Collecting Rafsanjani's Advertisements: 'Good and Cheap Advertising for the Ayatollah'

The newspaper Etemad highlighted part of Hassan Rouhani's speech during the February 11 rally, quoting the President of the Islamic Republic as saying, 'Our vote is not for the extremists.' This part of Rouhani's speech also appeared in the headlines of newspapers like Hamdeli and Te'adil, while the newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz, close to the Stability Front, described the rally as 'against the Americans.' The newspaper Hamdeli, in its editorial titled 'Once Again, a Negative Vote,' suggested that reformist groups should once again rely on their supporters' 'negative vote.' Fazlollah Yari wrote in Hamdeli that reformists 'if they cannot introduce sufficient options to society for people to vote 'yes' for them, can point their fingers at representatives of a thought that has squandered national interests abroad, isolated Iran, and turned the country's economy into an unprecedented state while choosing extremism and lawlessness as a solution for governing the country.' Hamdeli noted the historical impact of 'negative voting' in the past two decades, stating that in the March 7 elections, 'every negative vote against extremism and lawlessness would lead to results for reformists, even if their candidates' names do not come out of the ballot boxes at the end of the elections.' Ahmad Gholami, in the editorial of Shargh titled 'This is Rouhani's Parliament,' emphasized that 'although Hassan Rouhani criticizes the process of vetting and approval of candidates, he seems to be dissatisfied with the formation of the parliament.' The newspaper wrote, 'For the eleventh government, it does not matter whether reformists or conservatives occupy more seats in the parliament. The essence is effectiveness. The President has explicitly stated that 'between a small benefit and a definite loss, we choose the small benefit,' and 'interestingly, both conservatives and reformists, willingly or unwillingly, are aligned with this view; they too have preferred the small benefit over definite loss and have tried to limit their interventions to this small benefit so that their party politics do not come to a halt.' Abolqasem Sarhadi Zadeh, a political prisoner during the Shah's era who served several terms in parliament after the revolution, harshly criticized the disqualification of Mohammad Javad Hojjati Kermani in the Assembly of Experts elections in a note published in the Information newspaper titled 'Do Not Bring Down the Revolution's Heroes.' The writer emphasized that 'the vast majority of the revolution's veterans' today are 'at risk of being crushed and trampled by the chariot of elimination and the insults of extremists,' writing that 'the unworthy ones' who 'made Imam [Ayatollah Khomeini] bleed' are now dragging his companions and supporters into the abyss of elimination one by one. However, the newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, defended the elimination of the first generation of the revolution in an editorial titled 'Democratic Turn and the Challenge of the First Generation of the Revolution,' describing it as a sign of 'democracy' and wrote: 'A careful look at elections that have turned into challenges or are on the verge of becoming challenges shows that the main reason for this is the stability-seeking of the first generation of the revolution in the democratic turn. Some of the revolution's veterans want to accept democracy while still wanting to be the main axis of the country's and the system's developments.' Abdullah Ghanji, in the editorial of Javan, emphasized that 'the first generation does not want to believe in defeat from the people and seems to consider their defeat as the end of people's support for the revolution,' writing: 'The system's think tanks must consider that the democratic turn will naturally remove the first generation from the scene, and they should humbly respect this democracy, of which they are the creators of its laws, and instead of accusing the revolution of consuming its children, they should lose themselves in the ocean of the next generations of the revolution so that the series of growths can guarantee the future of the Islamic Republic of Iran.' The newspaper Ebtekar, while publishing a report on the start of the election campaigns for the fifth round of the Assembly of Experts elections, wrote: 'In several provinces, the number of seats in the Assembly of Experts that they benefit from is equal to their candidates or one less than the number of qualified candidates.' This newspaper noted that the Guardian Council ultimately disqualified Hassan Khomeini based on clause B of Article 3 of the election law, stating that according to this clause, the Guardian Council believes that the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini lacks 'ijtihad' to the extent that he can 'interpret some jurisprudential issues and identify a qualified leader.' The newspaper Qanoon, while publishing a report about the collection of 'legal advertisements for Hashemi Rafsanjani,' wrote: 'The lawlessness and arbitrariness that have long plagued the country continue and are reaching their peak as elections approach. Actions that start with insults, defamation, and accusations in cyberspace and speeches end with the physical removal of candidates' advertisements.' This newspaper emphasized: 'The crisis that was warned about long ago regarding its widespread nature to the Ministry of Interior seems today, on the eve of elections, that this institution can no longer do anything to protect candidates and combat immorality.' The newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh, however, described the removal of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's advertising banners as 'the hardliners' promotion for the Ayatollah,' quoting Mohammad Hossein Maqimi, the political deputy of the Minister of Interior, as saying: 'These behaviors have a counterproductive effect and are good advertising for the Ayatollah; the more they repeat this, the more it is actually advertising for him, and that too is inexpensive advertising.' The newspaper Shahrevand reported on 'the change in oil flow in favor of Iran' and emphasized that 'increasing Iran's oil production and decreasing OPEC's production disrupts Saudi Arabia's game.' However, this newspaper reminded that 'despite the increase in oil prices and the possibility of a meeting among producers, Iran still has a long way to go to regain its share, and the monthly OPEC report shows that in January, after the lifting of sanctions, Iran's oil production increased by 38,100 barrels to 2.925 million barrels.' Alnaz Mohammadi reported on the social page of Shahrevand that Hassan Timouri, a 26-year-old resident of the Nematabad neighborhood of Tehran who went missing seven months ago, on July 19, during the floods in Kon and Solqan, has now been found a week ago, but 'with a cold and dry body, hair still showing mud on them, and a cold face, in the forensic medicine morgue.' The family of Hassan Timouri told Shahrevand that Tehran's security officers initially told them that their son had been 'buried,' but 'later said that the corpse had remained in the morgue for seven months.' There is still no news of 'Mansour Afjeh Besh' and 'Ramin Mirzaei,' two other missing persons from the July floods in Tehran. The newspaper Sepid published a report about 'Nurse Day' and mentioned the holding of two ceremonies for Nurse Day, one by the Nursing System Organization and one by the Ministry of Health, quoting Abdullah Safri, a member of the Supreme Council of the Nursing System Organization, as saying: 'It is completely meaningless that we have two ceremonies to commemorate Nurse Day on the same day.' Abdullah Safri, referring to 'the neglected and dusty nursing laws' and that 'for over 30 years, the law has stated that nursing is a hard and hazardous job,' but this law has not been implemented, and now 'our question for the representatives who come to this ceremony and seek publicity is where they have been for the past four years and why they do not supervise and pay attention to the laws they enact?'