The Latest from Iran (22 May): An "Advance" in the House Arrests

Mehdi and Fatemeh Karroubi2115 GMT: The House Arrests. A further note on the statement from 130 clerics calling for the release of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi and Fatemeh Karroubi from house arrest (see 1810 GMT)....

Most of the signatories are followers of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, the former heir-apparent to Ayatollah Khomeini who was ostracised and then put under house arrest by the regime from the late 1980s. Ahmad Montazeri, the Grand Ayatollah's son and one of the signatores, called upon Iranian leaders to implement reforms "before it is too late".

2045 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Baha'i Edition). Security forces have shut down a science and research centre operated by the Bahai’i Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) at Iran’s Open University and arrested at least 12 staff and faculty members.

The Committee of Human Rights Reporters Committee writes that security forces searched the homes of several staff. Confirmed arrests include: Shaheen Negari, Ramin Zibai, Kamran Mortezai, Favad Moghaddam, Vahid Mokhtari, Mahmood Badavam, Afrooz Farmanbordari, and Soheil Ghanbari.

The BIHE was founded by Iranian Baha’is in 1987 and now offers online access to higher education for Bah'is who are denied university access on account of their faith.

Last March, Iranian Baha’is were arrested in Kerman and Tehran, accused of “promoting and spreading their programs under the guise of cultural and educational programs in a number of childcare facilities".

1945 GMT: Economy Watch. Peyke Iran reports that prices for milk products have risen by 30% to 70%. The website adds that families are further concerned by the end of subsidy cuts for milk in late June.

1940 GMT: Ahmadinejad Snubbed? The head of the Imam Khomeini Foundation has announced that President Ahmadinejad will not be speaking at the 4 June ceremonies for the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death.

Mohammad Ali Ansari said that Ahmadinejad did not confirm his attendance by the deadline set by the Foundation.

The event is held annually at Khomeini's mausoleum. Last year it caused a political furour when Khomeini's grandson, Hassan, was heckled by Ahmadinejad supporters during his speech, forcing him to abandon it.

1925 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Mohammad Nasser Saghaei-Biriya, the President's former religious affairs advisor, has warned that the aim of the "deviant current" around Ahmadinejad is to challenge the Supreme Leader.

Saghaei-Biriya is close to Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who has been seen as the spiritual mentor of Ahmadinejad but has been critical of the President and his advisors in the current political conflict.

1915 GMT: Where's Ali? No political crisis for the Supreme Leader today, as he addressed an audience of prominent Iranian women: "The real reason behind the opposition of the west to hijab is that hijab challenges and thwarts the fundamental policy of the west regarding women - namely, exploiting women and promoting moral corruption among them."

1810 GMT: The House Arrests. In Qom, 130 clerics have signed a statement calling for the release of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi and Fatemeh Karroubi from house arrest.

The four have now been held for more than three months.

1800 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Vice President Fatemeh Bodaghi has insisted that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains caretaker Minister of Oil, despite a ruling by the Guardian Council that the move had no legal standing: "On this issue the government has already announced its decision, and it has been settled and the President is the caretaker of the ministry."

1750 GMT: Reformist Watch. More on the statement of former President Mohammad Khatami (see 1215 GMT) --- he declared that, if reformists were absent in the Iranian system, significant sections of society would become disheartened about the regime.

1635 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Men. Rah-e Sabz reports Abbas Amirifar, the prayer leader in President Ahmadinejad's office and an ally of Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has unsuccessfully attempted suicide in prison.

Amirifar tried to suffocate himself with a plastic bag but was saved by prison guards.

Amirifar was arrested earlier this month in connection with the dissemination of the controversial film claiming the imminent return of the Hidden Imam.

1215 GMT: Reformist Watch. Meeting young reformists, former President Mohammad Khatami has declared that the elimination of unjust arrest and imprisonment and the provision of basic freedoms are pre-conditions for free elections.

Earlier this year Khatami had set these conditions for participation in the 2012 Parliamentary elections. Recently, however, this was overtaken by his call for "reconciliation" between the Government and the people, for which he was heavily criticised by opposition activists.

1210 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. A question --- in light of the previous entry, will there now be a move to connect those arrested as "spies for the US" with President Ahmadinejad's inner circle?

1200 GMT: Espionage Watch. Fars claims, from an "informed source", that "several heads of government agencies" are among 30 people arrested as CIA agents this weekend.

The website, which has been very critical of the Ahmadinejad Government in recent weeks, claims that one of the suspect has been active for 25 years in the US espionage ring, motivated by an attempt to get a visa to live abroad during his retirement.

Fars continued, from the source, that the government officials had put together "comprehensive information" about explosions and sabotage but were detained before they could act. The website also alleged that another head of an agency had passed the US information about how Iran was circumventing sanctions.

1140 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Mardomak offers an overview of the latest criticism of the Government's subsidy cuts (see 0920 GMT), with the head of Supreme Audit Court reporting to Parliament on the Government's "abuse" of the plan and MP Ahmad Tavakoli's letter setting out nine violations of the law.

0940 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Following the four-year suspension of Vice President Hamid Baghaei, formerly the head of Iran's Cultural and Heritage Organization, over "numerous violations", a plan is circulating in Parliament to take the organization out of the office of the President.

The proposal to transfer the ICHO to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has been put sponsored by 83 of the 290 MPs.

Controversial Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai is also a former head of the ICHO.

0920 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Parliament has received a report describing Government violations in the implementation of subsidy cuts. One claim is that support payments, covering the rising prices from the cuts, were not paid from the proper source but taken from state-controlled banks and budgets of Government offices.

0905 GMT: The Revolutionary Guards Warn Ahmadinejad. A triple threat to the President from his military commanders on Saturday....

We had already reported on the concern of Commander Hossein Hamadani, supervising the defense of the greater Tehran area, that the "dead" Green Movement may revive with new tactics and comine with the "deviant current" around Ahmadinejad. He added that "23 regional Basij forces [around are getting ready to take preemptive actions in the coming months", observing that Ahmadinejad's supporters have been saying that "a huge event is going to take place over the next several months that will benefit the president".

Even more important, however, is the declaration of Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the former top commander of the Revolutionary Guard and now the Supreme Leader's senior military adviser: "Some of the perverted political groups [a reference to Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai and his allies] are connected with foreign intelligence services." Rahim Safavi continued, "Whoever plays political games with Velaayat-e Faghih will be rejected by the people."

The declaration follows rumours that Rahim Safavi was despatched by the Supreme Leader this week to meet with senior clerics in Qom.

Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' political directorate, also described Ahmadinejad's team as "perverted and highly dangerous." Writing on the website Yaa Lassaraat-e Hossein of the paramilitary group Ansar-e Hezbollah, Javani said, "Currently there is a corrupted, deceitful, and perverted group within the government that has created some concerns."

0900 GMT: Grounded. The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) of Switzerland has said Iran Air will not be allowed to refuel at the Geneva airport: "The weekly Tehran-Geneva flights have not been cancelled but Iran Air should get fuel from other countries such as Serbia."

The Geneva Fuelling Services Company, which is responsible for supplying fuel for Geneva airport, said that it has not dealt with Iran Air since late April.

FOCA said that the fuelling company was consulting with Switzerland's Foreign Affairs Ministry and State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) to find a "pragmatic solution" to improve the situation.

0845 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. The Los Angeles Times tucks away this important revelation in a lengthy summary of the recent political conflict....

Last month, as President Ahmadinejad went into an 11-day boycott of Government business after he was unable to take control of the Ministry of Intelligence, the Supreme Leader asked Mohsen Rezaei --- Secretary of the Expediency Council and 2009 Presidential candidate --- to take over and form a caretaker Cabinet.

An official close to Rezaei's inner circle said, "The main aim was to frighten Ahmadinejad and to get him back to his office."

And then there is this assertion, which should be taken with a grain of salt given that it comes from former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's office:

So riled were Ahmadinejad's rivals by his antics that a Revolutionary Guard commander threatened to pull the curtain on his disputed 2009 reelection, which furthered Iran's international isolation and polarized the nation.

"We brought you back to power," the commander supposedly told Ahmadinejad, according to a source in the camp of Rafsanjani, another rival of Ahmadinejad.

"Mr. Daneshjou is our witness," he supposedly added, referring to Kamran Daneshjoo, the former election official accused by reformists of rigging the votes to favor Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad was said to have replied, "Even if Dr. Velayati was in my place as candidate, you would have had to do the same thing to save the system from the pro-Americans [presumably a reference to 2009 candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi]."

Ali Akbar Velayati is a former foreign minister and a top advisor to Khamenei.

0530 GMT: Three months ago, the Iranian regime imposed strict house arrest on opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi and Fatemeh Karroubi.

It is a marker of the political and legal situation in Iran that an "advance" in the case consists of the Karroubis being "allowed out of house arrest to look for a new home where [they] will be put under house arrest again". The conservative Jahan website assured readers about the development, first revealed by Karroubi advisor Mojtaba Vahedi: "In the new house they would still be under the supervision of the security forces to not commit any act against national security."

The reason for the move had little to do with the welfare of the Karroubis? Instead, it was for the sake of the residents of their apartment complex in Tehran. After repeated requests by Mehdi Karroubi, Iranian officials finally accepted that shifting the Karroubis to a new location would allow their neightbours to return to their homes.