Iran News Round Up

(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his assistance in compiling)

Economy and Trade

• Ali Asgari, parliamentarian: “The real rate of inflation is around 23 or 24 percent.”
• Davoud Danesh Jafari, minister of economy: “Privatization of banks and insurance companies to begin soon.”
• Tehran and Beijing reaffirm petroleum exports to China in 2008.
• Deputy Oil Minister: “Bidding process for exploration of oil in Dasht-e Moghan, Ardebil province (northwest Iran, near Caspian), to begin soon.”
• Iran’s largest steel producer, Foulad-e Mobarakeh to be privatized tomorrow.
• Ukraine to import Iranian cars?
• Bribery scandal involving European oil firms doing business in Iran?

Nuclear Issue

• Dr. Ali Larijani, former secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council: “I detect signs of Satanism [U.S. influence] in the latest report of Dr. ElBaradei.”
• Calls for “unity and national reconciliation” in order to deal more “effectively in the nuclear crisis.”
• But Ayatollah Jannati (a confident of the Supreme Leader): “The IAEA report… was a victory for Iran.”
• Said Jalili, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council: “We welcome any idea when it comes to enrichment of uranium.”
• Fars News Agency claims “79 percent of the people support the position of the parliament in the nuclear issue.”
• EU-3 affirms Iranian cooperation with IAEA.
• Iranian IAEA ambassador: U.S. position at IAEA weak.

Politics

• Ahmadinejad: “My only mission is to connect the people to the Imam of Time.”
• Seyyed Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi, supreme public prosecutor in the 1980′s, reacts to Friday prayers leader of Mashhad who supports active intervention of the Basij militia in politics: “Political intervention of he armed force splits the armed forces.”
• Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of Kayhan (the mouthpiece of the Supreme Leader) , attacks both named and unnamed Iranian political activists and intellectuals as “agents of Israel, the CIA…” and connects them to the reform movement inside Iran, including former presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami.
• Rahmani Fazli, former member of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council: “My resignation from the council was a voluntary act.”

Diplomacy

• Tehran Times and PressTV: Sarkozy was a Mossad agent.

Society, Culture, and Religion

• Five more bookstore cafes closed in Tehran by law enforcement forces.
• Kayhan continues its attacks against the Bahai community in Iran.
• Minister of Islamic Guidance: Don’t rely on Western press.
• Head of Emergency Police: “Societal security is the gift of this government of justice to the people.”
• Sectarian sniping at the Hajj.

Military

• Iranian Navy to conduct war games in February.
• Basij nilitia reported to have 415,000 members in Kordestan [Kurdistan] province.
• “Good news about Iran’s defense technology to be announced soon.” says Iran’s minister of defense and armed force logistics.
• Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Guards: “Insight into the importance of the Basij deters the enemy.”
• “Our patience is the quiet before the storm.”

Picture of the Day

• Snow in Tabriz.