The Latest from Iran (16 July): "They Will Opt for Turmoil"

1830 GMT: Energy Watch. Deutsche Welle summarises a series of recent statements by Deputy Minister of Energy Mohammad Behzad, including that the Government owes $5 billion to the Ministry and that the country is that less than 2,000 megawatts from a general blackout.

Minister of Energy Majid Namjoo has been summoned to Parliament next Tuesday to answer questions.

1655 GMT: Genie Watch. Hojatoleslam Hassan Ramezani, a scholar in the religious city of Qom, has said that contact with djinns can only be with the permission of "God's vali" (the Supreme Election). He adds, however, that if you can get this permission, these djinns will be of political use: they can predict elections.

1645 GMT: The Nuclear Front. Another slap-down from Tehran of the latest effort to revive discussions on Iran's nuclear programme, a plan presented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a step-by-step approach in which Iranian answers to International Atomic Energy Agency concerns would be accompanied by partial easing of sanctions....

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Parliament’s National Security Commission, has said, “Returning to the starting point cannot be the right path. Instead, Western countries should review the answers we have given to the IAEA’s questions; it would jog their memory and help them recognize the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.”

1250 GMT: The Battle Within. Ayatollah Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayer leader in Mashhad, has warned that if the "elimination" of supporters of velayat-e faqih (clerical supremacy) continue, these "fatal coups" may reach the Supreme Leader.

1245 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Justice Edition). Abdolhossein Ruholamini, whose son Mohsen was abused and killed in the Kahrizak detention centre in summer 2009, has expressed his dissatisfaction that Saeed Mortazavi --- then Tehran Prosecutor General, now President Ahmadinejad's advisor on drugs and smuggling --- has not been prosecuted over the affair.

Ruholamini's words carry some weight. He is a prominent conservative, having managed Mohsen Rezaei's 2009 Presidential campaign. Indeed, it is possible that the Kahrizak abuses may never have been addressed by the regime, leading to the closure of the facility, had it not been for the close connection between Ruholamini and the death of a post-election detainee.

1200 GMT: Human Rights Watch. Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of the human rights section of Iran's judiciary, has reported that the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights is not welcome in Iran.

The Special Rapporteur was mandated in March by the UN Human Rights Commission but has yet to undertake any meaningful activity.

1145 GMT: All-is-Well Alert. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Iran's Chief Inspector-General, has declared that there are no illegal wharves in the country.

Pourmohammadi's reassurance follows the speech earlier this month by President Ahmadinejad which warned of the economic losses to Iran of illegal imports and smuggling. His implication that the Revolutionary Guards were involved set off a political firestorm, with the commander of the Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, denying all commercial activity.

1135 GMT: Police Squad. Iran Police Chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, two weeks ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, has warned that those breaking fast between dawn and dusk will be arrested, even if they are in their cars.

1130 GMT: One of a series of photos of the "morality police" carrying out their enforcement of "good hijab" in Tehran:

1015 GMT: Opposition Watch. Kalemeh publishes an extensive interview with Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, an advisor to detained opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Beheshti Shirazi, who has just been summoned to prison to serve a five-year sentence, said that even far-away villages know of rifts within the system. While no one should be happy about the discord --- "we are all in the same boat" --- even an inch of progress is positive.

This apparent counsel for patience is supported by Beheshti Shirazi's claim that the Government does not control "80%" of private space and the assertion that the elite are no longer willing to co-operate with the Supreme Leader because they do not approve of his policies.

1000 GMT: Remembering the Dead. Video has been posted of Babak Javadifar, speaking at the memorial for his brother Amir (see 0700 GMT), demanding justice.

Amir Javadifar was one of three post-election detainees who were abused and killed at the Kahrizak centre in summer 2009.

0945 GMT: At the Movies. Tahavol-e Sabz reports that audiences at Tehran cinemas have been shouting the name of detained actress/filmmaker Pegah Ahangarani and "Death to Dictator".

Ahangarani was seized last week and has reportedly been transferred to the custody of the Revolutionary Guards.

0920 GMT: Revolutionary Guards Do Politics. Islamic Revolutionary Guards commander Masoud Jazayeri has given a vigorous defence of the IRGC's involvement and "credit" in all affairs, saying it "will cut off any hands against the Revolution".

Jazayeri said all the IRGC's economic projects serve society and the construction of the country.

0700 GMT: Remembering the Dead. Families of victims of post-election violence applaud as Yar-e Dabestani (My Classmate) is sung at the memorial for Amir Javadifar, who died in the Kahrizak detention centre two years ago:

0655 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Firouzeh Saber, the sister of activist Hoda Saber, who died last month while on hunger strike in detention, has appealed to former President Mohammad Khatami to awake consciences so endangered prisoners can be saved.

0645 GMT: The Battle Within. Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, the head of the Assembly of Experts, has said that "principlists should not chop up the Revolution like the meat of a sacrificial animal". Addressing groups like Parliament and the religious seminaries, he said all those who believe in the Iranian system should put aside personal or group interests.

Meanwhile, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, speaking at a conference about "psychological operations", made this passing remark, "Some people believe they have to distract the people in order to rule."

0540 GMT: At the Movies. These paragraphs from a profile of filmmaker Ashgar Farhadi, whose "Nadar and Simin: A Separation" is winning multiple awards inside and outside Iran, stand out:

Farhadi is no provocateur like Panahi [Jafar Panahi, sentenced to six years in prison in 2010], who has recently continued to shoot films in his own living room and whose only life insurance consists in not being forgotten abroad. Farhadi is a diplomat for his own cause, both in his films and in conversations about them. One word too much could jeopardize his future in Iran, while one word too little can make him seem like an opportunist in the West. When he was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlinale Palace in Berlin, he said, to great applause: "I want to remind you of Jafar Panahi."

"It bothers me that people see me as a politician and not a filmmaker," Farhadi at his Berlin hotel. "Basically, I hate politics and want to concentrate completely on my films." At the same time, he says: "What I can do for Panahi is to talk about him."

0520 GMT: We begin with a prompt from our reader, who would like us to note Roshanak Taghavi's analysis, "Iran's Power Struggle is Set to Escalate", in The Guardian of London.

For the uninitiated, Taghavi's summary is a welcome introduction to the conflict, but her interpretation is tangled, even contradictory. Note the following two sentences:" Despite this crisis, Ahmadinejad has not only maintained his clout but has also managed to break through many of the regime's traditional restrictions on executive power. His political standing has been weakened but not undermined."

So breaking through and weakened at the same time? The answer, of course, is that Ahmadinejad attempted to expand his power and that it is this attempt that is the bedrock of the struggle within the establishment.

Thus it is Taghavi's final sentence, taken from "a veteran analyst and government adviser in Tehran", that gets to the point: "If the choice is between Ahmadinejad heading towards becoming almighty, or internal political turmoil, then [his conservative opponents] will opt for turmoil."