Military and Security

  • Head of Russian Center for Strategic and Technological Research Ruslan Pokhov says “Western interventions in Ossetia” make Russia’s decision to export S-300 Air Defense Systems to the Islamic Republic easier. Pokhov added the decision was a very logical one.
  • Majid Safarov, head of Russia’s Center for Iran Studies, suggests formalization of Russia’s strategic relations with “anti-Washington states like Iran and Syria.” Safarov also suggests establishment of Russian military bases in Iran and Syria in order to “monitor Western and NATO provocations in the region.” According to Safarov, Russia should provide the Islamic Republic with a security guarantee in the case of U.S. or Israeli attacks against Iran, and support to Iran’s nuclear efforts. In return Russia should establish two military bases in Iran, one in Azerbaijan to monitor “Western and NATO provocations in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey”, and another military base in the Persian Gulf island of Qeshm, which “realizes Russia’s historic dream of presence in the warm waters of the Persian Gulf.” Majority of the readers of Asr-e Iran’s report commenting the article oppose violently to the thought of Russian military bases, and a good number of comments say the U.S. would be a better ally for Iran than Russia.

Human Right and Labor

  • Workers in the Shirvan textile factories have still not been paid despite the promises of the Iranian president.
  • Khatami vice president Abtahi warns against discrimination against Sunni Iranians and protests the destruction of a Sunni mosque and theological seminary in Sistan va Balouchestan province. Abtahi stresses that Sunni Iranians pay taxes and do military service, therefore they are also entitled to the rights any other Iranian citizen enjoys.
  • (E) Iran holds two journalists without charge.

Politics

  • Reformist faction theoretician Mohsen Armin wonders how Houshang Amirahmadi, a Rutgers Professor and U.S. citizen who has solemnly sworn to defend the United States, has become the advisor of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
  • Tajzadeh, member of the central committee of Mosharekat reformist party, answers the accusations of Kayhan editor Shari’atmadari who accused former president Khatami of “cooperating with the U.S.”
  • Another reformist theoretician Atrian-Far says the presidential elections provides the electorate with a choice between reason and radicalism.
  • According to Agah-Sazi, the right wing of the Islamic Republic is so worried about the performance of Ahmadinejad that a great number of politicians, including Tehran mayor Qalibaf, will run in the 2009 presidential elections.
  • Former foreign minister Ebrahim Yazdi says the reformists must unite around their lowest common denominators.
  • Rafsanjani warns against factionalism in the Islamic Republic and warns those pursuing selfish interests to think of how they will answer the martyrs at the Day of Judgment.
  • Former university dean Ali Mohammad Azad is appointed provincial governor of Sistan va Balouchestan province.
  • Moetalefeh member Hojjat al-Eslam Khorsand reminds Ahmadinejad that his government’s success is due to the “support of principalist groupings and parties.” Khorsand also said Moetalefeh has yet to decide what candidate to support for the 2009 presidential elections.
  • Mohsen Rezai, former commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, says he does not know if he will run for the 2009 presidential elections.

Diplomacy

  • Nicaragua recognizes independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
  • Syrian president Assad says attack against Iran would be catastrophic.
  • Aftab-e Yazd wonders why the Iranian president has decided to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit for the second time when the council once again supports United Arab Emirates’ claim on disputed Persian Gulf islands and even demands closure of Iranian state offices in the islands.
  • (E) Tehran calls GCC statement unacceptable.
  • Former national security advisor Khorram accuses the Islamic Republic of “emotional foreign policy conduct,” urges a “sanguine policy analysis,” and stresses that Iran can’t rely on Russia and China for support in the nuclear issue since they can be “bought by the U.S.”
  • French president Sarkozy, speaking in Damascus, stresses the importance of Syria in persuading the Islamic Republic to cooperate with the IAEA.
  • Aftab News quotes a report by the Qatari newspaper Arab Online claiming Iraqi Jews hitherto living in Israel are buying real estate “five times the real price” in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk in order to “erect a new Jerusalem.”

Religion, Culture, and Society

  • Colonel Mehdi Ahmadi, spokesman of the Public Relation Bureau of Greater Tehran Law Enforcement Forces, says 13 hair salons have been shut by police as a part of “societal security scheme” of the government. According to Colonel Ahmadi the hair salons were engaged in “abnormal hair cuts” breaching with the Law Enforcement Forces’ prohibitions against “decadent and Western fashion.”
  • Kerman branch of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance urges ladies to wear a single color hijab covering their hair, declares a one piece manteau larger than the size of the ladies mandatory, and also declares wide trousers under the manteau mandatory. The ministry also prohibits ladies to wear “strong and repulsive colors such as red, yellow and white.”
  • Khatami vice president reports youth ecumenical interfaith dialogue on the issue of the Savior.

Economy

Trade

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