Iran Today: Jalili And Qalibaf Appeal To Power Bases

Presidential Election Watch: Velayati Edition

Presidential candidate and senior advisor to the Supreme Leader Ali Akbar Velayati has slammed Iran's high inflation rate, vowing to form a "strong government" to deal with the issue.

According to Velayati, Iran's domestic markets are being flooded with Chinese imports at the expense of locally-made Iranian goods. Domestic producers are in decline, he explained, which has reduced the purchasing power of Iranian consumers. Unemployment is also a major problem, he added.

The next President must win back market confidence, he explained.

Presidential Election Watch: Qalibaf Edition

Tehran mayor and Presidential candidate Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf is due to start campaigning tomorrow at the Khorramshahr mosque, Khabar Online reports.

Qalibaf's campaign spokesman, Parvez Esmaili, said that the choice to start the campaign on the anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr [in the Iran-Iraq War] indicates that Qalibaf could accomplish a political epic, alongside the culture of jihad and the epic liberation of the city.

In an appeal to Iranian nationalism as well as to the military and Revolutionary Guards, Esmaili added that during the liberation of Khorramshahr, the frontline soldiers had been devoted to religion, their homeland and the people. Iran was still in a "jihad situation" today, he added, noting that "the fight continues and we are still at war."

Notably, Qalibaf's main rival, Saeed Jalili, is also focussing on appealing to the military and IRGC power bases.

On Wednesday, Qalibaf said that he would focus on the economy and job creation schemes if Iranians chose him as their new President, adding that his cabinet would include those with "proven managerial skills".

Qalibaf said that Iran must be "weaned off petrodollars" and noted that during his tenure as Tehran mayor he had been successful in creating jobs.

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Syria Today: An Insurgent Victory in Idlib Province?

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Insurgents moving across the regime base in Idlib Province

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Demonstration in Raqqa

The rally in insurgent-held Raqqa, the largest city held by the opposition, last night:

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Syria Today: More Noise About "Peace Talks" --- But Does It Matter?

Claimed footage of insurgents moving from Aleppo to the embattled town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border --- see The Battle of Qusayr update below

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Almost 40% of Population In Need of Aid

Senior United Nations official Panos Moumtzis has said that the total number of people in need of assistance is now 8.3 million, about 38% of Syria's population.

Moumtsis, the regional coordinator for Syrian refugees, said about 6.8 million people were in need inside the country while 1.5 million have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

Moumtzis said the humanitarian situation in Syria has been “rapidly spiralling downwards” since the start of the year: “UNHCR [UN High Commission for Refugees] is now very much worried about the coming summer months and in particular the increase in temperatures and the associated health problems linked to water and sanitation."

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Syria Analysis: Creating the Latest Scare Story "Iranians Fighting Alongside Hezbollah"

A story of how US Government spin became headline "fact" by Wednesday morning.,,.

On Tuesday, the State Department set up a conference call with a "senior official" on Syria. In the midst of answering a question about the fighting in Qusayr near the Lebanese border, the official said:

It is the most visible effort we have seen of Hezbollah to engage directly in the fighting in Syria as a foreign force. We understand there are also Iranians up there. That is what the Free Syrian Army commanders are telling us. I think this is an important thing to note, the direct implication of foreigners fighting on Syrian soil now for the regime.

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Iran Analysis: Has Regime Risked Its Legitimacy By Blocking Rafsanjani?

Cartoon: Maya Neyestani

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After the new President is declared on 21 June in the election which cannot be called a "free election", the bigger contest for the regime --- beset by economic problems, facing difficulties over its foreign policy and "Islamic Awakening", caught up in political rivalry --- remains....

How does it convince its people, many of them resigned to the decline of recent years, that its Islamic Republic is still legitimate?

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Iran Today: Guardian Council Approves Eight Candidates --- What Next?

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"Western Sources" and Media Put Out Scary Stories About Leaked Nuclear Report

As customary, extracts from the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency are being fed by Western officials to the media with the scariest-possible interpretation.

The report says that Iran's stock of 20% uranium is still below the level of 250 kilogrammes needed for a single atomic bomb, with Tehran holding 182 kilogrammes and another 140.8 kilos in a state for civilian-only use.

Three diplomats, however, made sure that George Jahn of the Associated Press has the dramatic lede that Tehran "has installed close to 700 high-tech centrifuges in an upgrade of its uranium enrichment program since the start of the year". (Jahn apparently has forgotten that in January the diplomats were talking of 3000 centrifuges.)

Reuters recycles the line that "Iran is pressing ahead with the construction of a research reactor" using plutonium from the Arak heavy-water reactor.

As EA noted earlier this year, dissecting a scare story in The Daily Telegraph, plutonium is a natural by-product of heavy-water reactors, and other countries use it in their civilian programmes.

The unintentional humour, howver, comes from the Institute for Science and International Security, which has previously seen pink tarpaulins and doom-laden magnets as harbingers of Iran's sinister atomic plans. This time, the Institute warns, "Iran Laying Asphalt at the Suspect Parchin Site".

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Syria Today: The Battle for Qusayr Continues

Insurgents fighting in Qusayr

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Opposition Insists Assad Must Go

The opposition Syrian National Coalition has rejected Russian demands that, for an international conference, there should be no pre-condition of the departure of President Assad.

"We have been very clear that any transitional period must start with the departure of Assad and the heads of the security services," Khalid Saleh, the spokesman of the SNC, said Tuesday.

Saleh also said the Free Syrian Army must receive "major shipments of weapons" and "must be able to control more areas of Syria before we start thinking about the conference".

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Iran Today: Guardian Council To Decide on Candidates

Image From Saeed Jalili's Twitter Campaign: 'The Coalition Of The People + 1

See also Iran Special: EA's Guide to the Presidential Election
Iran Analysis: 4 Key Questions as Guardian Council Decides Final List of Presidential Candidates
Monday's Iran Today: Presidential Election --- The Field Starts To Narrow

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Internet Slowed, Reports of Riot Police on Streets

An EA correspondent confirms reports that the Internet slowed to the point of non-existence in Iran on Tuesday and that riot police were out in major locations in Tehran.

Supreme Leader Offers Consolation to Disqualified Presidential Hopefuls

The Supreme Leader has tried to assure candidates rejected by the Guardian Council, "You may not be qualified for the job, but you have many other qualifications."

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Iran Analysis: 4 Key Questions as Guardian Council Decides Final List of Presidential Candidates

Iran's Guardian Council will tell the Minister of Interior today which Presidential hopefuls will be allowed to campaign for the 14 June election.

Almost all of the 686 who registered while be disqualified; however, a relatively large contingent of politicians, perhaps more than 30, will be accepted.

This means that --- with the Supreme Leader's camp unable to agree a "unity" candidate despite five months of effort --- we still will not have clarity on the three or four front-runners until next week, after other candidates have withdrawn and made endorsements.

We can make some educated guesses, however, based on the Guardian Council's white smoke and answers to these four questions:

1. Will Hashemi Rafsanjani Be Allowed to Run?

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Middle East Today: US Protests Israel Legalisation of 4 West Bank Outposts

Givat Assaf Outpost in the West Bank(Photo: Haaretz)

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Iraq: More Deaths in Bombings

At least 13 people have been killed in bomb attacks today in Iraq, a day after a wave of bombings across the country left at least 76 people dead.

In the latest attacks, three people were killed when two bombs went off simultaneously in Tuz Khurmato, a town populated mainly by ethnic Turkmen and claimed by the government in Baghdad and ethnic Kurds.

Gunmen and a suicide bomber killed three people in an attack on an army patrol in a Sunni area of Tarmiyah, 50 kilomatres (30 miles) north of Baghdad.

Further north, six people died and dozens were injured when three bombs exploded in the cattle market in al-Aruba district in Kirkuk.

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