Iran Early Bird-Election Day

1. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Motaki, who is currently in Damascus, has passed on a message from President Ahmadi-Nejad to his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, regarding the relations between the two countries and recent events in the region.2. Lebanese President Michel Sleiman will arrive in Tehran on November 24 for a two-day visit. Sleiman's planned visit comes in the wake of recent trips to Iran by numerous Lebanese officials.



3. Ayatollah Shahroudi, chairman of Iran's Judicial Authority, has heaped praise on Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, commenting that he "stirs a sense of pride and dignity among Shia religious figures and the Islamic world." According to Shahroudi, Hezbollah Lebanon, under Nasrallah's leadership, plays an important and prominent role in the behavior of the Lebanese people and their firm stance in the face of "the Zionist regime."



4. The Majlis this morning voted no-confidence in Interior Minister Ali Kordan following a discussion on the motion. Kordan will thus be ousted from his post and Iranian President Ahmadi-Nejad has three months in which to appoint a replacement.

In his opening statement prior to the debate and vote, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani stressed that the process and vote were completely legitimate and in line with the Majlis regulations. Meanwhile, opposition and Reformist websites are viewing the process as a no-confidence vote in the government in light of its unwavering support of Kordan. For his part, Iran's ambassador in Mexico claims on his personal website that the CIA is involved in the affair, noting that the individual who forged the interior minister's doctorate certificate fled to the United States.



5. Updates on the issue of the candidates for next year's presidential election: Former Central Bank governor Tahmaseb Mazaheri has denied talk of him running for office, noting that he has not made any decision on the matter and has not set up any kind of headquarters; former intelligence minister and current member of the Assembly of Experts Ali Falahian has also made it clear that he has no intention of joining the race. Meanwhile, Iranian websites are reporting that despite statements to the contrary, Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to Iran's supreme leader on international affairs, has decided to run for the office of president on behalf of the Conservative camp.



6. The Conservative-religious Rajanews website is up in arms over the fact that "Zionist" company Nestle set up a booth and sold its wares at the book fair in Shiraz.







1. Iran will manufacture its first Antonov An-148 airplane within the next two years, according to the Iranian transportation minister, who noted that the project was being handled by the Iranian Defense Industries Organization, from which the planes would be purchased. The next stage in the project, he added, would involve talks with the Russians on the production of Topolov 204 airplanes. Meanwhile, the production of Antonov 140s, or Iran 140s, continues at Iran's Aircraft Industries plants, in cooperation with Ukrainian corporation Antonov and the Kharkov factory. Thus far, eight of these airplanes have been assembled.



2. Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Najar has announced that Defense Ministry experts have successfully designed and produced a micro-submarine and a stealth naval vessel.



3. Official Iranian sources have denied the Pakistani television report on the wounding of the commander of the Sunni Jondallah movement, Abdollmalek Rigi. The sources confirmed, however, that Iranian security forces had clashed with a Jondallah cell on the border with Pakistan, killing five of its members and injuring another three. "Regrettably," the sources said, Rigi was not among the casualties.





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1. Addressing the "Economic Forum – The Global Economic Crisis: Opportunities and Challenges," Iran's economics minister has warned that Iran will face a budget deficit if world oil prices continue to fall.



2. According to an announcement from Iran's customs authorities, exports of non-petroleum products grew in the first half of the year some 35 percent in relation to the corresponding period of last year, and totaled $11,350,000,000. Iran's principal customers include the UAE, China, Iraq, India and Korea. During the same period, imports totaled $33,594,000,000 and comprised primarily of fuel, steel, wheat, automobile spare parts and soy beans.



3. The head of the office for the development of economic cooperation between Iran and Iraq believes that exports to Iraq this year will total $4 billion.



4. Pistachio production in Iran, one of the country's most significant fields of export, has been sliced by one-third this year due to unfavorable weather conditions, with the 2088 yield expected to amount to just 100,000 tons. The head of the pistachio export union has commented that Iran's rivals in the field could exploit the situation to take over Iran's segment of the world market and create future problems with respect to the sale of Iranian pistachio nuts.



5. According to a government decision, the price of CNG (natural gas) at filling stations has been doubled in an effort to provide an incentive to the filling station owners.



6. The results of the Wimax tender were published yesterday, with two companies, IranCell and Paya Ertebat Mobin, winning the concession for the Tehran Province. IranCell will also provide Wimax services in the East Azerbaijan, Esfahan, Khorasan, Fars and Khuzestan provinces. Paya will offer the service in all provinces

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1. The Majlis Law Committee has approved some of the clauses of the law pertaining to cybernetic crime, determining a punishment of two years in prison for individuals convicted of inciting public opinion on the Internet. The law also makes it easy for authorities to block websites and blogs.



2. Mohammad Esmail Rezaee, artistic director and in charge of theater affairs at the foundation for fallen Iranian soldiers, has announced a competition for the writing of plays on the subject of self-sacrifice and the culture of suicide. According to Rezaee, the theater is a very good place to demonstrate "these human qualities and present them very well on the stage."



3. Iranian security forces have arrested dozens of youths, male and female, who participated in what was termed "the Satanic cult's biggest party" in northern Tehran. Security forces seized large quantities of alcohol and drugs in the raid. According to the semi-official Farsnews website, the increased activity of the Satanic cult in Iran, particularly among well-off youth, has become a grave social problem that is threatening the moral values of Iran's youth and society in general.



4. Esfandyar Zoalqadr, a lecturer at Esfahan University, claims in an open letter that he was fired from his position after criticizing Ahmadi-Nejad during one of his classes.



5. An Iranian court has imposed a sentence of one year in jail, suspended for three years, on Zeynab Peyqambar-Zade, a women's rights activist and member of the "One Million Signatures" campaign for equal rights for women. Zade has also been instructed to report to one of the Intelligence Ministry's centers once every four months "to mark herself present."



6. Solmaz Igder, a writer for the Union of Iranian Women website, has been slapped with a six-month suspended sentence following her arrest some two months ago at a ceremony in memory of executed political prisoners.



7. Some 500 teachers from the Kordestan Province have signed a petition calling for the release from jail of Farzad Kamangar, a Kurdish teacher and human rights activist, who is facing the death penalty.



8. Six Christian have been arrested by Intelligence Ministry officials in the city of Mashhad. Security forces also searched their homes and, according to family members, threatened them not to inform the media of the incident. The families have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the six detainees or the charges against them.