Former Minister of Intelligence Claims: Meeting Between American Spy and Friday Prayer Leaders

Gholamreza Tajgardoon, a current reformist representative and elected member of the next parliament, evaluated the tenth parliament as a 'more moderate and efficient parliament' in an interview with the newspaper Etemad, stating: 'The next parliament, regardless of any factional alignments, is certainly no longer a parliament of conservatives, and they know this themselves.' According to Etemad, Tajgardoon remarked: 'From one perspective, it can be said that reforms won this election. After all, on one hand, reformists could not have candidates in many areas at all, and on the other hand, in places where they could compete, their main candidates and well-known figures were out of the race,' and this result was achieved 'under completely imbalanced conditions.' This parliament member stated: 'Even if we accept that the weightings so far have not had a definitive winner, this should not lead to pride and honor for conservatives,' and a clear symbol of this situation was 'in Tehran where the most prominent conservative figures were absolute losers against a list that could not even match them in terms of fame.' Etemad simultaneously reported that candidates from the 'Hope List' in Tehran who made it to parliament received an average of 1,167,180 votes, while conservative candidates received an average of 919,687 votes, and candidates from the Voice of the Nation received an average of 389,768 votes in Tehran. The newspaper Ebtekar analyzed the elections for the Assembly of Experts and reported that 'with the presence of 32 new figures in the fifth term of the Assembly of Experts, the composition of this assembly will face a 38 percent change compared to the fourth term.' This newspaper also noted: 'Mohammad Yazdi, Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, and Mohammad Baqir Baqeri Kani in Tehran, Hassan Aqa Shariati Niasar in Isfahan, Ali Fallahian in Khuzestan, Abdul Rahman Khodai in Kurdistan, Hassan Mamdouhi in Kermanshah, Seyyed Mohammad Taqi Shahrokhi in Lorestan, Gholamali Naeem Abadi in Hormozgan, and Ali Razini in Hamadan are also representatives from the fourth term of the Assembly of Experts who could not secure the necessary votes for the fifth term.' Fayyaz Zahed, a reformist figure, emphasized in an interview with the newspaper Hamdeli that 'we must deal wisely with the Aref brand.' He introduced Mohammad Reza Aref as 'the reserve of the reform movement for the presidential election after two terms of Mr. Rouhani' and mentioned the head of the reformists as a candidate for the presidency of parliament, but emphasized that 'sometimes for a famous and prominent brand, advancement is not important; rather, maintaining the position and status that has been gained in public opinion is what matters.' Abbas Ali Toutounchi, a political affairs expert, in the editorial of the newspaper Hamdeli, pointed out that 'one of the main strategies of conservatives in several recent elections has been to create a binary opposition and identity boundaries in society,' writing: 'In the elections of March 7, people who were labeled daily 'stood together; the affluent without pain, the English, supporters of Israel and America, Westernized individuals, compromisers, deceived individuals, rioters, upper-class individuals, intellectuals, and people with various titles and labels tired of six years of humiliation and being accused responded to this unethical strategy with a cultural, identity, and political consensus.' The newspaper Jomhouri Eslami reported in its 'For Your Information' column on Thursday about the request for 'rejection of the credentials' of Nader Qazipour following the publication of a protest statement by the Islamic Women’s Society, Urmia branch, and the criticism of Mahdi Qureshi, the Friday prayer leader of this city, regarding the insulting remarks of this representative. This newspaper noted that Nader Qazipour stated that 'the parliament is not a place for women and should not be handed over to children and sissies,' writing: 'Qazipour faced protests from the media for this insult and 'many other insults he made, so that they called for a review by the Guardian Council regarding his qualifications and the rejection of his credentials in the tenth parliament.' The newspaper Qanoon quoted Sadegh Zibakalam addressing Hossein Shariatmadari, the representative of the Supreme Leader in Kayhan, stating: 'The more than three million who went to the polls in Tehran are part of the same 'debris' of 2009. Over the past six years, you never wanted to see what their words, pain, and resentment were in 2009. Instead, whatever came to your mouth, you hurled at them.' Sadegh Zibakalam wrote in this letter to the editor-in-chief of Kayhan: 'You treated the most honest, committed, religious, and cleanest children of the system however you pleased. You illegally arrested them, illegally imprisoned them, illegally prevented them from continuing their work and studies, illegally star-marked them, and finally, you also illegally disqualified them,' even 'you did not see several million protesters' and called them 'sedition' and 'seditionists,' but 'if you had once paid attention to others and recognized their rights, perhaps if you had been willing to hear the voice of your opposition even once, you would not be so stunned and surprised today.' According to the newspaper Qanoon, Sadegh Zibakalam advised Hossein Shariatmadari that 'it is still not too late,' for once 'to look outside from behind the window of your ivory tower of pride, power, and glory and try to see the country and the nation beyond the world you have built for yourself for years.' Kayhan, in its front page with the title 'Escaping Accountability, Yesterday with Diversions, Today with Claims of Victory,' wrote: 'Reformists and the government-supporting faction claim victory while, according to experts, the main reason for this electoral bluff is to cover up the economic failures of the government of prudence and hope.' This newspaper also wrote: 'While the government speaks of a second JCPOA, it must first answer what achievements the first JCPOA had for the nation.' Abbas Akhtari, however, in the editorial of the newspaper Siasat Rooz, close to conservatives, wrote under the title 'The Cause of Conservatives' Defeat in Tehran': 'Conservatives must understand this reality that in the diverse society of Islamic Iran, they are part of the people who, since they have a purposeful life and are seeking the establishment of divine values, must invite everyone to goodness and righteousness with more effort and Islamic speech and behavior, and they must avoid imposing themselves on the people and their surroundings.' The newspaper Quds published statements by Haidar Moshiri, former Minister of Intelligence, regarding the arrest of an individual on 'espionage charges' and quoted him as saying: 'This spy had gone to all provinces and approached benefactors, Friday prayer leaders, and governors to establish a popular organization with a charitable approach, and the U.S. had given millions of dollars to this spy to work on cultural and social issues.' The former Minister of Intelligence of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second government stated that he had heard this information 'in the past few days.' The newspaper Javan, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a report titled 'Western-Arab Focus on Hezbollah After the JCPOA,' warned about the future of this group allied with the Islamic Republic, writing: 'Since the discussion of reaching a nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1 group became serious, the fate of Hezbollah Lebanon as Iran's most crucial ally after this agreement has been speculated by observers,' and now two months after the implementation of the JCPOA, 'the Gulf Cooperation Council at its meeting on Wednesday in Jeddah has placed Hezbollah Lebanon on its terrorist list.' 'Request to Lift Restrictions from Mossadegh's Tomb' is a report in the newspaper Shargh that refers to the fact that 'simultaneously with the anniversary of Mohammad Mossadegh's death, a number of national and national-religious activists have published a letter calling for the removal of the prohibition on entering Mossadegh's tomb.' According to this newspaper, 'since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency in the tenth government, it has been closed,' and now the authors of this letter have also stated that 'with the coming to power of Hassan Rouhani,' they have written two letters this year to him, but 'unfortunately, the government's method of the ninth and tenth has continued contrary to expectations.' The newspaper Jahan San'at reported on 'the suicide of three sisters' in Tehran, stating: 'Three middle-aged women wrote a will on the wall with a marker, expressing that due to family problems, they wished for self-imposed death, asking family members for forgiveness,' but the brother of all three sisters said: 'My sisters were single and lived on the upper floor of our house, and during this time, they had not mentioned anything about suicide.' In this context, responses to conservative attacks: 'Tehran is not Kufa,' 80% of people cannot afford to visit private hospitals, the incidents in Mashhad, Karaj, and Nowshahr, the changing battlefield of 'proxy forces'; war against the people in the streets of Iran, the first paragraph; the responsibility of opponents and the possibility of radicalizing Iranian society, the death of the last Mossad representative in Tehran amid the Iran crisis, Trump: I hope further action on Iran is not needed; they were killing people indiscriminately, the shadow of war over Tehran; 'Trump is looking for decisive military options against Iran,' Trump says if the Islamic Republic carries out an assassination against him, 'it will be wiped off the face of the earth,' Trump emphasizes 'stop executions in Iran': we do not know what will happen in the future, a senior U.S. official: Trump's administration is closely monitoring the case of Reza Valizadeh.