Persian Press Review

February 7, 2011 - 0:0

This column features excerpts from the editorials, commentaries, and news articles of the leading Iranian newspapers.

Sunday’s headlines
JAVAN: Mubarak and his son resign the ruling party leadership, the first step toward the fall of Mubarak
KAYHAN: Dictator is about to flee; New York Times says Mubarak will go to Germany
KAYHAN: 1 billion liters of gasoline will be exported next year
KHORASAN: President says impeachment of transport minister was illegal
KHORASAN: Iran joins gasoline exporters
JAME JAM: Expediency Council responds to president’s letter
JAME JAM: Cineastes honored during the opening ceremony of the Fajr International Film Festival
HEMAYAT: President, cabinet reaffirm allegiance to Imam Khomeini
HEMAYAT: A promise to draft compressive plan to (reduce) air pollution within a month
HEMAYAT: The payment of New Year’s bonus to civil servants by weekend
HAMSHAHRI: Two Iranian satellites to be unveiled during the Ten-Day Dawn celebrations (February 1-11)
HAMSHAHRI: National Development Fund reserves reach $22b
JOMHORI ESLAMI: West and NATO leaders fear uprising in Egypt and Muslim nations’ awakening
TAFAHOM: No need to import gasoline from Venezuela as Iran becomes self-sufficient
JAHANE SANAT: government’s $14b income in subsidy reform
Leading articles
KAYHAN in an analysis says where does the intifada of the Egyptian Muslims lead? What will be the international consequences of the current volcano which has erupted in Egypt? The consequences are so important that the issue is being put on the agenda of the Munich security conference. The EU even held an urgent session to waive visa ban on Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi to attend the conference. Though Salehi did not deem it necessary to participate in the conference the waiving of the visa ban carried important meanings. What was behind the decision by the EU? Had Iran showed a green light to the West in the Istanbul meeting, a meeting that the West called “disappointing”? Or is there any common viewpoint on developments in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan? The outright answer is that the West can not ignore the role of Iran and it cannot hold such international conferences without the presence of Iran. The “stormy” intifada in Egypt, which geographically connects Asia, Africa and Europe, signifies the importance of Iran. The writer says at the beginning the Western media outlets called the Egyptian unrest an ‘economic movement’. Now, they say if the Egyptians succeed to overthrow the Mubarak regime they would establish a system similar to those of Turkey or Indonesia, and not Iran. On Friday as the Supreme Leader had not yet finished his Friday prayers a secret security network (spider network) hurriedly issued a statement under the name that Muslim Brotherhood in a statement in which it claimed the revolution in Egypt is not an Islamic revolution and this group does not seek to take power in Egypt and only seeks reforms. This false story was widely broadcast by Radio Farda, BBC, VoA and tens of other related news networks. It was similar to a false report that was published on the home page of the Gooya news during the Gaza war in which it claimed that a Hamas member has said in the Ashura tragedy Yazid was right and Imam Hussein (AS) was wrong! The writer goes on to say whether Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood succeed to take the power or not is a secondary issue. The most important point is that the global Zionism which until a few years ago launched wars and created crises in the heart of the Middle East today is feeling the pains of earthquake at the gates of Tel Aviv. The writer says it is predicted this wave will submerge the occupier regime without any hot war and that a “sweet and silent death” is awaiting Israel.
JAVAN in an article says there is close relationship between the popular uprising in Egypt and the stances taken by the West in a way that as the domain of the unrest spreads the West’s support for the Mubarak government decreases. The Obama administration in the first days of the uprising in Egypt called the Mubarak government stable but two days later announced that the U.S. financial aid to Egypt has been frozen. The writer asks what has prompted the West to take such an approach? The writer adds the U.S., despite slogans of human rights and democracy, has always defended the dictatorial regimes in countries like Chile, Iran, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Panama and it has withdrawn its support for dictators when they have lost their efficiency. The writer says the second point is that negotiations have started in the occupied lands. The PLO officials and the Zionist regime and some Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers believe that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority started when the two sides felt that a “third movement” under the name of Islam is dawning in Palestine