Selected Headlines

16 Oct 2009 18:411 Comment

Kalhor's wife says her husband not telling truth

Mehr | Etemad | Oct. 14-15, 2009

Mehdi Kalhor's wife Masoumeh Taheri-Mousavi spoke out against her husband for claiming in a recent interview that they have been divorced for over a year. Mehdi Kalhor is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's media adviser.

Taheri-Mousavi told the Mehr News Agency that under Iran's media laws, it had to publish her response to the claims made by her husband in his Oct. 12 interview.

Taheri-Mousavi said that Kalhor had lied about their divorce on the grounds of political differences and her alleged dislike for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. She added that she was ready to offer proof that she was still legally married to the presidential aide.

She went on to deny that she had any political leanings. "This is easily verifiable as I work for a government organization that is not unaware of the political activities of its employees and to date there has been no [indication of wrongful conduct] or cases filed against me."

In her interview with the daily Etemad, Taheri-Mousavi said that Kalhor left their home without an explanation over a year ago and has not paid alimony since then. She said has lodged an official complaint against him in Family Court.

She described Kalhor's interview with Mehr as an attempt to justify their daughter Narges' request to seek asylum in Germany.

"Even when Narges called him," she said, "he would not answer her calls. This last time that she wanted to go to Germany, three days before she left I called him myself to have him talk to her but he didn't answer my call."

Ayatollah's office attacked

Blog Watch: Khodkarabi

Plainclothes officers attacked Ayatollah Yosofali Sanei's office in Shiraz and tore down his name from the façade of the building.

Boroujerd struggles to maintain order in university

INA | Oct. 15, 2009

Boroujerd, a city in Lorestan province in west Iran, has reportedly been placed under tight security measures since the opening of the universities.

Police cars have been stationed in all city squares. Boroujerd's Azad University students have taken down pictures of the founders of the Islamic Revolution in all classrooms. Posters of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei are ripped up soon after they are put up.

MP warns subsidy cuts will cause 'serious shock' to public transport

Hamshahri | Oct. 14, 2009

A senior Iranian government official said energy subsidy cuts will impose a major price shock that could cause a public transportation "crisis" in the Islamic Republic, the daily Hamshahri newspaper reported Thursday.

"With the implementation of targeted subsidy legislation, the price of energy transport will undergo a significant rise, and there will be added pressure on public transportation in large cities, including Tehran," the daily reports, citing Mohammad-Reza Hossein-Nejad, who is a member of the Iranian parliament's Public Transportation Commission.

Iran's Majles, or parliament, is slated to vote next week on legislation to cut energy and food subsidies. Government supporters of the the subsidy legislation, which Iranian economists say the Islamic Republic has wanted to implement for several years in order to cut back on fiscal spending, say subsidy cuts will reduce Iran's vulnerability to sanctions.

The measures are expected to be unpopular among everyday Iranians.

"If we want to bring fuel prices to world price levels, the price of gasoline in the country will reach an extraordinary level... the public transportation system in Tehran will be confronted with a serious crisis," Hossein-Nejad added.

"It is possible the government does not consider itself obligated to (continue paying for) current bus and metro ticket subsidies... creating even more serious problems in the future," the MP added, reports Hamshahri.

Indian Energy Giant Halts Gasoline Sales to the Islamic Republic

Reuters | Oct. 14, 2009

India's Reliance Industries has halted gasoline sales to Iran and no longer purchases crude feedstock from the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing a senior Reliance executive.

"We do not import crude from Iran, we used to... it is not political. We look for cheap oil, we import from Venezuela and other countries," the news agency cites Maurice Bannayan, senior vice president at Reliance Industries, as saying.

Bannayan said all of the company's gasoline exports go to the United States, according to Reuters.

Grand Ayatollah criticizes notion of female governors

Press TV | Oct. 15, 2009

Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi-Golpayegani has lashed out at Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar for suggesting the appointment of female governors.

The criticism came after Mohammad-Najjar talked about the possibility of appointing female governors for a number of provinces last week.

"Unfortunately we see them [Najjar] come to the center of Shia Islam in Qom and announce that female governors will be appointed for a number of provinces," Grand Ayatollah Golpayegani said in a meeting with a number of cleric lawmakers.

"Who are you trying to oppose? Are you trying to go against the laws of God and the fundamentals of religion?," IRNA quoted the Ayatollah Golpayegani as saying.

Ayatollah Golpayegani added, "No other religion has placed such great value on women and it is only Islam that has bestowed the highest level of dignity on women and orders men to serve them."

"Serving women doesn't mean giving them men's work [responsibilities] and our Islamic culture has many differences with the culture of the East and the West."

The Ahmadinejad administration also faced oppositions when it nominated three women for ministerial positions.

In September, Iranian lawmakers gave their votes of confidence to one of the three female ministers proposed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad making Marziyeh Vahid-Dastjerdi the first woman minister in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic.

"If certain parties decide to alter the sacred values of the Islamic Revolution, without taking into consideration the views of the scholars and those devoted to the Revolution,... they will face the wrath of God and the rage of the nation," the Grand Ayatollah concluded.