Election Warning from Aref to Rouhani

The newspaper Shargh, while publishing a report on the "second provincial table meeting with the Reformists' Policy Council" held on Saturday at the office of the Combatant Clergy Association, has reported on the "struggle of despair and hope" within the Reformists' headquarters. Marjan Tavakoli, a reporter for Shargh, wrote about the atmosphere of this meeting: "The statistics provided by the heads of election tables from some provinces regarding the rate of disqualifications did not reflect well on the status of Reformist forces, to the extent that in some provinces only one of the registered Reformist candidates was able to receive approval for candidacy," and for this reason, "some provincial Reformist representatives were disheartened by the current situation. They believed that if negotiations do not yield results and the situation continues as it is, the Reformists will not be able to present a list in the elections." According to this newspaper, other provincial representatives managed to change the atmosphere of despair in the Reformists' headquarters with their remarks, pointing out the potential of candidates who "may not be well-known due to lack of party activity but are Reformists and have the capability to be included in the Reformists' lists." Furthermore, Mohammad Reza Aref and Abdul Vahid Mousavi Lari also "urged Reformists not to lose hope." The "most important solution" proposed by Aref and Mousavi Lari at the meeting was that "the situation in each province should be examined individually, and plans should be made for each province based on the forces that remain or may return as a result of negotiations," and also to consider supporting candidates who "are not well-known or are among the non-Reformist supporters of the government and even belong to the wise conservatives." The newspaper Etemad also quoted Abdollah Naseri, a member of the Reformists' Policy Council, stating: "Reformists have set two main programs; one is pursuing the rights of disqualified individuals and the other is that they will participate in the elections and will submit a list under any circumstances." The headline "Aref's Election Warning to Rouhani" is the front page of the February 4 issue of the newspaper Arman. This newspaper, while publishing an interview with Ali Soufi, referred to the "continuous meetings of Mohammad Reza Aref and Hassan Rouhani over the past two years" and wrote: "Dr. Aref warned Mr. Rouhani that if the Reformists do not succeed in the tenth parliamentary elections, Mr. Rouhani will not be in the Pasteur office in 96." The Arman newspaper also quoted Ali Soufi as saying: "Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Reza Aref had jointly decided that the Reformist movement and the supporters of Mr. Rouhani would enter the parliamentary elections united and with complete cohesion, although some tried to create differences and distances between the Reformist movement and Mr. Rouhani's supporters, which they were not successful in doing." The newspaper Shahrvand, in a note titled "The Seven Bans of Article 28," emphasized that elections in Iran suffer from the rigidity of the law, especially since the seven clauses of Article 28 of the election law "pertain to the most obvious and primary general conditions of candidates and do not in any way determine their competence and specialized qualifications." Mehdi Dastranj, in a note for the Shahrvand newspaper, emphasized that "two clauses" of Article 28 regarding "belief and practical commitment to Islam and the Islamic Republic" and "expressing loyalty to the Constitution and the principle of absolute clerical authority" have been interpreted so broadly that "the suspicion of arbitrary action by the Guardian Council" is easily heard, and even these two clauses have "disqualified Ali Motahari." According to this newspaper, proving the first and third clauses of Article 28 of the election law in individuals is difficult and there are "no clear indicators" to substantiate them regarding candidates, and the "lack of transparency and specificity of such conditions in the law and a clear interpretation of them leads to a kind of superficiality, sycophancy, and systemic flattery that should be avoided." The government-aligned newspaper Iran reported on a press conference of the presidents of Iran and China and the "targeting of $600 billion trade between Tehran and Beijing over ten years," stating: "Tehran hosted the leader of China on Saturday, and the President of the People's Republic of China visited Tehran after nearly 14 years to be the highest-ranking state official among the world's major powers to visit Tehran after the JCPOA." Newspapers close to conservatives, which usually criticize the visits of senior European officials to Tehran, welcomed the Chinese president's visit in their Sunday issues. Kayhan, in addition to dedicating its front page photo to the meeting between Xi Jinping and Ali Khamenei, quoted the Supreme Leader as saying: "Iran will never forget China's cooperation during the sanctions." The Resalat newspaper also wrote in its evaluation of the expansion of Iran-China relations: "China can be a guarantor of a win-win partnership." However, the newspaper Jahan San'at wrote on its front page: "China is not backing down." This newspaper pointed out that "even though it was predicted that with the lifting of sanctions and improvement in the international atmosphere, Chinese goods would be removed from the Iranian market, evidence suggests otherwise." The newspaper expressed hope that at least "with the expansion of trade relations between Iran and China, the influx of low-quality Chinese goods that enter the country through illegal means will be eliminated," and instead, Iran will benefit from "China's positive economic features in developing economic infrastructure." Kayhan, in its editorial titled "Post-JCPOA Model," described the arrest of ten American sailors as a "good post-JCPOA model" and emphasized that "the display of power was the only thing that the IRGC did in the Persian Gulf, and it yielded good results," writing: "Our post-JCPOA model must be a combination of diplomacy and power." "Pride in Killing" is a report in the newspaper Ebtekar about the competition for illegal hunting of rare animal species among a group of hunters in Iran. This newspaper mentioned "lack of familiarity with hunting laws and lack of awareness of the type of catch" as reasons that have led "some individuals to easily step into the forests, plains, seas, and mountains of vast Iran and dare to kill a living being" and even "take pictures with the dead animal and consider its carcass a medal around their necks." One of the advisors to the head of the Department of Environment Protection cited "a shortage of 7,000 rangers" as one of the reasons for the increase in hunting rare species but rejected "hunters' ignorance" and told the Ebtekar newspaper: "The rifle of some of these individuals is worth 150 million tomans, so it cannot be said that these individuals are unaware of the laws that lead them to illegal hunting." The newspaper Donya-ye Eghtesad wrote on its front page titled "Aircraft Manufacturers in Tehran" that "one week after the lifting of international sanctions against Iran, 85 foreign aircraft manufacturers and service providers from 35 countries will gather in Tehran today." The Arman newspaper published statements from Ahmad Sadeghi, head of the Tehran Municipality's Disaster Prevention and Management Organization, about "the establishment and activation of a rapid flood and earthquake warning system in the capital by installing 800 warning loudspeakers in the streets," describing it as "loudspeaker therapy." This newspaper noted that "of the 31 natural disasters identified in the country, 26 threaten the capital of Iran, and if we also add unnatural disasters to the threats in Tehran, the number of threats that could be catastrophic for over 12 million people may reach about 50 threats," writing: "Now consider that officials are taking actions to prevent and manage crises in the capital that do not meet Tehran's needs in this regard. Installing 800 warning loudspeakers in Tehran is one of these actions." In this context, "organizing mourners" to "compensate for the bitterness of the JCPOA," letters of protest from disqualified candidates to the Guardian Council, and the arrest of the "instigator" of the embassy attack: "a weak and superficial individual" from 3,000 Reformist candidates, only 30 were approved for candidacy.