The Latest from Iran (8 January): Confronting the Enemy, Talking to the Enemy

1814 GMT: Sedition Watch. Gholam-Hossein Elham of the Guardian Council gets to the point: opponents and protesters are "mohareb" (enemies of God) and must be eradicated.

1810 GMT: Financial Mismanagement Watch. Another criticism of the Government's handling of energy revenues: the Baran Foundation reports that, although Iran had an $8 billion oil profit, not one toman was transfered to the treasury this year.

1805 GMT: Diplomatic Truths. Mehr reports on the increasing power of the President's "special envoys" and the chaos for Iranian diplomacy after the dismissal of Foreign Minister Mottaki.

1749 GMT: The Espionage Non-Story. Western media continue to take the tale of the "American-spying-through-her-teeth" seriously (see 1215 GMT), amidst these developments from Iranian officials:

She is no longer 55. She is 34.

Sometimes she is American. Sometimes she is Swiss.

1745 GMT: Sanctions Watch. A side-effect of the sanctions drive against Tehran: Iraq says it cannot pay its bills for power supplied by the Islamic Republic and fears electricity shortages as a result.

1740 GMT: Political Twist. Follow this if you can: principlist MP Ali Motahari, a fervent critic of the Government, claims that President Ahmadinejad and his right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, are trying to get the support of Mir Hossein Mousavi by moving closer to reformers.

Motahari asserted that the principlists must split in these circumstances, producing two lists for the next Parliamentary elections.

1733 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (German Edition). Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said the problem of German journalists Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch --- the problem being that they are detained for conducting an interview in October with the son and lawyer of the condemned Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani --- could be "solved in seconds" if it was up to him.

Which only raises the questions, "Then who is up to? And what is Salehi doing about it?"

1730 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mehdi Gholizadeh of the Freedom Movement of Iran has been sentenced to six years in prison.

1400 GMT: Sedition Watch. Former Minister of Culture Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi has struck at foes across the board. He has declared that the "Iran School" is the new fitna (sedition), a warning to the President's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, while jabbing at those who challenged the June 2009 election.

1340 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An appeals court has set the punishment for journalist and activist Shiva Nazar Ahari at four years in prison and 74 lashes.

Nazar Ahari was initially arrested just after the June 2009 Presidential election. She was released on bail in October but re-arrested after she attended the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri in December. She was released on $500,000 bail in September, just after she was given a six-year prison sentence.

A significant correction on this week's sentence for Reza Sharifi Boukani: his penalty for "membership in a Kurdish party" and "espionage against the regime" is 30.5 years in prison, rather than the 3.5 years initially reported.

Kurdish activists Hayva Pourmand, Vahab Fatahi, and Ghader Ghandeh have each been sentenced to five years in prison.

1335 GMT: Brit-Bashing. Banner day on Press TV for pointing all that is bad about the United Kingdom, the subject of six of their top seven stories. The features include, "Britain to Cover Up Royal Affairs" (not extramarital affairs, it transpires, but a tightening of Freedom of Information over financial affairs), "Britain Set for Big Loss Over Mongolia", and "Flu Jab 'Shambles' Puts Elderly at Risk".

My favourite, though, is "British Cheating MP To Be Imprisoned", as it makes me wonder: when will Press TV note that 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi will face trial on corruption charges?

1230 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A new letter from detained student activist Majid Tavakoli has been posted: "I Know More Difficult Days Are Ahead".

Tavakoli has been detained since 7 December 2009. On Wednesday, his family home was raided and his brother Ali was detained for interrogation for several hours (see 1035 GMT).

1215 GMT: The Espionage Non-Story. The suspect tale of the "American-spying-through-her-teeth" (see earlier entry) trundles on.

After various Iranian media and officials said and then denied that 55-year-old Hal Talayan had been arrested --- with spying technology in her mouth --- as she tried to enter Iran from Armenia, Iranian border police offer another story. The officials say Talayan was caught filming markets and guard posts.

The officials do not explain how Talayan was able to film, given that she supposedly lacked a visa to get into Iran. Nor do they verify if she took the footage by opening her mouth to use her spying gadgetry.

1035 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Peyke Iran reports that Nasour Naghipour, reporter and human rights activist, has been given a 7-year prison sentence.

Naghipour was arrested in Qazvin in March 2010 and spent 110 days in detention before being released on bail.

It is reported that the Court of Appeals has reduced the 5-year sentence of human rights activist Mohammad Ghaznavian to six months in prison.

Ghaznavian was arrested in early February 2010 and released on bail in April.

An English translation of an interview with the mother of Majid Tavakoli, the detained student activist, has been posted. She speaks of Wednesday's raid on the family home, in which her son Ali was detained for several hours for interrogation, and of Majid, whom she has not seen for 13 months:

A sick mother who is defenseless is left with nothing but counting the moments until she can once again see the face of her child. I ask the authorities to do everything in their power to enable this mother to see her son one more time while she is still alive. I am sick and in pain and though I endure it all, I am unable to endure being away from my Majid. What can I do if I am unable to tolerate my son's suffering? If anyone hears me, please do everything in your power to allow me to see my son's face one more time before it's too late.

1025 GMT: CyberPatrol. Minister of Communications Reza Taghipour has assured Iranians that most computer activity is appropriate and correct and promise,"We will eliminate the use of 'impure' Internet."

0825 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Ehsan Mehrabi has been sentenced to one year in prison.

Mehrabi was arrested on 7 February 2010 and spent three months in detention before release on bail.

Labour activist Khaled Hosseini has been arrested.

0815 GMT: Subsidy Cut Watch. Mehr reports that new power bills will be issued in two weeks, showing both old and new prices.

0810 GMT: A Bit More Posturing. Minister of Defense Vahidi (see 0720 GMT) also declared, "Our defense system is vigilant and is carrying out required reactions to deal with spy airplanes." 

He said that the US authorities have confirmed that two of their drones were shot down in te Persian Gulf. (They haven't.)

0720 GMT: A quiet start to Saturday, so the space is filled with manoevures in Iran's relations with the US and other countries, especially over the nuclear issue.

Both Iran and the European Union confirmed on Friday that talks on uranium enrichment between Tehran and the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia) would resume in less than two weeks in Istanbul.

There was some confusion over dates --- the EU said 20-21 January, while Fars News reported 21-22 January --- but more important were clues in the statements that an agenda had not been agreed. The translation is that the core issue of whether Iran can enrich uranium to 20% on its territory or whether it must allow most of its uranium to be enriched abroad --- the 2009 proposal was Russia and France, then Russia and Turkey --- is outstanding.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials will cover their diplomatic strategy by issuing defiant statements: the Government cannot afford any sign of weakness before its own people if it is considering a deal. So on Friday, Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi used the funeral of nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari, killed in November, to declare that Iran's enemies had chosen the “assassination of an Iranian scientist as a means to reach its goals". Vahidi said that "all necessary measures" had been taken to prevent this occurring again.