In response to reports on foreign warships entering the Persian Gulf, Iranian chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi said that Iran was allowing them to enter and leave only after clarifying their destination and cargo.

Source: Fars, Iran, January 31, 2011

Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that his country has built a space research center, the biggest of its kind in the Middle East, with 10 laboratories.

Source: Fars, Iran, January 31, 2011

Iranian Judiciary spokesman Mohseni-Ejei has announced that the trial of the two American hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who are accused of spying for the U.S., will begin on February 2.

The Iranian daily Kayhan, which is close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has called on the regime to take advantage of the protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and other countries in order to export the Islamic Revolution and the "rule of the jurisprudent" to these countries.

Thus, it said, it will give these peoples the leadership, organizational framework, and regime change that are necessary for their struggle to succeed.

Iran's Islamic Documentary Organization has recently launched the "Wikifiqh" portal, containing over 50,000 statements on fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence.

Iranian Armed Forces headquarters commander Maj.-Gen Hassan Firouzabadi said today that the Iranian Navy is in full control of the passage of foreign vessels to the Persian Gulf.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that the sanctions imposed on Iran by the West had not harmed its energy market, which had even expanded its oil reserves thanks to the new economic plan recently introduced in Iran.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich has said that the 5+1 is waiting for Tehran's answer to the new uranium exchange proposal it received at the January 21-22 Istanbul conference.

Source: ILNA, Iran, January 28, 2011

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran has overtaken the arrogant West and would implement its universal mission to establish peace and justice worldwide (see Ahmadinejad: Iran's On Mission Of 'Universal Justice'). He said that Iran has an historic and international responsibility, and that with the help of divine guidance would implement its mission, at a time when humanity needs pure and just leadership. He added that Western capitalism and liberalism had deceived the world throughout the past century.

Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, said that the Tunisian uprising and Egyptian unrest drew their inspiration from Iran's Islamic Revolution, and that Iran's importance and centrality was clear to all – to the point where the greatest powers on earth need it to solve any international problem.