The Latest from Iran (1 December): A Spot of Bother

Nikahang Kowsar portrays the Supreme Leader's approach to international affairs

See also Iran Analysis: The Embassy Attack --- A Serious Mis-Calculation by the Regime
Iran Feature: So Who Were the "Students" in the Embassy Attack?
Iran Special Analysis: More Than a Game --- 6 Points About the Attack on the British Embassy
The Latest from Iran (30 November): After the Attack on the British Embassy

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2050 GMT: The Embassy Tit-for-Tat. Many thanks to Josh Shahryar for running the LiveBlog today.

The "Occupiers of the Sedition Nest of Old Fox", formed in the aftermath of Tuesday's attack on the British Embassy, have announced they will be at the airport on Friday to welcome the Iranian diplomats expelled from the UK.

In another attempt at pressure on remaining diplomats of the "West", Tehran Provincial Governor Morteza Tamaddon said their visit to the British Embassy compound at Qolhak Garden is "suspicious" and he has reported it to the Foreign Ministry.

Iranian authorities have banned foreign media from covering any rallies in front of British diplomatic missions.

Meanwhile, Norway has reopened its embassy after a 24-hour closure for "security concerns".

1910 GMT: On the occasion of World AIDS Day, the Iranian government has released some interesting statistics on the epidemic's impact: 

Total Sufferers of HIV: 23,125

Total Sufferers of AIDS: 3,054

Gender Balance: 91.5% men, 8.5% women

Total Deaths as of 2011: 5,311 

Transmission: 69.8% through infected drug injections, 10% through sex, 1.1% through blood transfusions, 0.8% from mother to child, 18.3% unknown. 

1825 GMT: Asadollah Badamchian, one of the main leaders of the hardline United Front, told Mehr News today that the front was making efforts towards establishing offices in all the provinces. According to Badamchian, the offices had not been fully established, but by the end of the Persian calendar year, they would be operational and working otwards achieving the goals of the front for the upcoming elections. 

1820 GMT: Mehr News reported earlier that "students" were again planning on a demonstration in Baghe Qolhak before the secondary building of the UK Embassy. So far, there's no news of the protest.

1815 GMT: Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, in a press conference, said the forthcoming Parliament elections were a place where political battles should not be waged or insults be exchanged. He added that Iran was under increased scrutiny by the international community and that political foes should ignore smaller issues among them and stand together to defend the country against outside pressures.  

1740 GMT: Iran's annual budget is again facing a deficit. Rahmani-Fazli, the head of the Audit Court, the agency responsible for monitoring government spending, announced today that the budget deficit will amount to almost $12 billion. According to Rahmani, the gap will be filled from oil revenue.

Reasons cited for the budget deficit include: low tax and customs income and the stagnation in privatization of government companies because of sanctions. 

1733 GMT: The internal splintering of Iran's hardliners continues. In the latest sign, Mohammad Nabi Habibi, the secretary general of the Motalefeh Party, announced today that it was possible the front may run on a separate list in the upcoming Parliamentary elections and not on the list of the Islamic Constancy Front trying to unite conservatives and principlists.

1645 GMT: As we reported earlier, the European Union has imposed new sanctions by adding 180 Iranian individuals and companies, linked to the regime, to its blacklist. However, reports suggest that agreement among all EU nations on broader measures against Iran is difficult to attain at this point.

1610 GMT: The Hamburger Abdenblatt reports that German Federal Prosecutor General has launched an investigation into whether Iran plans to attack US military bases inside Germany in case it is attacked by the US. The Federal Prosecutor General Harald Range said that there is no immediate threat.  

1600 GMT: Reuters reports: 

South African petrochemicals group Sasol said on Wednesday it had entered talks to potentially divest from its operations in Iran, a move already flagged in October.

Sasol had said in a filing to the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission last month that there was a possible risk that sanctions may be imposed on the company by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations as a result of its investments in Iran.

1550 GMT: More on Ayatollah Dastgheib's open letter to the Guardian Council, calling the Council's noncompliance with its responsibilities the root of the country's crises. Green Voice of Freedom reports:

In his most recent letter, the Ayatollah also criticised the Guardian Council for preventing free and fair elections as well as its role in facilitating widespread rigging in the country’s 2009 presidential election.

“The Guardian Council prevented representatives [of candidates] from being present at polling stations and during the vote count,” the cleric noted. “But it disregarded irregularities such as a lack of enough ballots at the stations, while people were still waiting in long queues and some still voting; many of the ballot boxes were not taken to their original destination.”

“Yes, impulsive officials with no regard for the law, with the aid of the Revolutionary Guards, dared to carry out such unjust and impious acts and to announce the election results with no regard for legal process.”

Dastgheib is a prominent cleric, a supporter of the opposition Green Movement and a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts. 

1535 GMT: Reuters' Twitter account reports that Italy has recalled its ambassador from Iran over the crisis that started with Basiji students attacking the UK' Embassy in Tehran. This follows today's visit to the ravaged embassy buildings by several diplomats from the European Union countries. 

1525 GMT: The Basij militia is now slowly creeping into businesses that cater to students. Recent reports suggest that the organisation has opened at least two new coffee shops in Tehran, including one that blatantly rips off the name of another famous coffee shop in the city --- "Teetr" --- without the owners' permission. The purpose of these coffee shops is supposedly to "pay the students' dues to Ashura", the holiest month in Shia Islam.

Pictures from one of the shops: 

1520 GMT: SNN reports that 7 Basiji students who were part of the attack on the UK Embassy two days ago have split from the main attacking organization "Students of Velayat Path" and formed a new group called "Occupiers of the Sedition Nest of Old Fox (Britain)". Among the seven students is former Minister of Culture Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi's son, Mahdi.

1510 GMT: Peyke Iran reports that the eleven Basiji "students" who were arrested during the attack on the UK Embassy have now been released by security forces. The 11 were arrested out of up to a thousand protesters who raided the main compound and the secondary building in Baghe Qolhak. 

1440 GMT: Iranian Zoroastrians protested today against construction work in the area of the Towers of Silence, a holy site for the many Zoroastrians in Yazd. They call the construction purposeful destruction of their holy sites.

Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the world and in the past, enjoyed the status of Iran's state religion.

Pictures from the protest:

1415 GMT: Fars is now openly calling the trip by European Union diplomats to the ravaged UK Embassy "psychological warfare". It further adds that the British had planned to take foreign correspondents with them to the embassy, but the diplomatic police prevented them from entering the premises. 

1355 GMT: Two days after the attack on the UK Embassy in Tehran, ambassadors from other countries finally tried to get to the scene and assess the damage. Here's what happened, according to Thomas Erdbrink, The Washington Post's Tehran bureau chief's tweets: 

All EU amb plus Australia, Canada, and several other countries gathered in front of GB residential complex

Iranian police officers not allowing ambassadors in for now

#Iran police prevented ambassadors from other countries to enter, as wel as journalists. EU ambs went inside to see damage.

#Iran, EU ambassadors after the British residential complex are scheduled to go to the embassy itself

EU dips [diplomats] on British residential compound describe broken furniture and other damages

Russian, Mexican, australian ambassadors managed to enter the compound

Reuters confirms what dips had already announced, 180 names added to #Iran sanction list

1336 GMT:> The Iranian Embassy in Britain website is confirming formally that all consular services have been interrupted as of today "until further notice".

The Iranians appear to have been wrong-footed by recent developments. Unlike the British in Tehran, they do not yet offer alternative diplomatic offices for visas and consular services.

Yesterday Britain gave Iran's diplomatic staff 48 hours to leave the country.

0800 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Ayatollah Dastgheib, a persistent critic of the regime, has written that the problems with Iran's elections lay in the violations of the Guardian Council, which supervises the process.

0750 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Khorasan claims that President Ahmadinejad has ordered the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution to support the cultural activities of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards.

0550 GMT: We begin this morning with a look at latest developments, notably Britain's response to Tuesday's attack on its Embassy in Tehran, with an analysis, "A Serious Mis-Calculation by the Regime".

Meanwhile....

Tough Talk of the Day

The regime may be beset by the fall-out from its move on the British Embassy, but that has not shut down the tough talk. To the contrary, Hossein Taeb, formerly head of the Basij militia and now a key official in the Revolutionary Guards, tries to focus attention on the "virus" of the Green Movement. He sees a three-fold threat: destabilisation of neighbouring countries, destabilisation of the Islamic Republic, and presentation of velayat-e faqih (clerical supremacy) as a failure.

And then there is this assurance of preparedness by Admiral Gholamreza Bigham, the Deputy Commander of Iran's navy said, amidst exercises, "Every night, we are thinking about a possible attack." 

Fraud Watch

While the regime tries to deal with the headline $2.6 billion bank fraud, Aftab publishes the lengthy sentences imposed on 10 defendants in other embezzlement cases.