The Latest from Iran (17 April): Remember

1700 GMT: Taking Care of the Students. Iranian human rights activists report that from the beginning of academic year, more than 170 students at Tehran's Amir Kabir University were summoned to the Disciplinary Committee. About 40 face suspension and, so far, five others have been banned.

1645 GMT: In Case You're Wondering. In addition to the rhetoric at the opening of the Tehran conference on disarmament (see 1115 GMT) about US as "atomic criminal" who should be tossed out of the International Atomic Energy Agency, President Ahmadinejad has proposed that the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) should play a leading role in global nuclear disarmament.

1445 GMT: Labour Watch. In the run-up to May Day, Rah-e-Sabz reports on the dismissals of workers in Arak and the strike of Keshavarzi Bank employees in Tehran

1400 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Mojtaba Lotfi, a head of the information unit for the office of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, has been arrested and imprisoned again.

NEW Iran: Former Tehran Chancellor Maleki on Detention & Green Movement’s “Forgotten Children”
The Latest from Iran (16 April): Grounding the Opposition

1235 GMT: Tehran Friday Prayer in 3 Words. Apologies that, lost in the southeast US, I was unable to give you an immediate summary of Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi's Friday Prayer. Here it is....

Adultery Causes Earthquakes


Or, to be precise, Seddiqi said that reducing sins were necessary for preventing the occurrence of natural disasters. And it seems that many Iranian women who do not abide by the Islamic dress code lead youth astray: “They cause the spread of adultery in society which leads to the increase in earthquakes.”

1230 GMT: Students & Soft War. Khabar Online reports on the naming of committee members in a student organisation which will fight the "soft war" of the opposition and Green Movement.

1220 GMT: Tip of the Iceberg. Beyond the Fatemi Street corruption claims, Khabar Online is featuring insider information about "Buddies of the South" (bachehaye jonub), heads and employees of oil fields who allegedly form a lobby in Parliament and Government that is so influential it can change the Minister of Oil.

The website is also pressing claims against conservative MP Habibollah Asgaroladi over alleged purchases of shares in a Chinese bank (Asgaroladi has denied the story).

1200 GMT: Corruption Watch. Follow this carefully: Jahan News has reportedly given details on "The House in Fatemi Street" insurance fraud. The newspaper links the main person charged, Jaber Alef, with First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.

We'll need to check this, as the claim about Jahan's coverage has come to us from Peyke Iran, a strongly anti-regime website. However, it should be noted that Jahan is within the conservative establishment, linked to MP Ali Reza Zakani.

1155 GMT: Regime Failure. Visiting the family of detained student and women's rights activist Bahareh Hedayat, Mehdi Karroubi reiterated that the "project of violence" against people's demands had failed.

1135 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rah-e-Sabz has a summary of the concerns over the health of political prisoners such as journalists Emaduddin Baghi and Mehdi Mahmoudian, and labour activist Mansur Osanloo.

1130 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Fars News is pushing the claim that Iran's judiciary has issued a warrant for the arrest of Mehdi Hashemi, the son of Hashemi Rafsanjani. The website claims that Mehdi Hashemi, who is currently in London, will be taken into custody as soon as he enters Iran and that, in case he does not return, other “legal methods” of arresting him are also under discussion.

Fars has a follow-up interview today with a member of Parliament's National Security Commission.

1125 GMT: Claim of Day. Give credit to pro-Ahmadinejad member of Parliament Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash for an attempt to link the international with Iran's internal situation.

Bighash tells Khabar Online that the reason for President Obama's recent "insolence" towards Iran is the meetings of reformist MPs with Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, Mohammad Khatami, and Hashemi Rafsanjani.

1120 GMT: Azeris and the Green Movement. Frieda Afary in Tehran Bureau provides a valuable translation of a 21 February declaration by activists in Iranian Azerbaijan, "Our Standards Concerning the Democracy-Seeking Process and the Green Movement", putting forth 10 "principles and issues".

1115 GMT: Diversion Alert (see 1030 GMT). Here we go --- Agence France Presse reports:

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an opening message to a two-day nuclear disarmament conference hosted by Tehran, said the use of nuclear weapons was "haram", meaning religiously prohibited, and branded Washington as the world's "only atomic criminal."

Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went a step further and called for Washington's suspension from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) along with all other nations who possess nuclear arms.

"Only the US government has commited an atomic crime," said a message read out from the all-powerful Khamenei, who formulates Tehran's foreign policy, including its nuclear strategy.

"The world's only atomic criminal lies and presents itself as being against nuclear weapons proliferation, while it has not taken any serious measures in this regard," he said.

1100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. On a day of remembering, some possible good news. An Iranian activists' website is reporting that two charges against journalist Isa Saharkhiz, who has been detained since soon after the June election, have been dropped.

Meanwhile, 160 journalists, bloggers, and activists have addressed the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, in an open letter calling for the immediate release of journalist and human rights activist Kaveh Kermanshahi.

1030 GMT: In a few hours, the "mainstream" view of Iran is likely to be Tehran's conference on nuclear disarmament, with Iranian state media heralding Iran's leadership for peace (and no prospect of a militarised nuclear programme) and their non-Iranian counterparts looking for signs of challenge to the "West".

So be it. We're going a different route, starting this morning with an interesting interview with Dr Mohammad Maleki, the former chancellor of Tehran University who was detained from August to March until his release on bail. After describing the conditions of his imprisonment, Maleki makes a pointed call for the leaders of the Green Movement to "remember" and put forth the cases of young people who have become political prisoners.

Maleki's words are especially pertinent as the opposition continues to reshape itself after 22 Bahman (11 February) and the attempt by the regime to remove it from existence. Iranian journalist Reza Valizadeh, who has fled the country, writes of the "dubious derision of [the Green Movement's] popular slogans", in particular, Mir Hossein Mousavi's framing of the movement within rather than outside the Islamic Republic. It is also worthwhile to read the readers' responses to the piece, such as "[This is] criticizing those who, under the most difficult conditions, are trying their best to make Iran a better nation."

There is also some sniping from reformist MP Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, who is quoted by Khabar Online as saying that Mehdi Karroubi doesn't speak on behalf of his party Etemade Melli, given that it is "out of service".

Despite the tensions and despite the regime pressure that prevented him from going to a disarmament conference in Japan, Mohammad Khatami persisted with the message on Friday. He said the "goodwill call" for ameliorations and reforms remains, i.e., protests will continue, while reiterating his concerns over the treatment of political prisoners (see yesterday's last update for further details).

The Latest from Iran (13 April): Getting Beyond the Sideshow

1830 GMT: Economy Watch. It is reported that, in the "slow death" of domestic production because of Chinese-made goods, more than 75% of Iran's imports are now consumer items.

1815 GMT: Rubbing It In. The President's "establishment" opposition are crowing over his supposed retreat over the subsidy cut and spending proposals: they claim that Ahmadinejad has begged the Parliament to let him have a free hand in implementing the plan.

Iran: Mousavi to Students “Spring is Unstoppable”
The Latest from Iran (12 April): Signals from Mousavi & Rafsanjani?

1800 GMT: The 15 June Dispute. Some Government officials have been saying, rather curiously, that the mass marches of 15 June, three days after the election, had been granted a permit by the authorities.

Morteza Tamaddon, the Governor of Tehran Province, has issued a denial, carried in Khabar Online: there was no permit for the "fitna" (sedition) rally.


1150 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Emad Bahavar has told his wife that he is still being kept in solitary confinement.

1140 GMT: Labour Watch. More than 50 workers of the Abadan municipality have gone on strike to protest over more than three months of unpaid wages.

1130 GMT: The Latest on Scholarship. Rah-e-Sabz reports that a Government-sponsored conference on "Nuclear Iran" at Elm-o-Sanat University was boycotted. Two university has also expelled two more professors.

1110 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An Iranian activist is reporting that Abdollah Momeni, a leading member of the student organisation Advar-e Takhim Vahdat, has been summoned to court and rearrested.

Momeni has been out on $800,000 bail. Last week he was a prominent participant in a meeting with Mir Hossein Mousavi.

1040 GMT: Militarising the Judiciary? Rah-e-Sabz is pondering the significance of a General Muhammad Bagher-Zolghadr being nominated as the new cultural, social, and anti-crime deputy of Iran's judiciary.

Last September, Zolghadr outlined the notion of “soft war” in a speech: “In a hard war, the line between you and the enemy is clear, but in a soft war there is nothing so solid. The enemy is everywhere.”

1030 GMT: Handing Out Justice. The head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has assured a Parliamentary commission that, "if culpable, even my relatives would be persecuted".

I don't think this means that Ali Larijani should watch his back. Instead, Sadegh Larijani is trying to fend off growing pressure for the prosecution of First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi over corruption allegations.

1025 GMT: The Battle Within. While we wait for confirmation of the reports, in Press TV (see 1010 GMT) and Khabar Online, that the President has backed down in the fight over the subsidy plan, more signs that all is not well within the dominant "principlist" faction:

As the members of the Principalist fraction of Iranian Parliament Majlis have expressed different views on the actions taken by the faction’s presidium, Majlis speaker Ali Larijani is to settle their dispute.

....Mohammad Ali Bozorgvari a member of the Principalist fraction of the Parliament delivered a speech last week blasting the members of fraction's presidium and Larijani in particular. He asked them to give clear answers to those criticisms.

Significantly, the report is in the pro-Larijani Khabar Online.

1015 GMT: When Sideshows Get Silly. Here is one reason why we were somewhat dismissive of press coverage of the first day of the Obama nuclear summit (see 0850 GMT), which converged on the line that China was ready to back a US-led sanctions resolution in the UN. For months, Beijing has played the cautious game of appeasing American sentiments by saying, Yes, We'll Talk, while in complementary statements saying, No, We Don't Do Anything Drastic.

So, hours after reporters fed by US officials were declaring Washiington-Beijing unity on the sanctions path, this from the Chinese Foreign Ministry: "We believe that the Security Council's relevant actions should be conducive to easing the situation and conducive to promoting a fitting solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations."

Bless 'em, Reuters are still trying to wedge that tactically convoluted statement into their Monday story-line that All is Going Well: "[The] comments appeared to leave scant doubt that Beijing accepts that fresh Security Council action over Iran is coming, even if China wants room to negotiate over the sanctions proposed by Western powers."

1010 GMT: A Presidential Subsidy Climbdown? Rooz Online offers a lengthy analysis, "Continuation of Conflict Dangerous", but Press TV may have put up the signal that the battle is ending with a Parliamentary victory.

The website reports that, at the start of the Majlis session today, Deputy Speaker Mohammad Hossein Abu Torabi announced, "In a meeting with a group of Iranian MPs, the President has agreed to facilitate the implementation of the subsidy bill without introducing a complementary bill."

That would seem to indicate that Ahmadinejad has given up his attempt to get $40 billion in extra spending from subsidy cuts, rather than the $20 billion authorised by Parliament.

1000 GMT: Now to Important Matters --- Karroubi. The latest statement of Mehdi Karroubi has slipped under the radar, with his meeting last Thursday with the reformist Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution party only emerging on his website yesterday.

Karroubi criticised the recent speech of Ahmadinejad in Azerbaijan: “The language used is by no means appropriate for a president....[It is] an insult to thousands of years of Iranian civilisation.” He dismissed the President's attempt to focus attention on the US v. Iran. American threats against the country “were not something new” and, in the event of any attack, “we will all defend the country”:

Creating enemies is not a big deal. A big deal would be to respond to threats with reason and logic so that the public opinion of nations and [the opinion] of governments are drawn towards the truth such that threats are eliminated and turned into opportunities.

Bringing attention back to the domestic front, Karroubi warned of the consequences if Ahmadinejad continued putting down the Parliament and its importance: “If he degrades the Majlis today, tomorrow, the Parliament will lose all respect,” Denouncing the treatment of political prisoners and arguing for the respect of women's rights, he asserted, “We demand the implementation of the Constitution and stand even more firm than ever before.”

0900 GMT: Economy Watch. On another public-relations, Press TV tries to whip up some hope over Iran's international economic position:

Brazil has opened its doors to Iranian businessmen and welcomes any project, which will help the economy and encourage trade between the two countries.

"Iran is a big country in the region and enjoys considerable capacity to develop cooperation with Brazil," Brazilian Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Minister Miguel Jorge said Monday in Tehran after visiting his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Mehrabian.

0850 GMT: OK, let's deal with the sideshow now so we can concentrate on other matters later in the day.

The "nuclear summit" in Washington, at least for the mainstream press, turned into an All About Iran festival. Laura Rozen, one of the best journalists for inside information in the US capital, turned herself into a spokesperson for that line: "On summit sidelines, many conversations about Iran". That's courtesy of a "Washington Gulf expert" --- “With the Chinese, Russians and Turks, folks that need to come along on the sanctions track", the show is all about a forthcoming UN resolution --- and National Security Council staffer Jeff Bader: "The President in the meeting made clear the sense of urgency, and the Chinese made clear that they are prepared to work with us." (Bader is also probably the unnamed "US official" in other reports optimistically pointing to China's support.)

Of course Mahmoud Ahmadinejad didn't take this lying down, not with the opportunity to substitute US v. Iran for any internal matters. From his measured description of foreign leaders as "retarded people" to his call on the UN to investigate how the US Government used the 11 September attacks to set up wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was a red-letter day for finger-pointing by the Iranian President.

Ahmadinejad's declarations are propped up by Iranian state media by other signs that the sanctions hammer won't fall on Tehran: there is a speech outside the summit from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that there is "no evidence indicating that Iran's nuclear activities include efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon".

The Latest from Iran (12 April): Signals from Mousavi & Rafsanjani?

2120 GMT: Dramatic Gesture of the Day. It looks like it was not enough for the Iranian President to call foreign leaders "retarded" over the nuclear issue. The Islamic Republic News Agency is reporting that Ahmadinejad has claimed the high ground on "terrorism".

Writing United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the UN to condemn the support of foreign forces in Afghanistan for the Jundullah insurgency's activities in Iran.

"We expect your Excellency....to condemn NATO's support for terrorism in the (Middle East) region and those who have supported this criminal [Jundullah leader Abdolmalek Rigi, captured by Iranian authorities]."

NEW Iran: Mousavi to Students “Spring is Unstoppable”
Iran: A List of 107 Killed in Post-Election Violence
The Latest from Iran (11 April): Checking In

As for alleged terrorism upon other countries, Ahmadinejad called for an investigation into the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States which he said were "used as a pretext for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq".


2115 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Human rights activists reports that 17 detainees in Orumiyeh prison are on hunger strike.

1420 GMT: Ahmadinejad "Nuclear Weapons & Retarded People" Shocker. In what of course is not at all a diversionary statement (see 0950 GMT), the Iranian President used a domestic tourism industry event to pronounce on the Obama-led nuclear summit thousands of miles away:

World summits being organized these days are intended to humiliate human beings...These foolish people who are in charge are like stupid, retarded people who brandish their swords whenever they face shortcomings, without realizing that the time for this type of thing is over.

1240 GMT: The Clerical Challenge. An interesting interview in Tehran Bureau with Professor Said Arjomand on relations between the state and senior clergy: "Let me answer your question as to whether this challenge to the legitimacy of velāyat-e faqih and its official interpretation is new and serious."

1205 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Concerns are growing over the physical condition of journalist Mehdi Mahmoudian, who helped exposed the Kahrizak Prison abuses. Mahmoudian suffers from lung diseases and prison officials have allegedly not treated him.

Mohsen Safaei Farahani, a senior member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, has been sentenced to five years in prison following appeal.

Safaei Farahani, a former head of the Iranian Football Federation, was arrested on 20 June and charged with “acting against national security”, carrying out propaganda against the system, insulting state officials, and creating public anxiety. He was temporarily released earlier this year on a bail of more than $700,000.

The six-year sentence of Ali Tajernia, another IIPF member, has been reduced to a year in prison following appeal. He was convicted of assembly and collusion to endanger public security and of propaganda against the Islamic Republic.

Student activist Mahdiyeh Golrou has been sentenced to 28 months in prison.

1145 GMT: Economy Watch. Peyke Iran claims that
Zagros Terminal workers and bus drivers in Ahwaz have not been paid for several months.

1140 GMT: The Corruption Case. Looks like Iran's head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, is walking a political tightrope. He has insisted that the judiciary "has no fear" in pursuing big cases, i.e., the Fatemi Avenue insurance fraud and alleged involvement of First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, but he has also insisted that those who make public claims for political reasons will be prosecuted.

1130 GMT: Did We Mention Signals? The Green Movement is picking up not only on Rafsanjani's meeting with leading reformist Behzad Nabavi (see 0950 GMT) but also on a Sunday statement in which the former President that it would be best if people again had confidence in the elections.

Rafsanjani again was careful to emphasise his "excellent understanding with the Supreme Leader" --- the battle is with the Ahmadinjead Government --- and said he would again lead Tehran's Friday Prayers when he felt the need for it. Rafsanjani has not made a Friday prayer address since 17 July.

Meanwhile, signals from another political quarter: we have a summary of Mir Hossein Mousavi's meeting with student activists: "Spring is Unstoppable".

1025 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Tahereh Saeedi, the wife of detained film director Jafar Panahi, has told Rooz Online that she has met with Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi but received no answers about Panahi's condition. (See separate entry for Saeedi's recent letter expressing her concern about the harsh treatment of Panahi and the effect on his health.)

Saeedi added that "making a film without a permit and wearing a green scarf at the Montreal World Film Festival" are among the charges against her husband.

1015 GMT: Economy Watch. And this little item might also deserve a think, in light of the connections between economic approach and power in the regime:

Iran has transferred shares in six petrochemical plants and power stations to a social welfare investment organisation of the Islamic Republic's armed forces, state-owned Press TV said on its website.

"The transfer was reported to have been in lieu of the government debt to the Armed Forces Pension Fund," Press TV, an English-language satellite station, said on Friday evening.

The stakes, transferred following a cabinet decision, ranged from 23 percent to 100 percent, it said. The companies included Bushehr Petrochemical Company, Marun Petrochemicals and Pars Petrochemicals.

"In return, SATA (Armed Forces Social Welfare Investment Organization) is obliged to complete and commission the Bushehr petrochemical project within four years," Press TV said.

0950 GMT: A later start today because of the time difference while I'm in the US. Many thanks to EA readers for getting the day out to a start with their discussion on yesterday's LiveBlog.

Another case today, on the 10-month anniversary of the June election, of keeping eyes open for developments inside Iran. Most of the non-Iranian press are now comprehensively distracted by the nuclear issue. Even Nazila Fathi, one of the best reporters for a US paper on Iranian topics, is swept up by the postures of Washington and Tehran on the nuclear issue. Following the Sunday statements of the Supreme Leader and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, she leads with the Foreign Ministry's spin:

A large majority of Iranian lawmakers, angered over the Obama administration’s new nuclear weapons policy that conspicuously makes Iran and North Korea possible targets, urged their government on Sunday to formally complain to the United Nations in a petition that called the United States a warmonger and threat to world peace.

Unsurprisingly, the nuclear fuss is playing into the hands of those who would prefer attention anywhere except the internal situation in Iran: Race for Iran, the website supporting the legitimacy of the Ahmadinejad Government, is already proclaiming, "Iran Reacts to Becoming a US Nuclear Target".

So where else might one look for news? Well, of course, there's the far-from-minor skirmish over corruption, with First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi the target of charges by key MPs. There's the ongoing battle over the subsidy and spending plans. There is the matter of hundreds of political prisoners. And there is this:

Mohammad Hashemi [the brother of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani] confirmed reports about a meeting between senior reformist Behzad Nabavi and Hashemi Rafsanjani in the holiday resort of Kish Island.

No further information on the discussion, as many were distracted by Hashemi's denial that Rafsanjani had met the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, to discuss whether Rafsanjani's son, Mehdi Hashemi, must return from London, possibily to face charges.

Consider, however, that Rafsanjani's discussion with Nabavi, who is still out on bail after the imposition of a long prison sentence, follows the former President's meeting last week with leading reformist MPs. And spare a moment, from all the nuclear chaff, to consider, "What is the signal?"

Iran: Mousavi to Students "Spring is Unstoppable"

“Spring is unstoppable, the arrival of spring is inevitable.”

That was the far-from-subtle message offered by Mir  Hossein Mousavi in a meeting with members of the student organisation Advar-e Takhim Vahdat, including recently-released activist Abdollah Momeni, in Isfahan.

Mousavi, joined by his wife Zahra Rahnavard, said that the people’s movement was not like a “painting” whose characteristics are known beforehand: “Despite its imaginable plot and overall design, it should be said that the pieces and details are formed gradually and in line with time and location.”



While reports of the meeting are sketchy on any detailed political discussion, Mousavi's general call was a bold challenge, in light of the regime's crackdown on dissent: “Our moral responsibility should be to realistically call black what is black, and to call white, what is white.”

Mousavi, as he has increasingly done since last autumn, focused on the inclusiveness of the opposition movement, gathering people with different views and systems of thought inside and outside Iran, and emphasised the creation of social networks and media.

Mousavi declared that the people’s post-election protests were already a significant victory: even the memory of massive demonstrations will be a constant affirmation that  the Iranian nation is awake and alive.

The Latest from Iran (11 April): Checking In

Pictured: Reformist leader Feizollah Arab Sorkhi (pictured) has returned to Evin Prison after his temporary release for Iranian New Year.

1700 GMT: Abuse Watch. A Street Journalist posts Bahareh Maghami's account of her rape in prison.

Iran: A List of 107 Killed in Post-Election Violence
Iran: The Green Movement in Transition (Rafat)
The Latest from Iran (10 April): Look Over There!

1630 GMT: The Inflation Game --- Pick a Number. The Iranian Government's attempt to ease economic worries by declaring a halving of inflation to 10.8% is coming under more pressure. Amidst evidence of Parliament's scepticism (see morning update), the International Monetary Fund has announced that Iran's 2009-2010 inflation rate was 30%.


1620 GMT: Selling State Industries. The great redistribution of state firms continues: reports claim 45% of the Damavand power plant has been given to the controversial "charitable trust" Bonyade Shahid.

1415 GMT: Corruption. MP Elyas Naderan, who is leading the allegations of corruption against First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, is not letting up despite Government pressure on him. He has declared in an interview that Rahimi's deeds are graver than those of Ali Kordan, the Minister of Interior forced to resign over false claims of a doctorate from Oxford University, and of businessman Shahram Jazayeri.

1145 GMT: Press Resurrection. The "moderate" daily newspaper Shargh has reappeared after a three-year ban.

1110 GMT: More Money Questions. Iran Green Voice, drawing from Iranian Labor News Agency, is claiming that Iran's audit commission is enquiring about 631 possible errors in the 2007-2008 budget, with millions of dollars of oil money missing from the Treasury.

Khabar Online and DayPress raises further questions about "aberrations" in the 2008-2009 budget and oil revenues.

1050 GMT: The Post-Election Dead. We have posted, from Muhammad Sahimi of Tehran Bureau, a list of 107 people killed in post-election violence.
1045 GMT: Nuke-Nuke-Nuke. I think this pattern is pretty well set: the US Nuclear Posture Review will be the script for most Iranian political threatre this week. The Supreme Leader has now taken over the lead role, telling senior members of the military:

[Obama] has implicitly threatened Iranians with nuclear weapons. These comments are very strange and the world should not ignore them because in the 21st century... the head of a state is threatening a nuclear attack. The US president's statements are disgraceful. Such comments harm US and they mean that the US government is wicked and unreliable.

1005 GMT: Nuclear Postures. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has strongly criticised Washington's position on Iran's nuclear programe. Attacking the Nuclear Posture Review, released this week by the Obama Administration, Larijani told the Majlis:

The US has announced it will not use nuclear weapons except in extraordinary situations. It has also pledged not to use atomic bombs against NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] members, apart from Iran and North Korea. And they call this a "new" nuclear arms strategy. Just take a look at how many contradictory issues are embedded in this policy. The term "extraordinary situation" can always be used to justify a US nuclear attack.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "We will officially present our complaints to the United Nations about these kinds of threats," with a declaration signed by 255 of 290 members of the Majlis.

1000 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Rah-e-Sabz carries a statement from Ayatollah Dastgheib, who says that the ruling authorities slander and arrest even as they pretend to be pious. Thus, Dastgheib argues, the principle of velayat-e-faqih (ultimate clerical authority) is violated.

0935 GMT: The Subsidy Battle. The dispute between Parliament and President on economic plans continues to dominate political news.

An interesting twist as the Government has asked the Majlis not to publish inflation data. Given that the Central Bank of Iran declared earlier this month that the inflation rate had halved to 10.8%, why would the Government be so shy? Could it be that the official rate is not telling the entire story?

High-profile critic Government Elyas Naderan, who is also the central figure claiming corruption by First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, has debated another Vice President, Mohammad Reza Mirtajoddini, at Imam Sadegh University.

 MP Mohammad Hossein Farhangi has said that the Government should not ask for amendments in the legislation approved by the Parliament.

0845 GMT: Shutting Down Politics. Parleman News claims that reformist visitors to Mir Hossein Moussavi have been threatened that they could be banned in the next elections.

0840 GMT: Closing the Press. Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi announced that the appeal to lift the ban on the reformist publication Etemaad has been declined.

0830 GMT: What Next for Greens? Amidst signs of the reconsideration of the opposition strategy and tactics, Ali Mazrouee asks, "What is the nature of the Green Movement?"

0815 GMT: Economy Watch. Iranian Labor News Agency reports that workers of the Hamid China factory, due for closure, are rallying today to protest that they have not been paid wages and benefits for almost two years.

750 GMT: Thanks to Arshama for passing on yesterday's updates as I was in transit --- Saturday's LiveBlog has now been updated. Now to today.....

It may be a different day, but it's still the old, reliable diversions. Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi, now a daily source for cheap quotes on how Iran will face down and vanquish any Western aggression, has declared that Tehran has begun mass-producing a new medium-range anti-aircraft missile. Mersad "can destroy modern planes in low and medium altitudes".

Far more interesting spin comes on the Qom front.  Reformist cleric and journalist Mohammad Javad Akbarin, claims several top clerics refused to meet President Ahmadinejad. Akbarin asserted that only one top cleric agreed to meet Ahmadinejad, and he "spent most of the meeting criticizing Ahmadinejad".

A formal photographs at the time of the visit showed Ahmadinejad with several clerics, although, as EA's Mr Verde analysed, there was no confirmation of a Presidential meeting with a Grand Ayatollah, only with three senior clerics who are his fervent supporters.