Iran Early Bird

Top Twenty

Political and Diplomatic Affairs

· Iranian foreign minister wants Iranian nuclear program to be viewed in same light as Japanese program (1)

· Ahmadinejad to pay official visits to Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador (2)

· Foreign Minister refutes allegations against Iran in latest U.S. Department of State report on state sponsorship of terror (3)


Domestic Affairs

· Karoubi slams Shariatmadari and Kayhan daily, which serves as a “source of lies against the Reformists” (8)

· Satirists against Iranian government (9)

· New Iranian TV series tells story of Iranian who immigrates to Israel and then returns to Iran to set up a Zionist club (10)

Security Affairs

· Three new missile-launching destroyers for Iranian Navy (14)

· Rise in anti-Shia activities in eastern Iran; another IRGC officer killed by Sunni opposition group (15)

Economic Affairs

· Secretary-general of Iran-Italy Chamber of Commerce: Italy was Iran's leading EU trade partner in 2008, with commerce between the countries hitting six billion euros; Germany was leading EU importer; Fiat has opened talks with Iran Khodro (19)

· International oil conference opens in Iran with world oil giants such as Total, Shell and Statoil in attendance (20)

· Oil Minister to Germany for talks on Nabucco project participation (21)

· Central Bank governor rejects reports of money laundering in Iran (23)

· Report: Unemployment in Iran 16 percent and not 10.4 as government claims (27)

Human Rights, Religion and Social Affairs

· Delara Darabi executed (32)

· Prosecutor General: Roxana Saberi's sentence may be reduced (33)

· Calls for release of “May prisoners” (35)

· Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri still under house arrest (36)

· Internal Security forces attack and arrest women’s rights activists (37)

· More pressure on detained Amir Kabir University students (38)

· Teachers’ strike continues (42)

Full Report

Political and Diplomatic Affairs

1. Iranian foreign minister wants Iranian nuclear program to be viewed in same light as Japanese atomic work – Speaking after a meeting in Tehran with his Japanese counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said: "The same view on Japan's nuclear activities should be taken on other countries including Iran… Japan spent many years building confidence about its nuclear work. Iran is also moving along the same path… During these confidence-building years, Japan has never been obliged to suspend its activities.”

2. Ahmadinejad to pay official visits to Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador at end of week -Iran and Brazil will hold their largest-ever economic forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 5. Over 110 officials from 65 Iranian government agencies and companies will attend the forum. The Iranian and Brazilian finance ministers, Shamseddin Hosseini and Guido Mantega, met last week on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Washington.Iran's ambassador to Brazil, Mohsen Shaterzadeh, said the Iranian delegation would be made up of entrepreneurs in the oil, gas, petrochemical, agriculture, food, platform construction, mining and auto assembly sectors, among others, and would be going to Brazil to explore business opportunities there.

3. Foreign minister refutes allegations against Iran in latest U.S. Department of State report on state sponsorship of terror – Speaking at the Non-Aligned Movement's Foreign Ministers Summit in Havana, Mottaki has refuted allegations against Iran in the latest U.S. Department of State report on state sponsorship of terror, turning the accusations against the United States: "Because of its support of the Zionist regime, and all that happened at Guantanamo Prison, the United States has no right to raise allegations against other countries... The dual standards of the United States are well known in the entire world.” Mottaki called for the prosecution of Israeli leaders for "crimes they committed during the war in Gaza.”

4. Iranian economy minister: "Imposing trade-related embargoes on Tehran would be an illogical game plan that would harm both Iranians and Americans” - Iran says U.S. threats of tougher sanctions against Iran "do not make sense" if the Obama administration really seeks "a new beginning" with the country. Iranian Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini said that imposing trade-related embargoes on Tehran would be an "illogical" game plan that would harm both Iranians and Americans. "The Iranian and American people have a right to engage in business activities with each other,” he said.

5. Iranian deputy president: “Documents on Persian character of Persian Gulf are clear and unequivocal” – Iranian Deputy President Rahim Mashahei: “The Persian-ness of the Persian Gulf is so unequivocal that there is no need for studies. The scientific and historic documents about the Persian Gulf are clear and unequivocal.” Mashahei declared that the Persian Gulf has been recorded as an Iranian national site, in keeping with a presidential approval.

6. UN Habitat office inaugurated in Tehran – The office was opened(May 2) in the presence of Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki, Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Habitat Dr Anna Tibaijuka and Iranian Minister of Housing and Urban Development Mohammad Saeedi-Kia.

7. Special plane to bring Comoros President to Iran – Iranian President Ahmadinejad has ordered an Iranian plane to be sent to Comoros to bring the island’s president to Tehran. According to a government-affiliated website, the Comoros president is a Shia Muslim who studied under the Ayatollah Yazdi in Iran. Site readers, however, have slammed the decision to send a plane to bring the island leader to Iran, commenting that the government is wasting money instead of providing aid to the sick and poor.



Domestic Affairs

8. Karoubi slams Shariatmadari and Kayhan daily, which serves as a “source of lies against the Reformists” - Reformist presidential candidate Mahdi Karoubi has sent a scathing letter to Kayhan editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari in protest against the daily’s recent attacks on him and his supporters. Karoubi defines the newspaper as “a source for the spreading of lies and tarnishing the image of the Reformists.” Karoubi writes that until now, he has chosen to ignore Kayhan’s web of lies and incitement against the Reformists, believing that the daily was not influential enough to undermine the public’s faith. The latest editorial, however, he says, “was the last straw,” thus prompting him to break his silence. In his latest editorial, Shariatmadari described the Reformists as “non-Muslims and Zionists.”

9. Satirists against Iranian government – The Iranian supreme leader’s deputy representative to the IRGC has defined protests by comics against the government ahead of the elections as “destructive.” According to the deputy representative, a team of 190 comics and satirists has been set up to compose text messages and satirical reports about the government.

10. New Iranian TV series tells story of Iranian who immigrates to Israel and then returns to Iran to set up a Zionist club – Iranian Television has begun airing a six-part locally produced series called “Gilad” that tells the story of Ben-Hur Ben-Gurion, an Iranian Jew, who immigrates to Israel after the establishment of the Jewish state. Ben-Gurion then returns to Israel some 15 years later as a very wealthy man with malicious intentions – to purchase all the assets in a particular neighborhood and set up a Zionist youth club called “Gilad.” The Fars News agency has criticized the series for a number of reasons, charging, inter alia, that according to the main character, Ben-Gurion, “Gilad” is the name of a region in Iran where the Jews had lived for 800 years. The agency claims that this could give Israel an excuse to try to claim ownership of this part of Iran just as it did with Palestine. According to the news agency, the series promotes Zionist ideas.

11. Presidency launches interactive website for people to send their complaints directly to Ahmadinejad - The electronic project, Saamad, is being launched in a number of phases throughout the country, according to a Fars Province TV clip that showed a number of women wearing headphones and working on computers. The video clip also showed a telephone number, 111, for people who prefer to phone in, inside shots of the office that receives and registers the complaints and employees working on computers.

12. Office of Iranian President claims - Obama stole "Yes, we can" from Ahmadinejad – The office of the Iranian president has rejected claims that the Ahmadinejad campaign has stolen the "Yes, we can" slogan from the Obama campaign, accusing the Obama campaign of having stolen the idea from the Ahmadinejad campaign four years ago. A reader also comments that the Obama campaign’s “Change” slogan was stolen from the Ahmadinejad campaign.

13.



Security Affairs

14. Three new missile-launching destroyers for Iranian Navy - Pargar Systems, an Iranian naval equipment manufacturer, announced today in Tehran that it had built three new missile-launching destroyers for the Iranian Navy. The three new boats will form part of the navy’s Caspian Sea fleet and will be berthed at the Babolsar naval port. A Pargar Systems spokesman said that the new destroyers were 100 meters in length, 18 meters high and weighed 1,200 tons, and were capable of launching missiles. (Source: Mehr News Agency, May 1, 2009)

15. Rise in anti-Shia activities in eastern Iran; another IRGC officer killed by Sunni opposition group – The Conservative-affiliated Raja News website is carrying a report on a significant rise in the activities of radical Sunni elements in various Iranian cities, particularly those along the country’s eastern border. The activities are designed to recruit young Shia Iranians to the Sunni religion, the report says, adding that radical elements from one of the central mosques in Zahedan have even distributed an anti-Shia book for their colleagues in other cities that was written by extreme religious elements in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the Sunni Jondallah organization, which operates in eastern Iran, has published an announcement claiming that an IRGC officer, who was being held captive by the organization, was killed while trying to escape.

16. Iran and Turkmenistan discuss defense cooperation - Iranian Ambassador to Asgabat Mohammad-Reza Forqani met (April 29) with Turkmenistan Minister of Defense Yaylym Berdiyew and said that Iran was ready to supply Turkmenistan’s needs in the security arena.

17. Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa-Mohammad Najjar talks with Senegalese president in Dakar - On his way home from Venezuela, Najjar made a stop in Senegal and held talks in Dakar with the Senegalese president, premier and defense minister on ways to improve bilateral relations between the two countries. Both sides referred to their countries’ common views on international issues and stressed the need to strengthen Tehran-Dakar relations, especially in the area of defense.

18. Official report: 67 incidents of cyberspace crime - Colonel Mehrdad Omidi, deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Police’s unit for combating special and cyberspace offenses, reported that 67 suspected incidents of Internet crimes were dealt with by his unit last year. He added that 31 percent of state-owned sites and 69 percent of privately-owned sites had been the target of unauthorized Internet infiltration during the period March 2008 to march 2009. (Source: Iranian Students News Agency – ISNA)



Economic Affairs

19. Secretary-general of Iran-Italy Chamber of Commerce: Italy was Iran's leading EU trade partner in 2008, with commerce between the countries hitting six billion euros; Germany was leading EU importer; Fiat has opened talks with Iran Khodro – According to the secretary-general of the Iran-Italy Chamber of Commerce, Pier Luigi d'Agata, "Italy was Iran's leading trade partner in Europe in 2008 while Germany was the leading importer from Iran.” The secretary-general also noted that Fiat had opened talks with Iranian car manufacturer Iran Khodro [owned by IRGC – Terrogence] and that 2009 was expected to be a decisive year for cooperation between the companies. Commenting on Iranian gas exports to Italy, he said that his country had asserted that Italian companies were very interested in Iranian and that talks on the matter were complicated and ongoing. “We hope that with the international atmosphere turning for the better, the agreements could be fruitful,” he said.

20. International oil conference opens in Iran with world oil giants such as Total, Shell and Statoil in attendance – The National Iranian Oil Company’s director for research and technological affairs, Mohammad-Ali Emadi, said that the European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers (EAGE) had scheduled the conference and had invited 60 oil experts to the seminar. EAGE, which is a creditable organization in the upstream oil industry, has planned the five-day event in Shiraz. Emadi also noted that managers of Iran's private and state-owned oil companies, university professors and students who study majors that are related to the oil industry had also been invited to the venue to exchange ideas. The Iranian official added that the summit was designed to enhance the country's upstream oil industry and improve international cooperation.

21. Iranian oil minister off to Germany for talks on Nabucco project participation – Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari will visit Germany to discuss energy issues, including Iran's participation in the Nabucco project. Seyfollah Jashnsaz, the head of the National Iranian Oil Company, said, the transfer of Iran's natural gas to Germany through the Nabucco pipeline would top the agenda during the oil minister's visit next week to Germany, The 3,300-kilometer pipeline aims to carry natural gas from Central Asia via Turkey and the Balkan states to Western Europe. The Nabucco project was also discussed during a Tehran meeting between Iran's Oil Ministry and a British energy firm. Nozari's visit to Germany comes a few weeks after Iran announced it had signed a deal with German energy company Bayerngas to cooperate on Iran's downstream industry. Nabucco consortium officials said at the summit that the six Nabucco countries - Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Germany - were expected to sign an inter-governmental agreement on the project by June.

22. Sanctions on Iranian gasoline imports will not have "a deadly effect" on country - Speaking to German Radio Broadcast's Persian-language service, former parliamentarian and economist Ali Mazroui said that sanctions on Iranian gasoline imports would not have "a deadly effect" on the country. For his part, Ali Asghar Arshi, executive director for international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said: "Experience has proved that boycotting petrol supplies to Iran, like oil embargoes and sanctions against investment [in Iran], is an already failed plan repeated by the U.S. once again… Americans embarked on a similar move in 1995 to enforce an embargo on Iran's crude sales but they witnessed opposite results… The most important reaction [by Iran] in this regard would be management of the issue. We have effective long and short-term plans to defuse this plot… The Americans will realize our plans when they impose the [petrol] sanction."

23. Central Bank governor rejects reports of money laundering in Iran – Speaking at theWorld Bank on reports of money laundering in Iran, Iranian Central Bank Governor Bahmani said: "Such allegations are totally baseless and are expressed because of certain political goals. The United States wants to dilute international attention from illegal activities of its banks and therefore accuses Iran's banking system of engaging in money laundering. The U.S. measures have not managed to create any greater problem in our monetary or economic system and we have always continued our economic path."

24. Majlis speaker at Investment Opportunities seminar: "Current atmosphere of the world has passed through uni-polarity and is developing towards multi-polarity” - Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani at the Investment Opportunities seminar in East Azerbaijan: "Under present circumstances, political, economic and societal connectivity is changing and new economic networks are being formed globally... Men of economics need a deep and accurate understanding of the circumstances, since the current atmosphere of the world has passed through uni-polarity and is developing towards multi-polarity."

25. Iranian Export Development Bank and Vietnamese Vietin Bank sign memorandum of understanding - The move comes to promote commercial ties and take advantage of the two companies banking capacities. Based on the agreement, the two sides agreed to finance a project to develop a 48 megawatt power plant in Vietnam that will be implemented by Iranian experts. The deal, signed by the managing directors of the Export Development Bank, Kourosh Parvizian, and Vietin Bank, Fam Hoi Hong, seeks to facilitate the opening of letters of credit and other banking operations.

26. Iran, Kenya sign energy deal - Iran's Electricity Industry Syndicate and the Kenyan Energy Ministry plan to promote economic and commercial ties in the energy sector. Commenting on the accord, the secretary of the syndicate, Hamid Reza Salehi, said at the signing ceremony that the syndicate represented Iran's private sector involved in the field. Kenya’s energy minister said that "Kenya is a gateway to East Africa."

27. Unemployment in Iran 16 percent and not 10.4 as government claims – The secretary-general of the Workers House in Iran says that unemployment figures in the country are higher than those officially published by the Statistics Center. The unemployment rate in Iran, he says, is 16 percent, and not 10.4 percent as claimed by official sources.

28. Iranian-Korean cooperation in bus project – Daewoo of Korea and Iranian company Sablan will cooperate in a project to manufacture urban and inter-city buses. The production plant will be set up by March 2010 at a cost of $30 million and will manufacture 2,000 buses a year.

29. Iran to invest in gas field development in Azerbaijan – Mohammad Javad Asemi Pour, the CEO of Nikoo Sarel, has commented on the company’s investment in the development of the Shah Danir gas field in Azerbaijan, noting that Nikoo Sarel had a 10-percent stake in the project at present. According to the CEO, “Because Nikoo has been unable to produce liquefied gas from this field in recent months because of the sanctions, we have started erecting our own facilities in the field. Once the facilities are completed, we will begin producing the gas from this field independently.”

30. Iran set to invest in Turkmenistan gas field too – The CEO of the Petro-Pars company has announced the formulation of a draft contract for the development of the Yulatan gas field in Turkmenistan. The contract would be finalized within two weeks and would then sent to Turkmenistan for approval.

31. Large Turkish iron and steel company to invest in Iran – One of Turkey’s largest iron and steel companies, Kardemir, has expressed interest in investing in the Iranian market. Company representatives have already held a round of talks with the relevant Iranian officials and expressed interest in investing some $500 million in the country.



Human rights, religion and social affairs

32. Delara Darabi executed – Delara Darabi, the 19-year-old Iranian woman convicted of committing a murder at the age of 17, has been executed. The execution had been delayed previously after relatives of the victims failed to turn up to witness it; but prison officials decided on Friday to carry out the sentence without informing her family or lawyer. Bloggers and human rights activists in Iran expressed shock on learning of the sudden execution and the manner in which it was carried out.

33. Prosecutor General: Roxana Saberi's sentence may be reduced – Iran’s prosecutor general, Qorban-Ali Dori Najaf-Abadi, said (May 2) that the Appeals Court may change the verdict handed down against Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi. The deputy head of the Iranian Prosecutor's Office said earlier that Saberi may have her sentence reduced.Dori Najaf-Abadi said that if there was a demand for amnesty, the supreme leader should give the order because the courts were independent.

34. Political prisoner Falahat-Zade jailed for eight years – Political prisoner Sadiqe Falahat-Zade has been sentenced to eight years in prison. She was arrested several months ago after meeting with her brother, a member of the Mujahideen e-Khalk opposition group. Since her arrest, she has been held in solitary confinement in the women’s wing of Evin Prison and has been denied access to legal counsel.

35. Calls for release of “May prisoners” – The Frankfurt-based International Human Rights Union has selected two Iranian Christian-minority prisoners, Marziye Amir-Zade and Maryam Rostam Pour, as its “May prisoners” and has urged international organizations to work towards securing their release. The two women were arrested in March on charges of undermining national security during illegal gatherings held by the Christian minority.

36. Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri still under house arrest - Former vice-president Mohammad-Ali Abtahi has released a recent picture of prominent dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who is under house arrest. Abtahi visited Muntazeri to thank him for his condolences over his mother death. Montazeri urged the Reformist camp to be cautions and alert in order to secure a victory in the upcoming elections, commenting that the current situation in Iran is terrible and cannot be allowed to continue.

37. Internal Security forces attack and arrest women’s rights activists – A number of members of the One Million Signatures campaign for women’s rights were beaten and arrested by Internal Security Force members who raided a May 1 ceremony in a Tehran public park. Among those arrested were prominent activist and Feminist School website writer Jelve Javaheri and her partner, Kave Mozafari. Elsewhere on May 1, Iranian security forces reportedly attacked and arrested more than 150 activists, primarily Kurdish and Sunni minorities, who were participating in events to mark the day in various Iranian cities.

38. More pressure on detained Amir Kabir University students – According to reports from human rights activists, the parents of Reza Yoonesi, one of the detained Amir Kabir University students, have also been arrested in an effort to put more pressure on their son and force him to confess to the charges against him. The whereabouts of Yoonesi’s parents remain unknown. The university students have been accused of having ties with the Mujahideen e-Khalk opposition group.

39. Another student suicide – Ali Akbar Qorbani, a student at Allameh Tabatabaii University, has committed suicide in the campus dorms. This is the fourth incident of suicide among students at various Tehran universities.

40. Member of Iranian Freedom Movement remains in custody – Despite thefact that Mahdi Motamedi Mehr, a member of the Iranian Freedom Movement has been in custody now for two weeks, his wife has yet to be informed of his whereabouts, condition or the charges against him. Mehdi is a member of the movement’s political bureau and various other committees.

41. Bodies of political prisoners moved – According to reports from Iranian human rights activists, the bodies of political prisoners buried in the city of Khavaran have been moved to an unknown location. Khavaran, the burial site for the political prisoners who were massacred in the 1980s, has witnessed numerous clashes between Iranian security forces and the families of the victims and human rights activists who visit the site on a weekly basis.

42. Teachers’ strike continues – Saturday saw Iran celebrate Teachers Day while teachers’ unions continued to stage protest strikes in various cities around the country. The teachers’ unions have called for a general strike from Sunday to Tuesday and are demanding implementation of the law that ensures teachers’ rights in Iran.

43. Marriage loans through the Internet - Applications for marriage loans can now be filed through the Internet in Isfahan, Southern Khorasan, Khouzestan, Qom, Gilan and Markazi.



44. Fatemeh Rajabi, wife of government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham, opens her fifth website.



45. De Niro presents award to Iranian director – The Iranian film, “About Elly,” has reaped another award after claiming the Best Director prize at the recent Berlin Film Festival. “About Elly” has now captured the Best Narrative Feature award at the Tribeca Film Festival, with director Asqar Farhadi receiving the prize from actor Robert de Niro, one of the festival’s founders.



Upcoming events:

* May 4: Bosnia-Herzegovina Parliament Speaker Beriz Belkic to visit Tehran
* May 5-7: The 2nd Asian Sports Ministers Meeting to take place in Tehran
* 2012: Iranian foreign minister to host 16th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in 2012