Editorials of Iranian newspapers on Saturday 25th 2016 covered minor topics during one of the most important periods of development of the Iranian society. The Editorials discussed the issue of money waste in reference to the government officials’ high salaries that are still circulated in newspapers. They also highlighted defending the existence of critical thinking houses for the government’s performance on the side of reformists, in addition to the British referendum on secession from the European Union and its relationship to Iran, along with the vision of decreasing currency exchange rates.
Prominent Editorials
“Thinking houses or atonement houses” Sharq Newspaper discussed in its editorial the issue of houses of thinking that was raised since the middle of last month. These are periodic meetings of conservative stream to discuss ideas on how to defeat the reformist stream and tarnish their image in front of the Iranian public opinion, which ignited the latest strong reaction by reformist media, including Sharq Newspaper. The editorial says that these houses failed in their economic field quest, because the reformist government has no real shortcomings on the economic level, so they are directing their efforts toward the cultural domain and attacking the government cultural centers. The editorial thinks that these thinking houses are considered a form of democracy; Nevertheless, conservatives present an alternative to the bad situation criticized by them, and their goal is not the reform, but to hinder the function of government.
“How long will waste capitals last,” Ebtekar Newspaper brought up in its editorial again the file of the astronomical salaries of officials of the Iranian government. The editorial says that the Iranian society is still under the influence of torrent frequent news about the salaries of officials but, unfortunately, in every important stage of development of the Iranian society, a minor question comes to the forefront to fade out the importance of the central issues; although, money waste in Iran is not a new issue, hundreds of millions of dollars were embezzled, but the surprising matter is that the Iranian society focuses on minor issues, which means to anticipate the worst without demanding to fix up what is constant and already declared. Instead of discussing ways of prevent and stop the constant waste, the society in busy with unproven and undeclared frauds. The editorial is trying to provide mechanisms of preventing the recurrence of such financial corruption, but at the same time, dismisses the Iranian public opinion of tracking conservative stream frauds during Ahmadinejad’s era.
“Iranian Economists seek the decrease of the exchange rate,” Jehan Senaat Newspaper presented in its editorial the second economic goal of reformers after reducing inflation rates. The editorial said that production, productive investments and employment are all indicators related to the variables of exchange rate and bank interest. This idea is the core point of argument between the thoughts of reformists and conservatives on the economic policies. Conservatives believe that increasing production and employment rates will make the interest and exchange rates decline, unlike the reformers plans. The editorial says that the dollar rose at the end of Ahmadinejad’s era 300%, which caused devastating consequences for the Iranian economy, and it is natural not to welcome people who do not participate in the production process, but gain their profit from the rising and falling prices of Dollar. In addition, it confirms that some industrial countries’ policies, such as China and South Korea who reduce their currency prices in order to increase the competitiveness of their goods exported globally, does not apply to Iran, because most raw materials and industrial intermediate goods used in Iran are imported from abroad. Thus, the rise in the exchange rate will lead to the increase of the value of the Iranian exported goods. This idea is also responded to by the conservative stream that the solution to this dilemma comes through the expansion of the Iranian industries, and manufacturing of intermediate goods and production requirements inside Iran.
In fact, the Iranian economic programs are mainly connected to personal and communal groups’ interests that support every political stream. The political stream that takes office puts up economic policies in favor of its supporters.
“Defeat of the European dream,” Siasat Rose comments in its editorial on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The editorial says that Britain voted to secede after forty three years of membership in the Union. The editorial believes that Iran’s relationship with the European Union has suffered from the lack of independence of the European countries’ foreign policy decisions. Therefore, the EU’s decisions to cut its relationship with Iran are binding all its member states. It cut its relationship with Iran several times after charges of involvement in incidents like Mykonos. Although the EU’s resumed its relationship with Iran, the comprehensiveness of the European Union’s foreign policy decisions has hurt Iran considerably. The editorial hopes that more European countries walk in the footsteps of Britain and withdraw from the Union until it breaks down completely. But the fears of many European countries from the Russian Federation, especially in Eastern Europe make them adhere to membership of the European Union. The editorial reflects the Iranian spirit wishing to destroy all political entities at which Iran cannot apply for membership. Iran is known to make strenuous efforts to join any international or regional associations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for Economic Cooperation and the World Trade Organization. The editorial attributes Britain‘s secession from EU to its objection of the European Union submission to the American policy, which is a wrong conclusion since Britain is known to be supportive of the American policies more than the other European countries, and perhaps the EU’s abstinence to support the US policies makes some British politicians displeased with the European Union.
Prominent News
♦ Zarif meets his Russian counterpart in Tashkent
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov on the margin of the ten member states of SCO meeting on Friday in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. They discussed common issues of bilateral and regional relations, along with SCO development program and Iran’s official membership in the organization.
Source: IRNA.
♦ SCO rejects permanent membership of Iran
SCO has rejected Iran’s membership because of a number of technical issues in spite of the Russian support to Iran. The news has reported that Iran has always been demanding to join this organization during the past years with the support of Russia.
Source: Mehr News Agency.
♦ British-Iran trade policies won’t change
Iranian Chamber of Commerce Chairperson, Reza Mari, commented on the British withdrawal from the European Union, saying that the British economic policies have always relied on the political trends of the US. Despite this secession from the EU, Britain’s policies toward Iran will never change in the future.
Source: Abrar Eghtesadi.
♦ The Iranian agricultural exports amount to 802 million dollars in two months
Mehr News Agency reported that the Iranian agricultural exports during April and March of this year amount to $ 802 million with an increase rate of the same period of last year. The agency reported that 955 thousand tons of agricultural crops were exported abroad during the last two months.
Source: Mehr News Agency.
♦ Three children born drug addicted in Isfahan weekly
The Secretary of prevention and control of drugs Counsel in the Iranian province of Isfahan, Mustafa Hadi Zadeh, commenting on the issue of births among drug-addicted women and their impact on newborns who are considered addicted, saying that three children a week are born drug addicted in Isfahan. He also stated that the consumption of artificial drugs rate such as Heroine and Amvetmin is rising in the province.
Source: Mehr News Agency.
♦ Abu Talebi: British withdrawal from the European Union is a historical opportunity for Iran
President’s political affairs assistant, Hamid Abu Talebi considered that the British withdrawal from the European Union is a historic opportunity for Iran, saying, “We should take advantage of this opportunity to our best.”
Hamid Abu Talebi wrote on his profile on Twitter, “The British withdrawal from the European Union is a major earthquake that hit Europe, and England now is out of the European Union.”
He added that stars of the European Union Flag are falling gradually, and pointed out that the economic developments of the countries of southern Europe, terrorism and immigration crises indicate that this Union is in a stage of falling down; but the falling of the corner stone of dominoes started with the referendum on the British withdrawal from the European Union.
Abo Talebi also pointed out that the European Union lost confidence of people in European long time ago. He added, “This new system will provide strength, security and welfare to others.
It is worth mentioning that the referendum on British withdrawal from the European Union and the calculation of votes began at ten o’clock on Thursday evening and continued until Friday morning.
In the end, the result was 52% in favor of England’s secession from the European Union.
Source: Mehr News Agency.
♦ Boeing: selling airplanes to Iran was part of the nuclear agreement
Assistant of Government Activity Affairs in Boeing, Timothy Keating announced that the Insurance of the American and European Companies on the Iranian Airways and selling new commercial aircrafts to Iran were inevitable in order to accomplish the nuclear deal.
Keating, the senior official of the government activity affairs in Boeing in Chicago branch, in a message to Jeep Hansarling, Chairman of Banking Committee in the US House of Representatives, and the Republican Representative Peter Roskam, that the Congress knows very well that selling commercial aircrafts to Iran was part of the nuclear deal negotiations.
This message came in response to another message from Hansarling and Roskam, which they sent a week ago to “Dennis Molenberg,” the CEO of Boeing, and warned that the American companies should not participate in the arming of the Iranian government.
Source: Fares News Agency
