1 Report for

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Daily Report for Tuesday, February 7, 2017

1 Report for

Tuesday,

February 7, 2017 Bahman 19, 1395

Highlights, Page 2 News Briefs, Page 3

* American anti-Iran policies unite Iranian factions. Page 3

* Reason for Trump’s anti-Iran comments. Page 4

* Reformist newspaper criticizes MOFA decision. Page 4

* Challenges and opportunities between Iran and Arabs. Page 5

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2 Highlights

 American comments and actions regarding Iran continue to be a hot topic being reported by Iranian newspapers. Conservative Kayhan argues that American actions have united all factions in Iran, while conservative Javan writes that President Trump feels insulted by Iran. Reformist newspaper Etemad criticizes Iranian Foreign Ministry for its hasty actions regarding presence of American wrestlers in Iran. (See Pages 3 and 4)

 As part of Iran’s efforts to bridge the differences between Iran and its Arab countries, Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organization has organized the first round of dialog between Iran and the Arab world through a meeting held in cooperation with a set of prominent academic centers and institutions in Iran and the Middle East. (See Page 5)

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3 Briefs

* Farsi-language Aftab News website writes that Government Spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht today rejected the rumors that ‘certain’

individuals or organizations are exerting pressure on Rouhani not to become a candidate in upcoming presidential election. He also denied that Iran and America have held talks about granting American visas for Iranian nationals.

* Farsi-language Etemad newspaper writes that 26 students in Mashhad city have been affected by carbon monoxide poisoning, 14 of whom had to be hospitalized.

* Farsi-language Aftab News website reports that a bus belonging to Amol University has caught fire today.

Fortunately, there was no one on the bus.

* Farsi-language Aftab News website reports that a school classroom in a village near Hamedan caught fire.

Students were studying at the time.

Fortunately, they were evacuated in time and there were no injuries.

* Farsi-language Aftab News website reports that two persons died and six injured in various vehicular accidents across Iran.

* Farsi-language Etemad newspaper writes that Labor Ministry’s Department of Labor and Social Welfare for Tehran Province says that there are 1,423 applicants from Plasco Building to receive unemployment benefits.

* Farsi-language Etemad newspaper writes that Imam Khomeini Relief Fund says that each of its social worker has 530 cases, while the ideal caseload ought to be 100 cases.

American anti-Iran policies unite Iranian factions

The hard-line conservative Kayhan argues that America’s anti-Iran policies and actions have only resulted in unity among Iran’s different factions.

Moreover, Iran will defeat Trump’s administration in Syria and humiliate it in the Persian Gulf.

The Farsi-language hard-liner newspaper Kayhan writes that it there is no doubt that all factions inside Iran – whether revolutionary [principal-ists] or pragmatic – have reached the same conclusion about the new American administration: that Trump administration has adopted hostile policies towards Iran.

Kayhan notes that there used to be two groups during Obama’s administration. One argued for establishing relations with America, the other argued against it. One talked about security, the other talked about livelihood.

Now these arguments are not made any more.

Now ‘some’ cannot argue in favor of establishing relations with America and then attract votes of certain section of the [Iranian] society. One of the benefits of America’s new policies towards Iran is that Iranians have united. And it is ‘the enemy’ which brought about this unity.

Kayhan writes that Iran and America have come face to face on two fronts: Syria and Persian Gulf waters.

As far as Syria is concerned, it writes, America cannot achieve anything nor threaten Iran. Obama started

‘Assad has to go’. But by the end of his term, Obama had to accept Assad is here to stay. America’s new administration will not be able to achieve any more than the previous administration.

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Concerning America’s confrontation with Iran in Persian Gulf, Iran has humiliated American forces in the past. America is furious over its humiliations by Iranian ships in the Persian Gulf. It is possible that infuriated by the humiliations and encouraged by the ‘Saudi regime’, America would resort to some foolish action against Iran. But America will be defeated here as well.

Reason for Trump’s anti-Iran comments

Javan newspaper says that President Trump feels insulted that Iran did not open communication channel.

The Farsi-language hard-liner conservative newspaper Javan has also adopted similar arguments as Kayhan. Javan newspaper is seen as a mouthpiece for IRGC.

It writes that President Trump has started making hostile statements against Iran.

It writes that the reason for Trump’s hostile comments and actions could be that he feels insulted by Iran’s indifference towards his administration. Maybe, it writes, he expected Iran to make open communication channel with Trump administration immediately after Trump took over, just like Saudi Arabia. When Iran did not do so, he feels insulted.

Reformist newspaper criticizes MOFA decision

Etemad writes MOFA’s initial decision not to grant visas to American wrestlers provided legal validity to American travel ban, while many Americans themselves are questioning the legal validity of the ban.

The Farsi-language reformist newspaper Etemad criticizes Iranian Foreign Ministry for initially deciding not to grant visas to American wrestlers to participate in World Cup wrestling competition Iran. MOFA first announced it would not grant visas.

But on February 5, MOFA reversed its decision and agreed to issue visas, as announced Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi.

It writes that MOFA should have first obtained legal consul about whether the visas should be granted or not before reaching any decision.

Etemad writes that the MOFA’s decision about not granting visa unintentionally gives legal validity to President Trump’s travel ban. It notes that there is an ongoing court proceeding in America to see whether the travel ban is legal or not.

Etemad notes international protests against the travel ban, and even the Americans themselves are protesting the ban.

Etemad writes that Iranian MOFA should have allowed the issue to play out to its conclusion before making any decision.

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5 Challenges and opportunities for dialog

between Iran and the Arab world

As part of Iran’s efforts to bridge the differences between Iran and its Arab countries, Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organization has organized the first round of dialog between Iran and the Arab world through a meeting held in cooperation with a set of prominent academic centers and institutions in Iran and the Middle East.

Iran Review news website. February 6, 2017. Hossein Kebriaeizadeh. Expert on Middle East Issues: Due to historical, cultural and political reasons, relations among countries in the Middle East are bugged with numerous and a diversified set of differences as well as ethnic, religious, racial and other tensions. One of those deep-rooted tensions is the existing differences between Iran and Arab countries in the Middle East part of which, of course, stems from the Sykes-Picot Agreement and another part has its root in bygone past.

In order to allay these differences, Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, as the authority in charge of cultural relations between the Islamic Republic and other countries, organized the first round of dialog between Iran and the Arab world through a meeting held in cooperation with a set of prominent academic centers and institutions in Iran and the Middle East. By doing this, the organization intended to boost the role played by the elite and thinkers on both sides in order to pave the way for the assessment of the existing challenges with the goal of developing cultural relations and resolving those challenges.

The current formula for dialog between the two sides was drawn up and implemented at a time that the United States, under its new President Donald Trump, and the UK, under Prime Minister Theresa May, have been practically launching a new round of Iranophobia in the Middle East regardless of sensitive conditions that currently govern the region.

The meeting, which was attended by 85 scholars from various countries in the Arab world, was organized by people, who believed that dialog is the sole effective solution to existing differences and maintained that elites on both sides will more easily commit to necessity of dialog. As a result, they argued that this formula would enable all countries to live more comfortably in a common geographical expanse.

It must be noted that the background of relations between the two sides goes back to three centuries before the advent of Islam and they still consider dialog as an effective strategy, which has reliable social and cultural grounds, in order to promote peace and stability in the region and, of course, overcome all forms of extremism.

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This is why Iranian leaders, in a bid to attract attention of leaders of the Arab world and regional nations, have been frequently pointing to the concept of reviving the growth of the Islamic civilization, and achieving this goal needs establishment of rational, philosophical, ethical, scientific and artistic relations between the two sides. History also attests to this fact showing what logical relationship existed between Iranians and Arabs during the middle of the seventh and through the eighth centuries A.D., which allowed for the Islamic civilization to thrive.

Although conditions have basically changed during the 21st century, the two sides can still define major components of their identity, at least at the level of their scholars, in a two-way manner free from common conflicts. By doing this, they will be able to replaced convergent approaches for divergent approaches that are based on ethnic, racial and other differences.

Although some people believe that tension between Iran and some Arab countries has reached such a high level that it is impossible to do away with it over short or medium terms, a review of history of relations between the two sides would reveal that similar conditions governed the two sides’ relations under the rule of the Umayyad caliphs. However, under their predecessors, the Abbasid Caliphate, Iranian and Arab elites emerged and started effective interaction, which brought about conditions quite different from what existed under the Umayyad rule. The result of that change was evident in the form of a clear civilizational progress in the Islamic world. Believing in these changes could be the first positive step that can be taken through interactive meetings based on dialog. In the meantime, offering an unbiased reading of history without focusing on challenging points can add to the number of convergent factors and cause, at least, the two sides’ elites to overcome factors that cause divergence.

Meanwhile, due to West’s colonialist policies, Iran needs continued relations with these countries in order to fill the existing information gaps about goals and regional policies of the Islamic Revolution and to remove ambiguity about Shia Islam and introduce dignified culture of Iran. In doing this, Iran should avoid condescending or seasonal approaches and take advantage of all its material and spiritual capacities.

It is clear that Iran’s task for creating and establishing relations with Arab countries would not be easy in view of the existing suspicions that surround relations between the two sides.

In order to achieve its goal, Iran is faced with limitations removal of which would need bilateral and multilateral efforts along with Arab countries.

Unlike the seventh and eighth centuries in which relations among countries were based on political elites and scholars and pivoted around suitable governance, at present, grounds and networks for contacts between some Arab and Persian elites are not provided due to policies adopted by Arab countries. Absence of common academic circles, existence of conflicting

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approaches adopted by think tanks, and absence of friendship associations as major pivots of cultural and public diplomacy are among barriers on the way of bolstering relations among the two sides’ elites.

On the other hand, despite the past history, Iran is currently not faced with a single Arab world. There are various Arab worlds today each of which needs different planning and grouping and, of course, a different formula for interaction.

Absence of a common language is another limitation faced by Iran in its bid to establish contacts with elites from the Arab world. While Iran keeps stressing the need to revive Islamic civilization and indigenous development models, this issue is not of much importance to Arabs and they mostly believe in Western models of development.

Existence of divergence factors on both sides and in nations, which are committed to conflicting identity elements that are against each other, is another factor restricting this bilateral dialog. Such divergent behaviors, which are a result of politicization of culture on both sides, can reduce the lasting effect of dialog.

Despite all these limitations, a history of relations, which date back to 1,400 years ago, common geography, common religious and language commonalities, and most importantly, the age of communications in which access to culture of all societies is unbridled and easy, all give rise to new hopes about holding of future successful meetings for promoting dialog between Iran and the Arab world.