Iran and Afghanistan
- Sobh-e Sadeqh explains the Islamic Republic’s goals in Afghanistan:
- 1. Establishment of an indigenous, popular, alliance-based and non-irritating government for the Islamic Republic
- 2. Securing and strengthening of border security
- 3. Prevention of narcotics production and export
- 4. Securing ethnic and sectarian freedom, prevention of establishment of bases for counterrevolutionaries and enemies of the Islamic Republic on Afghan soil.”
Economy
- Rafsanjani says there is no reason why Iranians should not be among the richest people in the world or be a role model for the entire world.
- Ahmad Tavakkoli, head of the Iranian Parliament’s Research Center: “Some parliamentarians don’t think about what benefits the economy of the country…and in order to get votes promise all sorts of thinks financed by the foreign exchange reserve.”
- Sobh-e Sadeq publishes an interview with commander Hassan Zolghadr-Nia, deputy coordination chief of the Revolutionary Guards’ contracting arm, Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base:
- “The Construction Base has finished more than 2,000 projects and is currently engaged in more than one thousand projects…Khatam al-Anbia has also been engaged in projects in Syria, Iraq, Guinea, Malaysia, Sudan and the like…Projects such as the Zarghan railways in Shiraz, the Sirjan Dam, natural gas pipeline of Khonj, oil pipeline from Veres to Tehran, and the like are public projects granted to the Construction Base…Khatam al-Anbia’s projects are today done only with Revolutionary Guard labor. In the beginning some experts from outside the Guards were invited but during the years the Revolutionary Guard has developed that expertise…There is no Basij labor in the Khatam al-Anbia…But the Construction Jihad and the Construction Base cooperate…”
Politics
- Emad Afrough, parliament’s Cultural Affairs Committee chair, says students radicalize because of a weak political structure and weak political parties.
- Sobh-e Sadeq, weekly mouthpiece of the IRGC and Basij, slams presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi’s statements at the “Century of Legislation conference.”
- Karrubi had said that a parliamentarian can’t serve his constituency if he fears the Law Enforcement Forces and the Basij Militia.
- According to general-secretary of Kargozaran, Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani’s candidacy for presidential elections has been scrapped.
- Reformist theoretician Said Hajjarian says former president Mohammad Khatami suffers from megalomania and thinks he can get reelected, but that the reform movement today lacks a social base.
Military and Security
- Sobh-e Sadeq details the latest naval war game.
- Commander Yaqoub Zohdi, Human Resource chief of the Revolutionary Guards, discusses a 3-year project to provide housing to all IRGC members.
- Hojjat al-Eslam Safayi, Ideological/Political Bureau chief of the Supreme Command Council: “the aim of the Imam [Khomeini] in establishing the Basij was not solely military, but was to make the public enter politics…”
- Revolutionary Guards Operational Logistics chief Sharifzadeh speaks in Isfahan.
- Sobh-e Sadeq reports establishment of “200 Basij resistance bases in Western Iran.”
- According to Sobh-e Sadeq, Israel is to blame for piracy at the Horn of Africa.
Nuclear Issue
- International deputy of the Islamic Republic Nuclear Energy Organization says 5000 centrifuges are spinning in Natanz and that the dome of the reactor in Arak is also complete.
Diplomacy
- Iran condemns EU court ruling unfreezing Mujahedin al-Khalq Organization funding.
- Turkey’s parliament invites Iranian delegation.
- (E) Rafsanjani: Iran will not engage in war with U.S.
- (E) Iranian parliament debates response to letter seeking dialogue from Congressmen Wayne Gilchrist and Gregory Meeks.
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