The full Iran News Updates are available free for anyone who asks for them ([email protected]), but a few stories from the Iranian press worth mentioning today:

  • Ahmadinejad praises traditional medicine, attacks modern medicine, which is the product of Zionists.
  • Iran renames street in honor of Imad Mughniyeh, the terrorist mastermind responsible for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut and the hijacking of TWA flight 847.
  • Hassan Rowhani, nuclear negotiator under Muhammad Khatami, acknowledges that the “reformists” pursued the same nuclear goals as the Principalists; i.e., Ahmadinejad’s faction. Rowhani: “The path that was chosen during my tenure with regard to the nuclear issue would have taken us to our goals with slower speed, but also with lower cost. The path chosen by the ninth government has higher speed, but has also imposed a heavy cost on the country . . . “
  • Separate school books instituted for girls and boys.

But, if you want the Roger Cohen version of the news above, I’ve put the stories above through Roger Cohen’s unqiue spin machine:

  • Iran font of age-old medical wisdom, and even let Jews enjoy traditional treatments
  • The Iranian government, showing utmost tolerance, names streets after a diverse array of people: Iranian, Libyans, Lebanese, North Koreans.
  • Hassan Rowhani, nuclear negotiator under Khatami, advises fellow nuclear decision-makers to shop for bargains and take time out of each day to smell the roses.
  • Iranian leadership respects women’s lib and so designs a special curriculum, just for female students.