Editorials
– Sharq Newspaper handled the scandal of Tehran’s Mayer distribution of lands to friends and relatives, in addition to tackling the Afghani Children’s conditions in Iran.
Political
– A possible visit of Rouhani to New York to participate in the United Nations meetings.
– Assembly of patriot clergy defend the elections of 2009
Economic
– Growth of trade exchange between Iran and Europe
Sharq Newspaper
“Documents Expose the Truth”
An editorial in today’s Sharq newspaper revealed the high-priced properties in Tehran, which the city’s mayor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, distributed to his staff. This followed recent reports about a discovery by the city’s Monitoring and Inception Commission that Tehran municipality had been selling properties cheaply to employees and some local council members, as well as two Radio and Television Commission correspondents, with the Monitoring and Inception Commission describing the corrupt practices as misuse of public funds.
These properties, worth billions due to their prime location in the upmarket Niauran and Olnczyk neighbourhoods of northern Tehran around the Shah’s Palace and Ayatollah Khomeini’s one-time home, had been sold at low prices paid in installments. Moreover, when Mayor Ghalibaf, who is expected to stand as a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections, was asked about the properties, he revealed that they had been distributed to 27,000 of the Tehran municipality’s 55,000 employees.
Ghalibaf’s revelations are a multi-faceted disaster; firstly, the disclosure that there are 55,000 municipal employees in Tehran alone leads to speculation over the total dizzying number of civil servants in Tehran and across the country. The second noteworthy feature is that while the 27,000 properties were distributed to these staff members under the pretext that they were from the working class, Tehran’s housing crisis is comparable to that in all the regional capitals, with owning a property in the city being a dream only attainable to the affluent, more especially in upmarket neighbourhoods like Niauran where homes are more expensive per square meter than Paris and London. With these revelations, Mayor Ghalibaf may have already eliminated his political future, more especially if he fails to take the appropriate steps to ensure no recurrence of these corrupt practices.
Avrinh newspaper
“Future Divisions in the Endless Syrian War”
An editorial in Avrinh newspaper speculates over the future division of Syria by the superpowers, asserting that the feuding parties should be divided into four groups, with a distinction made between those nations resident in Syria and those present there indirectly which want to overthrow Bashar al-Assad
The first group without a direct presence in Syria, which wishes to overthrow Bashar al-Assad includes both Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which the editorial claims are represented by the Free Syrian Army.
The second group, supporting Bashar al-Assad and the regime’s army, includes Iran, Hezbollah, Iraq, and Russia, with this group involved in armed clashes in all areas of Syria.
The third group includes countries that do not insist on overthrowing Bashar al-Assad, but pursue their own interests in the Syrian conflict; in addition to America, this group includes Western countries and Turkey, which has amended its targets from overthrowing Bashar to add ousting the Kurds. The fourth group cited by the editorial is the terrorist groups and militias belonging to major regional and global powers, including ISIS, “Jabhat Al Nusra” and other groups related to al-Qaeda.
The editorial states that one could also include China after a Chinese aircraft carrier docked last year in the port of Tartus, but this news was disregarded by media. Some reports, according to the editorial, state that the Chinese went there to attack China’s opponents, including the three thousand Chinese Uighurs fighters who supposedly joined the Turkish Army of Islam, and others who supposedly joined al-Qaeda.
The editorial continues that one can compare the United States’ unwillingness to resolve the crisis with the Russians who are seeking to achieve a military goal and possession of a trump card in the negotiations, and the high price paid by Iran to ensure the survival of al-Assad regime as a strategic regional ally, as well as to the permanent move by Turkey to obtain concessions from the West, and suppress the Kurds.
Etimad Newspaper
“The issue of Afghan children’s education”
An editorial in today’s Etimad discussed the situation of Afghan children in Iran due to the increasing number of stateless Afghans without residency papers in Iran since the 1980s. The editorial claims that Iran provides free education for 750,000 Afghan children and has raised the rate of education among this group from six percent in 2001 to 60 percent now, accepting 300,000 Afghan children into Iranian schools for free or for a minimal fee. Despite this, it continues, Afghan children face a number of obstacles in attending a school such as the lack of any legislation making education compulsory for foreigners in the country, which leads many to abandon education and enter the workforce early. There are also restrictions on Afghans’ residency in some regions and cities of Iran, which further limits the educational opportunities available to these children, while schools are unable to develop curricula which meet Afghans’ needs and linguistic abilities since many of them do not speak Farsi.
In fact, the article continues, the issue of Afghan children’s education in Iran has political dimensions, firstly in terms of the sectarian distinction between Sunni and Shiite Afghans, as well as the efforts by Iranian authorities to prioritise residency for those Afghans who agree to fight for the regime’s Al Fatimiyoun militias in Syria, which are staffed by Afghan refugees living in Iran. Some members of these militias are recruited from within Afghan territory directly, reflecting the deteriorating conditions for Afghans both in Afghanistan and Iran.
All these problems are shown by a request sent by Afghan refugees in Iran to Ayatollah Khamenei yesterday asking that their children be allowed education in Iranian schools without paying prohibitive fees.
♦ Rouhani is headed to New York
Deputy Foreign Minister for American and European Affairs, Majeed Takht Ravanji, stated that Iran is mulling over Hassan Rouhani’s visit to New York to participate in the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly. He also shed light on the foreign minister, Javad Zarif’s visit to six Latin American countries that lasted for seven days accompanied by an economic team of both public and private sectors that will reflect on Iran’s economic development.
♦ 43% growth in trade exchange between Iran and Europe
The official news site of the European Commission announced that trade exchange between Iran and the European Union has achieved 43% growth rate during the first six months of this year, amounting to5.107 billion Euros. While it amounted to3.563 billion Euros during the same period of last year, which is contributed to the implementation of the Nuclear Deal of 2016.
Source: Abrar Eqtisadi Newspaper
♦ Salihi: the establishment of two new Nuclear Plants starts on September 10th
Vice-president and head of the Iranian Nuclear Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi announced the establishment of two nuclear plants in the city of Bushehr that will start on the tenth of this month and expected to be completed in ten years. In an interview with the Iranian TV, Salehi added that the total cost of this project is 10 million USD and will save 22 million barrels of oil annually.
Source: IRNA Agency
♦ Sentencing hearing concerning attacks on the Saudi embassy is not determined yet
Attorney of Mohammed Narimani, one of the accused individuals in the attacks on the Saudi embassy announced that the judge needs time to consult the head of judiciary and Iran’s Attorney General before issuing any judgments. He added that this is a political case and sentencing hearing has not been determined yet.
Source: Shahrvand Newspaper
♦ Denying the killing of General Ahmed Gholami in Syria
Division 10, Saied Alshuhada Commander’s Council denied the killing of General Ahmed Gholami, asserting that he was shot in the head and is now in a coma. This announcement came as a response to Fares News Agency that released the killing of Gholami in the war against Takfiri terrorists while defending Lady Zainab’s shrine in Aleppo in Syria.
Source: Sharq Newspaper
♦ Germany: relations with Iran are conditioned by Iran’s recognition of Israel
The Israeli Urshalim Post newspaper reported that the German Counselor, Angela Merkel had comforted the parliamentary friendship group Berlin-Tel Aviv that normalization of relations with Iran is conditioned by the Iranian recognition of Israel; although the German interests in building strong relations with Iran on all levels. Moreover, Merkel raised her worries of the human rights violations in Iran, hoping that this situation improves under the government of Rouhani, which was faced by Iranian silence. In fact, Germany had strong economic relations and investments of big companies like Henkel in Iran even during the economic sanctions imposed on Tehran.
Source: Avrinsh Newspaper
♦ Details of Riabkove and Takt Ravantchi
Russian Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and head of the Russian negotiations team, Sergey Riabkove arrived in Tehran yesterday. Riabkove discussed the mutual relations between the two countries with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Iraqji, and Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Europe and America, Majeed Takt Ravantchi. Both sides discussed the joint work plan in light of the economic sanctions and technical cooperation in addition to other issues such as developing the modern technical field of stable isotope in Fordo plant, starting up the second stage of Bushehr plant, supplying materials and equipment, and purchasing heavy water and technical cooperation with the international nuclear agency. On the other hand, the Russians and Iranians handled some countries violations of the Nuclear Deal and stressed on lifting all sanctions and facilitating economic deals with Iran.
Source: Jam-e-Jam Newspaper
♦ First Vice-president is the Conservatives candidate for the elections
Former MP Ahmed Tavakoli said that he is highly supporting the nomination of Vice-president, Isaac Jihanjeri as Conservatives candidate for the presidential elections next year. He added that this suggestion was presented by the head of the Human Rights Committee that reports to the Judiciary branch, Mohammed Javad Larijani.
Source: Shahrvand Newspaper
♦ Rafsanjani has started his campaign of supporting Rouhani in the upcoming elections 2017
In his latest speech, Rafsanjani asserted that there is no difference between Conservatives and Reformists, asserting that they are all the sons of Revolution, Khomeini, and Khamenei. He added that their goal is to uphold the Iranian dignity by the International Community, calling all political currents to join forces and favor the country’s interests over the individual and personal interests. These statements were considered by some politicians as an early promotion for Rouhani, while others considered Rafsanjani’s visit to Sheikh Javadi Amli as an attempt to gain his support since he enjoys a good position among the Hawzah in Qum, which is one of the most important references in Iran.
Source: Wakeel Milt
♦ Assembly of Patriot Clergy: trial of Mousavi and Karroubi has no significance
Spokesperson of the Patriot Clergy Assembly, Golam Riza Misbah Macadam stated that the elections of 2009 were a real political struggle that ended up with the winning of Ahmedinejad for 25 million votes against 13 million votes for engineer Mir Hussein Mousavi. Had Mousavi accepted the results of the elections, he would have absolutely been the next president after Ahmedinejad, Macadam Added. In response to a question about the house arrested, he said that the trial of Mir Hussein Mousavi, Mahdi Karroubi, and Zahra’ Rahnavard does not have any significance to the regime, asserting that trial without support would increase their sentences.
Source: Sharq Newspaper
