The Latest from Iran (23 August): Worried About Libya?

1950 GMT: Economy Watch. More on the attack on the Government's economic management by leading MP Ahmad Tavakoli (see 1410 GMT)....

Tavakoli, singling out Minister of Economy minister Shamseddin Hosseini for not appearing in Parliament, said huge embezzlements have been committed by government financial groups at the expense of the deprived. He asked, "Why have some received huge credits to establish banks during [Iran's] economic stagnation?"

1800 GMT: Unity Watch. Conservative website Khabar Online claims that conservative faction Islamic Constancy Front is falling apart only a month after its launch, deserted by former Minister of Interior and tycoon Sadegh Mahsouli.

In recent days, the Constancy Front has been embroiled in verbal battles with other conservative/principlist groups set up to promote "unity" before the 2012 Parliamentary elections.

1745 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Libyan Front). Two contrasting messages on today's events in Libya....

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani congratulates the Libyan population, "Hopefully a government based on the will of the people will be established."

Ayatollah Sanei makes a not-so-subtle alteration: "Dictatorship as well as dictators will go, today the people are aware of this."

1735 GMT: The Battle Within (Clerical Edition). Rah-e Sabz reports that the Supreme Leader's office warned the staff of Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani not to stage a rally at the shrine of Imam Reza, in Mashhad, to mourn the death of Imam Ali. Despite the warning, about 5000 people attended.

According to Rah-e Sabz, State media carried out a news blackout of the event.

1720 GMT: The Battle Within. President Ahmadinejad’s media adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr, who is also the managing director of State news agency IRNA, has criticised Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi for giving tacit approval to those who threaten members of the Government by remaining silent in the face of their “illegal actions".

Javanfekr specifically referred to statements uttered by a Tehran "eulogist", Mansour Arzi, who said last week: “Whoever kills [Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim] Mashai, I will pay them.”

Doulatabadi said Rahim-Mashai could file a complaint against the eulogist, but Javanfekr insisted it is the prosecutor had a duty to take action: “The administration needs to await the response of the judiciary on this matter, because Mr. Arzi’s statements and the murder threats against government officials have undoubtedly disturbed the public, and we need to wait and see what Tehran’s Prosecutor will do as the public’s representative in this case.”

Arzi had said said about Rahim-Mashai, “Right now they have hidden him. The guys will find him and kill him…I said whoever kills him, I will pay them. As God is my witness, and this is not something I am just saying now…these people are dangerous; if they take power, you cannot imagine what they will do to the religious beliefs of young people.”

1450 GMT: Elections Watch. Mohammad Nabi Habibi, a leader of the conservative Motalefeh Party, has again raised the prospect of a deal between his faction and reformists for Parliamentary elections in March: "Participation of reformers in the elections is good for the country, not all of them are seditionists".

1445 GMT: Corruption Watch. The Governor of Tehran Province, Morteza Tamaddon, has said that the report of a national audit commission of a $1.1 million fraud in the provincial government is "a lie" and he "will prosecute those who spread it".

1420 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Libyan Front). Iran's Foreign Minister has issued an official statement declaring that the "popular uprising in Libya has once again showed the undeniable necessity" that leaders "comply with the wishes and demands of people and respect their views and opinions". It put forth "Iran's principled policy on the basis of the popular movement in support of Libya and opposing any foreign intervention and the killing of innocent people".

On the other end of the political spectrum, the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front congratulated the Libyan people: "With Qaddafi's fall, the demise of dictators in the region will be accelerated".

Meanwhile, an employee at the Libyan Embassy in Tehran said on Monday that diplomats working there had gone on holiday. He told people who called to try again Tuesday with any questions, State news agency IRNA reported.

IRNA said it confirmed Saad Mojbar, the Libyan ambassador to Tehran, had left the city "under pretext of taking a leave".

1420 GMT: Families of victims after the disputed 2009 Presidential election have protested a recent statement of the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, that only one "rioter" died in the events.

Larijani was comparing the Iranian situation to recent unrest in England, which Iranian state media have portrayed as "protest" in contrast with illegitimate demonstrations against the supposed re-election of President Ahmadinejad.

The exact number of casualties is unknown, but dozens died on a single day --- 20 June 2009 --- and there were a number of slain on other occasions, including the march of 15 June 2009 with more than a million people, the Ashura demonstrations of 27 December 2009, and the protest of 14 February 2011.

1410 GMT: MP Ahmad Tavakoli has launched another fierce attack on the Government's management of the economy, claims "signs of recession", in part because of "state lawlessness".

1400 GMT: The President and His Big Missiles. On National Defense Industries Day, President Ahmadinejad has unveiled three projects --- the Qader missile, the Bonyan 1 marine engine, and the Valfajr domestically-built torpedo system -- in the presence of the Minister of Defense and senior commanders.

State media reported, "Qader (Able) missile, built by the capable hands of Iranian experts, is a marine cruise missile with a 200-kilometre (125-mile) range, possessing high destructive ability which can be used against coastal targets and warships."

Ahmadinejad said, "We do not want to use our military might to conquer lands and dominate humanity. The best deterrence is that enemy does not dare aggression and must be so certain of a decisive response that it does not contemplate [an attack]. The enemy's weaponry should be grounded at deployment point and not above Tehran's sky."

>1350 GMT: Justice Watch. Back from a lengthy academic break to find that Majid Jamali-Fashi has appeared in court to confess to the murder of scientist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi in January 2010.

Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi told state TV that the prosecution was a blow to Israel: "We managed to make a good penetration into [Israeli spy service] Mossad's intelligence system, which bore very good results for us. We will soon have good news to inform the public in connection to the large number of [Iranian] Mossad spies whose covers have been blown."

Tehran Prosecutor General told reporters earlier this week, "The defendant had travelled to Israel to receive training from Mossad and had agreed to assassinate Dr Ali-Mohammadi in return for $120,000 dollars."

Alimohammadi, a quantum field theorist and elementary-particle physicist who was also a Tehran University professor, was killed by a bomb as he travelled from home to work.

0745 GMT: Still Waiting for That Monkey to Go into Space. Iranian officials have issued yet another statement that a rhesus monkey will be taken into space, courtesy of a domestically-manufactured Kavoshgar 5 rocket, by the end of the summer.

Hamid Fazeli, the director of Iran's space programme, said the rocket will be orbiting at an altitude of 120 to 130 kilometres (75 to 80 miles) above the Earth’s surface.

EA has been closely following 18 months of Iranian announcements --- see, for example, our coverage of Fazeli's June declaration, "Iran Special: Putting A Monkey Into Space --- We Predicted It!" and, in February 2010, "Iran Space Shocker: Turtle-Astronauts Defect to West".

0740 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Environmental Edition). Azeri ecology activist Mahsa Mehdizadeh has been arrested upon her return to Iran at Urumiyeh airport, apparently because of an interview she gave about the "disappearing" Lake Urumiyeh.

Iran's largest lake, home to migrating flamingos, pelicans and gulls, is turning to salt and has shrunken by 60%. It could be drained entirely in just a few years, experts say, because of drought, misguided irrigation policies, development, and the damming of rivers that feed it.

0640 GMT: The US Hikers...and the Battle Within. Writing in the Christian Science Monitor, Roshanak Taghavi connects the fate of detained US nationals Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer to the political battle within the Government:

[Two days] after two American hikers received an eight-year jail sentence for allegedly crossing the border illegally into Iran and spying for the United States, it appears the men may now be victims of Iran’s internal political tensions....

In the weeks leading up to their sentencing, senior Iranian officials close to the president made comments to local media outlets that fueled speculation that the two men would likely be released. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had himself urged the court to make a light ruling.

Within the world of Iranian politics, however, a lighter sentence would have created the impression that the judiciary had caved to political pressure from the Ahmadinejad administration.

Thus, the court’s reversal appears to represent more of a message to the president that the court acts independently of his desires and policy objectives than an affirmation of the two men’s guilt, according to analysts inside the Islamic republic.

Coming amid increasing frustration throughout the Iranian government that Mr. Ahmadinejad has overstepped the bounds of his position, the sentencing is also likely designed as a check to the president’s power.

0620 GMT: Theatre Watch. Iran's membership in the International Theatre Institute, overseen by the Uni under UNESCO, has been cancelled because Tehran has not paid the $1000 annual fee.

0600 GMT: Soft War Watch. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the head of the Basij militia, is looking for a lot more good men --- he said Iran needs another 35,000 mosques and 150,000 clerics to promote Tehran's defence against "soft war".

0500 GMT: We begin with an item from Global Voices Online, "Tonight the Islamic Republic's Generals Will Have Deadlines", summarising the reaction of activists in the Iranian opposition to the apparent downfall of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. 

The piece takes its title from an article in 23 Khordaad, which posts a photo of Gaddafi between the leaders of Iran and Tehran police forces, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam and Ahmad Reza Radan, and proclaims, “The regime's generals will have nightmares, bad ones!” A series of messages from bloggers followed, but the theme is as much or more one of anxiety rather than hope: "Qaddafi, a half-crazy dictator, was overthrown. It is much more difficult to overthrow a religious dictatorship rather than a non-religious one."

And, indeed, the regime was showing few signs of nerves over the Libyan developments. The State outlet IRNA, while putting out claims that continued intervention will "waste" a West intent on maintaining Libya as a colony, also writes about the "good people" of Libya and the "bitter end" of Qaddafi. And Press TV's one featured comment is a statement by an Iranian MP headlined, "Qaddafi Fate Lesson to Regional Tyrants".