(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his assistance compiling these news stories)

Politics: General

  • Ayatollah Mohi al-Din Ha’eri Shirazi, Friday Prayers Leader of Shiraz, appointed personally by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: “Our country experiences severe pressure from outside. What ever we do, they protest against us. We exercise the law of Islam by cutting the hands of thieves, and those countries who prohibit execution of the law of Islam criticize us… The president is an astute man, a knowledgeable man who enjoys the support of the Supreme Leader. Would the Supreme Leader support one whose judgment he does not approve?…Those who consider infusion of money into the economy as a detriment to Iranian economy and an instrument of furthering inflation should think about the roads and schools and houses which are necessary for us in this country.”
  • Fatemeh Rajabi, the wife of government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham, criticizes Tehran mayor Qalibaf’s crisis management during extreme weather in Tehran.
  • Spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran government: “The minority [the reformists] should return to the bosom of Islam and turn away from Zionism. The Imam [Rouhollah Khomeini] has said that if the Zionist government puts its head in the sea, the entire sea will be Najes [religiously impure, unclean]. The minority should take notice of this warning.”
  • Former president Mohamamd Khatami: “The reform process did not begin, or end with me…We need to prepare the best conditions for participation of the people in elections.”
  • Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari evades earlier promises to participate in an open debate with reformist candidate Tajzadeh by letting the Islamic Student Council at the University of Kashan claim he has never been invited to such a debate.
  • Iranian parliamentarians protest against handover of government contracts to the Basij Resistance Force as a contractor despite absence of “legal base for economic activities of the Basij.”

Politics: March 2008 Parliamentary Elections

  • In an interview with Radio Zamaneh, Ahmad Zeid-Abadi and Mohammad Dadfar, student leaders from Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat [Office of Strengthening of Unity] say a free election is not possible as long as the Council of Guardians screens the candidates.
  • Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi: “Do not show expediency in the screening process of the parliamentary candidates.”
  • Hamid-Reza Jalaipour: “In my opinion, uncompetitive elections lessen… participation in the parliamentary elections.”
  • Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat [Office of Strengthening of Unity], the main student organization in Iran publishes the names of reformist candidates for the parliamentary elections.

Diplomacy

Society, Culture, and Religion

  • Tabnak reports arrest of a “smuggling gang” in Mehrabad International Airport importing laptops and mobile phones.
  • Villagers block the Tehran-Mashhad railroad because of unfulfilled promises from Iran Rails.
  • Islamic preacher Hojjat al-Eslam Panahian criticizes the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting: “The Western media constantly shows the happiness that people lack in the West, but our television makes the miseries of our society even grander… Invited by some friends I saw a couple of episodes from the Sa’at-e Sheni [Sand Clock] television series and couldn’t help asking my self if the regime has been dismantled since such series is screened on national television! By seeing this kind of things I thought of the books of [secular Iranian author] Sadeq Hedayat and [Franz] Kafka….” Panahian added: “Such film directors demonstrate their own sexual complexes and their lust. They do not understand the concept of sweet religious life. After seeing such things, one needs to ask for divine forgiveness in order to cleanse the soul from such impurities and filth.”
  • Iranian academic Hossein Bashiriyeh, purged from Department of Political Science at the University of Tehran, explains in an open letter to Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani why he has left Iran and taken a position at Syracuse University in New York.
  • Advar News reports separation of sexes in different departments of University of Tehran in the upcoming term.

Economy and Trade

  • The natural gas crisis in Iran enters a new phase as 16 more provinces are threatened by shortage.
  • Islamic Republic of Iran’s minister of petroleum: “By Saturday, the entire country will have access to natural gas.”
  • Adds: “By now, we do not export natural gas.”
  • Tehran consumes 25 percent of natural gas in Iran.
  • National Bank Director says more than 3,000 financial executives are prohibited by law from leaving the country.
  • Qeshm Island’s tourist infrastructure gets a boost by addition of two modern “Landing Crafts” to the fleet of the Persian Gulf island.
  • Mohammad Tabibian, economist, says there is no “miraculous solution to the inflation problem,” and points at the parliament’s decision to allow $1.2 billion in imports as yet another factor contributing to inflation.
  • Aftab delivers an analysis of inflation in Iran, which according to the news agency is manifestation of “Dutch disease.”
  • The price of rice increases with 10 percent.

Public Health

Human Rights and Labor

Photo of the Day

  • Flooding hits villages about 60 miles east of Bandar Abbas.