Iran News Round Up July 20, 2012

English: Key Petroleum Sector facilities (2004) Iran (Wall Map) 2004 “Iran Country Profile” Iran map with insets: Population Density, Ethnoreligious Distribution, Key Petroleum Sector Facilities, Southern Caspian Energy Prospects and Strait Of Hormuz (2.5M) (source: CIA map) http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/iran_country_profile_2004… (Photo credit: Wikipedia)A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin.  .
 
(E) = Article in English

Diplomacy

• Egypt‘s President Mursi denies entry visas to Iranian citizens. 
• Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader, condemns “massacre of Muslims in Myanmar”:
  • “They are killing Muslims in a savage way and the president of Myanmar is doing so by saying ‘We do not consider Muslims as citizens…’ Sometimes a suspicious death happens at a remote place in the world and they start screaming but in this case, they are silent, which makes us believe that the United States is guilty of this crime as well…”
  • “Syria is paying the price of supporting the innocent Palestinians, Hezbollah and the Islamic Iran… The unholy and ominous alliance of the United States, Britain, Europe, the reactionary Arabs, and al-Qaeda, this murderous group and some neighboring countries of Syria, which are dreaming of reestablishing their past empire [Turkey] are behind the crimes… They can’t beat the Syrian people with this terrorist act, just as the Islamic Republic solidly remained in its place after the blast at the office of the Islamic Republican Party.”
  • Discussing arrest of Ayatollah Nimr in Saudi Arabia and suppression of the Shi’a in Bahrain, Khatami continued: “The Khalifa and al-Saud clans should know that an infidel government may survive but injustice is not lasting…”
• [E] Iran’s embassy in Sofia denied Israel’s allegations about Tehran’s involvement in a terrorist attack in Bulgaria, and stressed Iran’s strong opposition to any kind of terrorist act.

Military and Security

• Fars News slams Ambassador Bolton’s statements in the wake of terrorist incident in Bulgaria. 

Trade

• Bakeries in Iran use wheat imported from India.

Iran News Round Up July 19, 2012

Damascus Panorama, Looking Southwards (Photo credit: spdl_n1)

Politics

• According to Iran, Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf has stepped up campaigning for presidency. One of the signs is resignation of deputy mayor Mohammad-Hadi Ayazi, Qalibaf’s “right hand,” who is allegedly engaged in organizing the Qalibaf campaign. Pro-Qalibaf websites include: Mard-e Amal, Talayehdar, Hoshdar News, Shafaf News, Farda, Tehran, Farda, Sit-e Hamian-e Doktor, Asheqan-e Doktor Qalibaf, Omid-e Yazdahom and the like. Iran criticizes Qalibaf for being “very close to the reformists.”  

Diplomacy

• An Iranian delegation headed by Abbas Eraqchi visits North Korea.
• [E] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani condemned the Wednesday attack in Damascus which killed a number of Syrian officials, and lambasted the officials of the western countries for their provocative remarks on Syria after the terrorist blast. 

Military and Security

• Parsineh writes that Salafi clerics in Syria have declared “Jihad” against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, and that the Shi’as in Damascus are being threatened. Parsineh advocates evacuation of Iranian citizens from Syria.
• According to Abrar, a certain Khaled Darabi, “a Wahhabi terrorist,” “connected with the CIA” has been arrested.
• Masoud Jazayeri, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for Cultural Affairs and Defense Publicity:
  • “Everyday a new dimension of pressures by the Global Arrogance, the hegemonic regimes and the United States and the Zionist regime at their helm, is revealed to the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran… The people of Iran know the dimensions of the sanctions and the level of pressure from this quarter on welfare, sanitation, health, and other fields of individual and social life imposed by the enemy. However, they are determined not to accept the bullying of the foreigners and it has always been like this in the magnificent history of the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The Failure of the Moscow Talks – What’s Next?

 

Cascades of gas centrifuges are used to enrich uranium ore to concentrate its fissionable isotopes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

INSS Insight – Asculai, Ephraim: The Istanbul-Baghdad-Moscow talks on Iran’s nuclear program are over. As expected, they did not achieve anything of significance, besides deciding on further, lower level talks. Indeed, the P5 1 and the Iranian delegations shared one objective: they did not want the process to end, thereby necessitating a decision on different tracks. The Iranians are successfully playing for time, as they have done for so many years, and the members of the P5 1 group are also trying to delay any inconvenient decisions, each group member for its own reasons. Most noticeably, the US delegation would like to postpone any major decision until after the November 2012 presidential elections. For their part, the Iranians need time to advance their nuclear program and produce as much enriched uranium as possible. Although according to many reports the sanctions are hurting Iran, they are still not hurting Iran badly enough, and the Iranians are able to bear them.

The ultimate aims of both sides are, of course, diametrically opposite. The Iranians want to retain the capability to enrich uranium to military-grade levels and to gain the ability to produce several nuclear weapons in short order, should the Islamic Republic’s authorities so decide. The Iranian strategy is very simple: they want the world to recognize the legitimacy of the Iranian uranium enrichment program. Even under limited conditions, such recognition would enable Iran to retain its technical capabilities, to perfect the enrichment process, and to leave them a potential for a breakout (defined as the start of the process to produce military-grade enriched uranium), whenever they decide to do so. In addition, the Iranians could well construct concealed facilities and secretly produce enriched uranium to whatever levels they choose to achieve.

The P5 1 want to prevent this possibility, but their remaining options are few. It is nearly impossible to envision the Security Council taking any further action against Iran, because Russia and China would likely vote against it. The first and most probable option for the West (the P5 1 minus Russia and China) is to impose the July sanctions on oil and hope for the best. The next option is to increase the sanctions considerably and wait for the Iranians to blink. The third option is military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

What would the Iranians do? Although the present sanctions have hurt Iran considerably, there are those who think that Iran can shoulder them indefinitely and will therefore continue with its present tactics of preventing a showdown while enriching uranium.

Iran News Round Up May 31, 2012

Dr. A.Q. Khan’s designed the centrifuges loosely based on Zippe-type gas centrifuges. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin. 
(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Ahmadinejad addresses newly elected parliamentarians:
  • “The cabinet never intervenes in the work of the legislature… Tomorrow you will enter the parliament and you will appoint the committees. The chairman, deputy and other positions are all within your capability. We believe in this. We do not have an egoistic, politicizing view attempting to recruit and mobilize or to engage in factionalism… There is a division of labor… Why did the revolution take place? Was the purpose to elect some executives from the southern [poorer] parts of town, the villages and distant places to come to live in northern Tehran? When these people came to office, they did not have any money for their daily needs, but they have become billionaires, factory owners and merchants. Was this the purpose of the revolution…? The head of the chief inspectorate does nothing but shouting insults against the cabinet. And when it comes to the parliament, it is not answerable to anyone but God Almighty. This is also apparent in our constitution, which may be a fault… God forbid the day when people say about elected officials: ‘Such a pity; what we wanted and what we get.’”
• Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, says he will not run for president in 2013. He said this while participating at the funeral of brother of Mohammad Mousavi Khoeinihain Tehran
  • Fars News releases the names of some prominent individuals who participated in the commemoration ceremony.

Military and Security

• In an interview with France 24, Ahmadinejad http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13910311000367 “>dismisses claims that the Islamic Republic delivers arms to the regime in Syria.

Nuclear Issue

• Ahmadinejad in an interview with France 24:
  • “There is lack of trust on both sides and in order to achieve the desired result, both parties need to cooperate within the framework of justice and law. We have good suggestions which we will present when the time is ripe… Production of 20% enriched uranium is our legal right. We were not inclined to use this right. We told the agency about our needs, according to the regulations. States engaged in production of 20% enriched uranium are obliged to give us the uranium without any conditions, but they did not do so and they made political conditions prior to delivering it to us. We had no choice but investing in it and produce the 20% enriched uranium ourselves.

Iran News Round Up April 16, 2012

Revolutionary Guards (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin (E) = Article in English

Politics

• Gholam-Hossein Elham, Islamic Steadfastness Front co-founder, says the Supreme Leader appointed some individuals to the Expediency Council just to keep them employed. He continued: “In the Expediency Council, appointment of individuals is also based on some kind of expediency… Reappointment of Mr. Hashemi [Rafsanjani] is what the Leader found more expedient than his replacement, but it is clear that the Council has lost its effectiveness… which may be due to its vengeful and harsh behavior towards the cabinet…”

Diplomacy

• The United Arab Emirates withdraws its ambassador from Tehran following Ahmadinejad’s visit to Abu-Musa island, which the UAE claims as its territory.
  • Jomhouri-ye Eslami editorializes: “We found it necessary to recommend the Sheikhs of the Emirates know their limits… Reacting to the Iranian president’s visit to the Iranian island of Abu-Musa, the foreign minister of the Emirates did not even observe politeness in his words and used expressions outside the diplomatic norms like primitive Arabs… Statements made by the foreign minister of the Sheikhdom of the Emirates, should they not be due to his ignorance, may have a dangerous background. And one can see the hands of colonial powers and Zionist provocations behind it… We recommend the Sheikhs of the Emirates not to ignite the wood which would start the hell in the region which the Zionists and colonial Western powers desire.”
• Farzad Esmaeili, Air Defense Commander:
  • “The Air Defense Force… is the first line of defense in the face of any aerial threat of the enemy. By using the entire potentials of the armed forces… and by establishing a command and control system, it safeguards Iran’s air territory… Divided into air defense zones, it is tactical and self-reliant in most areas in Iran. It reports to the Army, but has a centralized command structure utilizing the air defense units of the Army and the [Revolutionary] Guards…”
• [E] Chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi on Monday rejected a recent offer made by the US for the resumption of ties and direct negotiations between Tehran and Washington.

Military and Security

• Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base of the Revolutionary Guards is granted a no-bidding $17 billion Haraz Dam project. The handover takes place as a Chinese company pulls out of the project.
• [E] Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Brigadier General Hossein Salami announced that the IRGC plans to stage several war games in different regions of the country in the current Iranian year (started on March 20).

Nuclear Issue

• Negotiations in Istanbul between Iran and the 5 1 Group:
  • Said Jalili, Supreme National Security Council secretary, defends the Islamic Republic’s record of negotiations with the 5 1 Group:
    • “We believe the positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran provides a great opportunity for cooperation in nuclear issues. The fatwa [religious edict] of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution against nuclear arms and considering them haram [religiously impermissible] is a great opportunity to move on and to disarm…”
    • “We have always cooperated with the nuclear inspectors… and it is not that the NPT demands unhindered access to all sites…”
    • “You know that the IAEA general secretary has, in 25 reports, announced that Iran has not deviated from its peaceful nuclear goals. This was also announced by the United States intelligence agencies…”

The Iran Conflict Comes To The Caucasus

Mourners carry the coffin of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan during his funeral in Tehran on January 13. Roshan is the fourth Iranian nuclear scientist to be assassinated in two years. Iran accuses Azerbaijan of colluding with Israel in the killings.

By Brian Whitmore

February 17, 2012

When police in Tbilisi discovered and defused a bomb on the car of an employee of the Israeli Embassy on February 13, it marked the second time in less than a month that the Jewish state’s diplomats had become the target of an attack in the South Caucasus.The other incident came in late January when Azerbaijani security officials said they had foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate the Israeli ambassador, a local rabbi, and other prominent Jews in that country. Police arrested two Azerbaijani nationals in connection with that plot.

In both cases, Iran has been named as the suspected mastermind. Israel publicly accused Tehran of being behind the aborted Tbilisi attack. And officials in Baku said the two Azerbaijani suspects arrested in January had collaborated on the alleged assassination plot with an Iranian citizen connected to that country’s security services.

Iran has denied involvement in either incident. But analysts say the two cases illustrate how Georgia and Azerbaijan — due to their proximity to Iran and their close relations with Israel and the United States — risk being drawn deeper into the quickly escalating conflict between Tehran on one side and Israel and the West on the other.

Iran News Round Up February 13, 2012

Revolution Day Poster (Photo credit: gordontour)

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin.  To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

  (E) = Article in English

Politics

• The Islamic Republic celebrates the Revolution Day:
  • Ahmadinejad addressing the crowd on the Revolution Day praises Iran’s progress on all fronts. 
  • According to Khabar Online, close to parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, there were no placards of Ahmadinejad among the demonstrators celebrating the Revolution Day.
  • The crowd in Tehran chanted slogans against Rafsanjani as Rafsanjani and his followers showed up at the Tehran Revolution Day rally.
• Hamid Rowhani, head of the Historical Studies Foundation, calls the Ahmadinejad group “the Hojjatiyeh Society,” a reference to the pre-revolutionary semi clandestine Hojjatiyeh Charitable Society banned by Grand Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini. Rowhani also accuses the Ahmadinejad group of believing in “the Satanic thesis that one must spread corruption to hasten the emergence of the Imam of the Era, and of expanding embezzlement, corruption, theft of public funds and moral and economic corruption.”
• Ayatollah Mohi al-Din Haeri Shirazi, Assembly of Experts member, says that “the Mahdavi government [government of the 12th Imam of the Shi'a] in Iran began with the victory of the revolution…” Haeri Shirazi added that the Twelfth Imam remains hidden during this government, and “his deputy, His Holiness [Ali Khamenei] is in charge of the affairs.”

Diplomacy

• Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani addresses the crowd in Mashhad on the occasion of the Revolution Day:
  • “I urge some regional states that were on Saddam’s side during the [Iran/Iraq] war and are now conspiring against the Iranian nation along with the United States to stop doing so, since the clemency of the Iranian nation towards them will not be repeated…” Larijani added that the regional countries should not follow the policies of the United States towards Iran hoping to find “burned ground,” and concluded: “If there is a conspiracy against our nation, it will spread to the entire region.”

Iran Daily Brief February 9, 2012 – Full Report

Image via Wikipedia

International Affairs

Khamenei: Islamic Revolution source of inspiration for all revolutions – Addressing Iranian Air Force personnel, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran did not claim the Islamic Awakening in the region was initiated by Iran. However, he stated, “no one can ignore the fact that the waves of Islamic Awakening have been inspired by the victory of Islamic Revolution”. He underlined that the latest developments in the region and the Islamic Awakening proved that the Iranian nation is moving in the right path and that the Islamic Revolution has flourished and is dynamically moving forward towards its goals, 33 years after its victory. Ayatollah Khamenei added that slogans of the Iranian nation have prevailed over the region and the nations following global arrogance have now stood by Iran pursuing the same goals.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Iran holds the key to the fate of the US president and government – Brigadier General Seyyed Mas’ud Jazayeri said that “Many high level strategic experts believe that the key to the American government is in Tehran’s hands. Thus the ridiculous dance of both war-mongering and peace-making of the White House are meaningless… Iran pays no attention to this ludicrous carrot-and-stick policy and instead thinks about its own ideals and aims.” Jazayeri added that Iran pursues its objectives and causes without considering the US carrot and stick policy adding that Washington’s message of peace or war is worthless to Tehran and lacks meaning for policymaking. He said that the US and the Zionist regime (Israel) are not capable of taking military action against Iran because they know how vulnerable they are to Tehran’s retaliatory measures. Moreover, The US government is in such a pathetic situation that even their people hold street protests against the exploitative nature of the country’s governing system and chant slogans in support of the Islamic Republic.

From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard

A serious split is developing within Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard. The West must leverage that split in support of regime change before the Islamic Republic successfully tests nuclear weapons.

Members of Iran’s paramilitary Basij force, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, attend a rally in front of the former US Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 25, 2011.
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

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By Reza Kahlili
posted January 4, 2012 at 11:56 am EST

Los AngelesA serious split is developing within Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, with one faction favoring the overthrow of the dictatorial regime. This presents a window of opportunity for the West to support regime change before the Islamic Republic successfully tests nuclear weapons. Once the regime has those nuclear bombs, that opening will be much narrower.

Iran has tried hard to show strength in the face of sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran to quit its suspected nuclear-bomb and missile development programs. Iranian leaders are now flexing their military muscles in the strategic waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to shut it down and choking off a major part of the world’s oil supply.

The regime has long tried to scare the West from taking any action against it, by threatening the world’s security and stability. However, behind its mask of strength and unity, big cracks are beginning to show.

Spies trying to disrupt Iran’s upcoming elections arrested: Moslehi

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA – Intelligence Minister Hojjatoleslam Heydar Moslehi announced the arrest of several spies who, in line with the plots of the US government, wanted to disrupt the upcoming Ninth Majlis (Parliament) elections slated for March 2.

Hojjatoleslam Moslehi made the remarks among reporters at the end of a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Sunday.’Our intelligence apparatus had complete information about the activities of the arrested spies,’ he added.

The minister pointed out that the detained spies were trying to execute the plots of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through social networks and cyberspace to disrupt the process of the upcoming Ninth Majlis (Parliament) elections.