The Latest from Iran (13 December): Shoes Are Thrown at the President

2140 GMT: Parliament Watch. Speaking at Tehran University today, MP Ali Motahari, a vocal critic of the Ahmadinejad administration, has criticised the crackdown on students after the 2009 Presidential election. Considering why the repression occurred and why it continues, he said that there is an atmosphere of "fear and terror" in the Iranian Parliament because of the actions of some legislators.

2135 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The executive board of Nokia Siemens Networks has said that it will not take on any new business in Iran and will gradually reduce its existing commitments from 1 January 2012.

The Finnish company said in a letter to its staff in Iran that the decision was taken because US-led sanctions "make it almost impossible for Nokia Siemens Networks to do business with Iranian customers".

Nokia Siemens has been criticised for providing telecommunications equipment allowing the Iranian regime to maintain surveillance of protesters after the 2009 Presidential election.

2100 GMT: Economy Watch. Former Minister of Labor Hossein Kamali has claimed that more than 50% of Iran's workers now live below the poverty line.

2050 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has used a speech to criticise the limits on Iran's political parties.

Two reformist parties, the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Iran Participation Front, were suspended by the Iranian authorities and courts last year. Reformist figures such as former President Mohammad Khatami have set freedom of political parties as one of their conditions for participation in next March's Parliamentary elections.

1940 GMT: We're Winning Alert. Ali Akbar Velayati, former Foreign Minister and senior advisor to the Supreme Leader has outlined the effect of the Iran-led "Islamic Awakening": "The Muslim world will turn into a powerful bloc in the future....The golden age of the US has come to an end; they cannot even be accountable for what has happened in their country.".

Velayati, citing the Occupy movement in the US, delcared, “Under the existing circumstances, not only have the Western countries faced problems in economic aspects, but also their officials are not accountable to their own people regarding the political areas....The Islamic countries no longer tolerate any colonialism and dictatorship of the West; moreover, the Western countries are not as strong as they were before in wanting to bully the Middle Eastern countries."

The head of the Basij militia, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, is even quicker to the point: "The world will soon witness the rising of the oppressed in the US and Europe."

1744 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The US has added the head of Iran's armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, and a Deputy Commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Abdollah Araqi, on its sanctions list.

In 2009 Araqi commanded an elite Tehran division of the Revolutionary Guards that helped put down protests.

1743 GMT: Budget Watch. This week, as the Government missed its deadline to submit the budget for 2011/12, the Supreme Audit Court brings news on the 2009/2010 budget ---- "64% of the provisions were not met in full".

1735 GMT: Cops, Tehran-Style. An Iranian State TV documentary has shown the elite Yegan-e-vizheh, an anti-terrorism force which also deals with hostage situations and urban violence, for the first time.

The unit helped suppress protests after the 2009 Presidential election, and its television appearance has raised speculation that the programme was aired to deter further demonstrations.

1725 GMT: Finders Keepers. Back from an academic break to find Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi offering a sharp rebuff to President Obama's request for the return of the downed US RQ-170 drone: "It is now the property of the Islamic Republic."

1255 GMT: Espionage Watch. Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabdi has said that 15 people have been indicted on charges of spying for the US and Israel.

Doulatabadi gave no further details.

1245 GMT: An Interesting Denial. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has made clear that the visit of Saeed Jalili, the secretary of the National Security Council, to Russia has nothing to do with the US drone that crashed in Iran on 29 November.

0905 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Saudi Front). Given all the chatter about hostility between Tehran and Riyadh, it is of interest that the new Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz met Iranian Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi on Monday.

No details were given other than the reports from both Saudi and Iranian media of discussion of “questions of common interest”.

0625 GMT: Parliament v. President. In a lengthy editorial today, Shafaf reviews the often-tense relationship between legislators and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and decides that both sides need to be chided, "Both the Government and Parliament are guilty of lawlessness."

0610 GMT: Corruption --- What Corruption? There is another interesting contrast in Iranian media this morning. State news agency IRNA's focus is on the statement by the Guardian Council's Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei that, while the Constitution can be reviewed, it does not need to be reformed. There is not a word about the $2.6 billion bank fraud or other issues of corruption.

Fars, however, talks about the controversy surrounding not only the fraud but the companies bought with the embezzled money, highlighting the case of Khuzestan Steel. The website also interviews a lawyer about the need for effective prosecution and punishment of corruption. Alef is even blunter: "Lessons from the 3000 billion Toman ($2.6 billion) bank fraud: Prevent crime by incompetent managers."

0550 GMT: Monday's news from Iran was enlivened by the report that an unemployed textile worker had thrown his shoes at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the President's trip to northern Iran to open a new housing complex and to honour a former Minister of Interior. The 45-year-old man interrupted the President's speech to complain about his 17 months without work; the shoes missed, and he was quickly set upon by three of Ahmadinejad's security detail.

You will not find the story in State news agency IRNA, however, or in the Islamic Republic's English-language outlet Press TV. Fars did have an account, but it was soon deleted. Even Khabar Online, linked to Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, stays away.

However, at the conservative Shafaf, which first broke the story, the shoe-throwing account is still the website's most-viewed article. Alef, linked to Government critic MP Ahmad Tavakoli, also posts a summary ---- interestingly, the comments are vocal in their declaration that the response should not have been to beat the shoe-thrower but to address the problem of unemployment and the worsening economic situation.

Back on IRNA and Fars, though, you will not get that commentary. Indeed, the further significance lies in the absence not only of the shoe-throwing but of the President's entire trip. Usually IRNA posts a photo essay of Ahmadinejad's provincial tours. In this case, there is not a single word, let alone picture, on the day after.