(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)

Politics: General

  • Alef says the latest round of unrest at the University of Tehran campus area had, in addition to student issues, an “ethnic and political dimension.”
  • A legal process begins against the editorial board of the Student Basij Militia’s magazine, Sepidar which published an article on the role of one of Rafsanjani’s sons, who was involved in bribery in the STATOIL case.
  • Raja accuses the former hostage taker and present civil society activist, Abbas Abdi of being an American spy even before the revolution.
  • Ansar, the mouthpiece of the vigilante organization Ansar-e Hezbollah attacks prominent political figures in the Islamic Republic:
  • Ansar points out that Tehran mayor Qalibaf, during the 2005 presidential elections, called himself “A Hezbollahi Reza Khan”
  • Says Mohsen Rezai, former chief of the IRGC, “praised the economic policies of Reza Shah.”
  • Asr-e Iran quoting Sobh claims Ahmdinejad has not attended the last 90 meetings of the Expediency Council, which is headed by Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
  • Report from the latest session of the Iranian parliament: “Vali Azaroush, accused of not being a Muslim and is therefore barred from running for the parliamentary elections by the Council of Guardians, climbs the podium and recites the Shahada… Answering the parliamentarian Sobhani-Nia’s protest that he is ‘the most undisciplined member of the parliament,’ Seyyed Nezam Molla-Howeizeh shouts back: ‘And the most handsome one as well!’”
  • Mehdi Kouchakzadeh of the Ansar-e Hezbollah vigilante organization tells Hassan Rowhani, former Iranian nuclear negotiator and an ally of Rafsanjani: “Had it not been for the slap in the face you received from the Supreme Leader, you would have sold the entire country to foreigners by now.” Kouchakzadeh continued: “The Revolutionary Guards can stop this kind of things.”
  • Rasoul Montakhab-Nia, deputy head of the E’temad Melli party of former speaker of the parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, claims he has never spoken to Radio Farda (The Persian section of Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty) and that radio station had someone impersonate his voice.

Politics: March 2008 Parliamentary Elections

  • Assembly of Combatant Clerics says participation in a parliamentary election in which two thirds of the constituencies has been decided even before the elections is futile.
  • Supreme Leader, commenting on the screening process which has barred the reformist camp from running for the March 2008 parliamentary elections: “The parliament is not a place for opponents of the regime.”
  • Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to the Council of Guardians, in charge of screening candidates for the March 2008 parliamentary elections: “Do not narrow the circle of accepted candidates.”
  • Ayatollah Alam Al-Hoda, Friday Prayers leader of Mashhad and a Supreme Leader appointee: “Bush supports the reformists.”
  • Mehdi Karrubi, former parliamentary speaker and general secretary of the E’temad Melli party, abstains from running for parliamentary elections, and says he will spare his “one and only shot for the presidential elections.”

Culture, Religion, and Society

  • Alef reports an opinion poll from Tehran, which shows:
  • 32.4 percent of the Tehranis listen to music approximately 2 hours per day.
  • 38.9 percent listen to music on CD or cassette tapes.
  • 46.5 percent prefer traditional Persian music
  • 16.6 percent listen to Persian pop music produced in and outside Iran
  • 75.5 percent listen to music at home.
  • 66.3 percent of the city’s population is not particularly interested in listening to music.
  • The most popular Iranian singers are Ali-Reza Eftekhari, Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Mohammad Esfahani, and Ehsan Khajeh-Amiri.
  • Alef condemns a Der Spiegel report critical of women in sports in the Islamic Republic.
  • Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting starts transmission of six new online radio stations. Web portal: www.iranseda.ir.
  • Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sa’idi, representative of the Supreme Leader in the Revolutionary Guards: “Fundamentalism is the basis of the religion.”
  • Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who according to earlier reports resigned as the dean of the Imam Khomeini Research Institute, one of the most important theological seminaries in Qom, says he has never resigned from his post.
  • Brigadier General Mohammad-Ali Ja’fari, commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, stresses that the Guards’ most important duty is “protecting the Islamic Republic against cultural and political threats.” He continued: “Resting upon the [spiritual] strategic depth of Iran, the Guards will cope with any external or internal threat.”

Economy and Trade

Nuclear Issue

Diplomacy

Human Rights and Labor

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