(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)

Politics

  • Hardliners take 2/3 of seats in Iranian parliament.
  • Supreme Leader: Islamic Revolution stronger than ever.
  • Office of the Strengthening of Unity, Iran’s largest student organization, hosts speeches at Amir-Kabir Polytechnical University by political activists Abbas Amir-Entezam, Mohammad Maledi, Mohsen Armin and Ali Siyasi-Rad.
  • Ansar News condemns former parliamentarians Pir-Moazzen and Haghighat-Joo’s interviews to BBC Persian and Voice of America’s Persian Service.

Terrorism

Economy and Trade

Religion, Culture, and Society

  • Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance filters Shi’a News, an important news site providing information on religious affairs; users with Iranian ISP numbers can no access the news agency.
  • Alborz News Agency’s site also blocked in Iran.
  • Amir Habibi-Nia provides a form and content analysis of “20:30,” a popular Iranian news show which Habibi-Nia asserts is meant to compete with the internet, foreign Persian language broadcasts, and exile broadcasts from Los Angeles.
  • Attacks continue against Iranian religious innovator Abdol-Karim Soroush, who claims the Quran is not the words of God but the creation of the prophet Muhammad. More.
  • The national youth organization of Khuzestan cooks a “nuclear cake.”
  • Commander Ramezan Sharif of the Revolutionary Guards says as long as there are journalists among the Basijis, Iran can counter the Western cultural and news onslaught.

Diplomacy

  • Iran dismisses bilateral talks with U.S.
  • U.S. biggest loser of Iran poll.
  • In an interview with Times of London, Tehran mayor Qalibaf says it is wrong to believe that Iran desires conflict the world and urges the West to trust Iran.
  • Hooshang Amirahmadi, a Rutgers University professor who advocates for restoration of U.S.-Iran relations, says Ahmadinejad has been Iran’s most substantive proponent of normalization of Iran-US relations: “Ten years after Mr. Khatami’s government did not allow me to travel to Iran citing various excuses, Mr. Ahmadinejad accepted my wish to travel to Iran and off I went to Iran… I thank Mr. Ahmadinejad for allowing my presence in Iran.” Amirahmadi continues: “Unfortunately, a large part of the problems between Iran and the U.S. are not based in reality, but are based on myths. The problem of terrorism is a true myth. Iran has not been involved in any terrorist organization. Neither Hezbollah, nor Hamas are terrorist organizations…” With regard to Ahmadinejad’s view of the U.S. Amirahmadi says: “The Iranian president’s problem is with Israel, not with America.”
  • See also Amirahmadi’s interview with Diplomasi-ye Irani.
  • Less than a week after the Islamic Republic extends a billion dollar loan to Iraq, the Arab Interparliamentary Committee in Erbil publishes a communiqué claiming the three islands Greater and Minor Tunb and Abu Musa islands belong to the United Arab Emirates, not Iran.
  • Swiss Foreign Minister due in Tehran.