Iran News Round Up

(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his assistance in compiling)

Politics

• Rafsanjani at the Friday Prayers at Tehran University: “The Basij [Resistance Force] should show vigilance and not get hijacked by certain persons or [political] movements.”
• Most complete text of sermon.
• Ahmadinejad: “The mosques should become the central administrative centers in all neighborhoods.”
• Ahmadinejad on the Iranian bureaucracy: “We will fire them all, from the general directors to vice ministers, if they don’t do their jobs.”
• Spokesman of the Iranian government Gholam-Hossein Elham: “[Former nuclear negotiator accused of espionage, Hossein] Mousavian’s dossier not to be published now… [scroll up]
• Members of the Student Basij in Mashhad demand a revolutionary street trial of former Iranian nuclear negotiator, Hossein Mousavian, whom they accuse of espionage.

Nuclear Issue

• Rafsanjani at Friday Prayers: “The nuclear case should be closed by now because of the IAEA report.”
• Said Jalili, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic, heading to Moscow.
• An Iranian businessman arrested in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, suspected of exporting sanctioned products to Iran.
• Ahmadinejad demands more active Japanese support for Iran’s nuclear energy program, adds Iran will become a new Japan forty years from now [left hand column]. More, in English.

Military

• Parliamentary Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel: “Basij’s primary task is the permanence of the Islamic Revolution.”

Economy

• Elham: Unrestricted distribution of gasoline to Iranian commuters [and end to rationing] not in the interest of the nation right now.”
• Iranian parliamentarian Mahmoud Farahani at the joint summit of the government and the parliament on inflation and rising prices: “As long as the government does not pay attention to economic theory, the prices will rise…”
• Ahmadinejad: “Some [economists and critics of the government’s economic policies] provoke the economy by talking of ‘expected level of inflation.’” [scroll to very top].
• Ahmadinejad: “Substantial part of next year’s national budget to be directed to rural development.”
• Minister of Labor: “The plan to send 100,000 unemployed workers overseas has been unsuccessful.”

Public Health

• Member of the health commission of the Iranian parliament: “Public health has never been a priority in Iran.”
• For the first time, health officials of the Islamic Republic admit that hazardous sexual behavior is one of the main agents of spread of AIDS in Iran.

Diplomacy

• Ahmadinejad to attend Gulf Cooperation Council summit.
• Minister of Intelligence heads to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Society, Culture, and Religion

• Iran says Oliver Stone to come to Tehran to work on Ahmadinejad biopic.
• Tehran Police arrest a man who claims to be in close relation with the Shi’ite Imams.
• Ayatollah Makarem-e Shirazi accuses the United States of provoking sectarian divide in Islam, but also warns of growing superstition in the Islamic Republic.
• Ali-Akbar Velayati, former foreign minister and current advisor to Supreme Leader, becomes director of Iranian branch of PEN, an organization dedicated to freedom of expression.

Photo of the Day

• Italian circus in Tehran.