Meeting of the Reformist Faction of the Tenth Parliament with 156 Members Present

Most Iranian newspapers in their Sunday editions have evaluated and interpreted the balance of power between reformists and conservatives. However, Mohammad Reza Aref, in an interview with the newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh, emphasized that he has had 'no meeting to determine the presidency of the parliament with any individual,' stating, 'I have not had any meetings with Mr. Larijani regarding the presidency of the parliament, and no discussions have taken place in this regard.' He pointed out that 'the presidency of the parliament is a position, and if the discussion is about interaction with Mr. Larijani, that interaction exists, but I don't know if we can call it interaction regarding the presidency of the parliament or not.' Aref mentioned, 'Given the atmosphere we are currently in, I think we should wait and compete with each other in the open session of the parliament.' The newspaper Etemad described Sunday as a 'day of power display,' noting that 'after 12 years, 158 individuals attended the reformists' meeting while other elected representatives went to the conservatives' meeting.' Etemad did not precisely state the number of representatives present at the conservatives' meeting, but given the total number of members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly is 290, and the newspaper's emphasis on the presence of 158 at the reformists' meeting, it implicitly suggests that the number of elected representatives present at the conservatives' meeting was less than 132. The newspaper pointed out that four meetings were held for the elected representatives of the tenth parliament on Sunday, stating, 'The power display of the reformists was more noticeable.' Nahid Moulavi, in a report on the preliminary meeting to form the 'Hope' faction, wrote, 'Less than a month remains until the start of the tenth parliament, but the political weighing took place elsewhere on Sunday, in the Pasteur neighborhood of Tehran. The Hope faction was announced at the Salman Farsi Mosque of the presidency; a faction with the presence of 18 female representatives of the tenth parliament, not one less and not one more, and in the presence of guests from Rouhani's government and, of course, the reformist government.' However, none of the 18 elected female representatives attended the conservatives' meeting on Sunday. The newspaper quoted Elias Hazrati, an elected representative from Tehran in the tenth parliament, stating, 'The people showed in their millions of votes for the first person in Tehran who they prefer to manage. Of course, this does not negate Mr. Larijani's competence. He has also made a lot of efforts, but Mr. Aref has worked so hard and has public support that he can take on this significant responsibility, namely the presidency of the parliament.' Etemad also reported on the 'semi-public conservatives' meeting in the old parliament,' stating, 'The number of conservatives was displayed yesterday. In a meeting where the first half was non-public and the second half was public. All elected representatives of the tenth parliament were invited, but the concurrent meeting of the Hope faction left no doubt that yesterday's meeting in the old parliament building was a weighing of the conservatives.' The newspaper Khorasan reported that the number of elected representatives present at the conservatives' meeting was '154,' quoting Ezzatollah Youssefian Molla, who stated, '154 elected representatives attended the meeting on Sunday and signed the attendance sheet, and in addition, 27 others called and said to count us among the attendees and supporters of Mr. Larijani.' The newspaper Shargh also reported with the headline 'Another Birth' that on Sunday 'the meeting of the reformist faction of the tenth parliament was held with the presence of 156 elected members.' Simultaneously, Mehdi Ghadimi in Shargh wrote about the conservatives' meeting, stating, 'Sunday was a day to determine the fate of conservatives who raised the banner of moderation in the eighth and ninth parliaments and came to the parliament with the 'Hope' list, but at the moment of decision-making, they joined the conservatives who could not agree on a single list before the elections.' According to the Shargh newspaper, in a meeting hosted by Ali Larijani, the speaker of the ninth parliament, for the elected representatives of the tenth parliament on Sunday, 'the front row of seats was occupied by the conservatives preparing to establish the conservatives' faction; Haj Babayi, Naqavi Hosseini, Amir Abadi Farahani, and Hojjatoleslam Salek were among the most important figures, and next to them, Kouhkan was also seated to surround Mohammad Reza Aref with a circle of conservatives.' The newspaper also referred to the inaccuracy of reports about the invitation from the parliament's public relations to Minou Khalighi, stating, 'At the beginning of the meeting, 16 women from the ninth parliament were seated in their chairs, and a few minutes after the meeting began, with the arrival of Zahra Saei, the number of women present in the meeting increased to 17, but it never reached 18.' Contacting reporters with Minou Khalighi also yielded an interesting response: 'I was not invited to the morning meeting, and only Mr. Aref invited me to the Hope faction meeting.' The newspaper Arman focused on the fourth meeting on Sunday for the elected representatives of the tenth parliament, reporting with the headline 'Hassan Rouhani's Banquet with the Code of Shared Prudence,' stating that in this meeting, Hassan Rouhani 'considered solving the country's problems to be contingent upon the shared prudence of the government and parliament and emphasized that the people's expectation is for the government and parliament to be aligned to resolve problems and achieve sustainable economic growth.' The newspaper Javan, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, highlighted Ali Larijani's remarks at the conservatives' meeting, quoting him as saying, 'The tenth parliament does not need the grandparents from outside.' This newspaper described the current speaker's remarks as 'a jab at the reformists' version.' The newspaper Javan simultaneously described Mohammad Reza Aref's invitation to Minou Khalighi, the elected representative from Isfahan, to participate in the Hope list meeting as 'a mockery of future legislators to the law,' stating, 'Why did you not wait for the opinion of the arbitration committee regarding the invitation to Minou Khalighi?' The newspaper Qanoon, in its headline for the 19th of Ordibehesht, reported the killing of '13 to 15 individuals' from the forces sent from Iran to Syria during the fall of 'Khan Tuman,' stating, '13 to 15 of our youth were martyred and are being paraded in the streets.' Saman Saberian, in a report for the newspaper Qanoon, referred to the Iranian forces killed in Khan Tuman as 'transnational martyrs' and confirmed the captivity of several others by publishing photos of two of these forces. The reflection of the killing of at least 13 Iranian forces in Khan Tuman in the 'front page' of the newspapers Kayhan, Javan, Vatan-e-Emruz, and Resalat is 'almost none.' Kayhan wrote about 'Khan Tuman,' stating, 'The US breach of promise in Khan Tuman has opened Syria's hands to fight against terrorists.' This newspaper also noted, 'Russia has reduced its support for the Syrian army in the Syrian affair, and to confirm its argument, they refer to the extensive withdrawal of Russian forces, including the return of all Sukhoi-34 fighters, but it seems that Moscow has been deceived in accepting the ceasefire by the US.' The newspaper Javan also reported, 'Hours after the agreement between Russia and the US to extend the ceasefire in Syria for another 72 hours, the militias supported by Washington's regional allies successfully broke the Syrian army's defensive line in an important area of Aleppo province and inflicted casualties on the resistance forces.' This newspaper reported the number of Iranians killed in Khan Tuman as only '3.' Hossein Shariatmadari, the representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in Kayhan, in an editorial titled 'Do Not Block the Stones, Open the Dogs,' called for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This newspaper emphasized that 'the US will not miss any opportunity to strike Iran and its people,' stating, 'Therefore, only two paths remain, and a third is not conceivable. First, we can sit idly by and accept the catastrophe of looting our country's assets, which will continue for at least 50 billion dollars,' and 'second, we must use the levers at our disposal and seriously jeopardize their vital interests in response to the bully's actions.' The representative of Ayatollah Khamenei in Kayhan emphasized that 'the only way forward and the most effective one is the Strait of Hormuz,' stating, 'Closing the Strait of Hormuz to countries like the US and some European countries is the legal and rightful claim of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but 'otherwise, in addition to the cash concessions we lost in the JCPOA equation and the continuation of that process being pure loss, we should expect the looting of all our frozen assets.' The editorial writer of Kayhan also criticized Hassan Rouhani, stating, 'The US, based on the repeated statements of our respected president and some of his colleagues, concludes that Iran's back is bent under the burden of sanctions and that even the drinking water of the Iranian people is tied to the nuclear agreement and the lifting of sanctions, and on the other hand, it sees our president in the role of a 'desperate and helpless debtor' who is in a hurry to 'sell the national interests of his country' to escape this desperation.' The newspaper Resalat dedicated its editorial on Sunday to interpreting the Supreme Leader's remarks about the English language, stating, 'The English language, which was introduced and popularized as the international language of the world by the Americans after World War II, carries the logic of their culture. With the dominance of this logic over the minds of people, they can easily transform them into the other aspects of that culture.' Saeed Zahed, in the editorial of Resalat, wrote, 'The widespread teaching of the English language in any country is tantamount to providing the necessary infrastructure for the entry of American culture into that country.'