Iran News Round Up

Diplomacy

• Interior Minister Kordan says he will ”never issue authorization for opening of a U.S. interest section in Iran.”
• Larijani, regarding opening a U.S. Interest Section: “This is more a conspiratorial political move rather than a decision. No measure has been taken in this field, and I think they executed this plan as a psychological operation… This is for election consumption [in the U.S.], a propaganda move…”
• Asr-e Iran reports Egypt’s warm reception of an anti-Iranian Iraqi cleric who accuses Iran of utilizing religion as a tool to enhance its regional influence.
• Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani holds private meeting with Bahraini prime minister.
• Iraqi Kurdistan president Masud Barzani travels to Iran for meetings with Ahmadinejad, Larijani, Rafsanjani, Foreign Minister Mottaki, and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Said Jalili.
• (E) Azerbaijan’s president to visit Iran.

Politics

• Kargozaran publishes a report on the strengthening of the anti-Ahmadinejad front within the Principalist movement.
• Mehdi Karrubi re-elected head of the National Trust Party.
• Iran condemns men and women shaking hands at [Karrubi’s] National Trust Party’s convention in Khorasan-e Razavi province. The newspaper also criticized readings of a Persian translation of the Quran at the beginning of the ceremony rather than recitation of the Quran in Arabic.
• Ahmadinejad cancels his meetings because of illness and stays away from official duties at the Day of Statistics.
• First Vice President Davoudi stresses need for accurate statistics as a precondition for accurate policies.
• Tehran mayor Qalibaf says it is too early to speak of his candidacy for presidential elections.
• Entekhab News Agency reports that Larijani has shuffled parliamentary committee memberships.
• Mohammad Khatami: “Reviewing slogans of official tribunes, one gets the impression that this country is the country of flowers and nightingales in which there are neither rising prices nor unemployment, poverty, corruption and prostitution!”
• “The reason why I say I need to reach an understanding the people is that when someone runs [for president], he must speak more clearly and more precise with the people so they know why he is running for president. What does he want to do…? If a slogan is uttered and a program presented and an understanding is made with the people and one can’t deliver, this is disappointing to the people. If one can’t do such thing we must let someone get elected who is capable of getting things done…The most important duty of the president is execution of the constitution…”

Economy

• Deputy Director of the Iran Statistics Ali-Reza Zahedian warns against “the second wave of unemployment for university graduates”:
• “The population of 20 to 29 year olds who will enter the job market constitute the second wave of the unemployed…the population of individuals reaching 24 years of age is increasing to 1.9 million which is unprecedented…45 to 49 percent of the age group 20 to 24 is unemployed and this trend is worsening…Last year one million youth entered universities…”
• Entekhab News Agency warns against blackouts and natural gas shortages this winter.
• Iranian authorities prohibit publication of the weekly electricity shortage schedules.
• Business Monitor publishes a report on impact of declining oil prices on Iran’s economy.
• Former economy and finance minister Danesh-Ja’fari discusses the financial crisis, refuses to speculate about who was behind 9-11.
• Danesh-Ja’fari also urges the government to prepare itself for collapse of the oil market and free fall of the oil price.
• Association of Combatant Clergy warns against government withdrawals from the foreign currency reserve.

Trade

• (E) Turkish company to supply railcars to Iran.
• (E) Joint Iran-Afghanistan transportation company.

Military and Security

• Mohammad-Baqer Zolqadr, deputy chief of the Armed Forces Central Command Council: “In case of threats against Iran, Iran’s reaction will not be limited to its territorial boundaries…A regime as weak as the Israeli one is too weak to attack a mighty and powerful state like Iran…the entire Islamic world backs Iran…no wise human being does such a foolish thing as attacking Iran…Even if colonizing powers manage to start a war against Iran, they will not be the ones to end it. It is the nations who will answer the result of violations…”
• Alef News Agency reports a major explosion in Khalajabad, Karaj, near Tehran.

Religion, Culture, and Society

• (E) Iranian Bahais leave persecution behind on train to Istanbul.
• Asr-e Iran publishes a picture of an Iranian lady and her daughter who approached Ahmadinejad during his latest visit to the U.N. General Assembly. According to Asr-e Iran the two ladies declared their love to Ahmadinejad.
• Tabriz University announces a Wahabi Studies course.
• (E) Iran is helping to establish Islamic Studies courses at various world universities.

Photo of the Day

• Rafsanjani at the Milad Tower in Tehran.