Iran-inanity round-up

Hamas has now announced its "unilateral" ceasefire. Wondering how the Iranian press is going to report it? IRNA, the most official agency, still has a now out-dated article on its front page, reporting "MP: Hamas should reject ceasefire, target Zionist positions." In the meantime, the other Iranian Press agencies are reporting the Hamas ceasefire declaration. Hamas would clearly like to be out of IDF crosshairs, but Press TV has devised a spin which preserves the boasting tone of recent Iranian headlines: "Hamas gives Israel one-week ultimatum.":

Hamas has announced an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, giving Israel one week to completely withdraw its forces from the area.

The Sunday announcement was made by the faction's senior official Ayman Taha, who is currently in Cairo for diplomatic talks.

"Hamas and the factions announce a ceasefire in Gaza starting immediately and give Israel a week to withdraw," Taha said.

He also called on Israel to open all border-crossings to allow in 'the basic needs of the people', including food, medical supplies and other goods. [...]

He "called on" Israel to allow the provision of "basic needs"? That doesn't sound so ultimatum-like.

IRIB and other agencies have a rare story featuring Mrs. Ahmadinejad: "President's wife appeals for Rafah opening." Fars has a picture:

Cute couple. Mrs. A has taken up her husband's habit of letter-writing and has written one to Mrs Mubarak:

Iranian First Lady Azam al-Sadat Farahi, in a letter to her Egyptian counterpart, asked for her help to facilitate aid delivery to Palestinians.

"Witnessing the dead bodies of women and children is painful and even worse is that some governments in Arab and Islamic countries do not support the oppressed people in Gaza," Ahmadinejad's wife wrote.

"You could ask your spouse and his administration to prevent worsening of the humanitarian catastrophe by opening the way for aiding Palestine's people," she urged referring to Hosni Mubarak.

She reiterated that she expected Suzan Mubarak to employ all her might and power to aid Gazans and relieve the suffering of people of Gaza.[...]

The "victory" headlines continue, of course, especially at the more slow-moving agencies. One at Mehr News proclaims: "Hamas victory will keep it in political scene for ever: expert":

International expert Ahmad Bakhshayeshi Ardestani said here on Sunday that the victory of Hamas in the Gaza Strip will perpetuate the presence of Hamas in the political scene of Palestine.

"With its victory in Gaza, Hamas will remain for ever in the political scene of Palestine."

Pointing to the ceasefire declared in the Gaza, the expert said, "Surely, Israel has suffered a defeat in Gaza. This is the second failure of this regime and will not be the last one." [...]

Isn't defeat supposed to be more final than that?

IRIB is also reporting on a "media conference" to achieve more effective reporting on the Palestinians. Fittingly, the IRIB site does not seem to be responding at the moment. Update: IRIB is back.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad