Iran Live Coverage: Supreme Leader Strikes a Defiant Pose
Friday, March 22, 2013 at 6:17See also Iran Live Coverage: Supreme Leader Announces a "Political and Economic Epic"
1255 GMT:Your Friday Prayers Update. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami had the podium today and he used it for a jab at President Ahmadinejad.
Commenting on the upcoming Presidential elections, Khatami said officials must observe "Islamic ethics" and avoid misuse of authority during the process.
,When selecting candidates, national and public interests were preferable to factional ones, Khatami added. "Whoever wants to be president of his country should be at the forefront of ethics,"
Khatami said that candidates must not use public funds.
"None of the three branches of the Islamic government should encourage or support a particular candidate," he added.
In contrast, Fars News English focuses its attention on rhetoric about “Arrogant Powers” and Syria.
1232 GMT:Ahmadinejad Watch. Pro-Ahmadinejad State news agency IRNA highlights a speech by the President in Turkmenistan, in which he said the two countries had an "exemplary" partnership.
Ahmadinejad was in Ashgabat for a day-long visit on Thursday, and called for increased bilateral ties between the two countries.
This, however, may not be the most significant feature of the address. That lies instead in Ahmadinejad's elevation of "the springtime of peoples...[as] a flourishing of human life, a life that is rich in beauty and wisdom, and the essence of man is at the peak of this beauty, and for this reason the Prophet Mohammad who is the wisdom of all, possesses all the beauty in the world"
The President's invocation of "spring", notably in his speech on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in February, has been seen as promotion of his right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, for the Presidency in June's election.
0848 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Seven relatives of detained Gonabadi dervishes have been arrested as they demonstrated in front of Adelabad Prison --- three are still in custody.
The Gonabadi dervishes are a movement in Sufi Islam who have long faced intimidation and detentions by the regime.
0822 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Abolfazl Abedini, already behind bars, has been given a new charge of "propaganda against the regime".
Abedini's "crime" appears to have been his testimony in front of a judge over the death of blogger Sattar Beheshti during interrogation in prison.
Abedini was arrested soon after the disputed 2009 Presidential election and is serving an 11-year sentence.
0822 GMT: Picture of the Day. Supporters call for freedom for student activist Zia Nabavi, serving a 10-year sentence for "creating unease in the public mind":
0800 GMT: Supreme Leader Watch. Press TV, possibly putting out a regime statement, complains that the American channel CBS "distorted" the Supreme Leader's comments on Thursday about direct nuclear talks between the US and Tehran.
CBS reported that Khamenei had said he was "not opposed to direct talks with the US" --- which is correct --- and added that this "appeared to soften its long-held policy of outright rejection of bilateral talks with Washington".
This part did not upset Press TV; however, it seems to be irritated by the implication of an Iranian military programme --- rather than civilian purposes for uranium: by CBS: "The [Supreme Leader] never mentioned 'nukes'."
0740 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Tabnak, close to former Revolutionary Guards chief and Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, picks up on a story in The Atlantic magazine -- really a promotional feature for a book launch -- about a US Secret Service agent accidentally firing his gun as President Ahmadinejad got into his car outside the United Nations in New York in 2006.
Nothing came of the incident --- but Tabnak was sufficiently excited to turn it into a lead story, citing the British tabloid Daily Mail.
Perhaps Tabnak --- very anti-Ahmadinejad --- were just excited over the thought that Rezaei's political rival could have been shot?
0700 GMT: Nuclear Watch. An interesting difference in the presentation, by Reuters and by Fars News, of comments by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
Reuters quoted Ryabkov as portraying progress in the nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, even though this could be reversible. The Russian had called the recent technical talks in Istanbul a "very useful event" and said that Iran had shown willingness for "concrete dialogue".
Fars takes a cooler approach, with Ryabkov merely saying "satisfactory". It uses the report to put the Revolutionary Guards' position:
0650 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Saudi Front). Joanna Paraszczuk takes over Live Coverage....
Tehran's media continues to devote space to the recent car crash in which a drunk Saudi diplomat allegedly killed an Iranian.
ISNA interviews Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who said the Islamic Republic will not allow Saudi Arabia to abuse diplomatic immunity and use it as an "excuse" to harm Iranians.
Tabnak has a more aggressive stance, headlining "Three Suggestions to Deal With the Drunk Saudi Diplomat Who Killed an Iranian". The site suggests that the Foreign Ministry should find out the diplomat's full position in the Saudi Embassy so that he cannot hide behind a false name, that Iran should forbid him from leaving the country and that legal rather than political means should be used to pressure the Saudis to compensate the victim's family. Tabnak says the Iranian media should play an important role in creating this pressure.
0620 GMT: Supreme Leader Watch. For the second day in a row, the Supreme Leader took the headlines on Thursday, with a New Year address in the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad.
Western media eagerly grabbed Ayatollah Khamenei's declaration that, if Israel attacked Iran, "we will destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa into ashes". More significant, however, was his defiance on the economic front. Putting the Islamic Republic's problems into his chosen context, and having said on Wednesday that this year will be a "political and economic epic", Khamenei asserted:
Sanctions had some impacts but caused a positive movement within ourselves to use our great capacities and talents. With its successes, our nation proved that living independent of USA does not mean being behind others.
However, while the emphasis of the speech was that Iran will not bow down, the Supreme Leader was also signalling that Tehran will be continuing the resumed nuclear talks with the 5+1 Powers, with the next high-level session on 5 April in Kazakhstan.
Indeed, as he put out the flourish that US efforts at regime change "couldn't do a damn thing [in the past], and it won't happen in the future either", the Supreme Leader indicated that he would not block direct talks with the US if Washington "prove[d] that negotiation is not a tactic to deceive public opinion".
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