Iran Live Coverage: "The Revolutionary Guards Will Protect the Election"

General Yadollah Javani1805 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front). Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has criticised today's decision by the Arab League to give Syria's seat to the opposition, warning that the move will set a “dangerous” precedent in the Arab world.

“This measure taken by the Arab League will be taken to mean the end of the [Arab] League’s role in the region,” Amir-Abdollahian claimed.

1615 GMT: Election Watch. Joanna Paraszczuk writes....

Habibollah Asgaroladi, leading principlist political activist and member of Iran's Expediency Council, has said he believes the Supreme Leader's "2+1 committee" --- seeking a "unity" candidate for June's Presidential election --- was announced too soon.

The 2+1 committee consists of three of the leading politicians of the principlist current: ehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the Supreme Leader's chief advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, and leading MP and Supreme Leader's relative Gholam Ali Haddad Adel.

Asgaroladi said that, when he heard of the formation of the committee, he contacted Velayati and told him it was "rushed".

"I said to Velayati that I wanted to come talk about it," he said, adding that he also had a meeting with Qalibaf on the subject.

Asgaroladi said that he believed there should be a minimum of eight and a maximum of 12 people on the committee.

After the meeting with Qalibaf, Asgaroladi said he met with Velayati and talked for an hour and told him that there should be six people on the committee --- including former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar, both now Presidential candidates.

According to Asgarouladi, Velayati said he was not opposed to this but the proposal would have to be made to the Society of Combatant Clergy and also discussed with other principlists.

Asgaroladi also commented that Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, saying that he has a "lot of good power", although he said he would not favor any one particular candidate.

0726 GMT: Trade Watch. Another sign of the contraction of the Iranian economy amid sanctions and internal problems --- Dubai's trade with the Islamic Republic plunged by a third in 2012.

Dubai has been a key hub for Iranian imports and exports, but its role has been sharply curbed by restrictions on financial transactions.

Two-way trade between Dubai and Iran was roughly 25 billion dirhams ($6.8 billion) last year, said Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Director General of Dubai Customs. That is a drop of about 31% from 36 billion dirhams in 2011.

0714 GMT: Election Watch. The Revolutionary Guards (see 0614 GMT) are not the only party staking out territory over June's Presidential vote --- Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man and a likely candidate, has told pro-Ahmadinejad State news agency IRNA that "people should know that the Government will make short shrift of any attempt to undermine the health of the election".

Mashaei continued, "The President has put considerable emphasis on this point and has even warned that if there are secret or overt attempts to harm the elections he will deal with such attempts seriously"

Rahim-Mashai's candidacy in the elections has not yet been confirmed, but the Ahmadinejad camp is wary that he will be blocked from standing by the Guardian Council. The President's repeated references in recent weeks to "spring" have been taken as a coded promotion of Rahim-Mashai, as Ahmadinejad has denounced others within the regime --- including the Supreme Leader's office --- for attempts to manipulate the election.

0704 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front). Speaking at an event to mark last week's death of pro-Assad Sunni cleric Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti in a suicide bombing, Hojjatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi, a Tehran Friday Prayer Leader, criticized Arab and Muslim states' involvement in Syria.

Seddiqi accused the Governments of Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia of "obeying the infidels". The governments were of the "Party of Satan": "Sooner or later [they will] eat the stick of their hypocritical incompetence".

The cleric praised Al-Bouti, saying he had been one of the pillars of "cultural Jihad" who fought against the "enemy's hard and soft wars".

0614 GMT: The Revolutionary Guards and the Elections. Yadollah Javani, the head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has clarified the "duty" of the Guards in June's Presidential ballot:

The IRGC has one duty in the election and must act upon this duty. We as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps say, to those that attack the IRGC, to look at the IRGC's place [in the elections] from a legal perspective.

Some believe that the IRGC is a a military organization, that is, its place is in a military base....This is not correct, because we have an Artesh [Armed Forces] that is one hundred percent military and is completely prepared to defend against a foreign attack.

The existing philosophy of the IRGC is to protect the revolution and its achievements.... When the enemy attempts to influence our election, and when [US Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton wishes to draw our election into chaos, the IRGC neutralizes [the enemy's] role.

Javani's statement is part of an ongoing internal battle, specifically over the election and generally over the Guards' place in politics.

In January, the Supreme Leader's representative to the Guards, Ali Saeedi, sparked controversy when he said that the IRGC had a "duty" not only to protect the election but to ensure the "right" result.

The Revolutionary Guards quickly distanced themselves from the statement, saying only they were providing security for voters to ensure a high participation, but President Ahmadinejad has seized upon it to claim that his rivals are trying to manipulate the June vote. In his February speech on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, he aimed specifically at Saeedi, effetively accusing the Supreme Leader's office of trying to rig the eventual outcome.