The Airbus Alarmists

The newspaper Etemad dedicated a photo in its Monday issue to the moment Ayatollah Khomeini disembarked from an Air France flight on February 1, 1979, and simultaneously featured a headline titled "The Airbus Alarmists," stating: "With Iran's economic victory during the President's trip to France and Italy, a new genre of criticism has emerged." This newspaper identified the main reason for the emergence of the "Airbus Alarmists" as the dissatisfaction of the "sanction profiteers" with the lifting of sanctions, noting: "Trade under sanctions allowed some to find opportunities for massive profits, so with the lifting of sanctions, they will lose this opportunity; they are unhappy with the nuclear agreement and, as Rouhani said, angry." The Arman newspaper also reported under the headline "The Government's New Sin; Renewing the Air Fleet" that on Sunday, Mehdi Koochakzadeh stated in the Parliament: "In these circumstances where people are facing problems, should we spend several billion dollars to buy airplanes?" However, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, reminded him that "our government does not buy airplanes and is not an airline" and that "it is airlines and aviation companies that purchase new airplanes." The Iran newspaper, close to the government, reported on its front page that "one hundred billion dollars of Iran's assets have been freed," but "only six to seven billion dollars of the freed assets belong to the government." The confirmation of the qualifications of "five disqualified representatives" is another news item published by the Iran newspaper, which noted the negotiations by Ali Larijani to reinstate forty-seven disqualified representatives for the elections, mentioning: "Ali Motahari, representative of Tehran; Javad Heravi, representative of Qaenat; Gholamreza Asadollahi, representative of Torbat-e Jam; Seyyed Saeed Heydari Tayeb, representative of Kermanshah; and Ahmad Bakhshaei, representative of Ardestan" are among those whose qualifications have been confirmed through negotiations by Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Parliament. According to this newspaper, "some unofficial news indicates the confirmation of qualifications for Abed Fattahi, representative of Urmia; Rouhollah Beigi, representative of Miandoab; Omid Karimi, representative of Marivan; Seyyed Mohammad Bayatian, representative of Bijar; and Seyyed Hadi Hosseini, representative of Qaemshahr in the coming days, while previously Kamaleddin Pir-Mo’men, representative of Ardabil, and Hassan Tamini, representative of Rasht, also reported their qualification confirmations." Ali Motahari, in an interview with the newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh, stated that "the issue of my qualification confirmation has been communicated to me by bodies close to the Guardian Council," adding: "Evidence suggests that the Guardian Council's strictness has somewhat lessened, but until the end of the week and the announcement of the final results of this council, we cannot have a correct and realistic analysis of the results of the qualifications." This current representative of Parliament and son of Morteza Motahari, one of the founders of the Islamic Republic, emphasized that "the conservative movement has deviated from its framework and has leaned towards extremism," asserting that "if conservatives do not make reforms in their principles, thoughts, and practical methods, they will be eliminated from the political scene by the people." The Shargh newspaper also featured a report titled "Hope for the Will of the People" about Hassan Rouhani's visit to the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini and the reception of Hassan Khomeini, a disqualified candidate for the Assembly of Experts, by him. Hassan Rouhani stated: "It is expected that the esteemed Guardian Council will restore more hope to our society, and that the people will face a more open atmosphere, greater ability to choose, and broader competition in the elections on March 26." "Oil Day in Parliament" is the headline of the Monday issue of the newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh. This newspaper wrote: "One day after an illegal gathering of some students managed by Alireza Zakani and other government critics, the Speaker of Parliament criticized the opponents, saying: 'Contracts cannot be amended through protests.'" The Resalat newspaper, close to conservatives, quoted Mohammad Javad Larijani as saying: "Elections in Iran are a nightmare for the West." This judiciary official also commented on the disqualified candidates for the Assembly of Experts elections, stating: "One cannot prove an individual's merit and knowledge with promotional advertisements." Meanwhile, the Javan newspaper, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, compared the political landscape in Iran to an "ammunition depot" in its editorial on Monday, stating that reformists have concluded that they neither have the possibility to reform "the system" nor the opportunity to "constitutionalize the government" or to "fully secularize" the system, and "their absence from the public process in elections has no significant impact, nor does the ruling power seek to appease them," thus "influenced by the necessities of the time, they see survival and endurance in rationality." Abdullah Ganji, the editorial writer of the Javan newspaper, emphasized that reformists, in facing this year's elections, "have taken several smart actions while also maintaining the strategy of 'I am a stranger,'" stating that reformists "have adjusted a course towards the ruling power that is not as a belief in the general policies of the system but as a tactic to transition to a better atmosphere to practice political rationality," but to resolve the issues of 2009, "they must think fundamentally and cannot solve that issue with tactical nobility," otherwise they will continue to be "security subjects." The Law newspaper reported under the headline "Criminalizing Candidacy in Elections" that Morteza Bakhtiari, the Deputy Security Prosecutor General, warned some candidates for the tenth parliamentary elections, stating: "These individuals knew they would be disqualified but registered with the intention of using it as leverage against the Guardian Council," and "if their actions cause public confusion and division, they will certainly be subject to legal prosecution." "A Night of Consolation" is the chosen headline of the Law newspaper for "the unified support of filmmakers for Fatemeh Motamed-Arya at the Fajr Film Festival opening," while this newspaper also reported that Mohsen Amir-Yousefi, the director of the film "Lovely Trash," protested the exclusion of his film from the festival while receiving the "Crystal Simorgh for Best Trailer and Teaser," stating: "We had hoped that the legal expertise that Mr. Rouhani refers to would also be present in Iranian cinema, which did not happen, and the cinema organization treated me like a military barrack." The Farhikhtegan newspaper reported that nearly two years after "two female workers died in a clothing workshop fire on Republic Street," the case is still open in court, and even quoting Saeed Sharifzadegan, the CEO of Tehran Fire Department, stated: "The percentage of fault of various parties has not yet been determined, and this issue is under investigation." The Shahrvand newspaper also reported the approval of the "general budget of 17,800 billion tomans for Tehran Municipality" by the City Council.