The column ‘Persian Press Review’ features the headlines and leading articles carried by Farsi dailies.

Saturday’s headlines:
AFARINESH: Automobile market shocked in the wake of news that tariffs on car imports to be lowered
IRAN: Two cabinet members say if Majlis does not approve an income of $40b from subsidy reform plan, people’s purchasing power will decrease (because the administration cannot pay enough cash subsidy to low-income families)
ABRAR: Saipa and IKCO (major Iranian car makers) to be privatized next year (starting on March 21), announces deputy chairman of privatization organization
EBTEKAR: Supreme Leader criticizes stances of Muslim world toward the Palestine issue
PUL: An expert’s forecast on repercussions of subsidy reform plan on stock exchange: shares to depreciate in value
TEHRAN-E EMROOZ: MP Mesbahi-Moqaddam warns about raging inflation; administration should shoulder responsibility
JAM-E JAM: Civil Aviation Organization director to be replaced, announces transport minister
JOMHURI-E ESLAMI: Shia clerics warn about probability of vote-rigging and fraud in Iraq’s parliamentary election
KHORASAN: U.S. efforts in New York, Vienna, and Brasilia to rally support for new sanctions against Iran fail
Leading articles:
‘KAYHAN’ in its editorial has strongly criticized IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano’s recent report about Iran’s nuclear program, calling some points in his report baseless. To curry favor with his Western masters, Amano in the report has repeated the unfounded allegations previously refuted by Iran. The report does not present any solid evidence to support the allegations. The writer has described the report as the most unprofessional document issued by the agency’s secretariat so far and has opined that the report is completely distorted.
‘MARDOMSALARI’ in its editorial has censured the administration for its indecision about the gasoline rationing and has expressed surprise over the decision to set aside 20 liters of subsidized gasoline for the New Year holidays. Three years have passed since the gasoline rationing went into effect and the administration had planned to decrease the amount of rations in stages until the complete cut of subsidized gasoline, but at each stage, the administration for some (undisclosed) reasons has been hesitant to reduce the amount of rations and has recently allocated 240 liters of subsidized gasoline for the spring. But the surprising point is the allocation of 20 liters for the New Year holidays. Considering the market price of gasoline this ration means that the administration has gifted people $6 worth of gasoline! While according to different statistics the poverty line in Iran ranges from monthly income of $400 to $800, do officials expect people become delighted by this favor? The sharp rise in gasoline importation and the shortage of gasoline in a country that holds the third largest oil reserves in the world is not just due to the excessive consumption, but is also due to the mismanagement of projects to build new oil refineries to meet domestic demand.
‘BAHAR’ in its editorial has lamented a decline in the number of newspapers that express diverse viewpoints. Closing newspapers that express diverse voices will undermine the country’s media influence. When the voices of those who have differing views are not heard, the ground is prepared for the foreign-based Persian media outlets to take control of the flow of information to Iran. If local media be able to respond to the various demands of the diverse Iranian society, the influence of the foreign-based media outlets will decline. However, if domestic media are debilitated, they cannot compete with the alternative media outlets and will give way to them in controlling the public opinion.
‘FARHIKHTEGAN’ in its editorial titled “Will China Align Itself with the United States?” has predicted that China will probably support new sanctions against Iran. Amano, in the recent meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, has repeated previous allegations about Iran’s nuclear activities and censured Iran for lack of enough cooperation with the agency. Meanwhile the United States is trying to sway China on imposition of new sanctions on Iran. From the previous experience, it can be expected that the United States will convince China on new sanctions. The dealings between world powers differ from those of other countries. Sometimes these countries take contradictory stances on an issue and mislead analysts, but suddenly they take unanimous action like what happened in the case of previous resolutions against Iran.