The Latest from Iran (27 November): Breaking News --- Supreme Leader is Fabulous

1335 GMT: Parliament v. President. Someone is getting worried that the effort to summon Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Parliamentary questioning may succeed. Follow this carefully....

The pro-Ahmadinejad Islamic Republic News Agency is claiming that Ali Motahari, the MP leading the campaign for Ahmadinejad's interpellation, has struck a deal with the reformists: if Motahari can deliver 50 signatures on the petition for the President's appearance, the minority faction will give him 25 endorsements. That would make 75, more than the requirement of 1/4 of the 290-member Majlis.

On the surface, the story appears to be a triumph for Motahari, but I suspect it is an un-subtle attempt to tarnish him by claiming that he has resorted to devious scheming with the dubious reformists. Motahari, for his part, has claimed that almost all the signatures on his petition are from the majority principlist faction.

1315 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Feminist School reports that the second hearing in the trial of detained attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh will be held tomorrow.

The hearing had been scheduled for last Wednesday, but was delayed because of pollution in Tehran.

1312 GMT: International Front. Lebanese President Saad Hariri has just arrived in Iran for a two-day visit.

1309 GMT: Explaining the Subsidy Cuts. President Ahmadinejad, addressing a conference on urban transports, defended his still-to-be-implemented subsidy cuts, saying they would improve the situation of the poor.

Explaining why some had opposed the cuts despite their merit, Ahmadinejad claimed "Justice has many enemies, headed by the devil."

1300 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has joined others in praising the Basij militia on the anniversary of its formation; however, he has added a note of caution: "Basij should not get radical and stray due to politics".

1250 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Activists have launched a campaign for political prisoners and their families in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city.

RAHANA reports that student activist Seyed Mojtaba Bastani has been summoned and threatened by Iranian officials. Bastani was detained in 2009, spending 75 days in solitary confinement.

1150 GMT: Claim of Day. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, a fervent supporter of the Government, offers an important discovery: the June 2009 "sedition" had been planned for 20 years by the "West" and certain Iranian politicians.

1145 GMT: Power Watch. The head of Iran's nuclear programme, Ali Akbar Salehi, has announced that the country's first nuclear power plant at Bushehr has been loaded with the fuel needed to go on-line.

Salehi said it be another month or two before the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor begins distribution of electricity.

1140 GMT: Outer Space Claim of Day. Minister of Communications Reza Taghipour has declared that Islamic countries will build the satellite "Besharat" with Iran's help.

1135 GMT: War on Terror. Iranian authorities have arrested four people at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport as they arrived from Zahedan in southeastern Iran. Officials claimed the detainees are members of Al Qa'eda.

0750 GMT: At the Movies. Khabar Online, in an intriguing post, posts a long list of celebrated films which --- for reasons of "politics, expediency, and screening criteria" --- have not been seen in Iran in the last 30 years.

0745 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Not everyone is joining in the Supreme Leader love-fest, however. On Al Aan TV, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh Hashemi discusses the situation of her brother Mehdi Hashemi.

As part of the pressure upon Rafsanjani, an arrest warrant has been issued for Mehdi Hashemi, who has been in London since summer 2009, on charges of fraud and election manipulation.

0720 GMT: As Iran enjoys a four-day holiday, the regime is using the free time to push the message of unity behind the unquestioned authority of Ayatollah Khamenei.

Friday Prayers, nominally celebrating Eid al-Ghadir, celebrated the Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Emami Kashani in Tehran said the leadership of Khamenei was beyond doubt. Hojetoleslam Alamalhoda in Mashhad linked the Supreme Leader with Ali, Shi'a first Imam, saying allegiance with Ali means obedience and happening to mention that Khamenei has proved to be an outstanding Leader, not only for the Iranian umma but for the whole world. In Qom, Hojatoleslam Saidi jumped in: "Whoever has allegiance to Ali, must obey" velayat-e-faqih, with its clerical supremacy.

But it wasn't just the Supreme Leader who got big praise from the pulpit. Friday Prayer leader Tabatabai-Nejad in Isfahan announced that the Basij militia and Revolutionary Guard saved Iranin the 1980s war with Iraq war at the side of a "disturbed" military. Mohammad Ali Mousavi-Jazayeri in Ahvaz explained that the Basij is "an iron dam in front of the devils' greed". In Urumiyeh, the message was that the Basij is a great divine blessing for the Revolution and the Iranian system.