The Latest from Iran (18 April): Strike A Pose

2030 GMT: A Swap --- But Inside or Outside Iran? Amidst all the posturing at disarmament summits, here's the key Iranian statement on talks:

Iran plans to hold talks with all members of the United Nations Security Council over a nuclear fuel swap deal, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said.

"We plan to hold direct talks on nuclear swap with 14 member states of the UN Security Council and indirect talks with the 15th member [the United States]," Mottaki told reporters in a Sunday press conference in Tehran.

And here's the question which, after weeks, still remains: when Iran refers to a willingness for discussions, does that include consideration of the exchange of uranium stock outside the country?

2025 GMT: Irony Alert (Because Hypocrisy is a Not-Very-Nice Word). Press TV reports with a straight face and no reference to recent pronouncement of Iranian authorities on the fighting of "soft war":

Schools in the US State of Pennsylvania have used lent-out laptop computers with spy cameras and "buggy" software to "monitor' students, reports say.

US investigators are probing spying cases of the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvanian, where school officials have been implicated in receiving unauthorized images of students that borrowed "doctored" laptops from their schools, US media reported on Saturday.

2015 GMT: Picture of Day. It comes from the most recent meeting of women's activists in the Green Movement.

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The Latest from Iran (17 April): Remember

2000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Iranian Students News Agency reports that three prominent reformists --- Mohsen Mirdamadi, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, former Deputy Minister of Interior Mostafa Tajzadeh, and Davoud Soleimani have been found guilty of harming national security and propaganda against the regime. Each has been sentenced to six years in jail and barred from involvement in politics or journalism for 10 years.



1730 GMT: Iran's Women Are Needed. Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has declared that Iran's "unfinished democracy project" must be fulfilled through the significant presence of women in political movements.

1725 GMT: Attacking the Clerics. A group of plainclothes men have again attacked the offices of Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dastgheib in Shiraz, vandalising the site by spraying paint.

In December, pro-regime crowds laid siege to the offices in a Shiraz mosque, temporarily forcing Dastgheib, a vocal critic of the Government, and his staff to leave.

1700 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Khabar Online repeats the claim, which we heard a few days ago, that Hashemi Rafsanjani has met judiciary head Sadegh Larijani to discuss the criminal case against Rafsanjani's son, Mehdi Hashemi.

1615 GMT: Laying Down the Law. The head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has issued a wide-ranging statement. Like his brother, he has seized the nuclear line of criticising the US and "West" for lies.

At the same time, Larijani tried to position himself as the guardian of the law, emphasising his will to persecute corruption. And he took time to warn people of wearing inappropriate outfits.

1515 GMT: The Subsidy Battle. Is the economic feud between Parliament and the President over?

Yes. And No.

Rah-e-Sabz repeats the news that Parliament, in a secret meeting, has accepted the Government's demands for extra revenues from subsidy cuts.

Gholam-Reza Mesbahi Moghaddam, the Majlis Economic Committee member who was critical of Ahmadinejad, said laws were not violated in the agreement. However, he continued to blame the President for insulting MPs as "economic nuts", declaring to Ahmadinejad, "I was the teacher of your ministers and advisors."

1220 GMT: More on the Mousavi Statement. Speaking to the student committee of the reformist Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, Mousavi called on supporters of the Green Movement to find “ways to expand the media and spread information". They should counter the attacks on the freedom of the press by replacing every banned weblog with “tens of weblogs for defending the people’s rights”.

Declaring that the Green Movement is “limitless” and can “open numerous new windows” for every blocked “opening”, Mousavi said that the opposition should “include every one of the 70 million people of the country, even our opponents".

1130 GMT: Mir Hossein Mousavi has issued a new statement reiterating his long-declared theme, "We All Must Be Media". We will be looking for an English translation.

1120 GMT: Parliamentary Sniping. Gholam-Reza Mesbahi-Moghaddam, who has been a leading actor in the battle with the President over subsidy and spending proposals, has attacked on a new front. He has derided Ahmadinejad's suggestion of paying $1000 to parents for every new child. Mesbahi-Moghaddam said, "[The] president is not the system's strategist. Rather he [is tasked] to implement laws and macroeconomic policies."

1110 GMT: The "Realist" Solution. Kayhan Barzegar of Harvard University captures the spirit of the movement in Washington amongst some Government officials and analysts for a grand settlement with Iran not only on the nuclear programme but on regional issues:

Obama's attempts to convince actors like Russia, China, or Saudi Arabia to impose new sanctions or political pressure are all short-term solutions and will not change Iran's nuclear policy. The United States needs to find a sustainable solution in dealing with Iran, based on a genuine change that can resolve existing strategic issues and in which zero-sum game solutions are finally put to bed.

What is striking is not Barzegar's specific argument but the fact that it has been picked up and featured in Tehran by Iran Review.

1105 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for "spreading propaganda" and insulting the country's leaders.

Nourizad was arrested in November after writing the Supreme Leader, urging him to apologize to the nation for the post-election suppression of dissent.

(Given my grumpiness about the "Western" media this morning, credit to the Associated Press for picking up and disseminating the news.)

1055 GMT: The Corruption Story. Arshama3's Blog has an invaluable summary, in German, of the dramatic claims in the Iranian press of the "Fatemi Street" insurance fraud, linking the accused to First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.

1045 GMT: Soft Power Corner. Want a useful alternative to all the nuclear news? Try this from Reuters' Golnar Motevalli:

The television in the corner of the port-a-cabin reception room where Ali Tavakoli Khomeini receives guests outside the Afghan city of Herat is tuned to Iran's state 24-hour news channel.

Large maps of Iran and Afghanistan adorn the walls, and a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hangs alongside one of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. An Afghan cook arranges a spread of Persian cuisine.

While the United States will soon have 100,000 troops in Afghanistan waging war against the Taliban, Iran is quietly exerting influence on its neighbor in a subtler way: through bricks and mortar, railways and road.

Tavakoli, an Iranian engineer, has built some 400 km (250 miles) of highway and railroad in western Afghanistan over the last six years, paving the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.

His firm is building a dam in rural Herat, and has just finished laying foundations for a railway that could one day link south and east Asia to the Middle East and Europe, reviving some of the most important ancient overland trade routes in the world.

1030 GMT: We're Great, You Suck. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani scales the nuclear high ground (can't let his rival Mr. Ahmadinejad steal all the applause, can he?) with a statement to the Majlis:

The [Washington] conference not only eluded the issue of disarmament but audaciously prescribed the use of atomic weapons. In fact, all the nuclear conference in the US did was weaken the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty]. The use of other weapons of mass destruction was permitted under the pretext of concerns about 'nuclear terrorism'."

1015 GMT: OK, as we need after an extended break to catch up with news inside Iran, let's get the chest-puffing diversions out of the way.

We've got a special analysis on the latest sideshow of Tehran's disarmament conference complemented by US Government spin, put out through The New York Times, on the threat of Iran's nuclear programme. And this morning, the poses just keep a-comin':

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran had the military might to deter attacks, his comments coming as Western pressure mounts on the Islamic state to dispel fears it is developing nuclear arms.

Speaking at a military parade that marked Iran's armed forces' day, Ahmadinejad said the "unrivalled" power of Iranian military secured stability in the Middle East....

"Iran's armed forces are so strong today that the enemies will not even think about violating our territorial integrity," Ahmadinejad said in a low-key speech at the parade.

Low-key in comparison to his Saturday opening salvo at the Tehran disarmament conference, I guess --- let Iran lead the global way for an end to nuclear weapons, chuck the US out of the International Atomic Energy Agency --- but obviously not low-key enough to avoid being splashed as Breaking News by Reuters.

The Latest from Iran: Dialogue or Conflict? (9 April)

2005 GMT: I have posted a separate entry about the eerie and comic experience of being "disappeared" by Press TV this evening.

2000 GMT: Rahnavard Praises Women Political Prisoners. Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has written in Rah-e-Sabz in praise of the perseverance of female political prisoners: “You Can Never Break Women”.

1915 GMT: Poacher or Gamekeeper? First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi has responded to allegations by MPs that he heads a corruption ring (see 0445 and 1035 GMT) with a circular to all government agencies calling on them to fight economic corruption. In a follow-up interview, he called those who had leveled accusations against him "spreaders of slander" who did not deserve a response.

Yesterday "principlist" MP Elyas Naderan, supported by lawmakers Ahmad Tavakoli and Ali-Reza Zakani, said almost all members of an insurance fraud on Tehran’s Fatemi Avenue had been arrested, except “the current vice-president”.

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The Latest from Iran (8 April): Speeches, Visits, & Pictures

1755 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The temporary release from detention of Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh has been extended. Tajbakhsh, arrested last July, was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison; this was reduced to five years on appeal.


1645 GMT: Khatami's Warning. In a meeting with Tehran University students, Mohammad Khatami said that, if nothing is done, this year will be one of social crisis.

Khatami, criticising the people in charge of the Ahmadinejad Government, said that  the political atmosphere of Iran is very disappointing; as the government has chosen the strategy of lying, many young Iranian people are now questioning the Revolution itself.

1635 GMT: More on the Ahmadinejad Resignation Threat (1445 GMT). Rah-e-Sabz claims that, on state television, the President said that Ali Larijani is doing everything he can to cause problems for the government and thus the government will not allow him to do this: "This government has 24 million supporters and therefore I will defend those supporters."

Ahmadinejad said that, if the government is not powerful enough to defend the Iranian people's vote, he will announce his resignation on TV.

The website claims from sources that the Supreme Leader has assigned two people, Mr. Mohammadi and Mr Firouzabadi, who are close to the government to resolve this conflict.

1450 GMT: For Your Evening Viewing Pleasure. I will be speaking by phone with Press TV at 1930 GMT about Iran's nuclear programme. The other guest will be Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran.

1448 GMT: Bigging It Up. Nothing striking in the Ahmadinejad speech. Instead, Iranian state media is trying to spin nuclear gold from the straw of these announcements:

The head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi, claims that Iran now has new, "third-generation" centrifuges, "six times more powerful" than previous centrifuges.

Iran now has produced "dummy fuel" for its programme.

The Bushehr power plant "should be operational by the summer".

1445 GMT: The President Talks. We're now watching President Ahmadinejad's speech for National Nuclear Day. So far, no "big announcement", just a repetition of the call for global nuclear disarmament. And, oh yes, he has unveiled --- ta da! --- a new centrifuge which is supposed to be wicked powerful.

So, while we're waiting, this claim from Rah-e-Sabz: Ahmadinejad has threatened to resign if Parliament does not accept his demands over the subsidy and spending plans.

1145 GMT: Friday Prayer Summary. On National Nuclear Day, it's Ahmad Khatami leading the prayers ahead of President Ahmadinejad's appearance. Here's the take-away line: "If America makes a crazy move, its interests will be endangered by Iran's allies around the globe."

1130 GMT: The lawyer for Morteza Alviri, the former mayor of Tehran, has confirmed that Alviri has received a five-year prison sentence, with four years suspended, from an appeals court for participation in the 15 June demonstrations.

1110 GMT: A new website, "Campaign 11 Esfand", for support of political prisoners has been established.

1035 GMT: The Corruption Feud. Ahmadinejad advisors Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai and Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi have hit back at allegations of corruption against First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi (see 0445 GMT), calling for the prosecution of MP Elyas Naderan "and other liars".

0955 GMT: The Parliament-President Battle. Beyond the Motahari attack on the "despotic" Government (see 0950 GMT), a series of interventions in the struggle over the subsidy and spending plans:

Arsalan Fathipour is quoted by Khabar Online as saying that a law ratified by the Majlis must be implemented. If true, that is a marked shift from Fathipour's line two weeks ago that Parliament should authorise an extra $35 billion of spending, much more than the $20 billion allowed in the bill and close to the President's $40 billion demand.

Ali Abbaspour Tehranifard warns that not implementing laws because of personal bravado leads to chaos and says the Government's reaction is "strange".

Seyed Kazem Delkhosh Abatari asserts that meetings between the Government and Majlis looking for compromise have no legal binding and the issues should be sent to a special Parliamentary commission.

0950 GMT: The Majlis and Despotism. We've heard a lot of charges since June that the Government has been despotic. Still, it's a bit different when the claim come from conservative MP Ali Motahari at a press conference:

The Government approach to subsidy reform bill passed by the Parliament majlis tends to despotism. When President Ahmadinejad says I won't enforce a law passed by the parliament, it means nothing except autocracy. Adopting a correct method, he must first begin to implement the plan and if it faced a problem, it will send a bill to the Majlis and resolve it.

It's not an appropriate method for the administration trying to press Majlis to annul its decision while the president begins to threaten the MPs on the issue.

0920 GMT: Bahareh Hedayat, the detained student and women's rights activist, has been nominated for the 2010 Student Peace Prize by the European Students’ Union.

Hedayat was arrested in December of 2009 and is currently facing 16 counts of charges including “propagating a negative image of the regime, taking part in post-election protests, talking to foreign media and insulting the Supreme Leader and the President”.

0840 GMT: Meeting the families of political prisoners Bahareh Hedayat and Ahmad Zeidabadi, reformist leader Mojtaba Tajzadeh --- who is still on a temporary release from prison for and now beyond the Nowruz holidays --- declared that imprisonment is a failed project to suppress people's demands.

0835 GMT: We've posted a full summary of Mir Hossein Mousavi's statement in a Thursday meeting with the reformist Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution party.

0830 GMT: What is Mahmoud's Nuclear Surprise? Earlier this week, the head of Iran's atomic energy organisation said that the President would make a major announcement today about an advance in Tehran's programme, but last night Ahmadinejad was simply restating a vague line.

He told the German broadcaster RTL,"Although we are capable of producing 20-percent-enriched uranium, we still can exchange fuel with no preconditions," without specifying whether that meant a swap could take place outside Iran. He then added his standard self-sufficiency line, "If Iran is not provided with uranium enriched to a level of 20 percent, we will produce it on our own."

0825 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Fereshteh Ghazi, writing in Rooz Online, reports on the thousands of "anonymous" prisoners who face the threat of abuse and adverse conditions.

0640 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mahmoud Beheshti Langarudi, the spokesman of the Teacher Trade Association, has gone on unlimited hunger strike to protest the harsh conditions of imprisoned teachers such as Rasool Badaghi, Mohammad Davari and Hashem Khastar.

Rasool Badaghi, a human rights activist, is entering the 15th day of his fhunger strike.

0635 GMT: Nuclear Talks. Take your pick of reports on another meeting of the 5+1 powers (US, UK, China, Russia, France, Germany) on Iran's nuclear programme. The representatives said the talks were worthwhile, and there would be more meetings. Press TV emphasises the statement of Russia's Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin for "diplomacy", although the quote from him has a double edge:

I don't think any of us wants to impose sanctions, what we want to have is a diplomatic solution. And all sorts of constructive proposals have been made to Iran. So if, as you mention, Iran wants to negotiate, they should start negotiating.

0445 GMT: After an extended break --- a Ph.D. student of mine went through his final examinations yesterday on his dissertation on Public Diplomacy and Interfaith Dialogue --- let's see if there is any dialogue in Iran this morning.

On the Parliament-President front, the chat isn't very friendly. High-ranking conservative PM Ali Motahari has set down a challenge over corruption to Ahmadinejad: if the accusations against First Mohammad Reza Rahimi in the Fatemi Street insurance fraud stand up, then the President --- if he is serious in his talk about justice  --- should be the first to punish Rahimi.

Ahmadinejad's controvesial aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, who is also the target of Parliamentary calls to stand down, has responded that these accusations are put simply to weaken the Ahmadinejad Government.

Ahmadinejad advisor  Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh added a nice twist: Rahimi, like all Government officials, fights economic corruption, and so the allegations against him must be wrong.

Last news about this file is that, Mohammad Dehghaan a member of Board of Governors in Parliament believes that Naderan’s talks are not just random claims, but they are based on the information attained from the judiciary office.
http://alef.ir/1388/content/view/67753/

The Latest from Iran (1 April): Out Like a Lamb?

1905 GMT: Head of Judiciary Gets Told Off in Qom. Sadegh Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, visited leading clerics in Qom today, including Ayatollahs Safi Golpaygani, Makarem Shirazi, and Shabiri Zanjani, and he had a bit of a tough time.

Safi Golpaygani declared that even one day's delay in releasing detainees is not acceptable in Islam. He then asserted:

If external forces interfere in the judiciary and influence the judges and they fail to follow the truth in their sentencing, the independence of the judiciary will be compromised....All sentencing and imprisonments should follow the basic laws of Islam

1805 GMT: Nowruz Visits (cont.). Mehdi Karroubi has visited the family of detained film director Jafar Panahi.

1800 GMT: Putting the Supreme Leader to a Referendum? Payvand has an even stronger interpretation of Ayatollah Mousavi Tabrizi's statement (see 1520 GMT) that Islamic rule is subject to the will of the people:

If the Imam were alive today and some people were to tell him that due to post-Revolution generational developments in society, the majority are probably no longer in favour of "Velayat Faghih" and we want to gauge the support of people at this time, the Imam would have agreed with a referendum.

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The Latest from Iran (31 March): Nuclear Chatter & Political Prisoners

1745 GMT: The Nuclear Line. Still no  significant word out of China over today's meetings with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, but Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has put out a holding statement. According to Press TV, Mottaki, speaking in Algeria, said Tehran is still ready to swap its low enriched uranium for higher enriched fuel under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).


However, Mottaki did not make clear --- at least in the Press TV report --- if "within the framework of its proposed initiatives" had to be a swap inside Iran or could be in an outside country.

1540 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. RAHANA reports that Ehsan Abdeh-Tabrizi, the son of Hossein Abdeh-Tabrizi, former secretary-general of Tehran Stock Exchange and director of the banned newspaper Sarmayeh, has been detained for the last three months with no news about his status or possible charges.

Ehsan Abdeh-Tabrizi, is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at Durham University in Britain, had returned to Iran to visit his family, but his passport was confiscated upon his arrival at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport and he was arrested a few days later.

1530 GMT: Nowruz Visits (cont.). Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have visited the family of Shiva Nazar Ahari, the journalist and human rights activist detained since December.

1520 GMT: Clerical Interventions. Ayatollah Mousavi Tabrizi has declared that Islam should not be installed with force and dictatorship. Today (12 Farvardin) should be a day of all Iranians and all ethnic and religious minorities.

Hojatoleslam Rasul Montajabnia, the Vice President of the reformist Etemade Melli party, says that a leadership without a majority vote cannot survive. He added that the late Ayatollah Khomeini never promoted a rulership minus the people.

1245 GMT: Discussing Iran. Since yesterday afternoon, I have been in a conversation with the readers of the Race for Iran blog over political and legal issues, from the June election to protests to the place of "rights" in the crisis. After clearing away the white noise of those who post in denunciation rather than discussion, there are some interesting exchanges with those who take the position that the Ahmadinejad Government is legitimate and should be engaged by the Obama Administration.

1120 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Reporters Without Borders has issued a statement:

The lives of many journalists are now in danger. Emadoldin Baghi, Badrolssadat Mofidi, Mehdi Mahmudian and Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand are seriously ill. We call for their unconditional and definitive release. We appeal to the Iranian authorities to act so that these lives are no longer at risk. We will hold them responsible for any misfortune.

1030 GMT: Sanctions 2+2=?. So, on the one hand, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is in China for talks (see 0500 GMT) and, on the other, Reuters is spinning Beijing's acceptance of a path to tougher sanctions:

China has agreed to serious negotiations with Western powers about imposing new sanctions on Iran and President Hu Jintao will attend a multi-nation summit on nuclear security in Washington this month, officials said....The agreement to discuss sanctions marked a significant shift by China after months of fending off Western nations' demands for concerted pressure on Tehran.

Personally, I think it's too early to make a call on China's next steps. For the moment, it's all messages to all people, as in this from the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesman (paraded hopefully by Iran's state media): "On the Iranian nuclear issue, China will continue to endeavor toward a peaceful resolution."

0640 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Mohsen Hashemi, the son of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, has denied allegations that he has a villa in Switzerland.

0635 GMT: Nowruz Visits. Former Deputy Minister of Interior Mostafa Tajzadeh, still on his temporary release from Evin Prison, and his family paid a visit to former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who was also a long-time post-election detainee, and his family.


0630 GMT: Rah-e-Sabz prints the collage of journalist Azar Mansouri, made with cardboard and toothpaste while she was detained in Evin Prison.

0615 GMT: And The Reformists Speak. The pro-Larijani Khabar Online also, for the second time in recent weeks, discussed politics with reformist Shahrbanou Amani. Amani assserted that "hardliners" should create favourable conditions for political competition, because free parties are necessary for a developed society. Amanid added that reformists should regrtoup and take advantage from the promises of the "hardliners", demanding that they be fulfilled.

0555 GMT: The Conservative Challenge. Speaking to Khabar Online, conservative activist Mojtaba Shakeri Mojtaba Shakeri has declared that "fundamentalists" have to prove they are capable of ruling Iran.

0545 GMT: The Nuclear Issue. While we await news from China, Rah-e-Sabz offers an overview of the current situation on Iran's nuclear progamme and international manoeuvres over uranium enrichment and sanctions.



0515 GMT: Media Nuclear Fever. Yet another example of a prominent newspaper losing perspective on the Iranian nuclear issue....

The Guardian of London, framing an interview with the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad El Baradei, headlines, "Cautious reports on Tehran nuclear programme 'were framed to avoid war'".

Dramatic stuff. Only problem? Nowhere in the article does an El Baradei quote indicate that he altered reports for political reasons. Here's what he actually says:

We are a technical organisation totally embedded in a political setting and we have to be aware of the background and political implications of our work....

"When I was working at the agency we would literally go through 30 drafts or so of each report before it was ready, because I knew every word could be used politically and in a very subjective way. Every word was weighed to make sure that it was immune from being abused, and I always wanted to make sure that we were not overstating or understating, but rather just stating the facts....

I think the tone was set by me, that's true. But all the facts were in every report, unvarnished.

0505 GMT: The Subsidy Fight. Member of Parliament Mohammad Kosari has repeated his compromise plan to resolve the dispute between the Majlis and the President over subsidy cuts and spending. Invoking the Supreme Leader's recent remarks "asking the government to adhere to law and the Majlis to help the administration", Kosari has suggested an extra $30 billion for Ahmadinejad, the halfway point between the $20 billion authorised by the Parliament and the $40 billion sought by the President.

0500 GMT: Completing the saying, the title today is a bookend to that of 1 March, "In Like a Lion?", but it seems appropriate as we come to the end of the Nowruz holiday. We'll be watching to see if the quiet phase in Iranian politics continues or if there is a resumption of manoeuvres, amongst the opposition, the Rafsanjani camp, and conservative challengers to the Government.

For the moment, however, the nuclear issue still holds the headlines. In what looks to be a significant (and quickly-planned) trip, Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, is in China today. Take your pick of speculations on the motive: the Iranians are approaching Beijing with a request to hold off on sanctions and/or to put forth a deal for uranium enrichment, the Chinese have summoned a representative from Tehran to put out a message. No hint in Iranian state media yet of developments.