Wednesday, November 13, 2013

!سلام هرکسی

In a follow up to the headline and pictures I posted last week, Soheil sent me the following cartoon which was published in the reformist Iranian newspaper Tabnak. Translation and vocab are below as usual.


The Iranian official is saying: "The friendly match (soccer) between Iran and America was secured/set"
The billboard in the background says: "Honesty of Football"

The cartoon is a clear tongue and cheek jab at the Revolutionary Guards who posted derisive billboards around Tehran about the style of "American honesty" while Rouhani and Iran's foreign ministers were in the midst of discussions.

Vocabulary:
بازی - match/game
دوستانه - friendly
قطعی شده - was secured
صداقت - honesty
فوتبال - Football




Tuesday, November 5, 2013

!سلام بچه ها

I apologize, I know I've been absent for sometime and many important things have occurred in Iran!

Today I thought I'd upload the images from some billboards placed around Tehran by the Revolutionary Guards in response to initial talks between Iran and the United States. The Guards clearly want to demonstrate their lack of desire for any rapprochement between the two countries....

Before I post the actual sign pictures, I want to include this headline from BBC Farsi. 

وزارت خارجه ایران نصب تابلوهای ضدآمریکایی در سطح شهر تهران را غیرقانونی خواند

BBC's headline states that Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared the billboards erected around Tehran illegal. Here are some useful vocab from the headline.

وزرات - Ministry
خارجه - Foreign
وزرات خارجه ایران - Iranian Foreign Ministry
غیرقانونی - illegal

Now, onto the pictures.... I can understand why the Foreign Ministry asked that they be removed. Having pictures like these around cities would certainly make diplomacy more difficult.




  



Tuesday, August 6, 2013

News Post August 6, 2012

!سلام
A lot happened in Iran over the past weekend, so I thought I'd share some headlines from a handful of Persian newspapers and websites.

The most prominent event, of course, was the inauguration of new president Hasan Rowhani.

BBC Farsi published an article with this headline:

روحانی: رويكرد اصلی دولت زمينه سازی برای مشاركت مردم است
Vocabulary:

رويكرد - approach
اصلی - main
دولت - government
زمينه - background
سازی - of
مشاركت - participation
مردم - people

***Translation:

The other significant occurrence, which received less attention in the Western media, was Rowhani's proposal of cabinet members. Tabnak described Rowhani's cabinet proposals with the following headline from this article:
 
 کابینه پیشنهادی کابینه 50-50 است 



Vocabulary:

کابینه - cabinet
پیشنهادی - proposed

Translation: The proposed cabinet is the 50-50 cabinet

The article describes Rowhani's proposed cabinet as an even split of conservatives/principalists and reformers. The move was seen as a bit disappointing by reformists with high hopes following Rowhani's election.

 

Monday, July 22, 2013

Star Spangled Banner in Farsi

!سلام بچه ها


Recently, I've been listening to some Iranian songs to get more accustomed to hearing quickly spoken Persian. I've also been translating some of the lyrics and uploading them here. As an exercise in translating English to Persian, we thought it'd be cool to translate America's national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

The translation isn't exact because of the nature of the language used in the anthem, but it's pretty close:

بگو آیا می توانی با نور سحر ببینی
ما چه با غُروُر خواندیم در نور آخر گُرگ و میش؟
 
نَوارهای پهن و ستاره های روشن چه چیزی را
از میان جنگ خطرناک روی دیوار تماشا کردیم
که داشتند با افتخار پرواز می کردند؟
 
و نور قرمز موشک ها انفجار بمب ها در هوا
از میان شب اثبات کرد که پرچممان هنوز آنجا بود

بگو آیا آن پرچم پر ستاره هنوز پرواز می کند
بر فراز کشور آزادی و خانه شُجاعان؟

Useful Vocabulary:

 غُروُر - Pride
نور - Light
گُرگ و میش - Twilight (This literally means Wolf and Sheep. It's a very Persian way of saying a mixing of dark and light)
نَوار - Stripe
پهن - Broad  
ستاره - Stars
روشن - Bright 
از میان - Through, amongst 
جنگ - Fight, war 
خطرناک - Dangerous, perilous
افتخار - Honor
موشک - Missile
انفجار - Explosion, burst
بمب - Bomb
اثبات - Proof
پرچم - Flag
آزادی - Freedom
شُجاعان - Braves

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Persian Comparative

Using the comparative in Persian is really quite simple! The notes in this post outline how to form comparative sentences, and also provide a few additional vocab words. I apologize if some of the light ink is hard to read!

 
 

 

Conditional Sentence Practice

A month ago I uploaded some notes that provide a high level overview of the rules and structures for conditional sentences in Persian. Here are some additional examples I wrote for practice.

 


 

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Ahmadinejad Interview


One more thing I'd like to post today in addition to the song Ye Dokhtar and it's lyrics. Last week, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an interview in Iran where he reflected on his time in office. Soheil found a section that he thought encapsulated the interview, not to mention Ahmadinejad's attitude, very well.

رئیس‌ جمهور یادآور شد: ما تنها دولتی هستیم که به راحتی در تمام اجتماعات مردم وارد می‌شویم و این کار را بدون هیچ دغدغه‌ای انجام می‌دهیم. من خیلی راحت وسط مردم می‌روم ‌و مثل ماهی که وارد اقیانوس می‌شود، کیف می‌کنم. همه را دوست داریم و نمی‌توانیم دوست نداشته باشیم و من فکر می‌کنم ‌این فرهنگ دوباره در کشور ما احیا شده است. این فرهنگ در میان ما ایرانیان وجود داشته و خانواده‌ها در میان خود مسائل را حل می‌کردند و نمی‌گذاشتند کسی زمین بخورد اما در حال حاضر فاصله افتاده و باید این موضوع به صورت کامل احیا شود


Basic Translation:

The president noted: We are the only government that easily enters entire communities of people, and we do this work without any concern. I am very comfortable going in the middle of people (amongst the people), and like a fish entering the ocean this pleases me. We love all, and we are unable not to love (double negatives are allowed in Persian), and I think this culture has been resurrected/restored again in our country. This culture has existed between we Iranians, and families solved issues among themselves, and they didn't allow people to fall, but distance has fallen (between families) in present times and we should restore this issue to full form.


After reading this interview, I was reminded of a Persian word Soheil taught me: پر رو
The transliteration of this word is por roo. Por means full, and roo refers to the Persian word for face. It essentially means full of oneself, cocky, arrogant, etc. I'm sure after reading that excerpt you can understand why the word came to mind!




  

Ye Dokhtar

!سلام

Today I thought I'd upload a popular Iranian song instead of a grammar lesson or newspaper excerpt. The song is called Ye Dokhtar, and it refers to Neda Agha-Soltan who's death during the 2009 Iranian election protests was widely chronicled.

They lyrics also mention Iran's Green Party and 2009 reform candidate Mousavi.

Here is a link to the song. The lyrics, with translation, are below.


یــــه دختــــر تو تــراس روبـرویی
یــه شال سبــــــز و هـر روز میتکونه
یـــه شال سبــــــز و ساده که غروبا
پــــر از خــاکســــتر آتــش فشونــه

پـــــــر از خاکســــــتر آرزوهایــــی
که هر روز روی قلبش گَر میگیرن
پر از خاکســـتر خوابــای خوبــــی
که هرشب تو نگاه اون میمیــــرن

همین چند وقته پیش رویاشـــو توی
خیــابون بـــی بهونه سر بریـــدن
همیــشــــه راه پــــروازشو بسـتن
همیشـــه رو خیالش خـــط کشیـــدن

بـــراش مـــرده و زنــده فرق نداره
سیاست بازا پــیـــرا و جــــوونــــا
همش دنبــــال قهرمـــــان مـیگرده
میونـه شاعــــــرا آوازخــــونـــــا

رو دیــــوار اتـــاقـش چنتــا عکـسه
هدایـت ، کاف کــا ، فرخــزاد ، مایـکل
یــــه عکـــــس خاتــــمی چنتــا مدونا
یه عکس تام کروز یـه عـــکس فیدل
براش مـــــرده و زنــــده فــرق نداره
همش دنبـــــال قهرمــــان میـــگرده

براش مـــــرده و زنــــده فــرق نداره
همش دنبـــــال قهرمــــان میـــگرده

همش دنبـــــال قهرمــــان میـــگرده

نــمیدونه کــه تنـــها تـوی آیــــنه
بایـــد دنبــــال قــهرمــان بــــگرده
هنـــوز بـــاور نـــداره که با دستاش
جهانی میشه ســاخت ، بی ظلم و برده

یــــه دختــــر تو تــراس روبرویـی
شبـــا کنسرت فریـــادش بــه راهــه
صداش میگیره از بـس غصـــه داره
نمیشه دیدش از بـس شــــب سیاهه

ولی زنگ صـداش میـپـچـه هــرشب
تو شـهری که چـراغاش رنگه خــــونن
دیــگه چـــند وقــتـــه که حتـــی چراغِ
چـهـارراه ها میترســن "سبــــــز" بمونن

میـــخواد یـاد تــموم شـــهر بــمونــه
بــهـاری کـه یــکی بــرگـاشـو دزدیــد
درخـتــی کــه قـرنـتـیـنـه شــد آخـــــر
تو فصــلی که زمین بـرعکس میچرخید

صــداش لـــبریز حـــرفـای نـگفتس
سرش لبــریــز صد آتــش فشونــه
یـــه دختــــر تو تــراس روبرویــی
یـه شال سبــــــز و هر روز میتکونه
یـه شال سبــــــز و هر روز میتکونه
یـه شال سبــــــز و هر روز میتکونه



a girl in the opposite terrace
waves a green shawl every day
a green and simple shawl that at sunset
 is full of volcanic ashes
full of ashes of the wishes
that burn on her heart daily
full of ashes of the sweet dreams
that die in her eyes every night

not long ago her dreams
were beheaded on streets unduly
her flying route was always blocked
her imagination has always been crossed off
alive or dead is the same for her
politicians, the elderly, or the youth
repeatedly she’s in search of a hero
among the poets or the singers

on her room’s wall are some pictures of
Hedaayat, Kafka, Farokhzad, Michael
one picture of Khatami, some of Madonna’s
a picture of Tom Cruise, one from Fidel

 alive or dead is the same for her
 repeatedly she’s in search of a hero
she doesn’t know that in the mirror alone
she should quest a hero
she still does not believe that by her hands
a world can be built without tyranny and slaves


a girl in the opposite terrace
has a concert of cries nightly
her voice gets lowered due to many sorrows
the night’s darkness hides her to be seen
but the timbre of her voice is resonated
in a city with lights the same color as the houses
some time later even the traffic lights
at junctions are scared to turn green

she wants to remember the city
the spring whose leaves were stolen
and a tree that finally got quarantined
in a season in which the earth was rotating conversely

her heart full of unsaid words
her head full of hundreds of volcanoes
a girl in the opposite terrace
waves a green shawl every day

Monday, June 24, 2013

The Subjunctive in Persian

Hi All!

I apologize for my absence over the last week. Today I'm uploading some notes on the use of the subjunctive in Persian. The subjunctive is used to make sentences with auxiliary verbs like 'want,' 'should,' 'can,' and 'must,' etc. As always, learning these rules will allow you to make increasingly complex and expressive sentences in Persian!



Sunday, June 16, 2013

News Post June 16, 2013 (Rouhani's Victory)

Yesterday Iran's interior ministry announced that reformist minded cleric Rouhani won the Iranian presidency with 50.7 percent of the popular vote (law stipulaes that if one candidate doesn't eceive 50% the two top candidates must participate in a run-off).

I honestly was extremely surprised! I had kind of expected that a run off would be forced and that a conservative candidate would ultimately succeed.

It will be interesting to see what, if any, changes occur in Iranian foreign policy now.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

News Post June 11, 2013 (Aref withdraws in favor of Rouhani)

اعلام حمایت خاتمی و هاشمی رفسنجانی از روحانی


Three days prior to the presidential election, the reformist/moderate camps have consolidated behind candidate Hassan Rouhani.

Competing reformist candidate Mohammad Reza Aref has withdrawn from the race with the hope that Rouhani's chances for victory will increase.

After Rouhani became the clear choice for previously disillusioned, reformist minded voters, former presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami endorsed his candidacy.

The above headline is from this BBC Persian article.

Translation and Vocab:

"Khatami and Hashemi declare support for Rouhani"

 اعلام: Declaration
حمایت: Support

News Post June 11, 2013 (Haddad Adel Withdraws from Presidential Race)

An interesting development occurred yesterday in the run up to Iran's Presidential Election on Friday. One of the conservative candidates, Haddad-Adel, withdrew his name from contention. Below are some excerpts from the BBC Persian article. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2013/06/130610_ir92_hadad_election.shtml)


او همچنین در مورد احتمال کناره‌گیری وی به نفع سعید جلیلی، از دیگر نامزدان انتخابات ریاست جمهوری ایران گفته بود: "در شرایط فعلی بنده هیچ ضرورتی برای کناره‌گیری به نفع هیچ کاندیدایی احساس نمی‌کنم
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 غلامعلی حداد عادل، مشاور رهبر جمهوری اسلامی است و از ۱۳۸۷ تاکنون به عنوان نماینده تهران در مجلس ایران حضور داشته و در دوره ای ریاست آن را به
عهده داشته است  
 
 
 Translation and Vocab:

He (Haddad Adel) had also said about the possibility of withdrawing in favor of Saeed Jalili,
 or one of the other candidates in the election for the presidency of the Iranian Republic: "In the current conditions I don't feel it is necessary to withdraw in favor of any candidate."

(Haddad Adel) is an advisor to the leader of the Islamic Republic, and since 1387 (2008) has been a representative from Tehran in the Majlis (Iranian Parliament). During this period he has been the president of that body.

همچنین: Too, as well
در مورد: About
احتمال: Possibility
کناره‌گیری: To withdraw
وی: His (Soheil pointed out that this word is commonly used in Iranian print and is more formal/respectful)
به نفع: In favor of
 از: From (one of)
دیگر: Other
نامزدان: Candidates
انتخابات: Election
ریاست جمهوری ایران: President of the Iranian Republic
گفته بود: Had said (past perfect tense)
شرایط: Conditions
فعلی: Current
بنده: Servant (Instead of using 'I' here, Haddad calls himself servant. It's kind of a ta'rouf way of referring to oneself)
هیچ: Any, nothing
ضرورت: Necessity
حساس کردن: To feel 
مشاور: Consultant, advisor
رهبر: Leader
جمهوری اسلامی: Islamic Republic
 ۱۳۸۷: 1387 (The current year by the Iranian calendar is 1392)
تاکنون: Until now
به عنوان: As (position)
نماینده: Representative
مجلس: Iranian Parliament
دوره ای: Period of time
آن: That
به عهده داشتن: To be in charge of

Monday, June 10, 2013

News Post June 10, 2013

The Last Iranian Presidential Debate

The last debate before Iran's presidential election was held this past Friday, and the event was certainly more spirited than the previous two sessions.

The part I'd like to focus on is the sharp exchange that occurred between Rouhani (a reformist and cleric) and Ghalibaf (current mayor of Tehran and a conservative). It can be seen in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoJJnAi_hzw

After Rouhani made a comment about providing peace for Iranians, Ghalibaf criticized him for his handling of student protests in 2003 when Rouhani was Secretary of the National Security Council. This kicked off an exchange where the two candidates traded remarks about their own versions of how the situation was handled (Ghalibaf was the head of police at the time).

In the clip, Ghalibaf says Rouhani denied granting the students in question permission to protest in 2003. Rouhani counters by saying he was concerned that if the he granted them permission and they left campus, the police under Ghalibaf would arrest all of them. Rouhani goes on to say that he wasn't concerned about the students because he felt they would dissipate in a few days time.

The exchange continued in this manner, with the candidates giving conflicting accounts of events, neither of which can really be verified. Hopefully the high energy of this debate will help capture Iranian interest, which had been low, in the elections which are now just 4 days away.    

 

Conditional Sentences in Persian

Hello All!

The lesson I'm uploading today provides an overview of the structural formats conditional sentences can take in Persian. Understanding these rules will allow students studying Persian to make more complex sentences as they practice.

 

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

News Post June 3, 2013

The first Iranian Presidential debate occurred three days ago and featured all eight candidates. The debate was not without controversy, though, as several of the participants called the format into question. The following articles discuss the debate and the aforementioned controversy.

The first article comes from the BBC's Persian language site, www.bbc.co.uk/persian.


Article Points:
  • The author starts by pointing out that Tehran is often called the world's (دنیا) cosmetic surgery capital (پایتخت جراحی زیبایی). He then uses cosmetic surgery as a metaphor for the issues the candidates are discussing. The author feels they're superficial and don't address the real challenges facing Iran.
 
The second article comes from ghanoondaily.ir.

 
 
The title translates: IQ Test (تست هوش) in First (نخستین) Debate (مناضره) 

The subtitle in red translates loosely as: The candidates (نامزدها) prescription (نسخه) for healing(شفابخشي) the country's (کسور) economy (اقتصاد) was not given (تجويز نكردن)


The full article in Ghanoon is much longer, but it essentially describes part of the debate's format which was structured as multiple choice questions. Candidates were prompted with a question by the debate moderator, and asked to respond with one of three answers (hence the tongue and cheek title 'IQ Test.' Several of the candidates called the format childish and refused to participate. 

Some journalists have speculated that the debate was structured in such a way to avoid any explosive confrontations, like the one that broke out between President Ahmadinejad and challenger Mousavi in 2009.   

As a little background, here is a link to the debate between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi. Ahmadinejad, who was facing criticism following the discovery that one of his political appointees had lied about his possession of a doctoral degree, presented a file on Mousavi's wife. Ahmadinejad then claimed Mousavi's wife had falsely obtained her advanced degrees and then illegally secured a position as president of an Iranian university. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luvx4gwgdSg

Also, here is a link to a collection of scenes from the last debate when things were breaking down and some candidates refused to answer questions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNOVvIbbuBU

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Seven Persian Verb Tenses

I completed the lesson I'm posting today to serve as a reference for the rules associated with different verb tenses in Persian. Included are the; simple present, continuous present, perfect present, simple past, continuous past, perfect past, and future tenses. This was a big help to me as a moved on to writing more complex Farsi sentences, so I hope you find it useful.

 
 
 
 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Persian Sentences with Multiple Adjectives

The Persian language notes/homework I'm uploading today expand on the previously mentioned fact that in Persian, adjectives follow the nouns they describe. Enjoy!




Soheil's corrections are in colored pen. I hope these examples prove useful!

Friday, May 24, 2013

News Post: May 24, 2013

The dominating story in Iran this week has been the announcement of the final presidential candidates approved by the Guardian Council. Nearly seven hundred would be candidates registered, but after the Council (who is responsible for vetting candidates) completed their review, eight presidential hopefuls remained.

Also, I thought it would be helpful if I started highlighting and underlining some vocabulary key to understanding the article. I'll provide the vocabulary after articles.

 
8 کاندیدای انتخابات ریاست جمهوری از فیلتر شورای نگهبان عبور کردند
  ۸ نفر از ثبت نام کنندگان انتخابات ریاست جمهوری از فیلتر شورای نگهبان عبور کرده‌اند و تا ساعاتی دیگر اسامی آنها توسط وزارت کشور اعلام می‌شود.

در میان اسامی ارسالی به وزارت کشور نام اسفندیار رحیم مشایی و اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی وجود ندارد.

حداد عادل، محمد باقر قالیباف محسن رضایی، علی اکبر ولایتی، سعید جلیلی، محمد غرضی، حسن روحانی و محمدرضا عارف صلاحیت‌شان احراز شده است
 
8 کاندیدای انتخابات ریاست جمهوری از فیلتر شورای نگهبان عبور کردند
 
The article above comes from the website khedmat.ir, which is closely associated with current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
 
Title Translation:
Eight candidates for the presidency passed the filter (vetting/review) of the Guardian Council
 
Article Summary:
 
Line One: Eight presidential registrants have been approved by the Guardian Council and will be announced in a few hourse by the Interior Ministry.
Line Two: Names not announced as approved to run (and very notably absent) are Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (Ahmadinejad's former chief of staff and the candidate he has strongly backed) and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (former Iranian president, reform candidate, and very prominent Iranian politician).
Line Three: The eight, approved presidential candidates are; Haddad Adel, Mohammad Bagher Ghaleebaf, Mohsen Rezaee, Ali Akbar Velayati, Mohammad Gharazy**, Hassan Roohani, and Mohammad Reza Aref . 
 
Key Vocab:
 
(candidate) کاندیدا
(election) انتخابات
(president) ریاست جمهوری
(council) شورا
(guardian council) شورای نگهبان 
(to cross, in this case 'they crossed' means they were approved) عبور کردن 
 
The news that Mashaei and Rafsanjani would not be allowed to run made major headlines in Iran and provoked strong reactions from the camps of both candidates, who are both holding out hope that they will be re-instated and allowed to run. I will follow this post with an article from each of the blocked candidates' camps that describes their reactions.
 
 
 
 

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Some High Level Persian Grammar Notes

Before I start posting any Persian grammar or vocab work I've done, I should mention that this site isn't intended to teach Persian from the ground up. As a  current Farsi student, I think I'd be getting well ahead of myself if I started trying to teach anyone else the language. I do, however, wish to share the work that I do in the hopes that it might benefit others who are learning Persian. You'll be able to see my mistakes, see groupings of new vocab, and see compilations of grammatical tenses. For any native Persian speakers who happen upon this blog, I'm sure you'll be able to get a laugh out of some of my practice and homework sentences (some weeks I'm better than others).

Anyone who's interested in learning some Persian online should definitely check out the site http://www.easypersian.com. It starts with the Persian alphabet and then provides a ton of information.

Having said all of that, here are some high level notes on the first topics I reviewed with my tutor Soheil. This will give you an idea of where I stood when I returned to Farsi lessons in November of 2012.

In our first few lessons, Soheil reviewed some foundational characteristics of Farsi. Like when to use 'را' after direct objects (I think this is universally challenging for many native English speakers learning Persian), and the all important fact that in Persian, unlike in English, nouns come before the adjectives that describe them.

In English, we would say "the fast, red car." In Persian, the order would be "car red fast." 
 

Blog Introduction

After receiving some feedback following my first post, I realize I probably should have kicked this thing off with some information about myself and why I created this blog. So here it goes:

My name is Jordan and I started graduate school in January 2013 after a five year stint in consulting. I really enjoyed the challenges consulting presented; working in a variety of industries, solving unique problems, and designing business solutions. However, my passions have always been international affairs and language, so here I am back in school.

A couple of years before I started grad school, I hired a private tutor at a language school and began studying Persian/Farsi (I'll use those interchangeably on this site). My tutor was a native speaker who taught me the Persian alphabet, vocab, and how to write sentences in the simple present, simple past, and future tenses. My tutoring and Persian studies, though, were cut short when I was offered a consulting assignment in the Netherlands for a year.

When I returned home, I was pretty out of practice as far as Persian goes. I made an appointment with the Persian professor at the university where I planned to enroll, and she recommended that I take some lessons as a refresher prior to joining the Spring Persian 2 class. I was referred to a doctoral student at my university, Soheil, who is a Farsi native speaker.

I've been taking lessons with Soheil since that time (November 2012), first as a refresher and then to compliment the coursework of my Persian class. The idea for this blog came out of one of our Farsi lessons. I told Soheil I wanted a better way to keep track of and share the language work we do. He thought a valuable next step in my Persian studies would be reading and interpreting articles from Persian language newspapers and magazines. The end result is this blog.

Postings will either be related to grammar and vocab lessons we've completed, or stories that would otherwise be inaccessible to non-Persian speakers. My hope is that sharing some of these news stories will help broaden the understanding of Iran for anyone who happens to read this blog. As I've gradually discovered, there is far more to the internal politics of Iran than the same two or three news lines that are picked up and dissected by international media.

Enjoy!   

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

News Post: May 20 2013

My first news post includes two articles and comes from the Iranian news website Tabnak (tabnak.ir). Tabnak has the highest traffic of any news site in Iran and is generally considered a credible source. The site is associated with Mohsen Rezaee, the founder of the Revolutionary Guards and current head of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council. That being the case, Tabnak could be classified as more conservative and close to the Iranian government.



A basic translation of this article's title is: Larkani withdraws his candidacy for the benefit of Jalili
This article goes on to describe how Larkani decided to end his candidacy in support of Presidential hopeful Saeed Jalili. Both men are very conservative and favored by Iranian leadership. Saeed Jalili is particularly notable for his position leading negotiations related to Iran's nuclear program. Support from other conservative candidates like Larkani, in conjunction with his favorable standing and notoriety, could make Jalili an extremely interesting candidate to watch in the coming weeks.



This article is a bit of a departure from the Iranian presidential race. The title mentions some comments made by the Iranian Minister of Communications regarding the earth's atmosphere. If you think, based on that, that the body of the article will describe the Minister's concerns about pollution or the climate, you're slightly off. The Minister states that an important discovery has been made regarding one layer of the earth's atmosphere. It has been determined, he claims, that pictures and sound can travel better through this particular layer of atmosphere. Most importantly, he goes on to assure that when the hidden Imam of Shia Islam reveals himself, he will be able to broadcast his message to the entire world using this atmospheric layer... The article's author not only calls the Minister out on the stupidity of his statements, but criticizes him for tying important religious figures to wild claims easily proven incorrect.