The Latest from Iran (27 April): An Opposition Wave?

1840 GMT: The Uranium Squeeze. Time magazine notices a key point that we've mentioned for some time, "Iran's need to find fresh supplies of raw uranium supplies is increasingly urgent, according to some reports."

1830 GMT: The Oil Squeeze (cont.). Following the announcement by major French firm Total that it will pull out of Iran  if US sanctions proceed and the defiant stance of Iranian officials that absolutely nothing was wrong with energy supplies --- see 0540 and 1050 GMT), Italian company Eni says it is "working on handing over the operatorship of the Iranian Darquain oil field to local partners".

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The Latest from Iran (26 April): Points of View

1700 GMT: Impact. We've known for days that opposition figures have been building up their challenge to the Government, but it's today, with the revelation of the meeting between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi on Monday, that you know the wave has hit.


For the first time in weeks, the non-Iranian mainstream media is taking notice of the opposition as more than a post-11 February blip. Reuters headlines, "Iran opposition urges vote anniversary rally"; CNN, who established an "Iran Desk" for the 22 Bahman (11 February) demonstration and soon let it lapse, follows suit: "Iranian opposition candidates call for renewed protests".

1125 GMT: No Further Comment Necessary. From Press TV: "Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi said that it is 'ridiculous' to place limitations on the peaceful use of nuclear energy by making 'unfounded' claims about human rights and freedom of women."

1050 GMT: All is Well  Update. Despite the accumulating news of a possible oil squeeze on Tehran with foreign producers withdrawing imports, the Government line is No Problem:

Iran says its strategic gasoline reserves have climbed by a billion liters, reiterating that sanctions on gasoline sales to Iran will never materialize.

"Iran is not worried about (possible) gasoline sanctions," Deputy Oil Minister Noureddin Shahnazi-Zadeh told Iran's Mehr News Agency on Tuesday, adding that sanctions on gasoline sales to Iran will never occur as there is no possibility of imposing such sanctions under current conditions.

1045 GMT: We have posted a short video from Monday's meeting between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, in which the two agreed to call a demonstration for 12 June, the anniversary of the election.

We have also posted a feature of how EA's list of detained Iranian journalists may have made its way into an Austrian newspaper's interview of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

0835 GMT: British Deportation. Last week, we reported on the British Government's plan to deport Bita Ghaedi, an Iranian woman who fled the country because of alleged abuse by her father and brother. Ghaedi was being returned to Tehran despite the likelihood that she would face punishment because of her participation in a rally protesting conflict over Iraq' s Camp Ashraf, home to many members of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran.

Volcanic ash intervened to prevent Ghaedi's flight last week; however, her deportation has now been rescheduled for 5 May.

0830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Farid Taheri, a member of the Freedom Movement of Iran, has been sentenced to three years in prison.

0750 GMT: Labour Watch. A collection of Iranian unions have issued a joint 15-point statement for May Day, "strongly supporting the demands of teachers, nurses, and other working classes of society to end discrimination".

Member of Parliament Alireza Mahjoub has criticised the Government's failure to implement rises in pensions and the hidden discrimination against female workers.

0740 GMT: Women's Rights Corner. Member of Parliament Ali Motahari has harshly criticised the "feminist and anti-family" views of Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. Motahari said that Hashemi's critique of polygamy was misguided, as the prohibition of polygamy would lead to prostitution.

0715 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Amidst reports of the poor health of many detainees, reformist member of Parliament Mostafa Kavakebian has insisted that a Majlis commission investigate the prisons.

0710 GMT: A Successful Protest. The sit-in of female detainees at Evin Prison has forced authorities to establish the separation of men and women in the facility.

0700 GMT: Corruption Watch. Green Voice of Freedom has repeated the claim that the Supreme Leader has insisted the corruption case against First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi must be dropped because of "sensitive issues of nezam (the Iranian system)".

0640 GMT: We Persist. The Islamic Iran Participation Front has issued a protest against the recommendation of Parliament's Article 10 Commission that the reformist party be suspended. The IIPF declares that it will continue its activities.

The protest is signed by Mohsen Safai-Farahani, who was recently handed a six-year prison sentence.

0630 GMT: More Challenges. From the conservative side, leading member of Parliament Ahmad Tavakoli has said that the number and impudence of corrupt high-level officials have risen. He insisted that these officials must be confronted, no matter where and who they serve.

And reformist Ahmad Shirzad has asserted that the opposition movement has been bolstered by the addition of "dissatisfied hardliners".

0540 GMT: Monday was notable for the rush of opposition challenges to the Government. There was Mehdi Karroubi on a law-abiding, Constitution-promoting resistance that would bring victory to Iran, Mir Hossein Mousavi's "Who Defends the Islamic Republic?",  and Zahra Rahnavard calling for the release of detained workers and teachers.

Of course, the important leap will be from statement to action. Yet it is striking this moment to compare the renewed calls for justice and freedom with the Government's rhetorical flourishes.

There was President Ahmadinejad again looking outside Iran with his promotion of the "satanic tools" of the United Nations and the US. There was Foreign Minister Mottaki, confronted with a list of more than 100 detained journalists and political analysts, replying brusquely, "Stick to the nuclear issue."

And there were apparent flights of desperation. As the chief executive of the French oil company Total was announcing that it would pull out of Iran if US sanctions proceeded, the deputy head of Iran's oil industry, Hojatollah Ghanimi-Fard, proclamed, "Iran has negotiated development projects with several foreign oil companies, including French concerns."

Ghanimi-Fard's optimism contrasted sharply with a statement from the Revolutionary Guard that it was prepared to replace Total and Royal Dutch Shell in oil and natural gas projects. Ali Vakili, the managing director of the Pars Oil and Gas Company, said a one-week ultimatum had been given to Shell and Spanish company Repsol, “We will not delay the development of South Pars phases waiting for foreign companies.”

The Latest from Iran (25 April): Build-Up

2020 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. RAHANA reports that detainees in the women’s ward of Evin Prison staged a sit-in and asked the head of the ward to respect the Regulations Law which requires the separation of prisoners.

According to RAHANA, the head of the ward threatened the prisoners and claimed she needs prosecutor’s orders before separating the inmates. The political prisoners have stated that they will continue their sit-in until they achieve their goal.

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The Latest from Iran (24 April): Speaking of Rights

1555 GMT:Corruption Watch. Reihaneh Mazaheri, writing for Tehran Bureau, sets out a detailed summary of the corruption allegations against the Ahmadinejad Government.


1550 GMT: Morality Will Be Observed. Tehran Police Chief Ahmad Reza Radan has assured that the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance's moral police will soon restart controls for better security.

1535 GMT: Media Corner. Journalist Zaynab Kazemkhah, arrested on 7 February, was fired by Iranian Students News Agency upon her release from Evin Prison. Her boss allegedly told her that she was "a traitor to the country".

1525 GMT: Mousavi Speaks Again. No doubt about it: both Mehdi Karroubi (see 0600 GMT) and Mir Hossein Mousavi are making a renewed push against the Government. Mousavi told a group of war veterans today, "The only way for Iran to get out of the crisis would be for you (the rulers) to change your approach. May God end the crisis in favor of the nation."

Mousavi again declared that the Government is working against the values of the Islamic Republic, "Islam would not beat anyone, would not take anyone into incarceration ... and would not keep anyone in prison....We can not accept closure of newspapers and jailing those who talk of freedom and people's right. This is against Islam."

The Presidential candidate assured the audience that the opposition has not been vanquished despite the Government crackdown on dissent, "Do not think that the reform movement does not exist anymore. Such measures can not block the reform path."

1520 GMT: Rumour of Day (2). Rah-e-Sabz claims that staged television confessions of reformist prisoners are planned for the eve of the anniversary of the election, 12 June.

1310 GMT: Culture and Political Prisoners. Ten prominent Iranian writers and poets, including Simin Behbahani, Ali Ashraf Darvishian, Shams Langroodi, and Moniro Ravanipour, have published an open letter demanding the release of journalist Masoud Bastani and other political prisoners.

1230 GMT: Boobquake Watch. Protecting Iran from earthquakes by pursuing immorality, Tehran police have reportedly banned tanning salons.

1210 GMT: Another Larijani Warning. Speaker of ParliamentAli Larijani has told President Ahmadinejad that the Majlis' laws should be implemented. The Khabar Online article supplements the warning has lots of detail on the government's alleged mismanagement, especially missing reports on the budget and on state broadcaster IRIB.

1205 GMT: Rumour of Day. The Sunday Telegraph of London claims, "Iran has struck a secret deal with Zimbabwe to mine its untapped uranium reserves in a move to secure raw material for its steadily expanding nuclear programme."

It was this agreement that underlay President Ahmadinejad's visit to Harare this week.

Caution is needed here: the Sunday Telegraph has been known to peddle exclusives based on suspect sources and/or speculation. This story rests on a "government source" and, rather unusually, "a senior official in the Iranian embassy" in Zimbabwe.

1200 GMT: All is Well Update. Minister of Interior Mustafa Mohammad Najar has declared, ''During nine months' efforts (since the 12 June Presidential election), police forces across the country slapped the enemy's conspiracy."
He said, ''Due to proper instruction, police forces used proper contact with people and the forces used less amount of shooting (than in the past).''

1035 GMT: Nuclear Breakthrough? Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has met the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, to discuss the uranium swap proposal. Mottaki told Iranian state television that he expected the discussions to be "decisive and detailed".

1030 GMT: We have posted a very special analysis linking Iran's suddenly-announced candidacy for the International Commission for Protection of Women’s Rights to the "Boobquake" episode.

(Just a thought, however. The Supreme Leader has his own Facebook page and has recently pronounced on Iran's defense of women's rights, so shouldn't he be informed of the Boobquake movement?)

0740 GMT: We have posted two features: an analysis of the Green Movement and labour movement by Jamshid Assadi and an assessment of the international "threat" from Iran by Stephen Walt.

0735 GMT: The Parliament Front. Another intervention by the Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani in the contest with the Ahmadinejad Government: he has criticized administration officials who have reacted angrily to reports released by the Supreme Audit Court (SAC).

The Supreme Audit Court, overseen by Parliament, is mandated to control the financial operations and activities of all ministries, institutions, state companies, and other organizations which receive Government funding.

0650 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Milad Fadayi has been sentenced to a year in prison for “propaganda against the system”. Fadayi was detained on 2 December in his home by plainclothes agents.

Mohammad Hossein Agassi, the lawyer for Amir Reza Arefi, has said that Arefi's death sentence for "mohareb" (war against God) has been reduced to a 15-year prison term. Arefi was condemned to death in February.

However, RAHANA reports that Habibollah Golparipour has been sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court in Iranian Kurdistan.



0600 GMT: We are watching the signs that the opposition, inside and outside Iran, is seeking a renewed challenge leading up to the anniversary of the Presidential election. According to his website, Mehdi Karroubi has told the German magazine Der Spiegel, "Although tranquillity has been restored, society is awaiting a spark....People should know that we will continue the campaign. The campaign is not against the [Islamic] republic. On the contrary, it is aimed at observing the constitution in which freedom of conscience and democracy has been clarified."

Some other bits and pieces to start the day....

Clerical Downgrade

A second cleric in Qom has been stripped of his status by a court. Hojatoleslam Mir Ahmadi was sentenced to forced exile from the city for ten years and banned from clerical activities.

Ahmadi was arrested by security forces days after a memorial service in February for the 40th day of the death of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri. Ahmadi had debated a student who criticised Montazeri and post-election turmoil in the country. The next day, he was arrested and later released.

Seyed Ahmad Reza Ahmadpour, who recently began a one-year prison sentence, also faces a ban on wearing the traditional clerical robe.

No Foreign Talk, Please

The Islamic Republic News Agency claims that the Deputy Minister for Cinema Affairs has directed that no foreign words be used in Iranian movie titles. According to the agency, a letter to officials declared, “Based on an approval by the cabinet to ban foreign words in banners, advertisements, etc…from now on, Iranian movies are not permitted to use foreign words in titles. This ban applies to films currently in production as well.”

International Rumour of Day

Ayoub Kara, Israel's deputy minister for development in the Negev and Galilee, has told a public meeting that an academic with ties to Iran's nuclear programme recently asked for asylum in Israel after it helped him to defect.

"It is too soon to provide further details," Kara said, adding only that the unidentified academic was "now in a friendly country."

The claim follows the resettlement of Iranian physicist Shahram Amiri in the US in March.

The Latest from Iran (21 April): Waiting for News

1455 GMT: Death Penalty for Kahrizak Abusers? Farda News claims, "Based on what Farda has heard, the court trying the defendants in the Kahrizak case is ready to issue its verdicts and apparently death sentences have been issued for three of them."

1445 GMT: Today's Not Very Surprising "No War" News. The Associated Press tries to find a story:

The U.S. has ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear program any time soon, hoping instead negotiations and United Nations sanctions will prevent the Middle East nation from developing nuclear weapons, a top U.S. defense department official said Wednesday.

"Military force is an option of last resort," Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy said during a press briefing in Singapore. "It's off the table in the near term."

Given that this has been the Obama Administration's line for more than a year, going back to early 2009 when officials told the visiting head of Israel Defense Forces, General Gabi Ashkenazi, that the US would not back a strike on Iranian facilities, this is a non-dramatic restatement of the status quo.

1220 GMT: Iran Media Highlight. We have posted a separate entry on how a most important story moved from EA to the British Broadcasting Corporation: "How Iran News is Made: Adultery, Earthquakes, and the BBC".

1120 GMT: Missing the Nuclear Story. Press TV's ritual feel-good piece on Iran's nuclear programme this morning: "As a member of the UN Security Council, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu defends Iran's right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 'There was no deviation in Iran's peaceful nuclear program,' Davutoglu stressed in a meeting with Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani in Tehran on Tuesday."

OK so Davutoglu has now had two days of high-level meetings. He has seen Larijani, who is considered close to the Supreme Leader when it comes to Iran's negotiating position on the nuclear issue. And this is all that Iranian state media can offer on what appears to be a major push to restart Iran's discussions, including talks with the US, on a deal over uranium enrichment.

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The Latest from Iran (20 April): Intrigues and a Bombing

1115 GMT: Money Makes the Government Go Round. Writing for Tehran Bureau, Reihaneh Mazaheri offers a detailed examination of Government spending to back up the claim, "Since 2006, a large portion of the national cultural budget has been diverted to religious foundations and especially the Basij (militia) groups."


1100 GMT: A Bit of Intrigue. Arshama3's Blog (in German) delves into the story of arms smuggling to Iran.

0900 GMT: A slow start to the morning. Reuters converts the latest chest-thumping from Iranian state media into news, "Iran to hold war games in Gulf, Hormuz strait".

Given the regular appearance of these pronouncements, this is about as significant as the Sun rising in the East. Still, it's good to meet again Brigadier General Hossein Salami, who says, "Maintaining security in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, as the world's key economic and energy routes, is the main goal of the war games. This war game is not a threat for any friendly countries."

A far more notable wait for developments continues outside Evin Prison, where families of politcal detainees have issue an open letter expressing their concern about illegal imprisonment and violation of civil rights and demanding an end to the situation.

And while we're waiting, there is time to go through the latest list of detainees, posted by RAHANA.

The Latest from Iran (16 April): Grounding the Opposition

1910 GMT: Khatami Grounded but Still Speaks. Former President Mohammad Khatami may have been halted from leaving Iran, but he has not been silenced. Khatami has spoken out against government pressure on newly released Iranian political prisoners “to denounce their connections with certain movements and public figures”.

Khatami claimed that the newly released prisoners “are being forced to make public confessions against their actual opinions and beliefs and they have been told that their limited freedom will be taken away from them if they do not do so".

1830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A court of appeal has confirmed a six-year prison sentence for journalist Masoud Lavasani as well as a ten-year ban on any journalism. Lavasani was originally sentenced to eight years after his detention in late September.

Mohammad Reza Lotfi Yazdi, a Mashhad student activist, has been released from Evin Prison after a six-week detention. Ali Sepandar and Behzad Parvin, two members of the Central Council of the Islamic Association at Birjand University, have also been freed.

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The Latest from Iran (15 April): Accepting Authority?

1825 GMT: The Labour Front. Back from an extended break to find a useful summary by Iran Labor Report of developments, including economic downturns, protests over unpaid wages, and strikes.


1145 GMT: The Banning of the Reformists? We are watching this story carefully to see if it develops into the effective suspension of "legal" political activity by reformists in Iran:

The members of Article 10 Commission of Iran which monitors the activities of political parties in the country held a session yesterday asking the Judiciary to ban two reformist parties, Islamic Iran Participation Front (Party) and Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization.

They also submitted a letter to Tehran's Public Prosecutor's Office and requested for issuing a decree on the dissolution of both pro-reform parties. The decision was made through observing their background and actions taken by them.

1155 GMT: Recognising Activism and New Media. Iranian blogger, journalist, and women’s rights activist Jila Bani Yaghoub has been awarded the Reporters Without Borders Freedom of Expression prize for her blog “We are Journalists” at the 6th international “Best of the Blogs” event in Berlin.

Bani Yaghoub and her husband Bahman Ahmadi Amoui were detained last year during the post-election crisis. After her release, she wrote a moving open letter to her still-detained spouse and "Mr Interrogator".

1110 GMT: A Discussion. Seyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, has met Grand Ayatollah Yusuf Sane'i to consider "the problems of the country".

1055 GMT: Not Forgetting. Golnaz Esfandiari summarises the attempts by Iranian websites and bloggers to ensure that the cases and situations of "lesser-known" political prisoners are not forgotten.

1045 GMT: Corruption Watch. Rah-e-Sabz claims that the Supreme Leader has intervened to order a halt to the corruption investigation of First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi. Several high-profile members of Parliament have led the call for the inquiry against Rahimi, connected with the "Fatemi Avenue" insurance fraud.

1040 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Green Voice of Freedom claims it has a letter from a group of detainees in Evin Prison, announcing their plan to fast from 21 April until the anniversary of the election on 12 June. They make five demands: annulment of post-election sentences for political prisoners; release of all detainees on bail until trials are held; respect of Article 168 of the Constitution regarding political and press offences; investigation into illegal and unjust judicial procedures and interrogations at all levels; improving recreation, health and hygiene in all prisons and detention centres in the country.

The letter to the “Great Iranian Nation” states:

You know better than anyone, that thousands of your children who supported reformist candidates during the June 2009 presidential election and [identified with] the Green Movement were arrested at their workplaces or homes --- even in the middle of the night --- and taken to known and unknown detention centres and prisons on baseless grounds and accusations that mostly lacked (and still lack) legal justification. [Their imprisonment] clearly went against the constitution and the country’s current laws and citizen rights.

1035 GMT: The Court in Evin Prison. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has called for the closure of a recently-established “special court” at Evin Prison.

Attorneys for detainees say their work has become "impossible” with the newly established court. One of them, Nasrin Sotoudeh, summarises:

The judges are residing in a space that is under the strict control of the Ministry of Intelligence and during preliminary investigations, which are the most difficult time during a suspect’s prison term, case judges only receive information from intelligence officers, and neither the suspect’s lawyer nor his or her family can provide any information to the judges.

Another defense attorney, Farideh Gheyrat, said she is highly concerned about the inaccessibility of her clients’ files and claims that now even extracting the old “simple and incomplete” pieces of information about cases has become impossible.

1030 GMT: Labour Watch. A Street Journalist provides an English summary of a Deutsche Welle story, reported in EA earlier this week, of workers' protests and strikes in Khuzestan in southwest Iran.

1020 GMT: Economy Watch. As a sign of Iran's economic troubles, Rah-e-Sabz reports a sharp decline in employment in the town Asalouyeh in the south of the country. State companies have not paid wages for several months, and the Government owes owes 40 billion toman (more than $40 million) to private companies, for example in the electricity sector.

The website also reports that Iran's social security organisation is in deep trouble with a large deficit building from 2007. It claims that the head of the organisation has gone to Qom to seek help from clerics.

1015 GMT: A Subsidy Compromise? Khabar Online reports that the Parliament and Government have reached an agreement allowing President Ahmadinejad to take in and control more revenue from subsidy cuts.

Parliament had set the extra revenue at $20 million, half of the President's demand, but according to Khabar, "this week the Parliament gave a free hand to the government in arranging a schedule for implementing the plan, to define new prices for subsidized goods and above all adding tax incomes to the 200 trillion rials ($20 billion) budget".

EA's sharp readers will already note the double-edged sword for the Government if this compromise has been struck: it may indeed take in more money but only by raising prices --- through the subsidy reductions --- further on basic provisions such as food and energy.

1000 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Ayatollah Javadi Amoli has taken a swipe at the Government with the declaration that society must be governed with respect and fed so it can stand on its own feet. It is not difficult to govern with mercy.

Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani has added that the majority must be kept satisfied. If the Iranian people have reasonable demands, they should be addressed.

0950 GMT: And Take This, Opposition. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati has issued a forceful denunciation of those challenging the regime. He claimed that they wanted to weaken the system of velayat-e-faqih (ultimate clerical authority) after the Ahmadinejad victory last night. The culprits included monarchists, Baha'i, reformist parties such as Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution and Islamic Iran Participation Front, National Front, communists, and secularists. (An EA reader wonders, "Is there anyone left who is not an opponent?")

0930 GMT: We return from extended break to follow up on yesterday's report that former President Mohammad Khatami was planning to attend a global disarmament conference in Japan next week.

EA readers quickly wrote us that the Iranian authorities intervened to prevent the journey. Parleman News wrote that Khatami, who was supposed to leave the country on Wednesday night, was not blocked at the airport or had his passport has not been withdrawn, but he succumbed to pressure and cancelled the trip at his own initiative.

Khatami remains a major international figure for his approach of "global dialogue", which he promoted in the late 1990s as an alternative to the notion of a clash of civilizations. More immediately, his presence in Japan would have deflected from Iran's own attempts to take the nuclear high ground with its own conference on nuclear disarmament, scheduled for Saturday and Saturday.