Exclusive news from Iran for JSSNews

1: For the first time since the 1979 revolution, an American trade ship arrived at Bushehr port – A transatlantic American trade ship carrying livestock arrived at the Iranian Bushehr port. Such an event is unprecedented since 1979. Iranian officials at the port tried to play down the fact that the ship came from the US. Two aspects are unique about the ship’s landing: the fact that the ship came directly from the US and the fact that live animals are brought for the first time to Bushehr.

2: Iran’s Supreme Leader representative was denied a visa to the UAE – The UAE government refused to issue a visa for Hujatalislam Madani Bajestani, who was supposed to act as the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader in the UAE. A short while ago, the UAE decided to deport Hujatalislam Hosseini who had been a Shiite preacher in this country for more than 18 years.

3: Reshuffle at Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs – The Asr-Iran website reported that Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Reza Shibani would be appointed head of the Department for Middle East and CIS Issues, one of the most important departments of Iran’s Foreign Ministry. Ali Ahani, a former ambassador to France, Italy and Belgium and currently head of the Education Department, would be appointed head of the Department for European Issues. Dr. Mohammad Baqer Khormshad would replace him as head of the Education Department. Hassan Qashqavi, currently the ministry’s spokesman, would become head of the Department for Consular and Parliamentary Issues.

4: Iranian sports journalist seeks political asylum in Italy - After reports about several Iranian athletes who defected to Western countries while attending international competitions, now comes another report about a sports journalist who joined the Iranian basketball team as embedded reporter and decided not to return home. The journalist is currently staying at his relatives’ house in Sweden and asked for political asylum in Italy.

4bis: The Iranian women’s karate team will not attend the tournament in Turkey due to Turkish prohibition on head covers. The leader of the Iranian women’s karate team announced that the team would not take part in the upcoming competitions in Istanbul, as Turkey objected having head-covered athletes on the mats.

5: Three more newspapers have been banned in Iran. Iran’s Press Supervisory Committee cancelled the licenses of two newspapers, Farhange Ashti (“Culture and Reconciliation”) and Arman (“Symbol”). The committee accused Farhange Ashti of receiving money from foreigners. Another newspaper which lost its license recently is a local paper published in Shiraz and said to have a Reformist agenda.

6: Alarabiya website: Iran has 40 thousand spies and mercenaries in Gulf countries – Arab news network ‘Alarabiya’ quoted an anonymous source, said to be a former member of Iran’s security forces, who claimed that Iran has 40 thousand spies and mercenaries in the Arab countries along the Persian Gulf. The anonymous source said that Iran had 3,000 spies in Kuwait alone. He said these were very professional agents who offered information for money. He said Iran focused on Arab Gulf countries due to their proximity to Iran and the large Shiite population they had.

7: Concern over the fate of a former Defense Ministry worker who was sentenced to death after being accused of espionage - Human rights activists report that Saleh Soltan Zade, who was accused of spying and sentenced to death, was taken out of his prison cell 8 days ago. His condition and whereabouts remain unknown ever since, which raises concern over his fate. Solatan Zade used to work for the Defense Ministry and was involved in the Shihab 3 missile project. He was arrested 3 years ago by the Iranian army’s counterespionage department.

8: Khaled Mash’al heavily criticized by Iran for using the term “The Arabian Gulf”. The chairman of the Majlis Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, Alaoldin Boroujerdi, criticized in harsh words the chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, Khaled Mash’al, for using the name “The Arabian Gulf” rather than “The Persian Gulf”. Boroujerdi said that this error made by Mash’al cannot be acceptable whatsoever, and that the term he used was fraudulent. The conflict over the naming of the gulf between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula goes back many years. While Arabs normally refer to it as the “Arabian Gulf”, Iranians refer to it as the “Persian Gulf” and so do most English speakers and other foreigners.

9: The amount of cash in the Iranian market reaches US$ 215B. In its latest official report, the Central Bank of Iran announced that the amount of cash in the Iranian market increased in the first half of the current Persian calendar year (beginning on March 20/21) and now reached US$ 215B. CBI’s governor said that this increase would not have any effect on the inflation rate providing that the amount of money would be used in a proper way.

10: A man was executed in secret; increasing concern over the fate of his wife – Rahim Mohammadi was executed Wednesday without informing his family or lawyer. The man and his wife, Kobra Babaei, were sentenced to death by stoning a year ago. His secret execution raises deep concern among human rights activists that his wife will be subject to a similar fate.