(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)

Politics

  • Government spokesman Elham says he does not expect further changes in the composition of the government.
  • Mehdi Hashemi, acting minister of interior, upon taking over the ministry: “I praise God. I don’t know what good deeds I have done, and whose prayers has been heard, so I have the honor of taking over the ministry of interior at the day of the martyrdom of Hazrat-e Amir [Imam Ali], and today, the day of martyrdom of Hazrat-e Fatemeh, the wife of the beloved [imam] be in your presence…With discipline, and by paying the logical cost, we will continue the schemes, and in the short term, we intend to provide rapid service in certain fields.” Answering the question if he has done any lobbying in the parliament to be appointed minister of interior, Hashemi said “it is too early to make such assessments.”
  • Farewell speech of outgoing minister Pour-Mohammadi.
  • Aftab’s reportage.
  • The government asks the parliament to postpone questioning of the Minister of Trade until next Sunday.
  • Sri Lankan newspapers report on Ahmadinejad’s ascetic lifestyle.
  • Yadollah Jowdani uses his column in Sobh-e Sadeq weekly, the mouth piece of the Revolutionary Guards, to calm Iranian politicians “worried of structural changes in the Revolutionary Guards” and “prospects for political intervention of the Guards.”
  • Tabnak News Agency reports “fake inaugurations” in the presence of the Iranian president. Most facilities opened by the president remain shut down because of “technical problems” a few days after Ahmadinejad’s visit.
  • Tehran parliamentarian Tavakoli attacks the Ahmadinejad government’s economic policies, which he blames for the economic ills of Iran. Film clip and transcript.
  • Fatemeh Rajabi, wife of government spokesman Elham, accuses unnamed “mafias of wealth” and “bureaucratic elements” for the economic plight of the Islamic Republic.
  • Khatami government spokesman, Ramezanzadeh says the “legal parties rivaling the government don’t have media.”
  • Ali Larijani stresses that his parliamentary faction is not trying to present a vote of no confidence against president Ahmadinejad.
  • According to Tabnak News Agency, Parliamentary speaker Haddad-Adel is losing support to maintain his position and is pursuing the presidency even more aggressively.
  • E’temad Melli reports power struggles within the Oil Ministry.
  • Rafsanjani defends Iran Azad University in the face of the harsh criticism directed at it.

Nuclear Issue

Military and Security

  • The minister of intelligence says there have been more arrests in the Shiraz bombing. More economic crimes and corruption will be within the ministry’s portfolio in the future.
  • Asr-e Iran claims one person involved in the bombing in Shiraz was killed in a fight with Law Enforcement Forces.
  • Speaking at the “Beyond the Khordad Second Seminar” of the Basij at the Department of Political Science at Tehran University, Hojjat al-Eslam Rouhollah Hosseinian, head of the Islamic Revolution Document Center, says the film clips showing interrogation under duress of the wife of Ministry of Intelligence operative Said Emami, accused of mastermind of the serial killings of intellectuals during the 1990′s, are true. More here.
  • Regarding the 1999 student uprisings, see here.
  • Tabnak News Agency condemns the serial killings.
  • Regarding the bombing of the Prime Minister’s office, see here.
  • Sobh-e Sadeq praises the pre-revolutionary terrorist acts of martyr Boroujerdi against civilian targets.
  • Commander Ramezan Sharif, head of the public relations bureau of the Revolutionary Guards, explains the necessity of a modern public relations strategy for the Guards.
  • Gholam-Reza Jalali explains the role of the Basij in the defense doctrine of the Islamic Republic.

Economy

Trade

  • Petroleum minister says the “Japanese are interested in preserving their 10 percent share of the Azadegan oil field.”
  • The Islamic Republic of Iran negotiates mining and Belarus, and is finalizing contract on cement factory in Venezuela.
  • Publisher calls on Iran to sign international copyright treaties.
  • Iran-Russia rail link to open in 2011, via Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Religion, Culture, and Society

  • Speaking to an assembly of students at the Amir Kabir University, Hojjat al-Eslam, Ali-Reza Panahian elaborates upon the relations between sexes: “In the emotional dimension of relations between men and women, a grave mistake called ’love’ is made internationally…The Western conception of love is a terrible mistake, just why do you think there is so much homosexuality in the West?…The mistake began with the mistaken discussion of equality between men and women…”
  • Ayatollah Makarem-e Shirazi explains the concept of taqiya [Dissimulation] as “secret holy warfare, not conservatism, or fear, or evasion of responsibility.”
  • Asr-e Iran reports hooliganism in Tehran in the wake of F/C Persepolis’ victory.
  • The University Jihad designs uniforms adorned with verses of the poems of Sa’adi and Hafez written with Nast-Aligh script for female students.
  • Ansar News attacks religious innovator Ayatollah Sobhani.

Diplomacy

Human Rights and Labor

Photo of the Day