Saeed Jalili, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and the country's chief nuclear negotiator, has sent a two-page letter to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, criticizing Europe's behavior and positions vis-à-vis the nuclear issue. According to Jalili, "The lack of a healthy culture of dialogue is causing some of the countries to resort to using pressure instead of taking reasonable steps." The Swiss ambassador in Tehran is expected to pass on the letter to the foreign ministers of Russia, China, France, Germany, Britain and the United States. 2. Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki: "Iran's fixed policy is to achieve independence in the field of the production of nuclear fuel for nuclear power stations… We are determined to continue the nuclear activities for peaceful purposes until we achieve independence." Mottaki's statements came in the wake of comments made by Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, who said recently that Iran would be prepared to reconsider its adamant position on the continuation of its uranium-enrichment activities if it were to receive sufficient assurances regarding the regular supply of nuclear fuel for its power stations. Various Iranian spokesmen were quick to "amend" Soltanieh's comments and "put things straight," emphasizing that Iran could not rely on the West to provide it with the nuclear fuel it requires.
3. The Majlis' decision to grant a sum of around 100 million toman ($100,000) to every Majlis member has sparked responses and protests from both inside and outside the parliament, with the Student Basij at Tehran University, for its part, sending a letter of protest to the Majlis members, urging them to reject the grant. The grant is supposed to help the Majlis members buy cars, pay rent and cover other living costs.
4. A plane carrying the speaker of the Iraqi parliament to Tehran was denied landing rights at the capital's airport today and was forced to return to Baghdad. According to the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad, the flight had not been coordinated properly; he did stress, however, that Iran would like the visit to go ahead in the near future. Meanwhile, Iranian websites continue to dwell on the matter and raise speculations on the matter.
5. Iranian President Ahmadi-Nejad will appear this evening on Iranian TV's Channel 1 and address the nation on internal and foreign affairs.
6. The Canadian Embassy has refrained from issuing a visa to Iranian director Mnijeh Hekmat, whose film, "Three Women" has been nominated for various awards at the International Film Festival in Vancouver.
1. Organizational changes and appointments in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps: The IRGC's Information Department has been split from the Public Relations Department, with both units to now function independently; Sardar Mohammad Ali Asudi will serve as head of the Information Department, while Sardar Ramazan Sharif will head the Public Relations Department. Other appointments include the naming of Sardar Qassam Karishi as head of the Supervision and Appointments Approval Department, and the appointment of Sardar Ibrahim Jabari as deputy commander of the Rasulallah Division in the Tehran Province. Jabari served in the past as commander of the Basij Resistance in Zanjan.
2. Sixteen Basij divisions (11 Ashura divisions of men, and 5 Alzahara divisions of women) will be holding six days of maneuvers entitled "Lovers of the Shahada." The maneuvers will take place in northeastern Tehran, with the forces conducting drills in the fields of remote defense, passive defense, deception, weapon firing, ambushes and more. The Alzahara divisions will carry out exercises related to quelling rebellions, rescue operations, passive defense and weapon firing.
3. Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Najar participated today in the opening of the exhibition of goods produced by the country's defense industries. The permanent exhibition will display Iran's scientific, industrial, technical and research capabilities, along with electronic, naval and other equipment.
4. Iran's deputy chief of staff, Sardar Jaza'iri has commented on "the suspicious reports" about the sale of weapons and modern equipment to Israel, saying: "Not even the U.S. weapons will save the Zionist regime."
5. The Iranian Army's Naval Corps has opened its Advanced Technologies College, where students will be able to take courses in electrical engineering, ship building, electronic systems and more.
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1. According to Iran's oil minister, the international sanctions and political pressure on Iran have had no effect thus far on the country's oil industries. "Iran has increased its gas production capabilities by some 70 million cubic meters in southern Pars, and this proves that the sanctions have in fact turned into an opportunity to encourage growth and domestic production," the minister said.
2. Iran's deputy oil minister has announced that China will participate in oil projects in Iran valued at some $40 billion. According to the deputy minister, some of the projects are already up and running, while others are still under discussion and are being researched.
3. Iran is reporting a 100-percent rise in the sale of petrochemical products during the first half of the year. According to the report, the first six months of the year saw the marketing of more than seven million tons of goods valued at around $6.3 billion ($4.7 billion for export, and the remainder for domestic consumption).
4. According to a Majlis member, just 30 percent of Iran's rural population enjoys suitable drinking water, despite a government promise to up this rate to 87 percent.
5. Responding to the commercial strike in Esfahan and other cities in the wake of VAT hike, Iran's tax authorities have said that the increase in VAT is unavoidable and that there is no way of freezing the law on the matter.
1. Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, head of the Imam Khamenei Research Center in Qom and Ahmadi-Nejad's spiritual mentor, has met in Iraq with Ayatollah Ali Hasini Sistani, the Shia's source of emulation both inside and outside Iraq. Mesbah-Yazdi is on a pilgrimage to the graves of the Shia imams in Iraq. He has visited the Al Kadhimain Mosque near Baghdad, where the seventh imam, Musa al-Kadhim, and the ninth imam, Muhammad alTaqi are buried, and is also expected to travel to Najaf and Karbala. Sistani disagrees with the Iranian interpretation of the Shia faith and calls for a separation between religion and state; he has numerous supporters outside Iraq, particularly in Lebanon and among the Shia in the Persian Gulf. Many in Iran support his positions, too, causing much concern among the Islamic regime in light of the strengthening of the traditional Shia religious centers in Iraq and the post-Saddam Hussein Shia revival there.
2. An article by Reformist journalist Akbar Ganji on the Radio Zamana opposition website has caused a sensation in Iran. In his article, Ganji rejects the existence of the Hidden Imam, the Mahdi, and says that it is impossible to justify and reason the existence of a man over a period of several hundreds of years. According to Ganji, researchers have proved that this belief arose in the wake of succession conflicts in Islam. In other and no-less-sensational articles, Ganji urges the recognition of the rights of homosexuals and claims that the Prophet Muhammad believed in the spreading of violence.
3. Molavi Abdollhamid, one of the senior Sunni religious figures in Iran, has warned that if the Iranian authorities fail to take action to solve the problems of the Sunni in Iran, the religious sect will boycott next year's presidential elections. Abdollhamid harshly criticized the oppression of the Sunni minority and what he termed as the ever-increasing religious discrimination in Iran. Meanwhile, human rights activists in the Sistan Va Baloochestan Province are reporting that security forces have arrested Sunni activists in the region; among those arrested, the human rights activists say, is Amir Hamzeh Kordi, a Sunni religious student who was taken into custody and whose whereabouts remain unknown.
4. The commander of Iran's Internal Security Forces has announced that during the course of the past year, two million passports were issued to Iranian citizens. This number, he said, exceeded the number of identity documents that had been issued.
5. According to the families of Ronak Safarzadeh and Hana Abdi, two women's rights activists who are being held in the Sanandaj prison, the facility's council has decided to deny the two detainees access to their families for a period of three weeks. The decision has sparked grave concerns among the families. The two women are on a hunger strike and the Intelligence Ministry has decided to deny them access to their families in order to increase the pressure on them. Safarzadeh was slapped with a nine-month prison sentence and a fine for "using a satellite dish and illegally crossing the border."
6. Negin Sheykholeslami, a women's rights activist from among the Kurdish minority, was arrested yesterday by members of the Internal Security Forces in Tehran. Sheykholeslami is considered a long-time activist in the field and has written articles on the subject and worked with various women's organizations. According to rumors, she has been transferred to Wing 209 of the Evin prison, but her family has received no word on her condition.
7. Four prisoners at the central jail in Esfahan have been placed in solitary confinement ahead of their respective executions. Meanwhile, opposition websites are claiming that one of the Esfahan jail's senior officials customarily summons prisoners on death row for a talk prior to their execution, and tries to convince them to "donate" their organs after, and sometimes even before, they are put to death. The prison official, the websites claim, then sells the organs on the black market.
8. Further to their ongoing strike, workers at the Alborz tire factory assembled today outside the Labor Ministry to protest the withholding of their wages. Click here for pictures of the demonstration.
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