Tehran's Daily Newspaper Review

The seizure of a CIA agent by the Iranian intelligence service, fresh protests in Egypt, and UAVs were on top of the news in Tehran's dailies today.

“In the interest of the Well-Off Party”. Iran's top headline took a populist tone to criticize the proposal set forward by the national Chamber of Commerce to put the control of the private sector affairs in the hands of the chamber. “The Business Affairs’ bill only supports the interests of traders, and that means monopoly. The government and the Guardian Council should prevent its enforcement,” the newspaper quoted Chairman of the House of Industry, Mining and Youth Business. “Rage and violence returns to the streets of Cairo” according to Iran, reporting on the rejuvenated protests against the country’s ruling junta. In an interview with the newspaper, Baghdad’s Ambassador to Tehran, Majid el-Sheikh, stated that MKO’s expulsion from Iraq is irrevocable and binding.

Jomhouri-ye Eslami focused on the Central Bank’s fiasco in selling underpriced gold coins which-- instead of taming the skyrocketing price of gold in the market-- has fostered fixing and created long queues in front of banks across the country. “Who is responsible for the corruption rising from gold coin fixing?” the newspaper asked. The seizure of a CIA agent in Iran, the return of violence to Egypt and Obama's support for Israel also appeared on the front page. The newspaper’s editorial addressed the corollary of enforcement of the Purposeful Subsidies’ Bill on the anniversary of its launch. The plan has resulted neither in the +60 percent inflation predicted by the parliament’s research center, nor has it led to the economic paradise promised by the government’s economic policy makers, according to the newspaper. Such errs on the high side not only bespeak the politicized economics of Iran, but also prove that over thirty years after the Revolution, experts and operatives suffer dire defects in discerning the roots of economic problems.

“Cairo turns crimson again,” Kayhan reported, voicing Egyptians’ call for the military to relinquish power. Kayhan also covered the crackdown on one of its main targets of attack during the recent years, i.e. the Gold Quest pyramid scheme and 19-year prison sentence issued for a high-ranking member of the system. Forty days after the death in an explosion of Brigadier General Hassan Tehrani-Moghaddam, the top man in IRGC’s missile program, Kayhan interviewed a senior IRGC commander and a long-time friend of Tehrani-Moghaddam. “Martyr Tehrani-Moghaddam’s innovations will be our trump cards in the future,” Brig. General Chaharbaghi stated in his interview with Kayhan.

With a boosted morale after capturing the US spy drone, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi stated that “offensive UAVs have entered the production line,” Resalat quoted. Vahidi also added that “asymmetrical warfare is on the agenda of the Iranian Armed Forces.” Resalat also covered “the Egyptian security forces’ new fireworks in Tahrir Square.”

Shargh’s top headline read “the government’s mouthpiece criticized Hashemi.” The newspaper analyzed Saturday’s editorial and feature report of Iran Daily slamming Hashemi Rafsanjani for republishing a ‘greeting-less’ letter that he, along with Ayatollah Khamenei and three other senior clerics of the early years after the Revolution wrote to the late founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini, complaining about his attitude towards the head-on confrontation between them and the first president Abolhassan Bani Sadr (to whom Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is frequently compared by the pro-Hashemi elements). Hashemi will re-turn into the basic target of attack for Ahmadinejad's parliamentary electoral campaign to secure the majority of votes, just as occurred during the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections, Shargh concluded. “Corruption will turn into social unrest,” Shargh quoted Head of the General Inspection Organization Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who during a speech in the southern province of Hormozgan asserted that “we regard anyone who stands against the law regulators as an agent of corruption,” perhaps hinting at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's defiance of calls to allow probing of the allegations of corruption against his deputy, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, and other members of his cabinet.

“Hunting Forex after Quest”. Tehran-e Emrooz reported of the Intelligence Ministry operations to put an end to pyramid schemes and speculative fiscal activities. “Tehran's highway network will be completed by the end of the year,” that is, mid-March 2012, the newspaper quoted Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, who criticized the politicized attitude towards the governance of Tehran. The newspaper’s editorial criticized the Astray Current –Mashaei and his team- for another attempt to polarize Iranian politics between the veteran (Conservative) politicians and the government. The Astray Current is inflicted with the “delusion of legitimacy”, the editorial argued.

* Notes:

The editorial section of Iranian newspapers is not the work of the editor-in-chief or the senior editorial staff of the newspaper by default, but can be a contribution by experts and politicians (typically agreeing with the newspaper’s political stance.) The newspapers may also occasionally publish without an editorial.

Vatan-e Emrooz daily does not publish on Thursdays.

Trouble with understanding some terms? Check our Glossary of Iranian Political Terms.

Briefing

Iran is the official organ of the administration. Its current editor-in-chief is Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, former media advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Jomhouri-ye Eslami (The Islamic Republic) was known as the official organ of the Party of the Islamic Republic, founded in 1979 and disbanded in 1987. Currently, it is an open critic of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies and is known to be a mouthpiece of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Kayhan (Universe) is a hard-line conservative newspaper. Its editor-in-chief –currently Hossein Shari’atmadari- is directly appointed by Iran's Supreme Leader. Shari’atmadari’s editorials often spark off controversy and debate inside Iranian political circles.

Resalat (Mission) belongs to the moderate wing of the Principlist camp. Resalat’s best known analyst is Amir Mohebbian, its political editor.

Shargh (East) is a moderate Reformist newspaper. It was the most popular and influential Reformist newspaper in its first period of publication which lasted from August 2003 until September 2006.

Tehran-e Emrooz (Tehran Today) is a “Principlist/Reformist” newspaper, connected to Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Tehran Mayor and a likely candidate of the 2013 presidential election.