(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)

Diplomacy

  • Asr-e Iran laments escape of a 72-year-old Danish cartoonist who had drawn one of the Danish Muhammad cartoons. The cartoonist “escaped punishment” because of the Danish police arrests of two Tunisians planning his murder.
  • Foreign Ministry delivers a demarche to the Danish ambassador to Tehran because of republication of cartoons of Muhammad in Danish newspapers on the occasion of a murder plot against one of the cartoonists.
  • Raja, close to the Ahmadinejad government, republishes the Khomeini’s fatwa against the British author Salman Rushdie: “I swear by God, if I was younger and firmer I would have killed Rushdie myself.”
  • On the occasion of the Revolution Day festivities, Iranian authorities exhibit three Royal Navy boats captured by the Revolutionary Guards along with the British sailors who were briefly held hostage in Iran.
  • Mehr News Agency accuses Denmark of cooperation with Saddam Hussein’s chemical warfare against civilians, since a Danish hospital, according to the Foundation for Preservation of the Works and Values of the Sacred Defense, denied treatment to Kurdish victims of chemical bombardments on March 29, 1988.
  • Raja, close to the Ahmadinejad government, reports same story with a different title: “Disclosure of documents revealing the Danish government’s cooperation with Saddam.”
  • Sami Al-Faraj of Kuwait’s Center of Strategic Studies says his country must rely on U.S. and Israeli security support should Iran develop a nuclear weapon.
  • Gulf News says it would be better if the Islamic Republic had not launched a rocket into space.
  • But speaker of the Iranian parliament, Haddad-Adel says “Iran’s technological advances are advances for the entire region.”
  • Official Tehran Times promotes 9-11 conspiracy theories.

Politics: General

  • Secretary of the Hezbollah Front accuses Ahmadinejad of politicizing his Revolution Day speeches.
  • Grand Ayatollah Sanei declares support for Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic who faces attack because of his criticism of Revolutionary Guard intervention in domestic politics.
  • Intelligence Minister Mohseni Ezheh’i condemns insults against Hassan Khomeini.
  • Aftab’s analyst believes Seyyed Hassan Khomeini has emerged as a victor in his dispute with radical elements in the Islamic Republic.
  • Former member of the Revolutionary Guards turned human rights activist, Abbas Abdi says it is not the military past of Iranian politicians which is problematic in the Iranian political context, but the close relationship between the Ahmadinejad government and the Revolutionary Guards.
  • Parliamentary Speaker Haddad-’Adel: “The Commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards says the same thing as the Supreme Leader.”

Politics: March 2008 Parliamentary Elections

  • Asr-e Iran says that neither former president Rafsanjani who chairs Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Council, nor Mehdi Karrubi have any problem with rejection of “extremist” reformist candidates to the parliamentary elections.
  • Shahriyar Moshiri, parliamentarian from Bandar Abbas, says his candidacy for the Iranian parliament was rejected because of his participation in a demonstration supporting unpaid school teachers.
  • Asr-e Iran reports a short program of Iranian singers and musicians supporting elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
  • Council of Guardians rejects the candidacy of parliamentarian Kourosh Niknam because of deficient belief in Islam. Niknam is the Zoroastrian representative of in parliament.
  • Commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Mohammad-Ali Ja’fari: “The Guards – following the teachings of the Imam [Khomeini] are obliged to defend principalism as a way of thinking, and fundamental ideology, not [Principalism] as a political faction or party.”
  • But vows not to interfere in elections

Economy and Trade

  • Iranian economists deliver suggestions to the Ahmadinejad government about how to reduce inflation.
  • Minister of agriculture and cooperatives assures the Iranian public that the price of eggs and chicken will not rise.

Religion, Culture, and Society

  • Supreme Leader pays tribute to Imad Mughniyeh: “The bloodthirsty Zionist criminals should know that the pure and holy blood of martyrs like Mughniyeh will create hundreds more like Mughniyeh. It will increase resistance against oppression, corruption and atrocities twofold.”
  • Alef publishes a biography of the “martyred” terrorist Imad Mughniyeh.
  • Iran will mourn the death of Imad Mughniyeh on Saturday and Sunday.
  • Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki delivers the Iranian president’s condolences at Mughniyeh’s funeral.
  • The film Persepolis is more harmful than 300.

Human Rights and Labor

  • Contradicting earlier reports, Tehran Court of Justice says the legal proceedings against imprisoned student activists Ahmad Ghassaban, Majid Tavakkoli and Ehsan Mansouri will not be open to the public.
  • Swedish Olaf Palme Foundation gives its prize to Parvin Ardalan, a feminist activist and journalist who started a campaign against discrimination of women.
  • Reporters Without Borders considers Iran the largest violator against journalists.
  • Mohsen Armin, senior member of the Organization of the Holy Warriors of the Revolution: “From the very beginning, the Imam [Khomeini] emphasized and stressed the non-intervention of the armed forces in politics and elections. This matter has been a constant in the thought of the Imam.”
  • “Today, some political movements annul this national and strategic position of the Imam for the sake of partial and tactical gains…”
  • “The military’s intervention in elections is dangerous for the country…Those who possess arms practice a different type of dialogue than a political dialogue.”
  • On ideological indoctrination in the Revolutionary Guards: “Unfortunately we are now facing such a condition that even in educational material, which we are in possession of, view points of the extremists are being propagated in the name of the Islamic Republic.”

Photo of the Day