(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)

Nuclear Issue

Politics: March 2008 Parliamentary Elections

  • In an attempt to defend the Council of Guardian’s rejection of reformist candidates, head of the election supervisory committee says “lack of supervision led to the presidency of Bani-Sadr [the deposed and exiled first president of the Islamic Republic.]”
  • Rafsanjani: “Maximum degree of qualification of candidates is the precondition for maximum voter participation in parliamentary elections.”
  • The list of Principalist candidates in Isfahan finalized.
  • The Reformist Alliance issues a communiqué informing the Iranian public that the reformists will run for parliamentary elections despite wide spread rejection of reformist candidates to the elections.
  • Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini: “People themselves know better how to vote and whom to vote for.”
  • Fatemeh Rajabi, the wife of the government spokesman, continues her attacks against Hassan Khomeini in Ansar after her blog experiences “technical difficulties.”

Politics: General

  • President Ahmadinejad at the Council of Experts: “The main task of an Islamic government is to prepare the ground for reemergence of the [twelfth] Imam.”
  • Adds: “Some people are not pleased when I talk about the Imam of the Era.”
  • Representative of the Supreme Leader in the Revolutionary Guards: “Our armed forces today, are the armed forces of the Imam of the Era.”
  • Speaking to Channel One of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Ahmadinejad says “Our nuclear victory is hundred times greater than nationalization of oil.”
  • Delivering a speech at the Vali-Asr Garrison of the Revolutionary Guards, Ahmadinejad says “From now on, no power will dare to challenge us.”
  • Senior presidential advisor, Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh: “God be praised that the mentor of reformists [Ayatollah Tavassoli] died.”
  • Vice president Parviz Davoodi holds meetings with Shi’i sources of emulation in Qom.
  • Quoting Seda-ye Edalat, Emrooz News Agency says the Ministry of Education is being subjected to a comprehensive ideological purge.
  • In a direct attack against the Revolutionary Guards, Ayatollah Sane’i says “[Political] intervention of the armed forces is not compatible with democracy.”
  • Commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Ja’fari speaking at the Guard’s Imam Hossein University: “The Guards is a cultural, political and military organization. In such an organization, the military profession must not dominate the other aspects.”
  • He also added that the main objectives of the Basij will be societal and political.
  • Former president Mohammad Khatami: “If Mehdi Karrubi runs for the presidency, I’ll abstain from running.”

Culture, Religion, and Society

  • Tabnak slams California-based Iranian film maker Dariush Mehrjooi’s film “Santouri,” which was financed in part by the Council on Fight against Drugs in Iran, but banned by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
  • Tabnak publishes a travel account of Khorramshahr, which still is suffers from Iran-Iraq War destruction and lacks the capacity to absorb Iranian tourists.
  • In a letter to the Law Enforcement Forces, the Ministry of Interior prohibits smoking of flavored tobacco in tea houses in Iran.
  • Shi’ite scholar Ali-Akbar Mehdipour claims “hundreds of thousands of Wahabis have embraced the true religion of Islam” despite “attacks of the Wahabis who attempt to destroy Shi’ism.”
  • According to Mizan News, a violent arrest of a “deficiently dressed” young girl led to skirmishes between the Law Enforcement Forces and two hundred by passers offended by the force used against the young girl. According to Mizan, the crowd chanted slogans against the regime.

Diplomacy

  • The mayor of Baghdad asks Tehran mayor Qalibaf, currently visiting Baghdad, for assistance in rebuilding the city of Baghdad.
  • Iran will start rebuilding Baghdad soon.
  • Iranian ambassador to Iraq refutes allegations that Iran planned assassination of the governor of Basra and his brother.
  • Tabnak, close to former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezai: “Lack of evidence against Iran in the nuclear issue has led to invention of another excuse,” Iran’s missile program.
  • Alef News Agency claims Iranian American academic Hooshang Amirahmadi has held “suspicious meetings” with the Iranian press and parliamentary candidates in Kish in the Persian Gulf, and in northern Iran.
  • Seyyed Teyyeb Javad, Afghan ambassador to Washington, says Iran has become a hostile regional power.
  • Mohammad Al-Haj-Hamoud, Iraqi vice president demands, a revision of Algiers Accord of 1975 which settled the Iran/Iraq border. Asr-e Iran attacks the Iraqi vice president.
  • A Bosnian Islamic scholar claims Bosnia, situated between Orthodox and Catholic Christians, is awaiting the same fate as Muslim Andalusia. He says his center experiences severe difficulties in “propagating the line of Imam Khomeini.”

Economy and Trade

  • Iran is tax heaven for investors.
  • General Director of the National Bank of Iran warns of “worrying level of inflation.”
  • Iranian companies soon to start operations in Baghdad after signing of contract between the mayors of Baghdad and Tehran.
  • Speaker of the Iranian parliament, Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel warns of a third round of sanctions against Iran, but says Iran is not experiencing an “extraordinary situation.” and that there is no fear of “crisis.”
  • Dubai “unofficially” sanctions Iranian companies. There are 8,500 Iranian companies registered in Dubai.
  • The United States preparing sanctions against the National Bank of the Islamic Republic. In English.
  • Iran begins exploration for oil in the Caspian Sea.

Photos of the Day

Reader Response

  • A Persian-speaking recipient of the Iran News Round Up questions one entry from February 22: “The way I read Ansari’s article, he was not putting down the Jews… [Rather,] he contrasts their (and other minorities’) representation status with that of the reformers and concludes that the [minorities] are better represented.”