The Latest from Iran (6 July): Compromise?

2047 GMT: Today's All-is-Well Alert. Press TV plays up the statement of the head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization that, despite UN sanctions, non-oil exports have grown 27%.

No word in the statement on how oil exports are doing.

Iran & Sanctions: Could Tehran’s Flights Be Grounded?
Iran Analyses: A Rafsanjani-Khamenei Deal on Universities Crisis? (Siavashi and Verde)
The Latest from Iran (5 July): Talks and Conflicts

2045 GMT: Energy News. Iran has finally put out a major oilwell fire which had been raging for 38 days.

2040 GMT: Parliament v. President. Kalemeh has more information on today's attack by legislator Ahmad Tavakoli (see 1230 GMT) on the Government and his claim of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's lack of respect for the law.

1705 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Sasan Aghaei, held from November to April with 40 days in solitary confinement, has been given a one-year prison sentence.

1500 GMT: Parliament v. President. "Conservative" member of Parliament Reza Akrami has issued another denunciation of the recent demonstrations against the Majlis and its bill on control of Islamic Azad University: "Those who insult the Majlis stand apart from hardline principles. What happened was illegal."

1455 GMT: A Minor Strike? Press TV, while referring on today's stoppage by traders at the Tehran Bazaar, says that it was a "minor strike" by "several wholesale cloth traders". The website does note the jewellers' guild has announced it will join the strike on Wednesday (there were reports that some gold traders had closed their doors today).

In what appears to be an immediate reaction to the strike, Mehr News reports that Iran's Ministry of Commerce has reversed its decision to raise business taxes by 70%.

1355 GMT: Defending Iran. An intriguing angle emerging from the Mousavi-Khatami meeting (see 1235 GMT)....

The two men denounced the UN sanctions against Iran, questioning why no similar action had ever been taken against Israel and declaring that the Iranian people will not let any power interfere with their internal affairs". Mousavi and Khatami also criticised "the West" for its support of "terrorist groups".

1235 GMT: Meetings. Former President Mohammad Khatami's website has published a summary of his meeting on Monday with Mir Hossein Mousavi (see 1125 GMT).

1230 GMT: Parliament v. President. Another challenge from key member of Parliament Ahmad Tavakoli, who has said in a speech --- my paraphrase --- "How dare the President say that the law does not apply to him."

1220 GMT: The Bazaar Strike. Peyke Iran claims that this morning's strike in the Tehran Bazaar (see 1120 GMT) over Government taxes was in the gold and textile markets.

1215 GMT: Airlines, Sanctions, and Safety. A new twist in the tale of Iran's possibly-grounded flights: the European Union has banned most of Iran Air's jets from flying to Europe. EU officials denied that the measure was connected to international and US sanctions, with a spokesperson insisting, "We deal purely with safety requirements. Our controls focus entirely on safety, nothing else."

1130 GMT: Press Un-Freedom. One weekly publication in Tehran Province, Madineye Goftogu, has been banned for "slander of officials" and three others have received warnings.

1125 GMT: Discussions. Aftab News reports that Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami have met to discuss the domestic situation and international sanctions.

1120 GMT: Economy Watch. Kalemeh claims, from eyewitnesses, that there was "unrest and strikes" amongst merchants, protesting over Government tax policy, in the Tehran Bazaar this morning.

1115 GMT: The International Front. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has criticised unilateral US sanctions in a news briefing: "China has already noted that the United States and other parties have unilaterally put in place further sanctions against Iran. Not long ago, the U.N. Security Council approved resolution 1929. China believes that the Security Council resolution should fully, seriously and correctly be enforced and cannot be wilfully elaborated on to expand Security Council sanctions measures."

Meanwhile, the head of the Iran-United Arab Emirates Chamber of Commerce says the managers of two companies linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps have had their bank accounts frozen in response to the latest UN sanctions: “Khatam al-Anbiya and their subsidiaries, and companies that they thought were involved in Iran’s atomic work, are on the list.”

0830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Parvin Jamalzadeh, detained on Ashura (27 December) has been sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison for acting against national security by participating in illegal gatherings, disturbing public order, committing blasphemy, and insulting the Supreme Leader.

Journalist Emaduddin Baghi's court appearance has been postponed to mid-August.

Rooz Online publishes an interview with the daughter of Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand, the founder and president of the Kurdistan Human Rights Defense Organization, who is entering the fourth year of a 10-year prison sentence.

Tonia Kaboudvand speaks of worries over her father's health and says, “Human rights activists and defenders have been silent about my father’s situation and have over time forgotten about it.”

0810 GMT: Investment v. Sanctions. Rooz Online summarises this interesting development: Iran is removing barriers to foreign banks operating in the country.

Deutsche Welle, however, notes that sanctions are causing increasing difficulties for European companies such as EON and RWE to invest in Iran's energy sector.

0755 GMT: Attack on the Clerics. Ahmad Montazeri, the son of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, has reiterated that the attack on his family's house last month was carried out in the presence of some government officials.

0745 GMT: The Labour Front. Iranian Labor News Agency reports that 500 workers at the Abadan oil refinery have protested and gone on strike over unpaid wages.

0715 GMT: Halting Democracy? Green Voice of Freedom claims that the recent Parliamentary decision to postponing municipal elections is the first step in a plan, backed by the Supreme Leader, to eliminate all elections.

0705 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. And, amidst the talk of a Khamenei-Rafsanjani deal to avert immediate political crisis, two stories in Rah-e-Sabz that indicate others in the Government are still trying to cut down the former President.

The website claims that Rafsanjani was banned from ceremonies last week marking the "7 Tir" bombing of 1981. And it reports that the head of the office of Yasser Hashemi, Rafsanjani's youngest son, was arrested yesterday.

0700 GMT: Then Again.... Back to our opening story on the supposed resolution of the Islamic Azad University crisis through the Supreme Leader's intervention. A member of the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution has said that the suspension of the SCCR's decision --- which effectively overrules Parliament and backs President Ahmadinejad --- is only temporary.

Press TV is now reporting on Khamenei's letter to Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani "suspending" any decision on the university.

0650 GMT: Parliament v. Government. The Majlis is insisting that it should have the authority, as prescribed by the Constitution, to review treaties with foreign countries or companies.

The declaration should be seen in the specific context of the intervention by Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and other legislators in the international manoeuvres over Iran's uranium enrichment.

0640 GMT: Flashback of Resistance. Green Voice of Freedom recalls Mir Hossein's final appearance on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting: "Death, yes. Retreat, never."

0630 GMT: Sanctions and Iran's Airlines. More follow-up from our story yesterday that US-led sanctions on fuel for Iranian aircraft may be grounding flights....

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has denied this morning that any flights are being affected and insists that supplies are uninterrupted.

The German Government has again said that fuel has been refused. That, however, does not cover the possibility that private companies --- like BP, who said yesterday that it had suspended deliveries --- have cut off supplies.

0530 GMT: We begin this morning with another check on the state of the universities crisis between President, Parliament, and Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Iranian media are taking the line that the Supreme Leader has ordered a suspension of both the Parliament's bill and the intervention of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which in effect backed President Ahmadinejad's control of the university. It is unclear what Khamenei's decision means for the future of the institution; the university's new President was supposed to be appointed yesterday.

It is notable, however, that the suspension effectively recognised the current arrangements: 1) the Supreme Leader's order was announced by the university’s board of trustees; 2) Khamenei's directive went not only to Ahmadinejad and the SCCR but also Rafsanjani as "Board of Trustees Director".

Comments

[Catherine]

Simmering tensions in lead-up to student protest anniversary

A quiet battle is being waged on the streets of Tehran between opposition activists and authorities in preparation for the anniversary this Thursday of the student protests of 1999, .... Messages scribbled on walls, inside telephone booths and even along the mountain paths and picnic areas favored by Tehran's middle class urge people to rally outside Tehran University in defiance of stern government warnings.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/07/iran-simmering-tensions-in-leadup-to-july-9-protest-anniversary.html" rel="nofollow">http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2... (incl. video)

[Catherine]

Government Looking Towards Foreign Banks

Rooz Online takes a detailed look at the ins and outs of the new regulations that lift restrictions on foreign bank operations in Iran.
http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem/article/2010/july/05//government-looking-towards-foreign-banks.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem...

[Catherine]

Mourning Mothers Accuse Authorities of Kahrizak Cover-Up

The Mourning Mothers of Iran have described the death sentences issued for Iranian officials over their role in the torture and killing of three postelection detainees at the Kahrizak detention center as an attempt by the establishment to cover up its crimes and to calm down the families of the victims of the crackdown that followed the disputed reelection of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Iranian_Authorities_Accused_Of_Covering_Up_Kahrizak_Atrocities/2091545.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rferl.org/content/Iranian_Authoritie...

[Catherine]

CNN takes up the case of Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani, a mother of two who could be stoned to death at any moment under the terms of a death sentence handed down by Iranian authorities.

Human rights activist tries to stop death by stoning for Iranian woman
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/05/iran.stoning/?hpt=T1&fbid=DnN8MyLU80e" rel="nofollow">http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/05/i...

[Catherine]

RE 06.30 Without actually naming BP
.... a source close to the aviation sector in the UAE told AFP there was a problem with an international fuel supplier which had refused to serve Iranian aircraft. "A servicing company which provides fueling at several airports around the world has refused to provide Iranian planes with fuel, including at UAE terminals," he said.

"The Iranian air operators have alternative sources for refueling at UAE airports," he added, requesting anonymity.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100705/wl_afp/irannuclearpoliticsuae" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100705/wl_afp/ira...

[Catherine]

Mansoor Osanloo Appeared in Court on June 30
A new charge of “collaboration with enemies of the system” has been levelled accounted against Mansoor Osanloo, detained labour activist and head of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran & Suburbs Bus Company. His wife Parven Osanloo said: “My husband had been previously sentenced to 5 years in prison on charges of acting against national security, but the court held on Wednesday has questioned him about Collaboration with groups inimical to the system.”
http://www.rhairan.in/en/?p=5170" rel="nofollow">http://www.rhairan.in/en/?p=5170

[Catherine]

Campaign for Iranian woman facing death by stoning discovers two other women sentenced to be stoned:

Mina Ahadi, a human rights activist in Germany who helped Sakineh's children to launch their campaign internationally, said that she received phone calls from the families of two other women kept in Tabriz prison, where Sakineh is, revealing that they are also convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. Azar Bagheri, 19, and Marian Ghorbanzadeh, 25, are their names, Ahadi disclosed.

"Azar was arrested when she was just 15. They couldn't punish her before she became 18 years old according to the law, so they waited until now … and want to stone her to death," Ahadi said. She has been subjected to mock stonings, complete with partial burial in the ground. "They're preparing her for the real one," said Ahadi.

Ahadi who has been following the stoning sentence in Iran over the past few years says that she is aware of the names of 12 other women who are sentenced to death by stoning in Iran at the moment.

"These are just the women I know, I estimate that at least 40 to 50 other women are waiting for the same destiny in Iran right now," she said.

"Stoning to death is not simply just a judicial punishment, it's a political means in the hands of the Iranian regime to threaten people. It has more function than just a simple punishment for them."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/02/iranian-woman-stoning-death-penalty" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/02/ira...

[Baz]

Catherine

I am atheist - so I cannot pray to a God. But- please - can somebody pray to their God or Gods on my behalf for the destruction of this Satanic evil

Barry

[Ange-Paris]

Letter from Evin Prison by Ayatollah Boroujerdi emailed to Iran Focus :

" I, who am at the risk of blindness and paralysis, declare my disgust and hatred of any religion and faith that would create a hard life for people, causing the collapse of the nation and frustration and oppression of my compatriots."

http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20952:letter-from-evin-prison-by-ayatollah-boroujerdi&catid=4:iran-general&Itemid=26" rel="nofollow">http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=co...

[Ange-Paris]

Barry
I do so everyday, and sometimes I ask : are you deaf ?

[Ange-Paris]

http://payvand.com/news/" rel="nofollow">http://payvand.com/news/
This is the link of payvand news; in the middle of their page, there is a video featuring censord scenes of a film called " familiar earth" look at the tension reigning on the country and people; suffocating !!

[Catherine]

Wo ist der Mahmoudi?

President hmadinejad left for Bamako, Mali on Tuesday morning and will proceed to Nigeria after his visit to Mali.

(Nigeria has recently assumed the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council.)

[Catherine]

Judge Salavati Strikes Again
Parvin Jamalzadeh who was detained during the Ashura protests, has been sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison.
http://www.rhairan.in/en/?p=5203" rel="nofollow">http://www.rhairan.in/en/?p=5203

[Ange-Paris]

YES !!!
The managers of two companies that are part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps have had their bank accounts frozen in the United Arab Emirates in response to a fourth set of UN sanctions over the Iranian nuclear program, said the head of the Iran-U.A.E. Chamber of Commerce.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-06/iranian-guards-company-chiefs-targeted-by-u-a-e-sanctions-chamber-says.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-06/irania...

[Ange-Paris]

The new basis of conditions concerning talks between Iran and the West : the adoption of a clear stance by the West regarding :

-Israel's nuclear weapons,
-the status of Iran in the talks and
-the inclusion of Turkey and Brazil in the fuel exchange negotiations.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=133613§ionid=351020104" rel="nofollow">http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=133613&sec...

[Ange-Paris]

""Anybody who insists on implementing [searches] will regret them very harshly," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said June 28, echoing avowals by other senior Iranian officials that inspections would not go unanswered. "
In responding to West, Iran stresses its naval abilities in Persian Gulf :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/05/AR2010070502578.html?wprss=rss_world" rel="nofollow">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

[Ange-Paris]

EU tightens flight restrictions on Iranian airline; The European Union tightened restrictions on the use of its airspace by Iran Air on Tuesday because of safety concerns and added an airline from Suriname to its no-flight blacklist.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100706/wl_mideast_afp/euairlineiransafetyregulate_20100706110339" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100706/wl_mideast...

[Arshama]

Ange,

Merci beaucoup for all your wonderful news :-)
The new EU flight restrictions will probably be heavy for Iran Air with its fleet of antiques, but they have nothing to do with sanctions: just remember all the crashes in Iran last year.
Kerosine restricting is already commented by the people: today Sazegara told the joke that passengers should take a gas can (peet halabi) to the airport ;-)

Freezing bank accounts of two IRGC-managers is fine, but these are just peanuts for Khatam al-Anbia. Rooz offers an example of their real assets:
http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem/article/2008/september/29//this-time-a-320-million-euro-project.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem...

I wished someone could give us a list of all their companies.

Arshama

[Catherine]

Today's Straight Face Challenge

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said today that reports that fuel supplies had been blocked in three countries were part of a propaganda war against the Islamic Republic.

Who spread that propaganda? None other than Iran's ISNA news agency on July 5, quoting the secretary of the Iranian Airlines Union, Mehdi Aliyari as saying airports in Britain, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates had denied refueling to Iranian planes as part of unilateral U.S. sanctions against Iran.! :-)

http://www.rferl.org/content/Iran_Says_Reports_Planes_Denied_Refueling_False/2091983.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rferl.org/content/Iran_Says_Reports_...

[Ange-Paris]

Ahmadinejad to meet Muslim leaders at D8 , a summit in Nigeria on Thursday after Western nations recently piled fresh sanctions on his country over its nuclear programme.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1067780/1/.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_worl...

[Arshama]

Thank you, Gunni

The list is really long, but I will try to sort out "our" companies. Unfortunately the "Treasury" is what its name says, i.e. unaccessible ;-)

Arshama

[Arshama]

AN Dismissal Watch

Deutsche Welle reports that hardliner MP Ahmad Tavakoli said today in parliament that 1/3 of representative's votes is necessary for AN's interpellation (estizah), and 2/3 of votes for his dismissal: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0%2C%2C5765359%2C00.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5765359,00...
The article discusses the ongoing battle between AN and hardliners, especially after the Bassiji protests and insults in front of the Majlis.

[Arshama]

Nuclear Negotiations Watch

According to Al-Arabiya, Said Jalili has declared today in a letter to Catherine Ashton Iran's readiness to continue negotiations in the nuclear case with the 5+1. http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=18858" rel="nofollow">http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=18858

Wait and see...

[Observer]

Regarding Azad University dispute:

PressTV's report "Leader orders keeping Azad Univ. status" - http://bit.ly/bKLF2p" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/bKLF2p
refers to Rafanjani as 'Ayatollah' at least twice. Thought the regime ordered otherwise some time ago. Now he's 'Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani' again?

[Video: Merchants Strike, Keep]

[...] Enduring America reports: In what appears to be an immediate reaction to the strike, Mehr News reports that Iran’s Ministry of Commerce has reversed its decision to raise business taxes by 70%. [...]