Iran News Round Up

Religion, Culture, and Society

Mashhad Municipality kills 4,000 stray dogs in the city.
Jahan News warns against spread of “Pan-Turkist ethno-nationalism” in Iran.
Jahan News reports increased “Satanist activity” in Western Iran.
Kargozaaran reports a 37% rise in street killings.

Politics

Mahmoud Mir-Lowhi claims both reformists and Principalists want former president Mohammad Khatami to run for president.
IRNA quotes an unnamed official close to the Ahmadinejad government: “Former interior minister and [current] chief inspector [Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi] questioned the economic performance of the government last week based upon false statistics and prepared thereby the ground for criticism and attacks against the government. The government has filed a complaint against Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi in the court of law.”
First Vice President Parviz Davoudi attacks the fourth economic development scheme produced during the Khatami presidency: “The theoretical foundations of the fourth development scheme were designed in an intolerable way, and based upon existing documents it forced the country into the defensive towards the world order. Therefore the Supreme Leader urged us to recycle its paper and throw it out.”
Judiciary Spokesman Alireza Jamshidi sharply criticizes Ahmadinejad’s administration for “flouting the law” and “weakening the judiciary.”
Hashemi Rafsanjani censures the government for not paying attention to the needs of university students and teachers.

Economy

Quoting a former official of Ministry of Industries and Mines, Sarmayeh says Iranians receive an annual increase of 20 to 25 percent in their income, while their purchasing power decreases up to 50 percent every year. The official describes the authorities’ strategies to tackle the soaring inflation and liquidation problems as counterproductive, which have adversely affected the productivity rate and investment.
Parliament to discuss the economic reform scheme transforming subsidies into oil dividends in two weeks.
Finance Minister Seyyed Shams al-Din Hosseini says the legislation is expected to pass parliament in two weeks.
Finance Minister Hosseini says last year’s budget calculated at $55/barrel oil, so Iran will not face difficulty so long as oil remains around $70/barrel.
Head of Iran Statistics Mohammad Madad says unemployment has risen to “10.2 percent this last summer” and also said that his organization continuously prepares secret reports on inflation to the authorities.
Adds the inflation rate will be announced publicly in twenty days.
Sarmayeh examines causes and effects of Iran’s declining steel industry:
Constant decrease in steel princes in the world markets has forced Iran’s steel companies to scale down production.
Raw material for steel production has skyrocketed 60 to 70 percent, resulting in low productivity.
Manufacturers are not satisfied with the government’s support to overcome the problem.
At present, Iran’s annual steel production is estimated to be up to 21 million tons, evenly divided for domestic consumption and export.
Ahmadinejad inaugurates South Pars oil field’s phases 5, 7, and 8.
The initial phase of the expansion plan is projected to produce 80 million cubic meters of gas.
Annually an aggregate amount of 600,000 tons of liquid natural gas will be produced by the three phases.
Iranian economist explores the root causes of global financial breakdown and examines its effects on the Iranian economy. Tehran University Professor Hossein Tabrizi pointed out:
Industrial production dictating Tehran’s Stock Exchange will fall steadily.
Foreign exchange will decrease as a result of declining oil prices and this will slow down implementation of development projects.
The crisis will hamper the smooth execution of Iran’s privatization drive, including privatizing the National Bank and Agricultural Bank.
The global financial crisis, however, provides Iran with an opportunity to take advantage of the prevailing chaos and establish trade ties with foreign companies in dire need of expanding their trade horizons.
Due to economic sanctions, Iran has yet to accomplish any foreign investments despite increasing oil prices. The prevailing chaos, however, reduces the controlling mechanisms by major world powers and gives Iran a chance for foreign investment.

Trade

Iran to build metro in Bahrain.
Larijani says Iran-Bahrain economic cooperation is expanding, as evidenced by the bilateral natural gas agreement.
Article entitled, “Obstacles to formation of gas cartel,” critically analyses political, economic and feasibility aspects of a tripartite project by Russia, Iran and Qatar to establish an OPEC-style cartel on natural gas.
As the three countries possess almost 60 percent of the world’s natural gas, the initiative could fundamentally impact the global gas market.
The scheme was first proposed by Iran in 2006. Despite an initial agreement, Russia turned down the proposal after securing energy deals with Europeans. It is likely that Moscow yet again withdraws from the project after receiving concessions from the West.
Article, entitled “Big rotation in global oil market,” examines key issues that will be discussed in the upcoming OPEC summit on Friday. The author says Iran will propose major reduction in oil production by the OPEC countries.

Diplomacy

(E) Masud Barzani promises Iran to pressure U.S. to release arrested Qods Force members.
Larijani considers U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama “a more logical candidate.”
Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani says “Iran does not need preconditions in negotiations with Arab countries.”
Fars News Agency refutes reports on forced landing of a foreign aircraft in Iran.
Gulf Cooperation Council chairman to visit Tehran.
Judiciary chief Shahroudi to visit Russia.
Larijani calls the U.S. Security Agreement with Iraq a sign of “modern barbarity.”
Commenting on the Iranian-UAE dispute over the Tonb islands and Abu Musa, Larijani says: “The discussion is provoked by foreign elements and we believe that it is not only the island dispute but also the Shi’a-Sunni disputes which are provoked by them.
According to IRNA, Bahrain’s Crown Prince criticized recent U.S. policies towards Iran and said he was sorry that “adventurist states” are ignorant of the history and people of the Middle East. Review of Bahraini newspaper commentary on the Larijani visit.
Review of Bahraini newspaper commentary on the Larijani visit.
Rafsanjani, in meeting with Syrian Ba’ath Party official, says he is pleased with “improvement of Syria’s relations with regional states and Palestinian and Lebanese groups strengthening independence of Lebanon.”
Jahan News warns against a “suspicious scheme in the Republic of Azerbaijan” as Baku televisions stop screening Iranian-made movies and show “pornographic movies, along with ethnically provocative programs.”
Fatemah Rejabi questions diplomacy during the governments of Rafsanjani and Khatami, and criticizes both administrations for the lack of transparency with which they handled relations with the United States.

Nuclear Issue

Saudi foreign minister demands nuclear disarmament of both Iran and Israel.

Human Rights and Labor

Women’s Rights activist and M.A. student at California State University Eshae’ Mo’meni arrested in Iran while conducting field work for her dissertation.
(E) Human rights violations against Kurds increase in Iran.
(E) Sugar cane workers re-elect trade union board.

Military and Security