Today on EA (16 December)

Iran: A busy day on the political front, with threats from the regimes and spirited responses from the oppositions. We've got it all in the LiveBlog.

We've posted another summary of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's speech in Mashhad, which has prompted a lot of the regime's anger and nervousness. And from the US, Gary Sick offers first-hand experience of the problems with American strategy towards Iran.

On the lighter side, there's the Picture of the Day: former President Mohammad Khatami's cellphone.

Israel: We offer the inside line of an Israeli threat to set aside peace talks with Syria and Turkish mediation. Ali Yenidunya also surveys the Israeli and British reactions to this week's revelation of an arrest warrant in Britain for former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.