Iran News Round Up

(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his help in compiling)

Politics

• Khedmat says the Ahmadinejad government’s investment in infrastructure is twice as great as that of the Khatami government.
• Jahan says Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf held meetings with Iranian monarchists in Paris, who intend to establish a government in exile under the leadership of Iranian Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi.
• Photo essay of Khomeini’s return (tomorrow marks the 29th anniversary).

Religion, Culture, and Society

• New Tehran Symphony conductor cannot perform miracles.
• Former Foreign Minister Ebrahim Yazdi says his latest book has been subjected to severe censorship.
• Tabnak condemns publication of Mohammad-Mansour Hashemi’s book Din-Andishan-e Motejadded, Rowshanfekri-ye Dini az Shariati ta Malekian [Modernist Religious Thought – From Shariati to Malekian], which attacks the ideology of Ali Shariati, one of the theoreticians of the Islamic Revolution.

Security

• Tabnak reports more members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization are deserting from Camp Ashraf in Iraq to start a new life.
• Admiral Abbas Mohtaj appointed deputy head of security by the minister of interior.

Nuclear Issue

• Tabnak publishes a pictorial account of Ahmadinejad’s trip to Bushehr.
• Ahmadinejad: “When a nation gives the slightest point to the enemy, that nation is forced to give everything away.” In English.
• Iran will humiliate its enemies.
• Ahmadinejad wants assistance of Western countries to build more nuclear power plants in Iran.
• Mohammad-Ali Hosseini, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “In Iran’s doctrine, there is no room for deviation from the right to peaceful nuclear energy.”

Diplomacy

• Belgian foreign minister praises Iran’s regional role.
• A large Iranian parliamentary delegation visits the Bahraini parliament.
• Speaker of Parliament Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel considers his conversations with Egyptian authorities fruitful.

Economy and Trade

• Head of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce says Iran’s exports exceed $20 billion.
• China reiterates eagerness to invest in Iranian energy sector.

Human Rights and Labor

• 62 executions in 40 days.
• Judiciary chief against public hangings.

Photo of the Day

• Executions in Iranian Kurdistan.