Iran News Round Up (Nov. 29-30)

Military and Security

(E) Photos of evidence from alleged Israeli spy ring.
IRGC chief says arrest of “Israeli spies” does not increase the risk of “Israeli bombardments” of Iranian nuclear installations.
Three men found guilty of the terror bombing in Shiraz are condemned to death.
Habibollah Sayyari, Islamic Republic Navy Chief, says another Ghadir class submarine will be delivered to the Navy in 15 days. Sayyari also said that security in the Sea of Oman is closely related to that of the Persian Gulf.
According to Greater Tehran Law Enforcement Forces chief, the Social Discipline Scheme will continue for three consecutive years.
Armed Forces Joint Command Council Chief Firouz-Abadi says Iran has targeted a plane breaching Iranian territory, and says “foreign spies are all over the Persian Gulf.”
Iranian Air Force Chief says the Air Force has shown its readiness to force foreign airplanes to land.
Khedmat News praises the role of the Basij in “neutralizing the conspiracies of the enemy.”

Politics

Student Nima Dehghani lampoons Iranian politics in a poem at a seminar encouraging former president Khatami to run for president.
Former Interior Minister Abdol-Vahed Mousavi Lari warns against “forged opinion polls.”
Principalists’ Alliance members criticize Ahmadinejad’s policies.
Rasanjani warns against “dogmatism” which “arose after the deathof the Prophet” and added: “Even today, when we have access to the exact words of the Imam [Ayatollah Khomeini], there are still people who attribute whatever they want to him.”
Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi says “political pluralism is the invention of the Pharaoh.”
Presidential candidate Hassan Rowhani suggests installation of closed circuit cameras to supervise ballots for the 2009 presidential election.
Former Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Ja’fari and former head of the (dissolved) Management and Planning Organization Farhad Rahbar, the current dean of Tehran University, are active in Tehran Mayor Qalibaf’s presidential campaign.

The Nuclear Issue

Hassan Rowhani, presidential candidate and representative of the Supreme Leader in Supreme National Security Council: “Twenty years ago, we officially asked Europe to transfer enrichment technology to Iran, which they didn’t. We then approached the Russians, but they also did not engage in transferring the know-how to Iran. After that we approached China and at the very last moment they did not do so because of U.S. pressure. All these negotiations were done officially and publicly. Despite this, the Western world accuses us of being secretive…When the entire world failed us, we decided to develop a national capability. This was a difficult task and at the time a good number of experts told us it is impossible. Had it not been because of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani and his persistence along with the support of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, we would never have succeeded. Finally in 2000, we managed by our own hands to achieve the technology…The trouble started a year after we achieved a legal technology and know-how which forty other countries also possess.”

Diplomacy

Ahmadinejad to visit Qatar.
(E) In Qatar, Ahmadinejad says Iran ready to help world create fair economic system.
Tabnak News reports popularity of Iran in Germany.
(E) Ahmadinejad blames terrorism on unfair world order.

Economy

Hojjat al-Eslam Rowhani attacks the Ahmadinejad government’s economic policies: “Is it possible to administer a complicated society and economy today without science and expertise? Is it possible to administer agriculture and industry in today’s advanced world without managerial skills and science? With slogans and poems no one can achieve anything…”
Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh gives conflicting answers regarding his earlier statements on conversion of the country’s foreign exchange reserve to gold.
Basirat, the Ideological/Political Indoctrination site of the Revolutionary Guards, publishes an article on the role of the Basij in the economic reform scheme of the Ahmadinejad government.

Religion, Culture, and Society

Hojjat al-Eslam Hajj-Ali Akbari, head of the National Youth Organization: “From our point of view, the sexual bomb in this country is more dangerous than bombs and missiles of the enemy. Sexual needs can be satisfied by marriage…We are engaged in social engineering of the marriage questions…”
Ahmadinejad says the Imam of the Era is the greatest Basij member of the era.
Public relations head of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s office condemned to imprisonment and internal exile.
Young lady marries her kidnapper.
According to higher education minister Mohammad-Mehdi Zahedi, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei will personally participate in this year’s Student Day rallies to rob the “counter revolution” of any opportunity to attack the Islamic Republic.

Public Health