The Latest from Iran (4 December): When Your Dad is a Political Prisoner

See also Iran Embassy Video Special: Umbrella 1, Iranian Diplomat 0
The Latest from Iran (3 December): A Regime Feeling Remorse?

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2145 GMT: The Supreme Leader and the President. Looks like I was too eager to find meaning (see 0820 GMT) in President Ahmadinejad's absence from Saturday's ceremony, led by the Supreme Leader, for Imam Hussein. Ahmadinejad was present tonight, as were a number of his inner circle and Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the Revolutionary Guards.

2140 GMT: Reformist Watch. Ayatollah Mousavi Khoeini, a senior reformist figure, has declared that the regime has missed the opportunity to ensure reformist participation in March's Parliamentary vote.

Mousavi Khoeini, the Secretary-General of the Association of Combatant Clerics, said on the Ahang-e Rah website, “It is clear that the reformists will not take part in the elections....The people have shown that they are more alert and aware than us and they know full well how to deal with such an election.”

2130 GMT: Shutting Down the Firefighters. Mehr reports that the power of the Babolsar fire station has been cut off because the municipality did not pay its bills.

2120 GMT: Who's Next for an Occuation? Raja News suggests that Iran's Foreign Ministry should be occupied because of its passivity towards the hostile actions of Britain and other Western countries.

2115 GMT: Economy Watch. Asr-e Iran reports that the Khodro automobile company at Tabriz will shut down, with the loss of more than 5000 jobs.

And Mehr says there are no buyers for shares in the South Pars oil and gas field, with 80% of the issue for new investment unsold after six working days --- people are reportedly putting their money in gold coins instead.

2110 GMT: Good Praise Watch. Even in the eulogies for the Islamic Republic, there is politics....

Earlier we reported that the lawyer for the President's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai was warning that a warrant would be issued for "praiser" Mansur Arzi if he did not appear in court to face the charge of insulting Rahim-Mashai (see 1520 GMT).

Now it transpires that Arzi was the eulogist at yesterday's ceremony at Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum, attended by the Supreme Leader, for Imam Hussein.

Anyone care to offer the obvious interpretation?

2010 GMT: Drone Watch. Back from a weekend break to find the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has said it lost control of a drone aircraft late last week on the Afghan-Iranian border: "The UAV to which the Iranians are referring may be a US unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week. The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status."

Earlier today, a senior Iranian military official said Tehran had seized a US drone. Fars added that Iran's cyber-warriors had taken control of the drone, bringing it down.

1650 GMT: The Embassy Attacks. Both Radio Free Europe and AFP are noting Ayatollah Khatami's sudden switch from endorsement to criticism of Tuesday's assault on the British Embassy (see 0840 GMT), "I am against attacking embassies and occupying them. Attacking an embassy and occupying it is like invading a country and is illegal."

AFP goes farther, paralleling our analysis (see Saturday's LiveBlog), "Iran Regime Distances Itself from UK Embassy Attack."

1520 GMT: Bad Praise Watch. Looks like Iran's "praisers", who offer public eulogies for the Islamic Republic, may be in a bit of trouble...

Earlier today (see 1058 GMT) we reported that eulogist Said Haddadian has warned of an attempt to divert attention from the $2.6 billion bank fraud with the furour over the attack on the British Embassy. Now a lawyer for the President's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has said that if Haddadian and Mansur Arzi do not appear in court, a warrant will be issued for them.

Earlier this year, Arzi says members of the "deviant current" around President Ahmadinejad should be killed. Both he and Haddadian, also accused of insulting Rahim-Mashai, have failed to answer several summons from the court.

Commander Mohammad Ali Asoodi, the cultural deputy to the Supreme Leader's representative in the Revolutionary Guards, has more ominous news, claiming the CIA has spent heavily to spread deviant songs among praisers for this month's Ashura ceremonies.

1515 GMT: We're Winning. The Supreme Leader's advisor and former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati has said that, although the West is trying to claim the uprisings of the Arab Spring as their "velvet revolutions", the emerging movements are Islamic rather than pro-Western.

1505 GMT: The Embassy Attacks. Iran Police Chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam has said that about 12 occupiers of the British Embassy on Tuesday have been referred to the judiciary for possible prosecution.

1455 GMT: Claim of the Day. A "senior military official" has said that Iran's forces shot down a US RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaissance drone aircraft in the east of the country, after it crossed the border with Afghanistan.

The official claimed that the US reconnaissance drone has been seized with minimum damage.

Fars said the drone had been brought down by a virtual attack from Iran's cyber-warfare unit, which seized control of the aircraft.

This is at least the fourth time this year that Iranian authorities have claimed the downing of a drone. In July, an MP asserted, "An unmanned U.S. spy plane flying over the holy city of Qom near the uranium enrichment Fordoo site was shot down by the Revolutionary Guards' air defense units."

1105 GMT: Foreign Affairs (British Front). The Government has halted its financial support of students based at British universities.

1058 GMT: Priorities. Official eulogist Said Haddadian has said that his colleagues should not forget the $2.6 billion bank fraud amidst the fuss over the raid on the British Embassy, as people are concerned about the corruption.

1055 GMT: Press Watch. The publication of the cultural and social weekly Sokhan Tazeh has been banned.

1045 GMT: Prison Watch. Abbas Palizdar has returned to prison, as his lawyer tries to get another medical report to keep him out of detention.

Palizdar claimed to be secretary of a committee investigating government corruption cases and their handling by the Iranian judiciary. He was arrested in June 2008 and convicted a year later of corruption, spreading of falsehoods, disclosure of government secrets, and endangerment of national security.

1025 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Khabar Online, linked to Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, has asked: why does President Ahmadinejad's office censor news about him? It cites the office's failure to mention the President's visits to Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi in hospital and to 2009 Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei to offer condolences over his son's death.

Etedaal goes farther, asking if the team of Ahmadinejad's controversial aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai is censoring the news to separate the President from principlists.

1015 GMT: (Dis)Unity Watch. Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, the head of the Assembly of Experts and chair of the "7+8" Committee seeking conservative/principlist unity, has jabbed at the Islamic Constancy Front of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi and MP Ruhollah Hosseinian: insisting on the removal of representatives of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf from the committee is not right.

1002 GMT: If You Mobilise, He Will Come. The Supreme Leader's representative Ali Saeedi has said many of the 1200 signs for the appearance of the Hidden Imam have been realised. The remaining condition is the mobilisation of 100 million Basiji in the Middle East and North Africa.

So forward with social movements in Europe and US like Occupy Wall Street, Saeedi said --- these prove international preparedness for the Imam's return.

1000 GMT: The Embassy Attacks. The Islamic Organisation of Students of Shahed Univ, writing to ambassadors of countries who closed their embassies, have expressed support for Tuesday's attack on the British compound.

0840 GMT: Flip-Flip of the Day. On Friday, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, leading prayers in Tehran, said Britain "deserved a slap" for its anti-Iranian behaviour.

On Saturday, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said he is firmly against raids and occupation of embassies.

0820 GMT: For What's It Worth. President Ahmadinejad and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani were absent from Saturday's memorial service for Imam Hossein at Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum. Instead, the Supreme Leader was joined by Ali and Sadegh Larijani, 2009 Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, Guardian Council head Ayatollah Jannati, and Ayatollah Khamenei's elder brother Mohammad, the head of the Sadra Islamic Philosophy Institute .

0810 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Behrooz Moradi, the head of the organisation providing support payments to cover the effects of subsidy cuts, says the money will be available on Monday morning.

Concerns were raised yesterday when authorities did not meet the monthly deadline for the payments.

Khabar Online is not so sure, asking if the Government will stop the payments because of the 8 trillion Toman (about $5.8 billion) deficit between support payments and the revenues from the subsidy cuts.

0805 GMT: Rumour of the Day. Claims circulated last week that President Ahmadinejad has been ill on his latest provincial tour --- Mashregh News says Ahmadinejad was not sick but had to have restorative injections when his energy flagged.

0755 GMT: Rejecting the West? An interesting claim from former Iranian diplomat Abolfazl Eslami --- he says senior official Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Supreme Leader's advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, and MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi evaluated the European Union's efforts in 2005 and 2009 at nuclear talks as a ploy to topple the Islamic Republic.

Eslami resigned as the counsellor of the Iranian Embassy in Japan in early 2010.

0715 GMT: We begin this morning with a photograph of the children of Mohammad Ali Taher, Babak Dashab, and Amir Khosrow Dalirsani, waiting for their fathers in the visitors' room of Evin Prison. 

All three men are serving lengthy sentences for protest and political activities. Dashab has a five-year term, imposed after he was filmed throwing a piece of wood into a fire set by people to reduce the effects of tear gas, while Dalirsani, a nationalist-religious activist and a member of the Committee Against Arbitrary Arrests, is detained for four years.