Iran News Round Up

[Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation; (E) signifies English link]

Politics

Shahab News Agency ridicules Ahmadinejad’s “prophecies” that oil prices would rise, and that the U.S. elite would foil “Obama the black American’s” attempt to become U.S. president.
Khamenei: “The regime’s achievements are so dearly won that no one should dare question the foundations of the regime… There are some whose attacks against the government are unrestrained.”
Ahmadinejad’s parliamentary supporters say Khamenei’s condemnation of “unrestrained criticism of the government” is a reaction to the impeachment of Interior Minister Ali Kordan.
The Council of Ministers of the Islamic Republic thanks Interior Minister Ali Kordan for his efforts while in cabinet.
Khatami-era vice president Abtahi backtracks from earlier remarks about Mehdi Karrubi’s role in ousting Grand Ayatollah Montazeri as successor designate to Grand Ayatollah Khomeini.
Esma’il Dousti, E’temad-e Melli central committee member, says the party will not open its election campaign offices because of the Supreme Leader’s condemnation of early campaigning.
Ghasem Ravanbakhsh, member of the Pleasant Scent of Servitude Faction, says Ali Kordan’s impeachment has divided and weakened the Principalist faction, but adds Ahmadinejad still is the best candidate for the faction.
Ahmadinejad orders the Ministry of Higher Education to confirm the academic credentials of all cabinet ministers during the past 23 years.
Abou-Torabi-Fard, vice speaker of the parliament, says the government should cooperate with the parliament when it comes to appointment of a new minister of interior.
Kamran Daneshjou reported to be chosen as acting minister of interior. More, from Shahab News Agency.
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, head of the Chief Inspectorate, criticizes the Ahmadinejad government for not fulfilling its promises.
Rafsanjani warns against isolation of the clergy in Iranian politics.
Rafsanjani, in speech to the Mardomsalarai faction, says the authoritarian heritage of Iran has led to weak political parties and sloganeering rather than deliberate improvement of living standards.
Holding a Master’s Degree becomes a precondition for running for president in the Islamic Republic.

Diplomacy

In first official statement on Obama’s victory, Foreign Minister Mottaki expresses hope that the new U.S. government can answer the call of the U.S. public for distance from the wrong choices and actions of the Bush administration.
(E) Haddad-Adel: Obama’s victory was America’s confession of Bush policy failures.
Former foreign minister Ebrahim Yazdi, now affiliated with the Iran Freedom Movement, comments on Iran-U.S. relations: “Usually, a U.S. president leaving office does not engage in extreme activities and does not do things affecting the performance of the next administration. Therefore, it is unlikely that Bush will take serious measures against Iran during the next couple of months.”
Boroujerdi, chairman of the Foreign Policy and National Security committee of the Iranian parliament, tells visiting British ambassador that the sanctions regime has strengthened the Islamic Republic.
Khatami-era vice president Abtahi says the embassy takeover and the hostage affair are realities of the past, not the necessity of today’s generation of young Iranians.
Basirat, the organ of the Revolutionary Guard Ideological and Political Indoctrination Bureau, publishes the claims of a certain Abbas Salimi-Namin: “Before the release of secret documents from the Den of Spies [the U.S. Embassy in Tehran], the transitional government of [prime minister Mehdi] Bazargan and [foreign minister] Ebrahim Yazdi did not oppose take over of the [U.S.] embassy.”
Tabnak News Agency reports that the Azerbaijan president has issued a secret executive order to prohibit its broadcasting from airing Iranian cultural products which, according to the news agency, and to replace them with “pornographic programs made in Israel.”
These programs have been broadcast extensively into Iranian Azerbaijan.

Media

Shahrvand-e Emrooz weekly, mouthpiece of presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi, banned.
Censorship of Judiciary spokesman Jamshidi’s statements by Iranian state television leads Tabnak News Agency to analyze who the state media censors and who it allows to run unedited.

Military and Security

An official statement from the Joint Armed Forces Command Council warns U.S. helicopters to keep their distance from the Iran/Iraq border.
Masoud Jazayeri, deputy defense cultural and propaganda Chief of the Joint Command Force Council, warns U.S. planes and helicopters in Iraq against violating Iranian territory and urges them to fly deeper inside Iraq.
Commenting on possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Jazayeri says: ”Should conditions materialize – parallel with enemy violation [of Iranian territory] the Islamic Republic is easily capable of closing the Strait of Hormuz.”
Joint Forces Command Council chief Firouz-Abadi warns the U.S. against launching attacks against the Islamic Republic
Yadollah Javani, Revolutionary Guards Political Bureau chief, says the enemy’s attention is directed towards the Basij militia.

Religion, Culture, and Society

Mohammad-Mehdi Karimi-Nia, defending his Ph.D., thesis at the Theological Seminary of Qom: “In our country, 500 people have gone through sex change operations until now. Therefore, today Tehran is considered the sex change operation center of the world…it was first Grand Ayatollah Khomeini who authorized sex change operations in a clear fatwa in Tahrir al-Wasileh…”
Morteza Talayee, former Revolutionary Guards commander and current member of Tehran City Council, criticizes decreased level of political activism at universities.
Libya’s Qadhafi: “Anyone who claims Shi’a only are to be found among Iranians is wrong. The first Shi’a government was established in North Africa. North Africa is also Shi’a. We will reestablish the Fatimid Shi’a government in North Africa.”
Hojjat al-Eslam Dr. Sa’id Rad-Khah, professor at the theological seminaries of Tabriz, claims that anti-Shi’a research centers in the U.S. are producing ideological ammunition for the battle against the Shi’as and Shi’ism.

Public Health

(E) Iran says it will invest $2.5 billion in stem cell research

Economy

Former IRGC chief Mohsen Rezai attacks the Ahmadinejad government’s withdrawals from the foreign currency reserve and demands fiscal discipline. More here.
Former Finance Minister and current Expediency Council Economics Committee secretary Davoud Danesh-Ja’fari says opacity in Iran’s economy worsens the plight as Iran’s economy goes through the international financial crisis.
(E) Insurance stocks to debut on Tehran stock exchange

Nuclear Issue