Trend: Iranian president Hassan Rouhani expressed sorrow about country not having any true political parties, ISNA news agency reported. Rouhani made the remarks during the ceremony of presenting Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli as Iran’s new Interior Minister.
Rouhani says Iran has no true political parties
Iran to teach drone-hunting to school students
AP: An Iranian newspaper is reporting that the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guards paramilitary units plan to teach drone-hunting to school students. Iranian hardliners have long sought a larger role for the military in the country’s education system.
South Africa’s Sasol disposes of Iranian unit
Reuters: South African petrochemicals group Sasol said on Monday it had disposed of its Iranian joint-venture Arya Sasol Polymer for an undisclosed sum. The company has said the value of Sasol’s investment in Arya was written down to 2.3 billion rand, according to an August 1 trading statement.
Iran, Hezbollah now running Syria: opposition
AFP: Opposition leader Ahmad Jarba said Syria is now being run by regime allies Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, with President Bashar al-Assad out of the picture, in an interview published Sunday.
Ex-official: Iran is world’s 6th missile power
AP: The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi on Sunday as saying that Iran reached this level of manufacturing by “attaining domestic technology for building solid fuel missiles, as well as designing and manufacturing surface-to-surface long-range missiles.”
The West is deluded about the Middle East – just look at Iran
Sunday Telegraph: Nowhere is the West’s inability to grasp the realities of Middle Eastern politics more obvious than in its self-deceiving attitude to the most powerful and menacing regime of all, the theocratic dictatorship that rules over Iran.
EU’s Ashton urges Iran’s new FM to resume nuclear talks
AFP: The EU’s top diplomat Catherine Ashton, who leads global talks with Tehran on its disputed nuclear drive, called for a resumption of the talks in a phone conversation Saturday with Iran’s new foreign minister.
Iran’s president says “no change” in foreign policy principles
Xinhua: Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday that Iran will not change the principles in its foreign policy, semi-official Mehr news agency reported. Rouhani made the remarks during a ceremony held for the inauguration of new Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif.
Anaheim convention will address U.S. policy on Iran
Los Angeles Times: Hundreds of Iranian Americans are expected to attend a convention in Anaheim on Saturday that will explore the current state of Iranian politics after the election of new president Hassan Rouhani.
Iran says it has about 18,000 nuclear centrifuges
AFP: Iran has about 18,000 centrifuges, including 10,000 active ones, the outgoing head of the country’s atomic agency said Saturday, confirming figures from the UN watchdog overseeing its disputed nuclear drive.
