LATEST: Iran Police Chief: “Not Even One Successful Terrorist Attack in Past Year”

SUMMARY: Two days of technical discussions between representatives of Iran and the 5+1 Powers, following up on mid-October’s high-level negotiations in Geneva on Tehran’s nuclear programme, ended on Thursday with no announcement from either side.

That silence, however, may be a good sign. To maintain the security of the discussions and avoid political attempts to undermine them, both sides were told at Geneva to maintain strict confidentiality. With limited exceptions in late October, that has been maintained.

Iranian media said there were five hours of “intensive, full of content and serious” negotiations on Thursday.

The talks included details of the phasing of limits on Iran’s enrichment of uranium in return for the lifting of sanctions on Tehran.

High-level negotiations resume November 7-8 in Geneva.

Sunni Insurgent Group Claims Another Attack in Sistan Baluchestan

The Sistan Baluchestan insurgent group Jaish ul-Adl have claimed another attack against a car driven by Iranian security personnel, in response to Iran’s execution of insurgents following an attack on border guards earlier this week.

Supreme Leader: Aging Population a Cause for Concern

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned against the problems posed by an aging population and urged Iranians to have more children.

Khamenei told the National Conference on Population Change and Its Role in Various Transformations of Society that Iran’s population issues can be traced to “a [tendency] to emulate Western life or European life.”

He acknowledged the economic concerns that face families with lots of children, stating “Well, they say from the other side that they do not have houses, work, or income. We should see what we can do so that these are all provided.”

For Senior cleric Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani the issue is more than a matter of the country achieving its potential but is ultimately a question of the Islamic Republic’s survival when confronted by Western and American hostility.

Sobhani declared “Our system is an Islamic system, and this matter is unacceptable for the world of Arrogance [West]. Therefore, it has continuously caused nuisances for us, and now Obama says ‘the choice of a military attack is on my table.’ Who answers this potential attack? Can we answer countless ground, air, and naval attacks with an aging or half-aging population?”

Meanwhile, Member of the Cultural Parliamentary Commission Morteza Hosseini announced that in the next three weeks “Numerous incentives for child-bearing and marriage in this proposal are being forecast.” He added, “The cost will be about 10 trillion tomans [about $4 billion], to be spent primarily on “education, universities, and Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting [national media organization].”

Former Presidential Candidate Velayati Appointed Head of Center for Strategic Research

Ali Akbar Velayati, former presidential candidate and advisor to the Supreme Leader, has been appointed as the head of the Expediency Discernment Council’s Center for Strategic Research.

Expediency Discernment Council Implementation and Information Deputy Gholam Reza Farouzesh, said “Mr. Velayati was invited by Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to be the Head of the Center for Strategic Research of the Expediency Council.”

Farouzesh added, “Given the negotiations taking shape and the division of work, Mr. Velayati accepted the responsibility and quickly began his activity in this center.”

The position taken up by Velayati has previously been held by President Rouhani.

UN Secretary General Condemns Saravan Attack

Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has condemned the recent attack by a Sunni insurgent group in Sistan-Baluchestan that killed fourteen Iranian border guards.

Ban’s spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters that the Secretary General offered his condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Iranian people and government.

On October 28 the Iranian Ambassador to the UN, Mohammad Khazaei, sent a letter to the UN Security Council urging a strong response to the attack.

Jaish ul-Adl Spokesman Gives Interview To Saudi Satellite Channel

Abdul Rauf Rigi, the spokesman for the Sistan Baluchestan Sunni insurgent group Jaish ul-Adl, which claimed responsibility for an attack on Iranian border guards in October, has given an interview to the Saudi satellite channel Safa, which ran a long piece about the insurgency and about Jaish ul-Adl.

Rigi is the brother of Abdul Malik Rigi, the leader of the Sunni insurgent group Jundullah, and who was hanged by the Iranian authorities in 2010. Following Abdul Malik Rigi’s execution, Tehran claimed to have stamped out Jundullah and the insurgency in Sistan Baluchestan.

Rigi has previously been interviewed on another Saudi satellite channel, Al Wesal.

Al Wesal also ran an interview with the spokesman for another Sistan Baluchestan based Sunni insurgent group, Harakat Ansar Iran, earlier this year.

Iran Police Chief: “Not Even One Successful Terrorist Attack in Past Year”

An interesting statement from Iran’s Chief of Police, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, in light of last week’s killing of 14 border guards by the Sunni insurgent group Jaish ul-Adl:

Although the security services have been subject to operations and sabotage, we have all of the movements completely in our view, and fortunately, in the last year not even one successful terrorist operation occurred in the country.