
- New tunnel to Chalous opens.
