The Latest on Iran (29 December): A Desperate Swing of the Fist
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 18:23 
1930 GMT: Kill Them. Abbas Vaez-Tabasi, a member of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts has declared on state television, "Those who are behind the current sedition in the country ... are mohareb (enemies of God) and the law is very clear about punishment of a mohareb [execution]."Today's Show of Support for the Regime? If you believe Peyke Iran, it wasn't much. The website reports that residents in Rasht ridiculed a demonstration of 300 plainclothes Basijis chanting slogans for the execution of reformists like Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami, and Mehdi Karroubi.
1850 GMT: Javan Farda reports that Shiraz University was closed today.
1845 GMT: The Arrests Move Higher. Government forces have arrested Mir Hossein Mousavi's chief aide Alireza Beheshti. Beheshti, the son of one of Iran's most commemorated martyrs, Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, was also detained briefly in September when the regime tried to disrupt preparations for Qods Day demonstrations.
NEW Latest Iran Video: Today’s University Protest (29 December)
NEW Iran: A List of the Ashura Detainees
NEW Iran: The Regime's Fightback?
Latest Iran Video: Obama Condemns “Violent & Unjust Suppression” (28 December)
Iran: Ashura’s Message “Iranians Are Not Punching Bags” (Josh Shahryar)
Iran: A Point of No Return?
The Latest from Iran (28 December): The Regime’s Arresting Strategy
1830 GMT: The Karroubi Family Speaks Out (Cont.): Mehdi Karroubi's son Taghi has added to the criticisms by Karroubi's wife and son Hossein of regime restrictions on his father. He said that Government-provided security has stopped protecting Karroubi when he leaves the house. This is effectively a ''quasi-house arrest'.'
Karroubi's car was attacked on Saturday by assailants.
1815 GMT: Attacks on the Clerics. Ayatollah Sane'i now appears to be a primary target of the regime: assaults on his offices by plainclothes men have been reported in Tehran, Mashhad, Kerman, Sari, Gorgan, and Shiraz.
Attacks in Shiraz on the Qoba Mosque and the residence of Ayatollah Dastghaib have also been reported.
1730 GMT: "Western" Media and the Green Movement. A reporter from The Times of London has asked us to clarify our opening update (0710 GMT). While we mentioned the newspaper as part of "a chorus of affirmation that this opposition is on the point of victory", he/she wants to make clear that it should not be included in our preceding reference that "most of [the Western media] had written off the opposition only a month ago".
1720 GMT: The Elm-o-Sanat Protest. We've posted three clips from today's demonstration at Elm-o-Sanat University in Tehran. Gooya reports that more than 10 students were injured in clashes with security forces.
1650 GMT: Mahmoud Speaks. President Ahmadinejad has surfaced to comment on the Ashura protests: "The Iranian nation has seen a lot of such masquerades. A Zionist (Israeli), and American ordered [nauseating] masquerade."
1645 GMT: The Karroubi Family Protests. Back from a break to find that the family of Mehdi Karroubi striking out at Government restrictions. Karroubi's son Hossein has announced that his father is “partially imprisoned” because security personnel refuse to cooperate with him. Karroubi's wife Fatemeh writes that her family has been threatened by “nightly attacks of arbitrary forces” She says that she will hold the government responsible for any incident that may affect members of her family.
1225 GMT: Reading Iran from the US. We've just posted the analysis of Karim Sadjadpour and Trita Parsi of the Ashura protests on the Public Broadcasting Service.
1224 GMT: Reports that journalist Nasrin Vaziri, who works for ILNA and Khabar Online, has been arrested.
1214 GMT: Tehran's Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi said that seven people were killed in Ashura clashes (which is kind of strange, since the official line on Monday was that 10 "terrorists" had been slain).
1210 GMT: Here Come the Guards. The Revolutionary Guard jump into the regime's fightback against the Ashura protests: "The...foreign media...has staged a psychological war. Trying to overthrow the system will reach nowhere...designers of the unrest will soon pay the cost of their insolence...The opposition, which has joined hands with the foreign media, is backed by foreign enemies."
1205 GMT: Only a matter of time before this "analysis" was attempted --- the editor of Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmardari, has accused Mir Hossein Mousavi of planning the assassination of his nephew.
1155 GMT: Report coming in that Reza Tajik, journalist and religious activist, was arrested today in front of the Etemaad newspaper Building. Photojournaist Sam Mahmoudi has also reportedly been arrested.
Another activist reports that Dr. Housein Mousavian, a member of the National Front, has been arrested.
1120 GMT: Did Trees Have to Die for This? A Mr Will Heaven seeks his 15 seconds of attention with this blotting of the pages of The Daily Telegraph, "Iran and Twitter". I have more important things to do, such as using Twitter as a portal to keep up with and report on the latest developments inside Iran, so let me respond Tweet-style:
@WillHeaven: U know nothing of #Twitter, #IranElection, or #Iran (& u rip off #Salon, who tried this shtick last week)
1115 GMT: We have posted a list of Ashura detainees, compiled by Tehran Bureau's Muhammad Sahimi last night before the latest reports of arrests.
1040 GMT: Arrest Them All. The latest detainees include journalist Mohammad Javad Saberi and Shahpour Kazemi, the brother of Mir Hossein Mousavi's wife Zahra Rahnavard. Kazemi was detained for months earlier in the crisis before his release in the autumn.
Journalists Badrosadat Mofidi, Nasrin Vaziri, and Keyvan Mehregan have also been detained.
1020 GMT: Ali Larijani --- No Compromise. Speaker of Parliament Larijani, commenting on the Ashura protests, has told lawmakers that officials should "arrest offenders of the religion and mete out harshest punishments to such anti-revolutionary figures with no mercy".
The rhetoric isn't significant: it matches that coming from pro-regime media and "hard-line" MPs (see 0850 GMT). The political symbolism is: Larijani --- who has clashed with President Ahmadinejad throughout this crisis and was reportedly involved in the discussion of a National Unity Plan ---is now declaring that confrontation takes priority over any attempt at a negotiated resolution.
And he is doing so even as the Supreme Leader (is Larijani serving here as a spokesman for Khamenei?) and Ahmadinejad remain publicly silent.
0850 GMT: "Cut Off Their Hands". Scattered hard-line noises out of Iran's Parliament. Mohammad Karamirad, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that the committee will hold a special meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Ashura protests. Security officials from the Interior Ministry, the Intelligence Ministry, and the police will be invited.
Don't be fooled that this is an impartial enquiry into the demonstrations, however. Karamirad declared, "Rioters who took to streets are challenging the very foundations of the ruling system....They insult Islamic beliefs, and it is our duty to cut off the hands behind such seditious acts and bring an end to the events that endanger the safety and security of the people." He also called on Iran's judiciary to prosecute the leaders of the protests.
Hossein Sobhaninia, another member of the committee, joined that call. He said that events, in which the sanctities of Islam were disrespected and government officials were insulted, would not end if the judiciary did not deal with the seditious acts.
750 GMT: Which Way Forward? Following up on our snap 5-point analysis of the significance of the Ashura protests, an EA reader directs us to the thoughts of Ebrahim Nabavi in Rah-e-Sabz. Nabavi searches for a positive outcome to the conflict, advising the opposition to leave enough space for the regime to prevent a fierce confrontation.
0710 GMT: We begin this morning with a summary and analysis of the Government's attempt to restore some credibility through the rather crude tactic of arresting lots of people it does not like or trust. One of the latest names to emerge is Nushin Ebadi, the sister of the Nobel Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.
Meanwhile, it is stunning how the Western media --- most of whom had written off the opposition only a month ago --- are now a chorus of affirmation that this opposition is on the point of victory. The Times of London proclaims "the tipping point of revolution". Abbas Milani in The Wall Street Journal announces "The Tipping Point in Iran". (Note to EA readers: if we ever use "tipping point" in an analysis, pull us aside for a journalistic flogging for the crime Resorting to Overused Cliche.) The Washington Post has the variant of "Iran's Turning Point". The New York Times offers support through an editorial denouncing "Iran's War on Its People".
Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi, Abbas Milani, Ali Larijani, Alireza Beheshti, Ashura, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, Badrosadat Mofidi, Basiji, Daily Telegraph, Ebrahim Nabavi, Elm-o-Sanat University, Etemaad, Fatemeh Karroubi, Hossein Karroubi, Hossein Shariatmadari, Hossein Sobhaninia, Housein Mousavian, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Kayhan, Keyvan Mehregan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Javad Saberi, Mohammad Karamirad, Mohammad Khatami, Nasrin Vaziri, New York Times, Peyke Iran, Rah-e-Sabz, Reza Tajik, Salon, Sam Mahmoudi, Shahpour Kazemi, The Times of London, Twitter, Wall Street Journal, Will Heaven, Zahra Rahnavard in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (75)
Scott,
I think we owe you a flogging for "point of no return!" Wait isn't that a movie or something??? :) Sorry couldn't resist.
bill
Bill,
Flogging accepted and "point of no return" banished to The Abyss of Cliches.
S.
Larijani and other members of Islamic Banana Republic are all dead-men walking. They will be dragged out of their holes not by US Marines but by mighty Iranian Greens. Their last meal will be a la carte menu of their evil deeds and their rhetoric.
how about a "turning point"?
Q: What's the difference between a tipping point and a straw that broke the camel's back?
A: None, except one lucrative book deal and several million appearances in space-straitened headlines.
In seriousness, where is the revolution's leadership?
I think Raf is cooking something up, he sent his daughter to participate in the demonstrations, I think he`s trying to establish himself as a supporter of the people so he will be spared when SL and AN are gone.
what is true (or not) of the pro-government rallies yesterday or today in tehran and other cities? did they take place or was old footage shown on iranian tv? and if they took place, why is nobody on this or other anti-government blogs mentioning them? even if they are 'staged' or if schools or companies were coerced in taking part or whatever, to me ignoring those facts feels like the same dishonest reporting as iran state medias are (rightly) accused of...
Robert Fisk comments on Mesbah-Yazdi (temsah) as Khamenei's possible successor, already holding the keys to Iran's future: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-silent-cleric-who-holds-the-key-to-irans-future-1852108.html
I do not subscribe to his pessimistic view that "Iranian politics do not run on the supposedly Western principle of majority rule." The battle for Iran may not be fought on the streets, but it is neither fought in Qom any more. Not after those huge masses commemorating Montazeri in this city. Mass arrestations of dissidents will prove as ineffective as all earlier clampdowns, and the spirit of freedom will be marching on. Bye, bye IRI!
I am happy to see that new wind's direction has changed the thoughts of Obama administration and the Mr Parsi's mind about the Green Movement ( The latter has changed obviousely because of the former's shift ) ; We are stonger with the gathering of hesitent people around us; Viva Free Iran .
Arshama
I don't think that Mesbah Yazdi will be choosen as a new SL if they want to silent people and bring peace in the country ; before being commanders in Sepah, these men are the business men and almost all the important cies belong to them; so I don't think so that they are so dunky to endanger their assets ! putting MY as SL will be worst for the safety of the regime !
Ange Paris,
I don't think "they" will care about the people, not after shooting them on Ashura, but I also have my doubts about him being the next SL. In any case the Sepah needs a religious facade to continue robbing out the country, and MY is AN's religious teacher.
Abbas Milani, the intellectual with a tasbieh, has a more precise article on the present situation, especially the economy: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703278604574624302036557422.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Arshama
Thank you for this good article ! good synthesis !
Dr. Seyyed Alireza Beheshti, son of martyr Ayatollah Beheshti and Mir Hossein Mousavi’s top advisor, was arrested yesterday while he was teaching ...in university. Security forces also attacked Beheshti’s house and while searching the place confiscated his documents, handwritten notes and personal computer. There is also no information regarding the whereabouts of Dr. Beheshti at the moment.
There is strong internet chatter and rumors that tomorrow there will be bombings in central Tehran to show the world that the greens are violent. The bombs will detonate during the government organized protests and will help establish the greens as savage terrorists. This plan is being executed by Sepah.
@Whereismyvote
If True a dangerous game to play. The Anger seen during the last days was intense and very deep. If you tip this crowed over the edge of violence you might end up having opened the pandora's box.
Ange Paris, you're welcome!
@ WMV and Afshin
Even if the Sepah will stage this bombing, no one will believe that the Greens are responsible, especially after all those peaceful protests and the mercy for Bassiji caught on Ashura. I agree with Afshin on the pandora's box, the Sepah should keep in mind the MKO, who are just waiting for a pretext to start assassinating militia officials.
But obviously the IRGC is scared to death, otherwise they would not steal a corpse.
Video showing police attacking the protesters first!
Iranians tried to be peaceful!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGACDMtOpr8
Good news from Germany! Werner Hoyer (FDP), minister of state, said today that the federal government condemns the brutal actions of security forces, announced support to Iranian opposition and assured that actions on EU scale will follow:
http://www.news-adhoc.com/bundesregierung-sagt-iranischer-protestbewegung-unterstuetzung-zu-idna2009122973325/
Danke schoen :-)
must see!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pG7wEQAuUU&feature=player_embedded
Thanks Sim!
at 1:11 are they shooting in the air? I thought the they weren't armed......
Karolien,
Re pro-Government rallies --- I have not seen them yesterday or today although we did mention that a rally has been called for Tehran's Enghelab Square on Wednesday. If you have information of rallies that took place today, I would be pleased to receive and post it.
S.
WIMV,
Has Behesti been arrested (and do you have a link)? There is some confusion as I had the report that Beheshti Shirazi (managing editor of Kalemeh) had been arrested, rather than Beheshti.
S.
Attacks on Ayatollah Sanei's bureaus by plainclothes men are reported from Tehran, Mashhad, Kerman, Sari, Gorgan and Shiraz: http://www.rahesabz.net/story/6657/
Exit Islamic! It is the rule of "lebas vahshi" (the rogue clothed).
The facebook page of Mousavi is now also reporting that Beheshti (the chief campaign manager) for Mousavi was arrested. He is the son of Ayatollah Beheshti. My news is five to six hours old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ19naZVCm4
Don't know if you have this yet, it was posted today although it's of the events on Sunday. This video is shocking, but it shows the truth of the brutality of the regime. It captures the actual moment of a police car running over protesters (an incident that was reported) on Ashura.
You can see in the video of men trying to stop the car from running over a man who seems to have been already hit on the road to no avail.
This video makes the haranguing of the West by the "Islamic" Government look all the more shameful and just the pathetic throes of a regime desperate to cover its crimes.