Financial Times: Iran will not reform its foreign investment policy in the oil sector if Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is elected president next week. Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, a spokesman for Mr Rafsanjani, president between 1989 and 1997 and a frontrunner in the presidential race, told the FT there were “no specific problems” with the “buy back” system. Under this system, Iran gives payment in kind to oil companies that develop its oilfields. It was introduced to attract foreign capital to boost oil production.

New York Times: People across this city took to the streets in joy on Wednesday after the Iranian soccer team qualified for the World Cup finals by beating Bahrain, 1-0. Drivers poured onto the streets honking their horns and shouting, “Iran! Iran!” In Africa Street, thousands of people danced to loud music played over sound systems in cars as the police watched in silence.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 08 – With only a draw needed against Bahrain’s football side for Iran to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, State Security Forces in their thousands have lined the perimeter in and around Tehran’s 100,000-seater Azadi Stadium to prevent sporadic demonstrations against the state.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 08 – Fake campaign posters of one of the eight candidates running in the June 17 presidential elections are propping up across Tehran’s walls, according to an Interior Ministry spokesman. The latest smear campaign has been directed against Iran’s hard-line former head of the State Security Forces, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
The posters feature a picture of Qalibaf wearing a tie, banned in the theocratic state on the grounds that it is too Western.

Reuters: Security was tight at Tehran’s Azadi stadium on Wednesday ahead of a World Cup soccer qualifier against Bahrain which could spark wild street celebrations if the Iranian team wins. Iran needs a draw to repeat its feats of 1978 and 1998 by joining the world’s soccer elite at the World Cup Finals in Germany next summer.