This column features excerpts from editorials, commentaries, interviews, and news articles of the leading Iranian newspapers and websites.

Saturday’s headlines
KAYHAN: Fear in Washington and Tel Aviv as Egypt begins engaging with Iran
JAVAN: Iran is the second largest economy in region, International Monetary Fund says
HEMAYAT: All car passengers now obliged to fasten seat belts
TEHRAN-E EMROOZ: 10 years have passed and officials only give promises (about the campaign against economic corruption)
HAMSHAHRI: All Iranians will be homeowner in 2 years, announces deputy housing minister
IRAN: A list of great land-grabbers to be announced very soon
FARHIKHTEGAN: Ayatollah Hashemi (Rafsanjani) and Hassan Khomeini introduced as members of Azad University board of trustees
MELLATEMA: This time leprous patients are expelled from hospital in Mashhad
SHARQ: Even 1 dollar is not left in Forex Reserve Fund, chairman of the Majlis Budget and Planning Committee announces
Leading articles
IRAN in a news report quotes Iran’s ambassador to Syria as saying the United States has launched a soft war against Syria to in order to impose its wills on Damascus. Currently, Ahmad Mousavi says, the U.S. and Israel are not seeking a regime change in Syria as they are well aware that President Bashar al-Assad is very popular among the people and he cannot be easily toppled and in this regard he is “very different” from Hosni Mubarak and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. He says despite many efforts the U.S. and Israel as the main provokers and some other enemies of Syria have so far failed to mobilize more than 10 percent of the country’s population against the Bashar al-Assad government. Efforts to overthrow the Syrian government as a bridge between the resistance movement and Iran have been among the main goals the U.S. and Israel but at the current time they are trying to get “concessions” from Syria.
ISNA in a news report quotes the Supreme Leader’s substitute representative to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Mojtaba Zolnour, as saying that today Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is the “real” president and his interference in ministries and issues related to the Intelligence Ministry are a proof of this. Zolnour said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad holds Mashaei in high regard. For example, he said, the clash between Manouchehr Mottaki and Mashaei led to the dismissal of Mottaki as foreign minister. However, he said these negative points are nothing in comparison to the services being done by the government. He added the path of the president is in harmony with the ideals of the system. He also wished that the president would get rid of Mashaei. Zolnour said since the Mashaei group believes the U.S. is behind developments in the region, “we should not lose contact with Arab rulers.