MESOP : IRAN INSIGHT SUMMARY !

Iran Headlines: Kurds and ISIS in Iraq, Nuclear Talks Continue & Natural Gas Production

ISIS IN IRAQ / Borrkings – Saban 20.6.2014 – Mehr News reports that while speaking in Najaf, the head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, Ammar al-Hakim emphasized, “Anyone who has betrayed Iraq and its people should be punished.”

Hard line Resalat News reports, “A group of Basiji writers and artists are ready to travel to Iraq and defend Shia holy sites.”

According to hard line Kayhan, Iraqi military forces made gains in the city of Tal Afar and reportedly killed a number of ISIS militants and upon further examination of their corpses, “their faces revealed them to be of Chechnyan descent.” The article also claims that Iraqi forces “discovered and seized Israeli weapons and Saudi Arabian telecommunications equipment.”

While speaking to Fars News Agency officials, Middle Eastern affairs expert Sadollah Zarei said, “Iraq is the center point that binds the Arabic, Persian and Turkish Islamic world, and historically has always been a prominent and special place in Shiism.” He added, “When the American’s pulled out, Iraqi Sunnis were dissatisfied with the current situation after have been in power for so long. The Kurds of Iraq sought to protect themselves from this conflict and fought to pursue their own interests and profit (from the situation).”

POLITICS

Reformist Etemaad covers the comments of Hadi Khamenei, the reformist brother of Iran’s Supreme Leader regarding domestic political strife. “The ultimate solution to our economic problems would be societal solidarity…one of the main issues are the arrests of political activists and political prisoners.  This siege should be lifted and their rights restored,” said Khamenei.

According to Mehr News Agency, Iran’s Minister of Justice Mostafa Pourmohammadi commented on the status and case of billionaire sanctions buster Babak Zanjani who remains in jail on fraud charges.  “The prosecutors are taking this case seriously and are actively auditing Zanjani’s property holdings.”

The managing director of Fars News Agency spoke to provincial news directors and said, “If the sedition (and protests following the 2009 presidential election) transpired in any other country, that country’s (system) would have collapsed.”

Mehr News Agency reports that while speaking to a group of Islamic scholars, Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of the hard line newspaper Kayhan said, “Some people claim that the Supreme Leader won’t allow Iran to have a relationship with the United States, but in actuality if the Supreme Leader wasn’t guiding us, there would be nothing left of the revolution.”