The Latest from Iran (14 August): Recovering from an Earthquake

See also The Latest from Iran (13 August): The Political Aftershocks of the Earthquakes

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1739 GMT: The Labour Front. Complaining about no wages for eight months, 600 steel workers protested today in front of the Ministry of Industry.

1722 GMT: The Battle Within. Yesterday we reported:

Iran News Network claims that two former Ministers have asked for a staff from the Executive, legislative, and judicial branches to be organised to manage the country, effectively taking power from the Government.

Radio Farda suggests the two ex-Ministers could be Iran Inspector General and former Minister of Interior Mostafa Pourmohammadi and former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

Today Robert Tait of The Daily Telegraph of London adds a third name and the claim that the appeal was made to Ayatollah Khamenei:

Three of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's former ministers have called on Iran's supreme leader to form an emergency "government of all the talents" that will effectively curb the president's power.

Manouchehr Mottaki, the former foreign minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who served as interior minister, and Davoud Danesh Jafari, the ex-finance minister, have urged the radical move in a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, citing the country's "sensitive and critical situation".

It calls for the establishment of a special cabinet of "wise men" made up of the heads of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, which would then govern Iran for the next year until Mr Ahmadinejad's term ends.

Mr Ahmadinejad would be a member of such a body as head of the executive branch. But his powers would be diluted and prestige drastically reduced....

In an editorial, [pro-Ahmadinejad newspaper] Iran criticised the former ministers' note as an attempt "to portray the country's situation as critical and justify extraordinary approaches outside legal boundaries to resolve an artificial crisis".

1516 GMT: Picture of the Day. Student activist Ali Jamali, freed after serving a 2 1/2-year sentence, and his wife:

1359 GMT: Elections Watch. The Ministry of Interior has announced that two leading reformist parties will not be permitted to enter the 2013 Presidential race.

The Association of Combatant Clerics and the Islamic Iran Participation Front were both banned after the disputed 2009 Presidential election.

The Association of Combatant Clerics was founded in 1987 with Ayatollah Khomeini’s personal blessing. It is currently headed by Ayatollah Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha.

The Islamic Iran Participation Front was led by former President Mohammad Khatami until the election of its current Secretary General, former MP Mohsen Mirdamadi.

1355 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi has called for a pact among Muslim countries to defend Palestine and the Islamic world: “If a strong and strategic defense alliance is formed among Muslim countries to defend Palestine, the Zionist regime will have no choice but to accept the resolve and demand of the Palestinian nation.

Vahidi said Israeli leaders are so frightened by the Islamic Awakening that they are even “afraid of their own shadow....Therefore, they are trying to manage the disappointing atmosphere and many crises that are plaguing them through demagoguery and psychological war."

1315 GMT: The Earthquakes. A message from inside Iran:

Still very confused by dearth of #Iranearthquake coverage in local press. Today only Ebtekar & Abar are splashing with it, out of ~20 papers

— Our Man In Iran (@ourmaniniran) August 14, 2012

1225 GMT: The Earthquakes. In an interview with journalist Masih Alinejad, a resident of Ahar who lost his family in Saturday's earthquake expresses his anger about Government silence over the disaster.

1216 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The lawyer of imprisoned attorney Houtan Kian has claimed that his client is being tortured with cigarettes, isolated, and transferred to the ward for methadone addicts.

Kian was arrested in October 2010 as he spoke to German journalists about his client Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery and complicity in her husband's murder. He has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.

1130 GMT: The Earthquakes. The Government has approved plans to build 20,000 residential units immediately for the victims of Saturday's earthquakes in northwestern Iran.

Ahmad Alireza Beigi, the Governor of Iran’s East Azarbaijan Province, added that emergency housing for all earthquake victims in the towns of Ahar, Herees and Varzaqan was near completion. He said more than 50,000 people had been placed in the accommodation across the region.

1127 GMT: CyberWatch. Khodnevis reports that the website of State broadcaster IRIB was hacked this morning.

The IRIB site is accessible but damaged at the moment.

1125 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Ali Jamali has been released after serving a 2 1/2-year sentence.

1122 GMT: Loyalty Watch. Former Deputy Minister of Culture Mohammad Ali Ramin has supported the President while promoting the Supreme Leader to exalted status, declaring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is "Imam Khamenei's soldier".

1120 GMT: Oil Watch. India has arranged its first oil deal with Iran after the imposition of European Union sanctions on 1 July.

The first Indian ship will load in the Islamic Republic on Wednesday, a shipping company executive said. The MT Omvati Prem, a tanker contracted to carry 85,000 metric tons of crude oilfor Indian state refiner Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, is scheduled to arrive in India by 25 August.

The Indian State has provided insurance for the tanker, replacing European coverage banned by the EU sanctions.

1016 GMT: Press Watch. Another sign of the tension within the media, with rivalry between factions leading to filtering of sites and detention of bloggers --- Mehdi Khanali-Zadeh, the editor of Nasim Online, has written, "I have no more reason to defend the Islamic Republic. I am not the regime's scarecrow....I do not accept being harassed for critising minor institutions in the system."

0728 GMT: The Earthquakes. Asr-e Iran is not happy with the apology of State broadcaster IRIB for its programming "as normal" as news of Saturday's earthquakes emerged, saying it is "worse than sin".

A spokesman for IRIB said the earthquakes were an "unexpected event", and the employee who went ahead with the broadcast of a comedy programme "did not know" of the disaster.

Khabar Online jabs at IRIB through a cartoon:

0720 GMT: Putting on a Non-Aligned Show. Thomas Erdbrink of The New York Times profiles the Islamic Republic's attempt to claim leadership through its hosting of the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement at the end of August:

During a weeklong conference, followed by a leadership summit meeting, Iran says it will unfold plans to revitalize the movement and seek support for its nuclear enrichment program and its resistance to what it calls dominance by the United States.

Representatives of all of the 118 member nations, among them China, India and Indonesia, will travel to Tehran for the conference, while invitations have been extended to observer states and international organizations, such as the Arab League, and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.

In preparation, beggars are being cleared off Tehran’s streets and the government has announced a five-day holiday for the entire capital during the summit. Major highways and the local airport will be closed off to ensure the safety and mobility of the visitors.

0530 GMT: With the official death toll from Saturday's two earthquakes in East Azerbaijan Province set at 306, attention has turned to recovery efforts in the area, much of which is remote and underdeveloped. A local official estimates damage at $650 million, and ILNA reports that 500 villages suffered 80% to 100% damage with victims needing food and medicine.

Meanwhile, amid criticism both of the coverage and the handling of the disaster, political recovery efforts are underway. Despite complaints that he was walking away from the crisis, President Ahmadinejad has not curbed his trip to Saudi Arabia for the extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; however, 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi toured the affected villages yesterday. In an apparent reversal of a policy announced earlier in the day, he said that Iran was ready to accept international assistance.

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, who led the castigation of State broadcaster IRIB for not paying attention to the earthquakes, will be in East Azerbaijan today.

The most unusual revelation, however, came from Aftab, which claimed that the Government has signed a memorandum of understanding with religious seminaries to reduce risk of natural disasters using "spirituality".