The Latest from Iran (15 October): Back to Tehran, Back to Reality

1715 GMT: Music and Politics. An EA reader tips us off to this nugget from a documentary on the musical legend Mohammad Reza Shajarian.

Asked why he became more vocal in his protests after the 2009 election, Shajarian says, "Some guy [Ahmadinejad] described the people as dirt and dust. In a typhoon, dust can blind you. I want to speak for that dust."

Then this. Q: "Are you not afraid?" Sharjarian: "What can they do to me?" Q: "They can arrest you" Shajarian: "I have no fear."

The exchange is in the last quarter of the documentary.

1700 GMT: Khatami's Appeal to Hezbollah. It has emerged that Seyyed Mohammad-Reza Khatami, the former chairman of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front, wrote to Sayyid Hassan Nasrullah, the head of Hezbollah, about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's trip to Lebanon:

I am addressing you as an individual who values the fate of the Islamic Republic just as much as he values the fate of the [Lebanon’s] resistance, and I see this obligation to myself to remind you from the bitter truth that we are facing today in Iran, the very truth that eventually all the allies of Ayatollah Khomeini and the [Islamic] Revolution will have to face its consequences.

You very well know and there is no need to remind that today in Iran the close and old allies of Ayatollah Khomeini are under most brutal pressure and extreme restrictions, and hundreds of true children of the great Islamic Revolution are under harshest conditions in prisons only because they did not give in to deviations. The latest one of them is Dr. Ali Shakoori-Raad (senior reformist figure), who was just arrested on the eve of Mr. Ahmadinejad's trip [to Lebanon] and his visit with you. You know Shakoori-Raad well as one of the biggest defenders of Islamic Resistance [of Lebanon]!

In our opinion one cannot talk about resistance in front of an occupying regime and on the other hand imprison these noble individuals, the very same individuals who have spent all of their valuable lives to honor the words of Allah and for the triumph and prosperity of Islamic Republic. One cannot claim to resist against the Zionist regime and on the other hand neglects all these oppressions that are being imposed on the true combatants or, even worse, by keeping silent confirm them.

The expectations of our nation from all those who claim to be fighting against oppression and tyranny is to demand from those who have imprisoned these dear ones to stop their oppression and tyranny and urge them to implement for their own people even the slightest of what they wish for the dignified nation and noble Shia combatants of Lebanon.

1615 GMT: "The Camera is Evidence of Crime". Fereshteh Ghazi posts a chilling article on the demise of photojournalism in Iran.

Abbas Kowsari reflects on his profession, “After last year’s election, what’s happened is that there is no more trust; people don’t trust photographers. It’s natural, they don’t know where their photographs will end up, and they are afraid.”

Majid Saeedi, who was arrested and then bailed after the election, explains:

The sanctity of the camera has been broken, since last year when they beat photographers, arrested them, insulted them, and jailed them. The atmosphere is a security atmosphere. You can’t carry a camera around. Everyone, from the Basij (the para-military force under the command of the IRGC) and IRGC to the police and ministry of intelligence, feels obliged to catch a spy, and the first thing that they see is a camera. The camera has become evidence of crime and espionage.

1600 GMT: Friday Prayer Twist. You won't find it in Press TV's summary, but there it is, tucked away at the bottom of IRNA's account of Ayatollah Jannati's Friday Prayer (see 1310 GMT), "Subsidies Benefit the Community".

Wait a minute. I thought the mainstay of the Ahmadinejad Government's economic policy was subsidy cuts. Is the head of the Guardian Council warning the President? Reuters jumps in:

"The government must not do anything to dissatisfy the nation. There are grounds (to expect) we will have high prices," Jannati told worshippers....

"I have been told repeatedly that the price of water and electricity has soared," said Jannati, who heads the Guardian Council, a powerful legislative watchdog, adding that he had written to the government to express his concerns.

"I suggest that this is not done," he said without making clear whether he meant the subsidy reduction plan should be suspended -- something some members of parliament have called for -- or merely modified.

"If it is the right thing to do -- and it must be done -- then it should be explained so people are convinced."

1440 GMT: Shutting Down the Lawyers. Another entry in the big book of the regime's effort to quiet defence attorneys through intimidation and detention....

Mohammad Ali Dadkhah has been summoned to the Revolutionary Court on Sunday, following the trial of Mohammad Ali Seifzadeh, another lawyer with the Center of Defenders of Human Rights.

Dadkhah, who represents about 20 university students, faculty members, and other post-election detainees, was arrested in his office a day after the June 2009 Presidential election on charges of firearms and drug possession. Later bailed, he has responded, "I am a human rights activist. I talk through paper, pen and words; why would I need guns?"

Dadkhah said he has only been allowed to meet "one or two of my clients in prison" and has not been given his clients' files.

1430 GMT: The Unending Hikers Saga. Lots of chatter this afternoon about a statement by Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi pointing towards a possible trial for Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, two of the three US hikers detained in July 2009 by Iranian security forces: “There are documents and evidence about these American detainees, which have been handed over to the judicial system in order to decide."

In fact, there is nothing new in Moslehi's statement. Iranian officials have been saying for months that the files have been handed to the judiciary. When the third US hiker, Sarah Shourd, was released last month, the Tehran Government covered itself by saying a trial for Fattal and Bauer was imminent. (Indeed, Moslehi posed today by insisting that Shourd, who was technically "bailed" on a financial guarantee, should return to Iran for trial if one was held.)

Although a date of 6 November for the trial has floated about, don't expect it to come about. Iran is caught between talking tough and having insufficient evidence to make a high-profile conviction of American nationals stick, at least before international opinion.

1310 GMT: Your Friday Prayer Report. Can't really give Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the Guardian Council, top marks for originality in his Tehran Friday Prayer today.

Jannati said that, with President Ahmadinejad's trip to Lebanon this week, "The Islamic resistance in the region should be strengthened."

But I guess Jannati does get some recognition for taking a leap to claim that the Iranian President had brought all Lebanese --- Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, and Christians --- together and for commending Ahmadinejad's bravery in not travelling in a bullet-proof car.

1045 GMT: The Battle Within. Leading conservative MP Mohammad Reza Bahonar has told a meeting of the Islamic Society of Engineers that, to summon President Ahmadinejad to Parliament, at least one-quarter of the 290-members MPs have to sign a letter making the request.

Fellow conservative Ali Motahari has been pressing for signatures on such a letter.

0945 GMT: Oil Squeeze. Major Japanese oil and natural gas producer Inpex has announced that it has agreed with the National Iranian Oil Company to withdraw from Iran's Azadegan oilfield.

The move had been anticipated in recent weeks as the Japanese Government aligned itself with international and US economic pressure on Tehran.

Inpex will hand over its 10% stake in Azadegan to NIOC. The Japanese company had slashed its stake to 10% from 75% in 2006, and there has been little development of the oilfield since then.

0925 GMT: The Battle Within. Another sign of tension between the Ahmadinejad camp and others in the Iranian establishment: Majid Ansari, a key member of the Association of Combatant Clerics and Expediency Council, has said the "ruling current is not principlist".

0920 GMT: Communications News of the Day. For those who despair at the latest revelation of blocked websites or suspended newspapers, here's something to cheer you up: you can now download the Supreme Leader's latest fatwas to your mobile phone.

0715 GMT: Mahmoud's Trip. Arab News comments, "No Major Event":

The trip should be seen far more in an Iranian context than a Lebanese one. It provides a boost back home for a president seen to be internationally beleaguered and whose popularity is far from assured. That is its real significance - although whether it will have any effect there is questionable. 

0710 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Iran Prosecutor-General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has told reporters that two German journalists, arrested as they were interviewing the son and lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, have confessed: "The two Germans have acknowledged their offence, saying that claiming to be journalists was not right."

Ejei claimed the two detainees had ties with "hostile elements" outside Iran: "They were pursuing a certain agenda in the country."

There is still no word on the fate of the son and lawyer of Ashtiani, who has been condemned to death for adultery.

0705 GMT: CyberWatch.Minister of Communications Reza Taghipour has reportedly announced that "clean" search engines will replace Google and Yahoo.

0700 GMT: Cartoon of the Day. Maya Nayestani's "Private Sphere":

0650 GMT: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has flown back to Iran. Contrary to the report in Khabar Online, there was no Day 3 in the Lebanon visit and no meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Beirut.

Press TV carries only a brief article on Ahmadinejad's final engagement, a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. The Islamic Republic News Agency offers a longer account with analysis such as "the enthusiasm of the women and youth [in Lebanon] for President Ahmadinejad was indescribable".