The Latest from Iran (26 November): Connect the Meetings

2055 GMT: Parliament v. President. Ali Motahari, the leader of the movement to summon Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Parliamentary questions, said that the demand will be made after the implementation of subsidy cuts. Motahari again said that there were nearly enough signatories --- 1/4 of the 290 MPs --- to call in Ahmadinejad, and that most of those signing were principlists.

Khabar Online, linked to Speaker Ali Larijani, posts a recent history of Parliament-President relations, documenting how Ahmadinejad has faced possible questioning on several previous occasions.

Khabar also claims that the battle for control of the Central Bank continues. Parliament recently voted to take oversight away from the President.

2020 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. More detainees have been released tonight, including Rashin Mir Said and Mahsa Rahmati.

Nineteen political prisoners were freed on Wednesday night.

Detained student activist Abdollah Momeni has written to Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei to declare that his account of abuse was "not exaggerated one bit".

Mohseni-Ejei claimed in a press conference earlier this week that Momeni's allegations were "not correct".

On a related note, a blogger posts detained filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad's query about Momeni: "God, where were you when Abdollah repeatedly lost consciousness as he was beaten up time and time again by his interrogators and his honour desecrated by the vulgarities they were hurling against his family?"

1730 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Deutsche Welle interviews the head of a group of Iranian companies to establish the impact of sanctions.

1615 GMT: International Front. Saturday's news is likely to be dominated by the visit of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Tehran --- indeed, Reuters is already ramping up coverage.

The misleading headline is that Hariri is venturing to Iran "seeking its help to prevent political tensions turning violent if a U.N.-backed tribunal indicts Hezbollah members for killing his father". That sensational speculation, fuelled by the leaks and allegations in Beirut this week, misses the wider objective: the Lebanese Government wants some semblance of stability and ensuring that outside Governments do not interfere is a key element in that strategy. So not only Iran but also Saudi Arabia and Syria will be encouraged not to take advantage of any ripples in Lebanon's politics. (It is far from coincidental that Turkey's Recep Tayyip, as regional broker, was in Beirut this week.)

That said, there's propaganda to be made from the event. The Islamic Republic News Agency gets a pre-trip jump with an interview with Hariri, who says diplomatically, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has a natural role in the region, especially in resolving crisis and strengthening stability in Lebanon."

1530 GMT: Checking for Sedition. An EA reader writes, "We've been getting packages from Iran for 10 years. For the 1st time ever, the package we received today had been crudely cut open with a knife. Nothing suspect in the parcel at all, only some nuts and clothes."

1525 GMT: Parliament v. President. According to Hamidreza Katouzian, the chairman of Parliament's Energy Commission, Speaker Ali Larijani has invited President Ahmadinejad to clarify the figure on proposed subisdy cuts for energy.

1230 GMT: Your 5-Second Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Ayatollah Emami Kashani's prayer today: "Back your Supreme Leader. Unite against the enemy. Give your sympathy and cooperation to subsidy cuts. Thanks."

1015 GMT: Budget Battle. Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, has criticised the Government for its delays this year in presenting and getting approval of the budget, and he has declared that the executive should ensure it presents the 2011-12 budget on time.

0940 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Masoud Shafiee, the lawyer for detained US hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, has said he has not been allowed to visit them since the release of the third hiker, Sarah Shourd, in September.

The trial of Fattal and Bauer was recently moved by Iranian authorities from 6 November to early February. Shafii claims that he has written to the judge to gain permission to visit his clients; however, the judge has told him that he will see the hikers at the hearing.

0920 GMT: Militia and Religion. The head of the Basij militia, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, introduced Tehran Friday Prayers today with a ritual denunciation of the "intrigue" to defeat the 2009 Presidential election and how it was defeated by the mobilisation of the Iranian people.

0910 GMT: Un-Free Press. On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 44 members of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) have called "for concrete measures to end violence against outspoken women journalists and activists".

Included in the call is this passage:

There are so many women in prison in Iran that we cannot list them all. Blogger and human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, sentenced to six years in prison in September and is facing the death sentence, and Jila Baniyaghoub, was jailed for one year in lieu of flogging. Journalist Hengameh Shahidi was sentenced to six years in prison following last year's post-election crackdown, and journalist Mahsa Amrabadi was charged with "acting against national security" for publicly criticising the arrest of journalists; she is appealing her one-year prison sentence. Meanwhile, Noushin Ahamadi Khorasani, the editor of the Feminist School website and a founder of the "One Million Signatures" online campaign for changes to laws that discriminate against women, has been a victim of judicial harassment by intelligence services, and Maryam Bidgoli, who also participated in the campaign, was sentenced to one year in prison.

0845 GMT: Arms and the Revolutionary Guard's Man. A Nigeria court has charged Revolutionary Guard member Azim Adhajani and three Nigerians with illegal arms trafficking over a shipment of mortars and rockets seized in the port of Lagos in October.

The seizure has escalated into an international incident, with Nigeria reporting it to the United Nations Security Council as a breach of UN sanctions. It is also a possible reason for Gambia's breaking of relations with Tehran, as the arms may have been destined for a faction in the African country's internal conflict.

Adhanjani, identified in court as "a Tehran-based businessman", and the Nigerians were charged with conspiring to re-export the illegal shipment to Banjul in Gambia.

Peyke Iran has posted a set of photographs:

0725 GMT: Readers, noting last night's update that the minority reformist faction in Parliament had met Speaker Ali Larijani to discuss economic matters, including subsidy cuts and the budget, have pointed out to us that the group also met former President Hashemi Rafsanjani on Monday. Here is one of a set of pictures:

Of course, I am not claiming a conspiracy here. I just thought, in the current political dispute involving President Ahmadinejad's authority, it was an interesting coincidence.