Iran Live Coverage: Supreme Leader Announces a "Political and Economic Epic"
Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 15:38See also Iran Non-Story of The Day: Tehran Has a Plutonium Reactor!
1525 GMT: Campus Watch. The political argument over President Ahmadinejad's attempt to remove four heads of prominent universities continues....
Asr-e Iran claims that Minister of Science Kamran Daneshjoo has resisted the order, raising questions about Ahmadinejad's next step.
The Student Basij Organization has condemned Ahmadinejad's attempt to replace the head of Tehran University.
1425 GMT: Supreme Leader Watch. In a New Year address in the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, the Supreme Leader has put up a defiant front: "Despite all animosities, our nation is victorious and proud."
While Ayatollah Khamenei expressed this defiance across a range of issues, it is these lines that will grab the headlines in the Western media:
Israel's leaders often threaten Iran, but they know if they commit it, we will destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa into ashes. Israel's leaders often threaten Iran, but they know if they commit it, we will destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa into ashes.
Khamenei then turned to the nuclear issue and relations with the US:
Sanctions had some impacts but caused a positive movement within ourselves to use our great capacities and talents. With its successes, our nation proved that living independent of USA does not mean being behind others.
Americans are continuously sending messages and request for negotiations, saying they are not seeking regime change. Those days that they wanted to overthrow the Islamic Republic, they couldn't do a damn thing, and it won't happen in the future either.
However, the Supreme Leader left open a possibility in his challenge. Within his declaration, "The United States must prove that negotiation is not a tactic to deceive public opinion", was the implicit message that direct talks with Washington are possible.
1104 GMT: Election Watch. An EA correspondent in Iran writes:
A very interesting incident --- Jam-e Jam invited Tehran Mayor [Mohammad-Baqer] Qalibaf as a guest on its Nowruz programme.
This is very strange, as Iranian TV does not usually invite potential Presidential candidates, as it would seem like the Iranian system is supporting someone.
Has Qalibaf been invited to Jam-e Jam, a channel that is for Iranians outside Iran, to introduce him more to the people outside the country? Does it mean the system is backing Qalibaf for President?
Another EA correspondent adds, "Qalibaf also has a website and other material aimed at Iranians outside Iran. Of the two Presidential candidates linked to the Revolutionary Guards, I think he is the preferred one since [Mohsen] Rezaei is a trifle outspoken."
0828 GMT: Oil Watch. Royal Dutch Shell has lost $2.3 billion in trade of Iranian crude because of sanctions, according to Reuters.
The loss arose when Shell froze trade with Iran before the European Union's imposition of sweeping oil sanctions on 1 July 2012. The company had not settle its accounts with the National Iran Oil Company, including the money owed, before the embargo took effect.
0808 GMT: Food Watch. Ukrainian private companies are considering an increase in food exports to Iran despite payment problems caused by international sanctions, Minister of Agriculture Mykola Prysyazhnyuk has said.
The minister said that the shipments by private companies were already under way for "direct payments". He declined to give details of how Iranian consumers are paying.
Prysyazhnyuk said an Iranian official had visited Kiev to discuss the arrangements but did not give details.
Ukraine has exported 155,500 tonnes of barley, 2,835 tonnes of millet, 92,580 tonnes of sunoil and 155,200 tonnes of maize to Iran so far in the season from July 2012 to June 2013.
Those figures are overall decreases on the 2011/12 levels of 1.7 million tonnes of maize, 117,800 tonnes of barley and 148,000 tonnes of sunoil to Iran.
0655 GMT: Supreme Leader Watch. As usual, most news on Nowruz stopped for Iranians' celebration of the New Year.
There was, however, the standard setpiece of the Supreme Leader's speech. Having used previous Marches for a "Year of Economic Jihad" and a "Year of National Production", Ayatollah Khamenei was not going to be deterred by Iran's current difficulties from announcing a "political and economic epic".
The Islamic Republic, he explain, had "defeated enemies in their attempts to paralyze Iran by imposing economic sanctions" and to isolate Iran internationally.
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