Iran News Round Up

(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh and Omeed Jafari for their assistance in compiling)

Economy

Parliament debates privatization.
National Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran asks for permission to issue 100,000 rial bills due to inflation, declining value of the Iranian currency.
Currency in free-fall because of government adherence to IMF recommendations, Ahmadinejad’s parliamentary faction says.
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi looks at Turkey as a model to tame inflation.
Iran Statistics Office supports Ahmadinejad’s claim that unemployment rate has dropped to 9.9 percent.
See Oct. 9 Iran News Round Up for background on dispute over unemployment figures.
Labor pool will increase significantly in the coming years.
Iran to import 15 million liters of gasoline per day due to refinery shortage.
Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to build power plants in Iran?

Politics

Head of the Ideological Indoctrination Office of the Iranian Army: “The army should abstain from involvement in politics.”

Foreign Affairs

Iran and Russia share common perspective on international affairs.
Putin to arrive tonight, Iran time.
Russian president Vladimir Putin expected to talk about the nuclear issue rather than the Caspian Sea in Tehran, writes Khorasan.
Foreign Ministry spokesman: “Rumors on assassination plans against Putin [are] psychological warfare.” More, in English.
Could Caspian Sea deal be written to neutralize potential sanctions against Iran?
“Good news on Bushehr [nuclear] plant soon.”
Foreign Minister Mottaki: “The United States is creating an atmosphere of fear surrounding Iran…U.S. policy makers know what will happen in case of strikes against Iran.” English summary.
Hamas embraces Supreme Leader’s call for boycott of “collaborating with the U.S.” [in context of Condoleezza Rice’s peace conference].
Egyptian cleric Yusuf Qaradawi: “It is obligatory on all Muslims to resist any possible attack the U.S. might launch against Iran,” calls for “Jihad.”
Rafsanjani to publish 12 secret letters exchanged between the Iranian and Iraqi leadership in the months before the 1988 armistice between the two countries.