The Latest from Iran (27 August): One Voice in Iran?

2000 GMT: The Prevention of Mourning. Iranian security forces have reportedly prevented families from observing the 22nd anniversary of the mass execution of their relatives in Iranian prisons.

Human Rights and Democracy Activists of Iran report that security forces set up road blocks at Kharavan Cemetery and stopped the families from visiting the resting places of their kin. It is claimed that a number of people were arrested and some were beaten.

In the summer of 1988, Iran executed hundreds of political prisoners on the charge of membership in dissident groups and buried them in mass graves at Khavaran.

NEW Iran: Conservatives v. Ahmadinejad (Jedinia)
NEW Iran Special: The Supreme Leader and One Voice on Nuclear Talks with US?
The Latest from Iran (26 August): Ahmadinejad v. “Seditionists”

1920 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ghorban Behzadian Nezhad, the manager of Mir Hossein Mousavi's 2009 Presidential campaign, has been sentenced to five years in prison.

1715 GMT: The President's (Suspended) Man. Robert Tait of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty offers a lengthy overview of the case of Presidential aide and former Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi, one of three officials suspended this week for alleged involvement in the post-election abuses and killings at Kahrizak Prison. Included is this observation from EA:

The speculation is whether or not as part of this unity deal [brokered by the Supreme Leader], in which Ahmadinejad and Ali Larijani would make the public appearance of making up, that they now would offer a couple of bigger names on Kahrizak....When [Iranian authorities] said 11 were guilty of some involvement with Kahrizak, including the two [people] who were condemned to death, those were all relatively low-level people and there were rumbles of dissatisfaction, not just from the families but from some folks in the conservative establishment.

1700 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Guardian of London reports that Iranian authorities are preventing the children and laywer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery, from visiting her in Tabriz Prison.

Ashtiani's son Sajad, 22 and daughter Saeedeh, 17, were told at the prison yesterday that their mother was unwilling to meet them. Ashtiani later said, in a phone call to Sajad, that she had been told by guards that nobody had come to visit her children had abandoned her.

Ashtiani's government-appointed lawyer, Houtan Kian, has been unable to visit her since her "confession" to involvement in her husband's murder was televised. Kian's house in Tabriz was raided this week by government officials who confiscated documents and laptops.

Ashtiani's other lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, was forced to flee Iran after Iranian authorities tried to arrest him.

1535 GMT: Mousavi Latest. Mir Hossein Mousavi, meeting veterans of the Iran-Iraq War, has said that today’s situation of Iranian society is “unsafe” and stressed that the only way to return safety and security is through the honouring of people’s will and their movements.

Mousavi cited fear of repression, fear of unemployment, and fear of organised corruption, all of which have become dominant in Iranian society, are signs of extensive oppression and injustice.

1530 GMT: Your Friday Prayers Update. Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani taking the podium today and he made it short and sweet.

1. Everybody turn out for Qods Day next Friday (but for Palestine and not against the Iranian Government, OK?)

2. Floods in Pakistan have been terrible and everyone should help the relief effort.

1520 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Mahmoud Bahmani, says Tehran is withdrawing its assets from European banks to counter new sanctions.

The pre-emptive measure is to counter any European decision to freeze Iranian assets, Bahmani said: "The Central Bank of Iran...had predicted such a scenarios (asset freeze) six months ago and adopted the necessary countermeasures."

1355 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. RAHANA updates on attorney Mohammad Oliyaifard, who has been detained since 8 March. The lawyer, who represented a number of clients facing the death penalty, was sentenced to one year in prison for anti-regime propaganda after he spoke to foreign media about the execution of minors.

0945 GMT: Taking Control. Peyke Iran claims from Iranian media that all non-government organisations will be put under the supervision of police and intelligence services until the end of this Iranian year (March 2011).

0940 GMT: We have posted a separate feature from Mehdi Jedinia, "Conservatives v. Ahmadinejad".

0925 GMT: Sedition Watch. Pro-Ahmadinejad MP Zohreh Elahian, backing Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati and Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi, has pronounced that foreign embassies have given part of the $1 billion allocated for "regime change" to leaders of "fitna" (sedition). Indeed, she claimed that support for the heads of "fitna" is higher than the published figures.

0915 GMT: Regime Schizophrenia "Women are Fabulous/No They're Not". President Ahmadinejad has praised the role of women in Iranian politics, saying that with four women in the Cabinet, the taboo of women in politics has been broken.

Ahmadinejad that, while Iran's women are a model to the world, 70% percent of women in households in capitalist countries are beaten but remain to keep the family together.

MP Mousa Qorbani, a member of Parliament's Judicial Commission, does not seem to have gotten the President's message, however. He has declared that when women go to work, they cause unemployment. Qorbani said that he was in Saudi Arabia and did not see a single women working there --- "if we implement this in Iran, many problems will be solved".

0900 GMT: Not-So-Tough Talk Today. Revolutionary Guard Commander Ramezan Sharif has denounced "imperialist media" for falsely portraying a threat to Iran's neighbours by publishing interviews with "virtual" commanders, trying to present a brutal face of the Revolutionary Guard. Sharif asserted that Iran's military power is only for defense and "in no way meant to menace befriended regional countries".

0815 GMT: The Battle Within. An intriguing report from Mehdi Karroubi's Saham News....

The website claims that Saeed Haddadian, a leader of Basij paramilitary groups, has publicly declared, "We no longer support Ahmadinejad and won't stand up against clerics for him."

0730 GMT: We've posted a morning special: "The Supreme Leader and One Voice on Nuclear Talks with US?"

0625 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Eleven days after his return to prison, former Deputy Minister of Interior Mostafa Tajzadeh has finally been able to phone his family. He said he is in good spirits and sharing a cell with journalist/filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad, who was summoned back to jail more than a week ago but has not been able to contact relatives.

0615 GMT: Qods Day. Almost a year ago Qods Day, in which many people mark solidarity with Palestine also  brought --- despite the Iranian Government's attempt to suppress dissent ---  one of the largest post-election demonstrations.

This year's Qods Day is next Friday, and the Green posters are appearing:



Meanwhile....

Economy Watch

Kalemeh offers a report that only 10% of state-owned companies under Iran's "privatisation" drive are actually going into the private sector. The rest are allegedly being brought by concerns connected with the Government, notably the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

Freedom of the Press

Iranian journalist/blogger Kouhyar Goudarzi, held in Evin Prison since December, is one of the recipients of the 2010 John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award, given by the US National Press Club to individuals who have contributed to the cause of press freedom and open government.

Goudarzi was one of 17 detainees who went on hunger strike earlier this month.

The Latest from Iran (19 August): Freedom & Detention

2015 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Families of detainees who recently ended their hunger strike have still not received visit permits.

2010 GMT: Divorce Shocker! Ayatollah Safaei Bushehri, Friday Prayer leader and the Supreme Leader's representative in Bushehr, has revealed that 50% of marriage break-ups are caused by bad hijab.

2000 GMT: Parliament v. President. "Hardline" MP Hossein Nejabat has declared that Parliament's problems with the President did not exist during the administration of the reformist Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005). He said Ahmadinejad has to abide to the laws, otherwise he will be called before the Majlis.

In a more cautious statement, MP Hossein Sobhani-Nia sad that he hoped the Supreme Leader's words will induce the Government to implement the laws of Majlis and on the judiciary to remove possible problems with those laws.

NEW Rewriting Iran’s History: The 1953 Coup, the CIA, the Clerics, and “Democracy” (Emery)
NEW Iran Cartoon of the Day: 1953 Speaks to 2010
Iran Document: Nourizad’s Last Letter to Supreme Leader “The 10 Grievances”
Iran Feature: Sanctions, Iranians, and YouTube’s “Life in a Day” (Esfandiary)
UPDATED Iran Special: Have Fars (& Revolutionary Guard) Faked a Reformist “Confession” on Election?
The Latest from Iran (18 August): A Letter and A Call for Bombing

1945 GMT: Khamenei to US "Have I Made Myself Clear?". The Supreme Leader's office wants to be sure that Washington (and the rest of the world) gets Khamenei's point, made in his speech to senior Iranian officials --- Ahmadinejad, Rafsanjani, and Seyed Hassan Khomeini were in the audience --- that Tehran will not enter discussions over uranium enrichment unless Washington pulls back sanctions. Not only did they put out the lines on Twitter even before the speech had hit the Iranian media; they have now put out an English version of the statement: "Ayatollah Khamenei further reiterated that the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to start negotiations provided that the US abandons its domineering attitude, puts an end to threats and sanctions and does not impose its goals on the negotiations."

Given the timing of mid-term Congressional elections in the US, it's a safe bet that there will not be a word breathed in Washington about a possible relaxation of sanctions. And that means there is no chance of public talks on Iran's nuclear programme before mid-November.

1700 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Golnaz Esfandiari has more on the case of detained women's rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari, including this comment from Zahra Rahnavard: "We are worried for Shiva Nazar Ahari, her trial, and its result because we are all Shiva Nazar Ahari. We, women, who make up half of Iran’s population, we are all Shiva Nazar Ahari."

1420 GMT: Iran MediaWatch. Radio Farda has more on the ban on the newspaper Asia, which specialises in economic matters.

Asia has been critical of the economic policy of the Government, but the official reasons for its closure, according to Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Ali Ramin, are "publishing pictures against public chastity", “promoting wastefulness and extravagance", and "persistence in carrying out the aforementioned violations".

1405 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Peyke Iran claims that, after the Swiss Government's adoption of additional sanctions against Tehran, the assets of 40 Iranian companies have been blocked.

According to Fars News, Venezuela has said it will continue to supply Iran with gasoline despite sanctions.

David Velasquez, Venezuela's ambassador to Tehran, said, "We are at the service of Iran, and whenever Iran needs, we will supply it with gasoline."

1400 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Nourizad Edition). Back to our opening story today....

Video from RASA TV of Mohammad Nourizad's celebration with well-wishers before his return to prison has now been posted.

0910 GMT: I will be in meetings today about the Journal of American Studies, so updates will be limited until mid-afternoon.

0855 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Nokia Siemens Lawsuit Edition). Golnaz Esfandiari interviews Edward Moawad, the lawyer for detained journalist Isa Saharkhiz, who has filed a motion in US Federal Court against Nokia Siemens for provision of equipment to Iran assisting in surveillance. Moawad claims, "njuries to the main plaintiff here, Isa Saharkhiz, and to [his son] Mehdi and multiple others were inflicted as a result of the actions of Nokia Siemens network."

0850 GMT: The Battle Within. The latest journalist to consider the escalating tension within the Iranian political system is Robert Tait of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who sees the root cause as President Ahmadinejad's "religious-nationalist" approach.

0840 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Gozaar offers a detailed profile of human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari, detained since July 2009. Her lawyer says a trial date is set for 4 September on charges of "mohareb" (war on God), which carries a death sentence.

Academic and Mir Hossein Mousavi advisor Ali Arab Mazar has been released from detention on $200,000 bail. He was arrested on 28 December and was in solitary confinement for three months.

0735 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Pro-Vice Chancellor of Britain's Durham University, Anthony Forster, has expressed concern over the health and situation of Ehsan Abdoh-Tabrizi, a Ph.D. student imprisoned in mid-January after travelling to Tehran to visit his family.

Forster said Durham, in agreement with Abdoh-Tabrizi's father, had taken a low-profile approach after the arrest, conducting discussions with the Iranian Embassy in London; however, Durham's most recent letter had not been acknowledged by the embassy.

0730 GMT: We have published two features linking the 19 August 1953 coup that overthrew the Mossadegh Government and today's events in Iran. In Nikahang Kowsar's cartoon, Mohammad Mossadegh offers advice to Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Chris Emery has serious issues with a Washington Post article which claims to revise the history of the coup.

0625 GMT: Execution (Ashtiani) Watch. Britain's Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt summoned the Iranian ambassador, Rasoul Movahedian, on Wednesday to raise the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to death for adultery. Burt also brought up the situation of seven members of the Baha'i faith, each sentenced to 20 years on charges of spying for Israel. and of Ebrahim Hamidi, who faces execution for sodomy.

Turkish officials have told Zaman that Ankara has also brought up Ashtiani's case in discussions with Iranian counterparts.
0605 GMT: Wednesday was marked by a series of statements: from the rhetoric of the Supreme Leader (don't mention internal matters, focus on relations with the US) to the declarations of opposition figures like Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi (this Government is discredited; the Iranian people will emerge and prevail) to the letter from journalist and filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad, now returned to Evin Prison, to Ayatollah Khamenei (here are the grievances against you and the system that you have led into disrepute).

But, at the end of the day, we noted this item, sent from an EA correspondent: Oxford University student Mohammad Reza Jalaeipour, seized by Iranian forces earlier this year after he was told to collect his passport, has been released from detention after 66 days in solitary confinement. The news was confirmed by his wife Fatemeh Shams, also a student at Oxford, who spoke to him by phone.

In total, Jalaeipour has spent 111 days in solitary confinement since the 2009 Presidential elections. It is unknown how much bail was posted for his release, and it is unclear whether he will get back his passport in time for the new academic year.

And we also saw the photograph, one of a set, that we are using for this post: Mohammad Nourizad, having written his 6th letter to the Supreme Leader in the knowledge that it would bring a summons from the authorities, is surrounded by well-wishers as he prepares for his return to prison.

The Latest from Iran (17 August): The Green Movement, Ahmadinejad, and a "Confession"

2040 GMT: Parliament v. President. Another possible front in the escalating battle between the Majlis and the Government: Hamidreza Katouzian, the head of the Majlis Energy Commission has said that, after the Government failed to offer a charter for the National Iranian Oil Company, Parliament will vote on its own charter next week.

2030 GMT: The Cleric's Challenge. Green Voice of Freedom summarises the Ramadan speech of Ayatollah Dastgheib: "The Supreme Leader is part of the Constitution, not above it."

1845 GMT: The Battle Within. Two more articles picking up on the growing challenge to President Ahmadinejad: Abbas Djavadi for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Mahan Abedin for Asia Times Online.

1440 GMT: We have posted a separate feature, following up our earlier updates, on what appears to be a Fars News effort (possibly instigated by the Revolutionary Guard) to discredit leading reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh, detained in Evin Prison, through a supposed "confession" that Mir Hossein Mousavi lost the 2009 election.

NEW Iran Special: Have Fars (& Revolutionary Guard) Faked a Reformist “Confession” on Election?
NEW Iran Video: “His Excellency” Ahmadinejad Interviewed by George Galloway (15 August)
NEW Iran Analysis: What Has Green Movement Achieved? (Sahimi)
Iran Document: Mohammad Khatami on Religion, the Islamic Revolution, and the Republic (15 August)
Iran’s Battle Within: Ahmadinejad Appeals to Supreme Leader (Rafiee)

1335 GMT: Karroubi Watch. Mehdi Karroubi, meeting a group of young reformists, has declared, that the opposition "movement is not limited to one person, medi,a or group". Criticising the deceitful and fraudulent remarks and actions of the government and the repression of the people, he advised his listeners to see beyond partisan lines and always stay loyal to their fundamental beliefs and values.

Karroubi concluded that victory would inevitably be achieved with patience and perseverance.

1105 GMT: Reports indicate that an Iranian F4 fighter jet has crashed in the south of the country near the nuclear power plant being established at Bushehr.

1055 GMT: The University Crisis. Fars News is claiming that Abdollah Jasbi, the head of Islamic Azad University, will soon be stepping down.

If true, the development would be a setback for former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is trying to maintain influence over Iran's largest university system, with 1.3 million students, as President Ahmadinejad tries to take control of it.

1020 GMT: The Tajzadeh Election "Confession". An EA source says that the claimed video on Fars News of a detained reformist "confessing", "We lost the elections", is not from Evin Prison and could be in connection to a previous Presidential election. The source also says the audio may have been manipulated, thus the need for subtitles to give the "correct" interpretation.

1005 GMT: Fars News Special "Mostafa Tajzadeh: "We lost the elections". Fars News is pushing a video that it claims is the secretly-filmed confession of senior reformist and former Deputy Minister of Interior Mostafa Tajzadeh, speaking to fellow detainees Abdullah Ramezanzadeh and Mohsen Safai-Farahani.

Tajzadeh allegedly says, "I have experience in handling elections, so I know what happened. It is possible than one or two million votes have been displaced,we would have gotten 14-15 million votes. Not 25. We have lost the elections."

We cannot guarantee authenticity of the video. We are carrying out checks and also monitoring any reaction.

0950 GMT: War Chatter. An EA correspondent notes a discussion on Voice of America of the provocative "analysis" by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic --- which we considered last week on EA --- projecting a likely Israeli airstrike on Iranian facilities.

0940 GMT: How to Handle the US Government and the Stoning Issue. Keyhan responds to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent statement criticising the death sentences of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, condemned for adultery, and three other prisoners:

Hillary Clinton, the wife of former US President Bill Clinton, still has to use her husband's name despite becoming Secretary of State. Taking advantage of the exploitative and perverse principle of freedom of choice which Hillary Clinton speaks about, Bill Clinton betrayed her and had a lengthy illicit relationship with his secretary Monica Lewinski which even in the promiscuous US society became a major scandal. Furthermore, Condoleezza Rice was notorious in the media for being promiscuous in her relationships.

0920 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. An EA correspondent reports that the memoirs of former Hashemi Rafsanjani have been withdrawn from bookstands in Iran only a few weeks after they went on sale. (Could that be because of possible comparisons between the Iranian Government of the 1980s and the Iranian Government of today?)

In his introduction, Rafsanjani writes that his "hard-working staff" have copied all his diaries to CD ROM and stored them in a safe location. That's a message for Iran's security forces: if you raid the former President's offices, you won't get the original of his memoirs.

0855 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran claims that the officials of Ward 350 of Evin Prison have cancelled the mosque privileges of prisoners during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

0845 GMT: The Hunger Strike. Advar News reports that three of the 17 political prisoners who have recently ended their hunger strike --- Abdollah Momeni, Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, and Keyvan Samimi --- are still in solitary confinement.

0825 GMT: Execution (Ashtiani) Watch. Following President Ahmadinejad's assurance that cases of death sentences by stoning were "insignificant" (see 0745 GMT), the Iranian Foreign Ministry has told other countries to stay out of the discussion over Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman whose scheduled execution has received international attention: "Independent nations do not allow other countries to interfere in their judicial affairs....Western nations must not pressurise and hype it (the case) up....Judicial cases have precise procedures, especially when it concerns murder."

0745 GMT: We have just posted the video of the interview of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressed as "His Excellency", by former British MP and current Press TV host George Galloway. The two men share their agreement on Iran's nuclear programme, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Palestine/Gaza before Galloway offers this hard-hitting challenge on "internal Iranian questions":

GALLOWAY: I have police protection in London from the Iranian opposition because of my support for your election campaign. (Galloway is referring to an incident this winter when he was heckled at a post-election meeting in the Houses of Parliament.) I mention this so you know where I'm coming from....

The events after the election were a kind of mini-political earthquake, a section of the population rejecting the results and a section of them openly attacking the Islamic system itself. Can I ask you, "What does the Green Movement mean to you?"

AHMADINEJAD: ....There are people in the Islamic Republic of Iran who continue to criticise and attack the President, and they are sure that nobody is going to harass them. They have peace of mind and they are comfortable. We really have free and democratic elections in this country, and people are the main element of elections, and people are also the executors of elections....

The other point is the conspiracy and plans of the United States and its allies. Before the elections, they had announced they would do everything possible to prevent the Government of Ahmadinejad to be re-elected....

At the end of the day, we see 14 million people have not voted for me. So it will be quite natural if you see number of demonstrators reach 14 million, but the number of the protestors was very insignificant. The people of Iran are very much united....

[The President then speaks of the opposition "within the system", describing Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami but not naming them.]

GALLOWAY: Are they still inside the system?

AHMADINEJAD: Almost in the system. Of course, the people don't want them any longer. People have not voted for them. They have been successively defeated [during the Government's] two terms....

The post-election events was on the basis of a project made in the country and it was implemented inside the country among a limited number of people. The Islamic Republic of Iran did not intend to take a harsh attitude toward them....We have managed the situation with minimum cost....

GALLOWAY: Every so often an issue comes along which is seized upon by the enemies of Iran and magnified and it becomes a heavy problem. One such is the punishment scheduled originally against a woman convicted of adultery [Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani], the so-called stoning case.

I see that President Lula from Brazil has asked Iran if he can take this woman into exile there to solve this problem. Can Iran agree to this?

AHMADINEJAD: The number of such people [sentenced to death by stoning] is very, very insignficant. I talked to a judge at the end of the day, and judges are independent. But I talked to the head of the judiciary and the judiciary does not also agree with such a thing....I think there is no need to create some trouble for President Lula to take her to Brazil. We are keen to export our technology to Brazil....I think the problem is so limited.

0655 GMT: We begin this morning with Muhammad Sahimi's analysis, "What Has the Green Movement Achieved?"

Meanwhile....

Political Prisoner Watch

Majid Pashai, a student activist, has been given a two-year prison sentence.

War Talk

Neither the Green Movement nor political prisoners is getting a look in, however, with most US-based analysts. The Atlantic magazine --- motives to be considered in 25 words or less --- has re-made itself as Command Central for discussion of an Israeli strike on Tehran.

How far can one run with such chatter? Well, former Bush Administration official John Bolton used the news that Russia will supply uranium fuel rods to Iran's first nuclear power plant at Bushehr to claim that Israel has until 21 August to attack Iran's nuclear facilities: "Once the rods are in the reactor an attack on the reactor risks spreading radiation in the air, and perhaps into the water of the Persian Gulf."

Bolton made the claim even though Bushehr has no connnection to uranium enrichment, let alone any Iranian military nuclear programme.

Iran: Open Thread for News and Analysis (Monday 9 August)

2000 GMT: Picture of the Day. Human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei, now in Norway, and his wife, recently released from prison. [Photo credit: The Times]

1715 GMT: Back to the Bazaar. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty carries a profile from the Tehran Bazaar, which was on strike last month, with critical remarks about the Government. Typical is the comment from "Hossein": "Nobody takes (Ahmadinejad) seriously. You just wonder what kind of logic he and his supporters are using. It is...baseless and aggressive statements that have triggered more and more sanctions against our economy."

The article claims that a combination of Government policies, Revolutionary Guard takeovers, and cheap imports are forcing more and more small businesses.

1610 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. There are persistent reports that detained journalist Isa Saharkhiz, moved to Rajai Shahr Prison in May, is in a state of “paralysis” and is “unable to move.”

The reports appear to be a heightening of information that Saharkhiz is suffering from paresis --- difficuties in moving parts of the body.

Seven Baha'i leaders have been moved to Rajai Shahr prison after sentence of 20 years each.

Photographer Hamed Saber has been temporarily released from prison on bail after being arrested on 21 June for photos of street protests.

1545 GMT: Drawing a Line? Abbaszadeh Meshkini, the political head of the Ministry of Interior, says the Hojjatieh association has not applied for a permit to become a party and, if it applies, it will not receive one.

Hojjatieh, which places great emphasis on the return of the "hidden" 12th Imam, was banned by Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s. There are persistent rumours that President Ahmadinejad and his spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, are followers.

1530 GMT: Another Larijani Challenges the President. Back to our lead story today....

Sadegh Zibakalam, a leading analyst inside Iran, says the quarrel between the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, and President Ahmadinejad is not about language but is a sign of emerging deep rifts within the establishment.

Zibakalam asserts that --- as reformists and Greens have been imprisoned, have fled, or have been reduced to inactivity --- the battle is between rational, "Majlis- centred" hardliners like Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, Deputy Speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar, Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, Ali Motahari, and Elyas Naderan and radical hardliners in the Ahmadinejad Government.

Zibakalam believes the radicals are imposing themselves at the moment, but in the long run rational hardliners will take over because of the Government's failures over the economy and the crisis in foreign policy.

1420 GMT: The Battles Within --- The President's Man and the Head of the Guardian Council. In what appears to be an attempt to take the heat out of the furour over Ahmadinejad Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Avaz Heydarpour, a member of Parliament's National Security Commission, has said Rahim-Mashai's "Iran v. Islam" comments will probably be discussed in the commission but it is not necessary for the aide to appear before the Majlis.

However, Parliamentary rumbling over Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, continues after the cleric's accusations of US-Saudi funding ($51 billion) of the opposition for regime change.

Moh Ali Karimi, suggesting the former President Mohammad Khatami file a complaint, said allegations without proof should be punished by the judiciary.

Qodratollah Alikhani of the Majlis National Security Commission claimed the accusations against Khatami are "a show and a pretext" to make people forget economic, financial and political problems due to sanctions. He added that "slander against a respected member of the political elite is unbelievable and a sin", weakening the Iranian system.

Reformist Nasrollah Torabi charged, "Whenever they cannot eliminate a person with logic or votes, they use these methods (of slander)," and said the judiciary must act.

1410 GMT: Today's World Politics Lesson (Censored and Uncensored Versions). A classic speech from First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and equally classic treatment in Iranian media....

Rahimi told an audience that English people are "a bunch of retards run by a Mafia, actually ruled by a youngster, who is even more idiot than his forerunner", and Australians are a bunch of shepherds. The dollar and Euro are najes (religiously impure), and before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Presidency, "our whole oil industry was English".

But on Fars News' English-language website, the remarks are a lot less fun. There, Rahimi described new international and unilateral sanctions as an opportunity for Iran's further progress and said the government will endeavor to better the situation of the Iranians amid boycotts.

1400 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The list of countries backing pressure on Tehran appears to be slowly expanding. Following a US push to get Asian cooperation, South Korea has submitted a sanctions report to the United Nations.

1345 GMT: More Defiance. A senior aide to President Ahmadinejad, Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, has said that Iran will not hold talks and negotiations with the US due to Washington's "disrespect and hostile stances".

1030 GMT: Economy Watch. In an indication of Iran’s difficulties with trade, the head of the central bank has demanded a cut in imports.

0945 GMT: Energy Squeeze. Peyke Iran claims that the Ministry of Energy now owes $5 billion to private companies.

0930 GMT: Clerical Challenge. Ayatollah Dastgheib has taken another swipe at the Government and President, alleging that mostakberin (oppressors) rule the country with one party.

Dastgheib also had sharp words for the Supreme Leader: “A sacrosanct person doesn’t send an army against people to maintain his position but is friendly to them.” Dastgheib added that a  bad defence of Islam is the biggest injustice to it.

0845 GMT: The Political Prisoners Challenge. Payvand has re-posted the news that seven prominent reformist politicians, all imprisoned after the June 2009 election, are filing a lawsuit against the Revolutionary Guard for manipulation of the vote.

0830 GMT: Economy Watch. Reformist member of Parliament Mohammad Reza Khabbaz has complained that Iran’s oil income is not making it to people’s tables and now Ahmadinejad is ”even taking away their bread”.

Khabbaz also jabbed that the Government had not yet implemented its subsidy cuts.

0815 GMT: Defiance. Amidst talk of renewed US-Iran discussions, Ali Akbar Velayati, the key foreign policy advisor to the Supreme Leader, declares, “Iran has the iron will to pursue nuclear development.”

0715 GMT: The US and Iran (and a Bigger Battle). We start the day with an analysis from Gary Sick considering American foreign policy and the latest state of play with Tehran.

The bigger battle, however, is the battle within, and there’s a new challenge to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this morning.

Sadegh Larijani, the head of Iran’s judiciary, has said, “We expect our President to use a decent language and say the truth.” Larijani pointedly added that laws apply to everyone and, in a flexing of muscle for his judicial branch, said that judges are not bound to anyone.

But it’s not the independence of the judiciary that Larijani was asserting. He declared, ”Now they even want to bomb the Majlis (Parliament) and insult its chief.” The “chief” of the Parliament is Sadegh Larijani’s brother, Ali.

Sadegh Larijani concluded, “I told Ahmadinejad he doesn’t say the truth, stop the insults.”