The Latest from Iran (28 May): Ahmadinejad on the Ropes

Supporters of the Supreme Leader protest against the President's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai "Death to Deviant Mashai"

1600 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Mothers of Mourning have written an open letter calling for an investigation of the "terrible conditions" inside Iran's prisons.

The letter follows a series of revelations about overcrowding and the poor state of the facilities.

1555 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar has told Khabar Online that President Ahmadinejad tried to defy the Supreme Leader in a meeting with the Parliamentary and judicial branches over the merger of ministries. Ahmadinejad rejected the Guardian Council's decision, but in the end, the Council and the Supreme Leader had the final word.

And then the big message: Bahonar asserts that the Supreme Leader wants the Government to finish its term, which runs to 2013, but it must distance itself from the "deviant current".

1420 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Men. The Culture and Heritage Organization's holdings in the national estate of Lavizan Park in north Tehran have been taken away from the company allegedly linked to Vice President Hamid Baghaei and Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

The news comes after heated criticism that a $400 million contract for a hotel on Kish Island was given to the Baghaei/Rahim-Mashai company.

1400 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch (British Genie Edition). The best moment in the denunciation by Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari of President Ahmadinejad's advisors (see 0605 GMT) --- the "deviant current" is connected with British "djinns".

Not sure what "djinns" are? See "Ahmadinejad Floored By Bugs, Spirits, And Djinns".

1340 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Grand Ayatollah Sane'i has pronounced that superstition and lies are increasing day-by -day in Iran, attacking Islam. Sane'i, a prominent critic of the Government, called for a halt to violence and the terrorizing and humiliation of people.

1335 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch (Clerical Edition). Ayatollah Morteza Moghtadaei, the Director of Seminaries, has said that news of a $760 million government allocation for seminaries is a lie.

Critics of the Government have claimed the aid is an attempt to "buy off clerics" in the current political conflict (see 1210 GMT).

1325 GMT: Announcements of the Day. Javan Online, linked to the Revolutionary Guards, proclaims, "Breathing without the Supreme Leader's consent is worthless".

The head of the Basij militia, Mohammad Reza Naghdi, offers a gentler reminder to the Government: "Velayat-e faqih (clerical supremacy) is against dictatorship and prevents the country from becoming one".

1320 GMT: Ahmadinejad v. the Supreme Leader. Digarban, citing Iranian media, claims the first clash between supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei and those of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the current political conflict.

The website says that Khamenei backers were protesting the appointment of a new Governor of Shiraz Province in southern Iran, closing the door of the Governor's Office against the Ahmadinejad crowd and shouting slogans such as "Death to [Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim] Mashai".

1310 GMT: Claim of the Day. Peyke Iran, citing Mehr, says President Ahmadinejad --- acting as caretaker Minister of Oil --- has ordered the hiring of almost 5000 people at the National Iranian Oil Company.

1210 GMT: And Now the Latest Attacks on Ahmadinejad's Men. The hard-line Mashregh News has framed the Government announcement of a $760 million aid package to seminaries as an attempt by the "deviant current" around President Ahmadinejad to buy off clerics.

And more on the assault by the Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, Ali Saeedi (see 0650 GMT)....

Saeedi declared, "The present government...is afflicted by a great scourge and has been infiltrated by corrupt elements."

Saeedi did not spare the President, criticising Ahmadinejad's recent 10-day boycott of Government duties after the Supreme Leader rebuffed his attempt to force the resignation of the Minister of Intelligence: "The people and the clerics expect Ahmadinejad to show his loyalty to the Supreme Leader, to accept body and soul his will, and not to sulk and stay at home.

Saeedi denounced reports that Ahmadinejad's office would manipulate the 2012 Parliamentary vote: "The officials charged with supervising the elections must ensure... that the government does not intervene in the electoral process." And he noted that "certain individuals" within theGovernment have used "satanic methods" such as "bewitchment and sorcery".

Saeedi concluded, "I hope that Ahmadinejad will return to the right path."

1135 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Men Counter-Attack. Ali Akbar Javankfekr, the head of State news agency IRNA, has written that "vigilance against the possibility of dictatorship...is very valuable but we should not forget that it does not appear only in the executive branch. It should be compared with the possibility of a parliamentary dictatorship.

First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi has denounced those who have made accusations of embezzlement and corruption against Government officials: "Some people with unfounded accusations against the government's plans are damaging the system. These people are dangerous people."

Rahimi has been accused of involvement in a multi-million dollar insurance fraud. A file on the case has been passed by Iran's judiciary to courts for possible prosecution.

1000 GMT: Oil Watch. The head of Parliament's Energy Committee, Hamidreza Katouzian, has said that President Ahmadinejad's designation of himself as caretaker Minister of Oil is "illegal" and "irreligious".

0950 GMT: The Revolutionary Guards Speak. General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, has told university students of the "cultural and political concerns" caused by "some people around the President", while the "effort and good management of the Supreme Leader" to deal with this.

Jafari said the "deviant current" was trying to make money through the private sector and then use this to influence future elections.

0935 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The family of Reza Safari, lecturer and member of the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, still have no news of him after he was arrested in a raid on his home more than a week ago.

Rah-e Sabz says it has reports that Safari is in solitary confinement in an Isfahan prison.

0930 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. And another finger-wagging at the President, this one from leading MP Gholam-Reza Mesbahi Moghaddam --- he warns, "The executive has no right to introduce candidates and financial resources" into the Parliamentary elections, scheduled for next year.

0650 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Hojatoleslam Ali Saeedi, the Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, has put out another warning to the President ""If the executive, judiciary, or legislature tries to break the structure of the system, pass through red lines, or violate principles, the Leader must deal with it."

0605 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the hard-line Kayhan newspaper, has told an audience in Kerman Province in central Iran that the "Ahmadinejad team" has failed in its quest to manipulate the 2012 Parliamentary elections.

Shariatmadari claimed that the President's advisors were scheming for 150 seats --- more than half of the 290-member Majlis --- to pave the way for a victory by Ahmadinejad's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, in the 2013 Presidential campaign.

Shariatmadari added that the advisors were counting on people to come on the streets to support the President but "did not count" on the stand taken by the Supreme Leader.

0550 GMT: The Syria Front. The Obama Administration has launched a new campaign claiming Tehran's intervention in the Syrian conflict, feeding information to The Washington Post:

U.S. officials say Iran is dispatching increasing numbers of trainers and advisers — including members of its elite Quds Force — into Syria to help crush anti-government demonstrations that are threatening to topple Iran’s most important ally in the region.

The influx of Iranian manpower is adding to a steady stream of aid from Tehran that includes not only weapons and riot gear but also sophisticated surveillance equipment that is helping Syrian authorities track down opponents through their Facebook and Twitter accounts, the sources said. Iranian-assisted computer surveillance is believed to have led to the arrests of hundreds of Syrians seized from their homes in recent weeks....

In the account provided by the diplomat [from an allied nation] and the U.S. officials, the Iranian military trainers were being brought to Damascus to instruct Syrians in techniques Iran used against the nation’s “Green Movement’’ in 2009....Officers from Iran’s notorious Quds Force have played a key role in Syria’s crackdown since at least mid-April, said the U.S. and allied officials. They said U.S. sanctions imposed against the Quds Force in April were implicitly intended as a warning to Iran to halt the practice.

0535 GMT: It may have been the Iranian weekend, but the battering of President Ahmadinejad and his advisors did not stop on Friday.

The Tehran Friday Prayer, led by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, declared that the "deviant current" --- the standard reference to Ahmadinejad's men --- were united by their desire to remove religion and velayat-e faqih (clerical supremacy) from Iranian life. This was only the mildest of the criticism, however.

Iranian media, including Fars, put out documents to support the allegations that Vice President Hamid Baghaei and Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai had personally profited from the $400 million contract for a hotel on Kish Island. The charge that Ahmadinejad's 2009 Presidential campaign had doled out $720 million to win votes resonated, with promises of a Parliamentary enquiry. There was no resolution over Ahmadinejad's declaration --- challenged by Parliament and the Guardian Council --- that he is the caretaker Minister of Oil.

But perhaps the clearest signal of an embattled President came from one of his political opponents. An advisor to Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf publicly declared that his boss was ready to take over as President if called upon, cancelling a foreign trip because of the possibility.