The Latest from Iran (19 July): Assessing the Opposition

1950 GMT: Clamping Down on a Cleric. Security forces have raided the home of Ayatollah Amjad while the cleric is on a three-day trip to Malaysia.

Ayatollah Amjad has been increasingly critical of the Government since January.

1935 GMT: Elections Watch. Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, has pulled back from a blanket ban on the reformist parties Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, saying that their dissolution has not been declared by the courts.

1915 GMT: The New Green Manifesto. insideIRAN has posted a copy of the Persian version of the "New Green Manifesto", issued in English last week by representatives of groups inside Iran.

A reader offers an initial note of guidance, "Slightly different from English [version] --- they intended English to be for diaspora and West, Farsi for exiles and Greens."

1725 GMT: State of the Regime. The Supreme Leader has outlined an approach to employment to "promote and strengthen a culture of work, productivity, entrepreneurship, and the use of GDP", while President Ahmadinejad has spent the day declaring that the US and Israel are certain to fall: "We are witnessing the last kicks of the 'donkeys'."

1720 GMT: Reformist Watch. Former President Mohammad Khatami has restated the conditions for participation in the 2012 Parliamentary elections --- a return to the Constitution, reinstatement and freedom of political parties (see the discussion in Comments), free and fair elections, and release of political prisoners.

1700 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. More on the challenge by leading MP Ahmad Tavakoli (see 1135 GMT) to the President....

Tavakoli asked, "Why does Ahmadinejad heat up people's expectations?", citing three examples in two weeks: a 1000 square-metre plot of land for each Iranian family, $7 million for the Maskan Mehr building complex, and a doubling of Ph.D. students.

Tavakoli continued that, as all these plans are factually and legally impossible, "What does Ahmadinejad aim at by making people dissatisfied?"

1315 GMT: Oil and Politics. Radio Farda summarises the dispute over Iran's current oil production, with Hamidreza Katouzian, the head of Parliament's Energy Committee, challenging President Ahmadinejad's declared figures --- Katouzian and some "conservative" Iranian media have said the actual production is 3.6 million barrels per day vs. the claimed 4.3 million bpd.

1305 GMT: Reformist Watch. Prominent reformists are continuing to re-establish their position over the 2012 Parliamentary elections after recent divisions within the movement.

Ali Shakouri-Rad, a senior member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, has rebuffed the signal from conservative leader Mohammad Nabi Habibi that reformists can be in the elections. Shakouri-Rad declared insistence on the "essential demands" of former President Mohammad Khatami --- freeing of political prisoners, adherence to the Constitution, and a free and fair electoral process --- adding that hardliners do not want reformers to participate and Habibi's candidates are trying run under the flag of reformers.

Rasoul Montajabnia, the Vice President of Mehdi Karroubi's Etemade Melli Party, has asserted that organised participation of reformers in elections without achievement of their conditions would be "political suicide". Montajabnia said an earlier interview in Bultan News, in which he appeared to embrace elections, was "fake".

1135 GMT: The Battle Within. Leading MP Ahmad Tavakoli, a persistent critic of the Government, has asserted that President Ahmadinejad "has no consideration for law and rationality".

Tavakoli specifically criticised Ahmadinejad's declaration that he would give each Iranian a free plot of land for a villa, even as questions arose over funding of the Mehr Housing Project for new homes.

1130 GMT: Cartoon of Day. As President Ahmadinejad's advisor Saeed Mortazavi declares that he has been "acquitted" of any wrongdoing in connection with the affair of the Kahrizak detention centre --- Mortazavi was Tehran Prosecutor General in summer 2009 when post-election detainees were abused and killed --- Nikahang Kowsar offers a depiction of Mortazavi ensuring that "Justice is Blind":

1040 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The family of detained actress/filmmaker Pegah Ahangarani have claimed that they are being pressed by authorities not to discuss her situation with the media.

Nobel laureates have called for the release of University of Texas postgraduate student Omid Kokabi.

Kokabi was detained in February as he was about to return to the US, charged with “cooperation with an enemy state” and “earning income through illicit means”. He has recently written the head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, for assurances of a fair and just trial, claiming that he has been pressured and tortured for a confession.

0955 GMT: Prominent newspaper publisher Mashallah Shamsolvaezin has been summoned to serve a 16-month sentence in Evin Prison.

0950 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. The hard-line Mashregh News claims that President Ahmadinejad has not attended meetings over subsidy cuts for the last three months. Neither, according to the site, have Ahmadinejad's deputies from the Ministries of Oil, Economy, Energy, Industry, and Welfare.

0945 GMT: Threat of Day. Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the hard-line Kayhan writes today that US and European airlines should be “taught an unforgettable lesson", striking back for Western sanctions.

Iran Air has been hindered in its European operations by restrictions on refuelling, and Tehran has banned the supply of jet fuel to European airlines in response.

0935 GMT: Authority Watch. Ayatollah Alamalhoda, the Friday Prayer leader of Mashhad, makes it clear: the Supreme Leader is the deputy of and mediator with the people for the Hidden Imam.

0915 GMT: Defiance Alert (Nuclear Front). For what it's worth, Tehran has declared yet again that it is installing centrifuges with "better quality and speed" to improve its uranium enrichment process.

The latest declaration came from Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, who added that the International Atomic Energy Agency has "full supervision" of the centrifuges. MPs had made similar statements this weekend.

Iran has put out this rhetorical line for months, showing its resolve to pursue a nuclear programme amidst US-led sanctions, while declaring that it is not moving towards militarisation. The latest statements accompany Tehran's apparent rejection of last week's Russian offer for a phased process in which the meeting of IAEA concerns would be accompanied by a partial lifting of sanctions.

0910 GMT: Defiance Alert. Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari says the military is planning to send a fleet to the Atlantic Ocean: “Presence in the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, south of the Indian Ocean and in international waters is on the top agenda of the Navy."

Sayyari said the warships will be equipped with Nour long-range anti-ship cruise missiles.

In February, two naval vessels passed through the Suez Canal for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Earlier this month, a submarine, sailing alongside warships, returned home following almost two months in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

0810 GMT: Apologies for a late start this morning, but we have been focusing on the latest in the story of the "New Green Manifesto", put out by representatives of "dozens of groups inside Iran". We have the latest statement from the representatives and a special analysis of the Manifesto and the wider political situation in Iran.