Editorials
– Political changes in Turkey and a Turkish-Iranian agreement over Kurds
– The Iranian Industry and its role in economic relief
Political
– The call for Motahari’s impeachment because of improper statements of him
– Tehran confirms arrest of ‘spy’ in nuclear negotiation team
– Khamenei; Armed Forces must boost preparedness to deter enemy’s aggression
Economic
Turkey stops its imports of electricity from Iran
Kayhan Newspaper
“The new alliance in the region, with or without Turkey”
An editorial in today’s ‘Kayhan’ newspaper discussed Turkey’s position on the Russian-Iranian coalition after Turkey retreated from its earlier openness to the possibility of becoming part of the Russo-Iranian coalition. The editorial stated that Turkey had decided instead to continue its alliance with the United States and even to improve its performance in the Syrian crisis in order to have greater control over the fighting on the ground to exploit it in Turkey’s own interests.
The editorial said that whilst recent weeks have seen a succession of meetings between Turkish and Russian officials, especially in the wake of the failed military coup against Erdogan’s government, there had been no real change in Turkish policy on Syria. For this reason, it continued, the Turkish position on Syria must be analyzed in the following way:
•Turkey’s military intervention in Syria has dashed all hopes of Tehran influencing Turkey to change its Syria policy.
•Turkey’s capture and control of the city of Jarablus favored the Free Syrian Army rather than expelling ISIS from the region.
The editorial asserted that although Turkey has benefited from its collusion with Russia and Iran to the extent that it has managed to enter Syrian territory, it is questionable that those two countries (Russia and Iran) have received any benefits in exchange for Turkey’s gains.
These developments in Turkey’s Syria policy can be summarized as a collapse in Turkey’s illusions about any possible dependence on the Syrian opposition to achieve its regional objectives, the editorial continued, adding that Turkey is now convinced of its inability to determine Syria’s next ruler.
The author suggested that Turkey’s nightmare would be the actualization of an autonomous Kurdish state in north Syria, which would enjoy US support, with Ankara stressing the need for cooperation with other regional players, including Iran, to prevent this from happening.
The primary thrust of the editorial was that whilst Iran welcomes the Turkish invasion of Jarablus since it puts an end to the Kurds’ dreams of creating an independent homeland in northern Syria which could possibly then be integrated with independent Kurdistan in north Iraq and other Kurdish regions in Turkey and Iran, the Iranian leadership opposes Turkey’s intervention into Syrian territory since it is not being carried out in coordination with the government of Bashar al-Assad.
The editorial makes it clear that Iran has so far been unable to determine the ultimate end and objective of Turkey’s intervention in the Syrian conflict, which has forced Iran to wait for Turkey to act until reacting. Whatever the objective is, however, Iran wants to move forward in its policy in Syria in coordination with Russia, whether or not Turkey is working with them.
Mardom Salari Newspaper
“Iranian industry searching for prosperity.”
An editorial in today’s Mardom Salari newspaper focused on the current conditions for Iranian industry, expressing skepticism about the regime’s recent coining of new terms like ‘resistance economy’ and ‘jihad economy’. The editorial said that this rebranding is not enough to solve the economic problems plaguing Iran, with Iranian industry unable to escape the quagmire of recession which has forced many businesses into closure and bankruptcy in the past year.
The article said that while the country may have short-term solutions to the funding problems plaguing Iran’s business sector, the truth must be accepted that there are no plans for long-term industrial development in the country, with all the leadership’s attention in this area focusing on how to escape from recession, which was itself caused by ill-informed or uninformed decisions.
Iran’s manufacturing sector is responsible for 38 percent of the country’s GDP, being the second most important economic sector after services. Even in 2014, before the collapse of oil prices, there were around 81,000 medium and small-sized manufacturing businesses in Iran providing one million jobs, which were financed through loans from banks and other financial institutions. Enduring Western banking sanctions, however, made it extremely difficult for many of these businesses to continue operating, with Financial Times figures showing that 20 percent of small and medium-sized Iranian manufacturers had closed.
It is known that small manufacturing businesses industries in Iran make up 92 percent of the total manufacturing sector output in Iran, and are responsible for 17 percent of all industrial production, providing around 45 percent of the labor opportunities in the industry sector. This means they are vitally important to the country’s industrial sector, said the editorial, emphasizing that while Iran has the potential and capabilities for massive industrial development, the lack of good development policies is hindering it.
Jahanesanat Newspaper
“The national virtual sphere”
Today’s editorial in Jahanesanat newspaper discussed the Iranian National Project to create a local Internet, which would be free of association with the global network.
The editorial said that Iran has long harbored a desire to create a global internet network in which users would be unable to access one another’s data.
Today, it continued, Iran is instead discussing a national solution to the problem of control over the domestic internet, an idea first put forward 10 years ago, though without concrete results to date
At the same time, the editorial pointed out, this project is inconsistent with the right of Iranian citizens to have free access to the outside world and has turned the idea of a national project to protect data and ensure the security of sensitive information into a project which aims to restrict Iranians’ access to the online world through blocking and filtering all global sites and social networks, including email servers and Facebook, with the objective of limiting the Iranian people to a virtual sphere made by the Iranian regime, which has succeeded to a large extent
In practice, however, the editorial continued, the vast majority of Iranian, even senior regime officials, use decryption programs and proxy servers to access social networks and to get around the regime’s restrictions on their accounts. Therefore, the author concluded, the government’s project to restrict citizens’ freedoms has simply made citizens more creative in ways to get around the restrictions and turned the people into lawbreakers, including the politicians who made the laws in the first place.
♦ 732 died of drug poison
Head of addiction studies team in the forensic center announced the death of 732 people of drug poison. He added that there are fifteen thousand unlicensed herbalists in Iran that contribute to the increase of blood pressure, kidney failure, liver, and brain diseases.
Source: Shahrvand Newspaper
♦ Iran and Italy in Talks for Construction of Gas Refinery
Iranian deputy minister of oil, Abbas Kazemi, announced that Iran has launched talks with the Italian company, Ani for the construction of a gas refinery in Iran. He added that Iran’s strategic reserves of gasoline have increased 700 million liters in compared with last year. Kazemi also added that the Iranian oil exports have increased 400 thousand barrels and can achieve 500 thousand barrels per day, but ports regulations deter this goal.
Source: Abrar Eghtisadi Newspaper
♦ High incidence of AIDS among the Iranian women
Head of AIDS and contagious diseases control center in Iran’s ministry of health, Mohammed Mahdi Khoya, said that incidence of AIDS among women have increased significantly. He Added that 84% of those infected are men and the remaining rate is women. According to statistics, Khoya said that there are 31 thousand and 950 people have the HIV in Iran and two times of this number are still unveiled.
Source: Bartarin Ha Site
♦ The arrest of Hashemi Rafsanjani’s advisor
Media advisor to the head of Expediency Discernment Council, Fu’ad Sadeghi was arrested by a court order for unknown reasons. Sadeqi was a manager of one of the active news sites and published information about the green movement leaders or what the regime calls, “Sedition Group” in 2009. In his report, Sadeqi attributed the assassination of the physics scientist, Masud Ali Mohammedi that was assassinated by Zionists, to the Iranian regime through publishing a speech for the scientist before the elections of 2009 to support one of the candidates. Mohammedi was a supporter of reformist Mir Hussein Mousavi that was killed in an explosion in Tehran in January 2010 next to his home.
Source: Watan Emroz Newspaper
20 MPs call for disqualification of Motahari
20 MPs Call for Disqualification of Ali Motahari from Being Parliament Vice-Speaker, stressing on his impeachment because of his latest positions and statements.
Source: Mashriq Site
♦ Turkey halts importing electricity from Iran
Turkish imports of the Iranian electricity in the first half of the current year declined 46% in compared with the same period of last year. Turkey has achieved 46% growth rate in the production of electricity in addition to the use of the renewable energy for the same reason, leading to the halt of importing Iranian electricity. It is noticeable that Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Iran were the biggest exporters of electricity to Turkey
Source: Fares Agency
♦ Rouhani’s Assistant; the president is following up the issue of house arrest within his powers.
Assistant president for legal affairs, Majeed Ansari, said that Rouhani is following up with the house arrest imposed on the Green Revolution leaders, Mir Hussein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, in compliance with his constitutional powers. Ansari added that the Iranian constitution ensures separation of the three branches of government, which means that house arrest is a judiciary branch competence, while the executive branch has no authority over this issue.
Source: Mashriq News
♦ Khamenei; Enemy to Receive Crushing Response If It Attacks Iran
The leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Khamenei stated that Armed Forces must boost their preparedness to deter any enemy’s aggression, stressing the importance of Air Defense as the frontline of countering any type of attack, and describing the southern frontier of Iran as sly, deceptive, and an opponent of peoples’ independence. Khamenei, in a meeting with the Iranian Air Defense commanders in Khatam Alanbia Air Defense Base stated that these enemies come in different images; sometimes the image of the United States and another like a tyrant regime like former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, considering that the fuss over the S300 and the fortified Fordo plant is an example of aggression against Iran, referring to the united States that is trying its best to deter Iran from gaining such capabilities through the belief that Iran has no right to defend itself.
Source: Arman Emroz Newspaper
♦ Handing over an Israeli citizen to the United States for accusations of selling weapons to Iran
Higher Israeli Court ruled to hand over the Israeli citizen, Eli Cohen to the US under the accusation of selling military spare parts to Iran, which violates the sanctions imposed on Tehran. Cohen denied these accusations, stressing that he bought and sold these parts after getting all necessary licenses from the Israeli ministry of defense and didn’t know that buyers would hand them out to Iran.
Source: Asr Iran Site
♦ Judiciary Spokesman Confirms Arrest of a Member of Iran’s Nuclear Negotiating Team on Espionage
Iranian judiciary spokesperson Mohsen Ejei confirmed the arrest of a “spy” in the Iranian nuclear negotiating team who is now under investigation by competent authorities, refusing to add any more information on the issue. In addition to that, the Iranian press confirmed that this person is a member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team and was responsible for the Iranian financial and banking files.
Source: Watan Emroz
