The Latest from Iran (6 May): "The Government Has Lifted Up Its Hands to Pray"

1955 GMT: Media Watch. The Guardian of London has picked up on the story with which we began today (see 0445 GMT), "Iran's Supreme Leader tells Ahmadinejad: Accept Minister [of Intelligence] or Quit", quoting the President's ally, Morteza Agha-Tehrani.

And Robert Tait of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has a thorough overview of the crisis --- with an appearance by EA --- "Ahmadinejad Floored By Bugs, Spirits, And Djinns":

Whenever cornered, Mahmud Ahmadinejad always seems to come out swinging. But Iran's notoriously abrasive president appears in danger of suffering a knockout blow over his political attachment to Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, a man widely seen as a threat to the country's clerical-based political system.

1715 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Hojatoleslam Mehdi Taeb has sent a public message to the President, "You need to repent to God for your 11-day absence in protest over the Supreme Leader's order" rescinding the Minister of Intelligence's forced resignation.

1650 GMT: Now It's Serious --- They're Talking About Mahmoud's Wife. Turns out that Tehran Friday Prayers was a bit spicier than we thought (see 1155 GMT)....

Having taken a shot at President Ahmadinejad on Thursday, warning that he would be "downtrodden and humbled" if he defied the Supreme Leader, Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi, took the issue of Ayatollah Khamenei's authority all the way into the Ahmadinejad household: "One of the Cabinet Ministers told me, 'We believe that if his Excellency (Supreme Leader) decrees the divorce of the President's wife, the President's wife will become haram (religiously forbidden) for him and the President will no longer be able to touch her.'"

Seddiqi, offering the context that he had met "some of the Cabinet ministers", continued, "We consider the Velayat-e Faqih (clerical supremacy) above and beyond the Constitution....Shiism has always been this way. Shiites have always been and will always be led by the flag of Velayat-e Faqih."

1155 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Hojetoleslam Kazem Seddiqi, who reportedly warned the President that he would be "downtrodden and humbled" if he opposed the Supreme Leader (see 0940 GMT), stuck with safer material this morning.

Seddiqi echoed Ayatollah Khamenei's message this week of an "Islamic Awakening" and European peoples rising up to challenge their leaders. He also made the standard tour from Libya to Yemen to Bahrain, denouncing the West all along the way (but he somehow forgot to make a stop in Syria).

1010 GMT: Economy Watch. The conservative site Aftab piles on the pressure by quoting a reformist MP, Jamshid Ansari, that the economy is facing a serious recession but the Government does not want to admit it.

0955 GMT: Picture of the Day. Photographed at ceremonies for the Prophet Mohammed's daughter Fatimeh --- the Supreme Leader, the late Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson Hassan, and Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi:

0940 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Iranian media are reporting a public statement by Tehran Friday Prayer leader Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi warning the President, "If you stand against the Supreme Leader, you will be downtrodden and humbled."

The conservative site Aftab carries a declaration from another Friday Prayer leader, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, "If it was not for the Supreme Leader's support, Ahmadinejad would not have received as many votes."

0925 GMT: Media (Hysteria) Watch. And now an example of how social media can get in the way of the news....

A woman named Aimee Kligman posts an item on a little-known website (at least with respects to website, Examiner.com, which allows people claiming expertise to post "news".

Kligman declares, "Breaking: Ahmadinejad to Resign".

Her evidence? "A few minutes ago on May 5, 2011, Arab TV announced that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini requested Iran's President Ahmadinejad to step down from his post." She does not name the TV station or even indicate if she saw the broadcast or received word of it.

Kligman posts a couple of links on the wider political crisis, but offers no other support for her dramatic claim. Chances are that she got a garbled account of the probable story, which is that the Supreme Leader --- according to an Ahmadinejad ally (see 0445 GMT) --- has told the President to accept the Minister of Intelligence or resign.

No matter. Kligman's mis-story is now circulating on social media as the Breaking News that she claims.

0845 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Rah-e-Sabz follows up on the claim (see 0445 GMT) that the Supreme Leader has given the President an ultimatum: accept the Minister of Intelligence or resign.

0830 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Grand Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani has declared that there is "no right above freedom" and no one can restrict it.

0715 GMT: Ahmadinejad on Libya (All a Western Plot Edition). The President has explained the latest developments in Libya to an academic audience: "They [the West] have frozen [the regime's] funds under the pretext of the war and right now they are selling their stockpiled armaments, and withdrawing the money for the arms from the account of those killed [in the war].”

Ahmadinejad also took time to say that Marxism, Humanism and Liberalism had all failed and a new movement inspired by Iran would prevail in the world. 

0700 GMT: Syria Watch (When Protest is Bad). The Iranian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement warning the Syrian people against US and Israeli plots to undermine the country's national solidarity and sovereignty.

The statement declared, "The Syrian leadership and nation's reform effort in the framework of the county's national interests is an important responsibility. By practicing moderation in both voicing and addressing demands, a grand victory for Syria can be achieved."

The statement implied the recent uprising was the outcome of the Western plots, trying to overturn Syria's 60-year opposition to the Israeli oppression of Lebanese and Palestinians.

0445 GMT: There is no respite in the political conflict in Iran. 

Deutsche Welle offers a survey of the latest statements from all sides. It cites remarks from the President's allies: the head of IRNA, Ali Akbar Javanfekr writes that the "government is on track to achieve its accelerated oberjectives", even though the "totalitarian current is trying to increase their destructive attacks", and Ahmadinejad aide Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi adds, "God willing, things will go well".

But it is the "joke" of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani that takes the headline: "The Government has lifted up its hands to pray." Larijani's line comes as 90 MPs, almost 1/3 of the Parliament, have reportedly signed a petition for the questioning of Ahmaidnejad.

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi is in no joking mood. His challenge to the President is direct, even if Ahmadinejad is not named: "If you believe in Velayat-e Faqih (clerical supremacy, including the Supreme Leader), then why don't you comply?" 

An Ahmadinejad ally, Morteza  Agha-Tehrani, goes even farther: Ayatollah Khamenei has given the President a deadline to either accept Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi or resign.

Ahmadinejad's attempt almost three weeks ago to dismiss Moslehi, blocked by the Supreme Leader, sparked the current crisis. 

And The Guardian of London picks up on one of the signals --- reported in EA earlier this week --- that all is not well, offering a dramatic (and a little exaggerated) flourish in the headine: "Ahmadinejad Allies Charged with Sorcery".