The Latest from Iran (5 July): The Supreme Leader's Message "Everyone Back Off"

2040 GMT: Back to the Revolutionary Guards. While the headline out of the interview of the head of the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari (see 1205 GMT), was his declaration that the judiciary has given the Guards the authority to deal with the "deviant current", the label applied to President Ahmadinejad's advisors.there is so much more to be considered....

First, the confirmation that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was behind the recent arrests of several members of the "deviant current": "The IRGC arrested and detained these people based on a recommendation by the judiciary. These people have not committed security crimes. However, they have committed economic and moral offences. The people that have been arrested had close ties to the main figures of the (deviant) current."

Given that Mehr published this as a two-part interview yesterday and today, did Jafari make his statement before or after the Supreme Leader told everyone to back off public disputes (see 0515 GMT)?

And then there was Jafari crossing into politics, setting preconditions for the return of "acceptable" reformists to the arena:

Members of the reformist camp who have not crossed the redlines can naturally participate in political campaigns. However, [former President Mohammad] Khatami's success in his activities depends on his stances....During the sedition incident [the 2009 post-election protest], Mr Khatami did not pass his test successfully and he showed a lot of support for the sedition leaders [Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi]. At the moment, he has not yet adopted a stance to distance himself from those actions. If he still intends to resort to political manoeuvres, I do not think people will forgive him. However there are other individuals [in the reformist camp] who have not crossed the redlines and they can actively participate in political campaigns.

And Jafari had a glance at foreign affairs, saying that the uprisings in Syria were started "artificially" and were different in nature from those in other countries of the region: "The movements in Syria were provoked by the Americans, because Syria is the only country of the region that has stood up to the US and Israel."

1715 GMT: Parliament v. President. The 10 proposed questions for the interrogation of President Ahmadinejad by Parliament have been published. They include queries about the President's subsidy cuts plan, Ahmadinejad's refusal to release funds for the Tehran Metro, his controversial letter introducing his nominee as Minister of Sport, the "real" vs. the "promised" growth rate in the economy, enforcement of the law on hijab, and the manner of the dismissal of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

The legislators are also asking for an explanation of Ahmadinejad's 11-day boycott of Government service this spring in the dispute over the Minister of Intelligence.

About 100 of Parliament's 290 MPs have signed the petition to question the President.

1530 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The sentence of children's rights and labour activist Behnam Ebrahimzadeh has been reduced to five years in prison.

1335 GMT: The Supreme Leader Intervenes. Ayatollah Khamenei has criticised President Ahmadinejad's proposal, put forward in a speech this weekend, to give away a 1000 square-metre plot of land to each Iranian family so they can construct a villa.

1300 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Azeri civil activist Housein Nasiri has been released after serving 15 months in prison.

1215 GMT: All the President's Men & Women. Reports are circulating that Azadeh Ardegani, head of Iran's National Museum and an ally of President Ahmadinejad and his Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has been arrested.

1205 GMT: President v. Revolutionary Guard. All morning long, we have been wondering how the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps would respond to the apparent call of the Supreme Leader to back away from conflict. Looks like we have an answer....

General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the IRGC commander, has told Mehr that the judiciary has given the Guards the authority to deal with the "deviant current", the euphemism applied to President Ahmadinejad's advisors.

Jafari, in a wide-ranging interview that also covered the security of Iran's borders, cultural issues, and even the position of former President Mohammad Khatami, emphasised, "We have to deal with agents and advocates of such corruption", be it political, economic, or cultural.

1200 GMT: Economy Watch. Bahman Akhavan, a member of Parliament's Industries Committee, has made the blunt statement that "banks say they have no money".

0910 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Thirty-two Iranian press photographers have called for the release of fellow photojournalist Maryam Majd.

Majd was detained last month as she prepared to leave for Germany to cover the Women's World Cup in football.

The Norwegian Foreign Minister and German Speaker of Parliament have also demanded Majd's freedom.

0805 GMT: I Pledge Allegiance. Some eyebrows are being raising at the forthright declaration of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani to reporters of absolute obedience to the Supreme Leader: “In my opinion our system has an outstanding center called velayat-e faqih and if, during the different periods of time not enough attention was paid to this position, during the Imam’s (Ayatollah Khomeini's) presence and that of grand ayatollah Khamenei, then the country would suffer.”

Larijani continued, “We at the Majlis sometimes pass something but when we realise that the leader has a different view, then we change our position. I think this is one of the positive aspects of the eight Majlis in that when it understands the views of the leader, it acts on it.”

One interpretation comes from Bahram Rafiei at Rooz Online, "Larijani Preparing for the Presidency?"

0555 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The father of Kamal Sharifi, a Kurdish detainee who has spent more than a month on hunger strike, has expressed concern about his son's health and pleaded with a judge to be allowed to see him.

Sharifi is held in Minab Prison in southern Iran, serving a 30-year term.

0515 GMT: No doubt about yesterday's biggest domestic development in Iran --- the Supreme Leader, addressing commanders and officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, intervened in the public dispute between President Ahmadinejad and the IRGC over illegal imports:

Do those who fuel such disputes not see the contentment of foreign propaganda machines and their analyses? The happiness of the enemy shows that this issue is a weakness [for us] and therefore it must be stopped.

How serious is the move? The Iranian state media is usually reluctant to post any mention of the escalating political conflict --- note this weekend's censorship of Ahmadinejad's warning of a "red line" against a move on his inner circle --- and certainly there is no reference on outlets like IRNA or Press TV to the President's speech on smuggling that implicitly but clearly pointed at the Guards.

But the Supreme Leader's speech is all across the official websites. Indeed, Ayatollah Khamenei's Twitter assistants have made sure that the word went out --- in English --- this morning, by pointing to the entry on his website, "Supreme Leader Warns Against Domestic Disputes".

Now, a question. Ayatollah Khamenei's message to the Revolutionary Guards is crystal-clear --- they were there in the room --- but what has he said to President Ahmadinejad, who was far away inaugurating a power plant in southeast Iran?