Iran News Round Up

(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)

Military and Security

• General Ja’fari, Commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, says the threat against Iran is not only military, but also cultural.
• Acting minister of interior Pour-Mohammadi says (audio file) the explosion at the Hosseiniyeh of Shiraz which left 12 dead and 200 wounded was an act of “sabotage,” and the minister of intelligence says the perpetrators of the bombing have been arrested.
• The Security Council, chaired by the minister of interior, had earlier said the explosion had been due to exhibition of explosives commemorating the Iran/Iraq war.
• The Interior Minister blames “The enemies of the great Iranian nation, who [act] in the name of monarchism and with support from countries who claim they support human rights, the rights of nations and wage war against terror.”
• The minister of intelligence on the other hand says the terrorist group behind this act has “relations with America and England, and the Foreign Minister earlier protested against them, but no attempt was made to stop their terrorist acts, and on the contrary, they [the terrorists] enjoyed more support.”
• According to ISNA, the Minister of Intelligence says the Unknown Soldiers of the Imam of the Era have arrested the perpetrators of the Shiraz bombing.
• Terrorists assisted by U.S, Britain (English).
• According to Entekhab News Agency, the latest findings with regard to the bombing in Shiraz increase the possibility of the dismissal of the governor of Shiraz, who has earlier firmly claimed there has never been a bombing in the city.
• Abdol-Majid Moadi-Khah discusses the early revolutionary terrorist organization Forghan [Furqan].
• Deputy commander of Popular Formations for Amr-e be Ma’rouf va Nahy az Monker [the morals police] in Isfahan province says one of the major schemes of this institution is tazzakkor-e lesani [oral warning] against patients in the waiting rooms of doctors. According to Seyyed Mohsen Mortazavi, the morals police are organized in the neighborhood mosques and the squad is formed by members of the Basij of the mosque, the Friday prayers leader of the mosque, and the local area police station.

Politics

• Hojjat al-Eslam Kazem Sediqi says “if it was not because of the benevolence of the Imam of the Era, this government would have collapsed.”
• Meeting a number of Basij commanders says ”the regime has hitherto been preserved thanks to divine blessings.”
• Contradicting his earlier remarks, former Iranian president Khatami says he has retired from government office, but can’t withdraw from politics.
• Former president Khatami cheered at Tehran International Book Fair.
• Supreme Leader Khamenei to deliver speech in Larestan.
• Following the travel of the Supreme Leader, the government holds a cabinet meeting in Shiraz.
• Bahonar, vice speaker of the Iranian parliament, says the parliament is seeking jobs for “those parliamentarians from the seventh parliament who failed to get elected at the parliamentary elections.” Bahonar assures there will be jobs for them in the public sector.
• Rouhollah Hosseinian talks about the murder of intellectuals in the 1990, which he considers the work of the “reformists.”
• Tabnak reports extensive lobbying for Ali Larijani’s bid to become speaker of the parliament.
• Audio of a month-old speech by Ahmadinjead in Mashhad broadcast recently on Iranian national television (see May 7 Iran News Round Up for background).

Religion, Culture, and Society

• Deputy head of the Literacy Movement, Ebrahimian says “28 million people among the country’s population are illiterate.”
• Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking in Shiraz, praises the Shi’ite mausoleums in the city and the pre Islamic archeological ruins, but stresses that it is in the post-Islamic art in which the talent of Iranians blossom.
• Agah-Sazi and Alef news agencies twist the Supreme Leader’s words to praise Persepolis in their headlines, as does the Fars News Agency.
• Same is the case with Fars News Agency.
• Reformist Participation Front arranges a meeting praising imprisoned religious innovator Hadi Qabel.
• Members of the Iranian parliament deliver a note of warning to the minister of Culture and Islamic guidance because of Kayhan’s polemics against Grand Ayatollah Sane’i.
• An unnamed official from the ministry of education says private schools in Iran teach “deviant beliefs such as the culture of Bahaism, beliefs of groups critical to the regime, and also false Sufism.”
• Tabnak News Agency ,close to former commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezai, quotes an article from Tehran Mossavvar claiming the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, Reza Shah, was disturbed by “the activities of the Bahai’s,” and adds “unlike his son.”
• A Chinese citizen converts to Islam in Arak.

Diplomacy

• Iranian Jews condemn Israel’s anniversary.
• Chairman of the Expediency Council, Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says Iran is ready to raise the trust of the international community.
• Former president Khatami retracts his words on differences between Khomeini and current supreme Khamenei’s different methods of “exporting the revolution,” and says Khamenei’s current policies are continuation of Khomeini’s.
• Khatami says that he supports the foreign policy of Iran throughout the entire existence of the Islamic Republic, does not believe Iran has intervened in the internal affairs of other countries, but is also proud of the fact that the Constitution of the Islamic Republic enables Iran to intervene in the internal affairs of other stays as long as its interference is an act of support for the downtrodden and the meek.
• Iranian parliamentarian Mousa Ghorbani-Far says Khatami has been punished enough by the public for his statements on peaceful methods of export of the revolution.
• Baran Foundation, close to Khatami, says his words have been abused.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi, chairman of the Professors and Scholars at the Elmiyyeh Theological Seminary in Qom, says Khatami’s claim that Khomeini never intended to export the revolution by violent means is very true.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Reza Ashtiyani, member of the Cultural Affairs Committee of the Iranian parliament, says the enemy has been strengthened in her claims regarding Iranian intervention in Iraq as a result of Khatami’s speech.
• Foreign Ministry spokesman Hosseini strongly condemns the British court’s ruling on the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization.
• Egyptian foreign minister says Egypt will dispatch a diplomatic delegation to Iraq to investigate claims of Iranian breach of territorial integrity of Iraq.
• Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations: “Is at all possible that the Iranian leadership is unaware of weapons export from Iran to Iraq?”
• A group of members of the Iranian parliament demands Tehran Municipality withdraw its donation for reconstruction of Beirut.
• Hosseinian, spokesman of the foreign ministry, demands Iraq change her rhetoric on the three disputed islands of the Persian Gulf. More. In English.
• According to Jahan News, 15 Iranian citizens have been arrested in Japan, charged with belonging to a narcotic distribution gang.
• Jonathan Beth Kelia, representative of the Assyrian Christian community in the Iranian parliament, says “the Zionist regime has reached the final days of its life.”
• Fars News Agency claims State Department official warns Bush administration against consequences of striking Iran.

Nuclear Issue

• The Islamic Republic of Iran reveals her own “incentive package” in the nuclear dispute.
• Hadi Hagh-Shenas, member of the Line of the Imam faction in the Iranian parliament, says “if we want nuclear energy we also have to be ready to pay the price…”

Human Rights and Labor

• May Day and union update (English, pdf)

Trade

• Iran’s chambers of commerce urge the authorities to reduce risks for investment in Iran.
• The Islamic Republic petroleum minister: “$200 per barrel oil is not out of reach.”
• Ahmadinejad, meeting the Turkish minister of trade: “Through cooperation, Iran and Turkey could become economic giants.”
• More on Iran-Turkey trade, here.
• Turkish Trade Minister comments on “400 percent increase in trade with Iran” see here.
• Minister of Trade defends the policies of the Ahmadinejad government in the face of vote of no confidence in the parliament.
• Trade Minister fighting for his political life: “There is no such a thing as a mafia which pushes the prices up…Let’s calm down the atmosphere, just like the Supreme Leader’s advise not to beat on the drums of conflict…The rising food prices has to do with world market prices which started last year, and today we experiencing it.”

Economy

• Abrar publishes a major article on the rice crisis in Iran.
• Minister of Trade says public servants and those covered by the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee will soon receive rice rations.
• Donya-ye Eqtesad reports on the catastrophic state of affairs in Iran’s textile industry.
• Iran ranked fifth highest inflationary economy in the world.

Media

• According to Alef News Agency, Fars News Agency is currently the most widely seen news agency in Iran, and also reports the forthcoming arrival of a new news agency, Jam-e Jam.

Photo of the Day

• Ahmadinejad visits Tehran book fair.