Political

  • Deutsche Welle Persian’s analyst says former president Khatami will not run for president, and that former parliamentary speaker Karrubi will be the lead candidate of the reformist camp.
  • Presidential candidate Hassan Rowhani proposes ballot by ballot announcement of election results to avoid fraud at 2009 presidential elections.
  • Former Interior Minister Pour-Mohammadi says “a number of people have begged me to run for presidency.”
  • Ahmadinejad warns of alliance of “seemingly opposite forces” in a conspiracy to topple his government.
  • Supreme Leader Khameini to lead the Friday prayer at Tehran University this week.
  • The Iranian parliament is preparing a bill to define who is considered qualified to run for presidency. According to the latest parliamentary discussions, candidates with the following professional backgrounds are considered qualified to register their candidacy: “The president, his advisors and his vice presidents; members of the Iranian Islamic Consultative Assembly [the parliament] and Assembly of Experts, representatives of the Supreme Leader in institutions and general governors, head of the Judiciary, his deputes and advisors and heads of the Supreme Court, members of the Supreme Audit Court, members of the Administrational Justice, the Supreme Military Tribunal and the General Chief Prosecutor of the country, members of the Assembly of Experts and its secretary, members of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, members of the Council of Guardians (both lawyers and Islamic jurists), cabinet ministers, director generals of the ministries and their deputies, Joint Armed Forces Staff Chief and commander in chiefs of the tripartite armed forces, the Revolutionary Guards and commander in chief of the Law Enforcement Forces, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, heads of institutions of organizations of the country, university deans at major universities and provincial capitals, ambassadors, general governors, and mayors of large cities, senior scholars and university professors, general secretaries and party chiefs at national level.”
  • On this ground, Asr-e Iran accuses the legislators of “elite circulation” in the Islamic Republic.

Military and Security

  • Arya News Agency reports “increased possibility of acquisition of [S-300] Air Defense system from Russia.”
  • The Islamic Republic to display new military gadgets at upcoming military parades.
  • Fars News Agency adds there would be display of “unmanned rockets and drones.”
  • Navy chief Habibollah Sayyar, while presenting the Capitan Peyman Ja’fari Tehrani as the dean of Imam Khomeini Naval University in Nowshahr, says the “enemies of Iran don’t dare attack us.”
  • Chief Ideological-Political commissar in Islamic Republic of Iran Navy Mohammad-Ali Salajeghe Ansari adds that “belief and spirituality are the forceful engines propelling the Islamic government.”

Religion, Culture, and Society

  • Asr-e Iran’s polls shows that 48.5 of the users of the website don’t like any of the Ramadan television series. “Bezangah” comes first as the most popular series with 20.4 percent of the vote, followed by “Rouz-e Hasrat” (16.9 percent), “Mesl-e Hich-kas” (7.05 percent) and “Mamour Badragheh” (7 percent).
  • Council for Supervision on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) has ordered the IRIB to stop transmission of “Bezangah” television series on moral grounds, but the IRIB says it will continue its transmissions of the Ramadan special series.
  • According to Asr-e Iran, a ”popular organization” has declared the next Friday prayer the day of signing a national document condemning “the Zionist Baha’is,” and calling for fight against this religious minority in Iran.
  • According to Asr-e Iran, “Wahabi hackers have hacked the largest Shi’a web sites, ns3.al-shia.com and ns1.al-shia.com.

Media

Diplomacy

Nuclear Issue

  • The Islamic Republic ambassador to the IAEA says the “report of U.S. spy agencies on Iran’s nuclear programs is a lie” and said the Islamic Republic will produce report exposing the “lies of the U.S.”
  • Alef News Agency analyzes the latest IAEA report on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities from a “national security angle.”
  • Deputy chair of the Energy Committee of the Iranian parliament Naser Soudani says the IAEA report reflects a politically charged atmosphere.

Economy

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