The Latest from Iran (2 April): Getting Outside

2000 GMT: Arrests on 13 Bedar. Rah-e-Sabz reports that people celebrating the outdoors festival of Sizdeh Bedar and using it to highlight environmental issues have been accosted and arrested by security forces in Tehran, Tabriz, and Urmia in northwest Iran.

1955 GMT: The Battle Within. One of the regime's stalwart clerics, Mashhad Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Alamolhoda, has launched a furious attack on President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

Alamolhoda said that Rahim-Mashai is not fitna (seditious), but he is monharef (deviate), playing with God and the notion of being a prophet.

The Ayatollah warned that if Rahim-Mashai claims he was misunderstood, "I have his even worse CD" with his views, notably the insult that "religious society isn't ideal society".

1630 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Last week we reported that Mehdi Hashemi, the son of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, was being investigated for irregularities in his Ph.D. application to Oxford University. Sources claimed that Hashemi did not have the academic or language capabilities for acceptance and that he also did not meet Oxford's requirement for residency within 12 miles of the university.

Professor Homayoun Katouzian, a member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies and the Iran Heritage Research Fellow at St. Antony's College at Oxford has now said that the claims are without foundation. He adds that his statements in The Guardian of London, which broke the story, were taken out of context.

1420 GMT: Noticing Damascus. An EA correspondent discovered an Iranian site (or at least one with an .ir domain), Ammariyon, which provides a full account of the protests against the Assad regime in Syria.

The website also uses its news about the New Year festivities. to throw a punch at President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai. Referring to the planned but then cancelled ceremony at Persepolis, the seat of ancient Persia, it comments, "They spent $3 million for a festival for the 'Iranian school' which ended up in dust."

1150 GMT: Mousavi and The Funeral. The funeral services for opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi's father, to be held in Nour Mosque in Tehran on Sunday, have been cancelled because of the extensive security presence.

The funeral procession for Mir Esmail Mousavi was disrupted on Thursday by security forces, who arrested a number of mourners. Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is under strict house arrest or detention, was allowed to see the body of his father for a few minutes, but only under heavy guard by security.

1145 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Former Minister of Welfare and university professor Dr Mohammad Hossein Sharifzadegan has been released on bail after 50 days in detention.

1140 GMT: Economy Watch. Qasem Nodehi Farahani, the head of Iran's Traders Council has predicted that the country will face a 15-20% increase in commodity prices this year.

1130 GMT: We're Watching You. Tehran Police Chief Hossein Sajadnia says the Islamic Republic launched a "mountain police force" for the New Year holidays.

An EA correspondent notes that this new "protection" by security forces may be because people can meet freely when hiking in the mountains.

0900 GMT: Economy Watch. Voice of America Persian features an analysis with claims that unemployment in Iran is more than 30%.

0555 GMT: International Front. Press TV breaks the Iran media's blackout on news of anti-regime protests in Syria by noting marches in "several cities" on Friday. And it ventures to write, "Syrian sources said that there were no clashes between anti- and pro-government forces after the Friday prayers, but witnesses said that several people were killed and several others injured."

Meanwhile, the war of words over Bahrain continues. Bahrain's official news agency highlights a Saudi Arabian condemnation of the "irresponsible" statements of the Iran Parliament's National Security Commission, which said that Saudi Arabia was "playing with fire" in the Gulf region after its troops intervened in Bahrain.

A Saudi official said the Iranian statement "neglected the fact that Tehran was interfering in the domestic affairs of its neighbours, violating their sovereignty and continuously attempting to sow dissension among their citizens in a way that contradicts with all the international laws and the principle of good neighbourly policies".

0545 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Daneshjoo News reports a 300% increase in the price of gas for households after the elimination of subsidies in Amol in northern Iran.

0530 GMT: Today is Sizdah Bedar (13 Bedar), the festival day when Iranians leave the home and enjoy the green of spring.

Beyond the celebrations, news continues of those who cannot go outside. Last night we reported that activist Fakhrosaadat Mohtashamipour, the wife of leading reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh, has been hospitalised --- reportedly in a coma --- after a hunger strike in prison. Mohtashamipour had started the strike because she was not allowed to see Tajzadeh, who has been detained for most of the period since the 2009 election.

Journalist/filmmaker Mohammad Reza Nourizad, imprisoned for his letters to the Supreme Leader, has written Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi to say that he too is on hunger strike.

Meanwhile, the regime appeared to stutter in its own publicity efforts, as it continues to put emphasis on events outside Iran. Friday was proclaimed as "National Revolution Day", the 32nd anniversary of the formal establishment of the Islamic Republic, but there was little sign of it in the media.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami gave a standard Friday Prayer denouncing the West over events in the Arab world and promoting the Supreme Leader's 2011 mantra of "economic jihad". This morning, IRNA is headlining an announcement from the Minister of Economic Affairs that "three zeros" will be taken off the national currency. That would officially put the Iranian toman --- which now trades at between 1050 and 1100 to the US dollar --- on par with the American currency.

And Press TV has exactly one story today on Iran, lifting IRNA's report on a Friday statement by the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini: “By utilizing capacities and potentials and creating cultural infrastructures, we can turn the Islamic Republic into a model for the region and the whole world.”