[(E) signifies English link]
Human Rights and Labor
- University students in Zahadan stage demonstrations against the police state atmosphere of the city and are beaten by the Law Enforcement Forces.
- (E) Sunni cleric assassinated in southeastern Iran.
Diplomacy
- (E) Iranian Foreign Minister in North Korea.
- Daneshjou News Agency claims Obama’s mother was a CIA agent and that the CIA has endorsed Obama’s candidacy.
- Mohammad-Sadeq Kharazi says the Obama presidency provides both opportunities and threats.
- Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi claims there is no difference between Bush’s and Obama’s rhetoric.
- Army Ground Forces chief Ahmad-Reza Pour-Dastan says Obama will not change U.S. pursuit of its interests outside U.S. territory.
Religion, Culture, and Society
- (E) Smoking age drops to 15.
- (E) 4% drop in Iranian fertility rate.
Politics
- Hojjat al-Eslam Rowhani attacks the housing politics of the Ahmadinejad government.
- Mosharekat reformist faction Azar Mansouri says Mahsouli will not achieve a vote of confidence.
- Fatemeh Amirani, a parliamentarian and widow of the martyr Hamid Bakeri, starts a campaign against Sadeq Mahsoul, Ahmadinejad’s candidate for the Interior Ministry: “I have known him since 1981. Back then he was governor of Urumiyeh [where Ahmadinejad also served as governor] and martyr Mehdi Bakeri served as the mayor of this town…People like Mahsoli, Fattah and Ahmadinejad who served as governors in different towns of Azerbaijan right after the revolution and constituted an exclusive cell…”
- Mrs. Amirani also says she has delivered a letter written by Sadeq Mahsouli in which Mahsouli claims Hamid Bakeri has not served as chief of the Revolutionary Guard Ashoura Army.
- Agah-Sazi publishes background on Mahsouli: “Sadeq Mahsouli is one of Ahmadinejad’s oldest friends and their friendship can be tracked back to the Islamic Association of the Science and Technology University.
- When Ahmadinejad began working at the university, Sadeq Mahsouli left the Revolutionary Guards and began working in private sector real estate and construction business.
- Prior to this, Sadeq Mahsouli was active in commerce and oil. Ahmadinejad tried to appoint Mahsouli as his candidate for the Oil Ministry, but Mahsouli’s lack of education and rumors on his $100 billion capital and attempts by parliamentarians such as Emad Afrough never let him achieve a vote of confidence.”
- Fatemeh Amirani, a parliamentarian and widow of the martyr Hamid Bakeri, starts a campaign against Sadeq Mahsoul, Ahmadinejad’s candidate for the Interior Ministry: “I have known him since 1981. Back then he was governor of Urumiyeh [where Ahmadinejad also served as governor] and martyr Mehdi Bakeri served as the mayor of this town…People like Mahsoli, Fattah and Ahmadinejad who served as governors in different towns of Azerbaijan right after the revolution and constituted an exclusive cell…”
- Revolutionary Guard commander Ali-Reza Afshar defends presence of IRGC members in Iranian politics.
Military and Security
- Fars News Agency praises Ahmad Ja’far Qeysar suicide terror attack, November 11, 1982.
- (E) Iran tests new generation of missiles.
- The Revolutionary Guards refutes rumors on missile test at Fath War Game in Marivan, close to the Iraqi border.
- (E) Occupiers [in Afghanistan] are facilitating smuggling.
Photo of the Day
- Missile test