Iran News Round Up

Politics

According to Shahab News, Ahmadinejad’s recent illnesses may be a sign he is not running for re-election.
Ansar News Agency ridicules the reformist camp for not having enough good candidates forcing them to ask Khatami run for president.
Qom parliamentarian Ali Banayee refuted Principalist attempts at persuading former chief of the Revolutionary Guards Yahya Rahim Safavi to run for president.

Military and Security

Army and Air Force to stage war games in Kermashah and Ilam provinces in Western Iran.
Fathollah Ja’fari, military advisor to the chief of the Revolutionary Guards, speaking in Basij Resistance Zone of Mashhad praised the role of Basij in the defense of Iran.
Deputy Chief of the Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces Commander Nour-Ali Shoushtari says the enemy is incapable of penetrating the IRGC GPS.

Economy

Price of household goods increase 15 percent.
Rial now 10,030 to the U.S. dollar. Another source says rate is 10100 rials to the dollar.
Tehran mayor Qalibaf says the Tehran metro project is the capital’s most important project.
Qom governor Mohammad Nazemi Ardakani announces major water pipeline from Tehran to Qom.
Khorasan-e Razavi governor Mohammad-Mavad-e Mohammadizadeh says the 850 kilometers common border with Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, 20 million pilgrims annually, and 50 percent of Iran’s total hotel capacity, makes the province the hub not only of eastern Iran, but also Central Asia.

Trade

Petroleum minister Gholam-Hossein Nowzari says “reduction of oil production by two million barrels per day will stabilize the oil market.”
Iran and Germany sign a €25 million petrochemical contract in Bandar-e Emam.

Religion, Culture, and Society

Grand Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani and Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi prohibit their followers of engaging in business with the ”Wahabis.”
Former Parliament Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel appointed head of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature.
Mobile phone connectivity problems in Lorestan.
Mashhad Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda: “Destiny of Marxist thought was collapse of the Soviet Union, and today it is the turn of the fall of Satanic liberal democratic thought. Western liberal democracy which was considered the sole [ideological] survivor and considered the unipolar world order wide open for plunder, colonization, capitalism and liberal democracy is realizing that this thought has come to an end. The day has come for the collapse of liberal democratic thought and the capitalist world order and in reality the collapse of the Great Satan of American world wide colonialism.”
Shi’a News reports increased Christian and Wahabi missionary activity in Iran.
Ayatollah Safi says deficient dress of women and broadcasting music in Iran is betrayal of the blood of the martyrs of the Iran/Iraq war.

Diplomacy

The U.S. government sanctions the Export Development Bank of Iran on grounds of servicing the Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Ministry.
- Export Development Bank of the Islamic Republic condemns U.S. sanctions imposed on the bank.
Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashayee arrived in New York on Thursday for an unannounced trip to meet Iranians in New York.
Asr-e Iran quotes unnamed Iranian sources refuting the story that Iranian doctors had rescued Hezbollah leader Nasrallah after a poisoning attempt.
In a documentary Ahmadinejad’s visits to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Ahmadinejad denies ever having claimed contact with the Imam of the Era or a “halo of light” around his head while speaking from the U.N. podium.
Interior Minister Ali Kordan visits his Saudi counterpart to discuss Iraq and other regional issues.
Interior Minister Ali Kordan denies that Iran is holding arrested Afghan Taliban.
Larijani: “The Americans want the Iraqis to pay the price for U.S. mistakes in Iraq…” More here.
Presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi declares readiness to improve diplomatic relations with Washington.
(E) Rafsanjani opposed to U.S. presence in the Middle East.

Human Rights and Labor

Students demonstrated at Bu Ali Sina University in Hamadan, southwest of Tehran, against the continued detention of Azeri students and called for their release. “This summer, a number of Azeri students were arrested and it’s been 70 days since we’ve heard anything from them,” one student activist tells Radio Farda. [Read in Persian]

Media

Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance explains why the ministry has not authorized opening of a BBC office in Tehran.

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