The Latest from Iran (23 September): An "Inevitable" War with Israel?

President Ahmadinejad and military commanders gaze at a missile during Friday's parade in Tehran

See also The Latest from Iran (22 September): The Syria Muddle Continues

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2022 GMT: The House Arrests. The son of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, held under strict house arrest since February 2011, has provided an update on his father's status.

Mohammad Taghi Karroubi said, "For the past six weeks, the family has been allowed to meet with Mr. Karroubi once a week and on a regular basis. These visits have taken place in the presence of security agents. Prior to this change in policy, there had been times when the family had gone four months without seeing Mr. Karroubi."

Karroubi's son said the opposition figure, who ran for President in 2009 and pressed the regime after the disputed election over justice and rights, has had access to newspapers for only four weeks out of his 19-month detention. So "I deemed it necessary to bring him up to breast with current affairs during our short visits that took place in the presence of security agents".

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The Latest from Iran (15 July): Worries Over the Economy

Iranians line up to buy cheaper chicken as the price of meat rises sharply

See also The Latest from Iran (14 July): Sanctions Watch

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2135 GMT: All-Is-Well Alert. Minister of Economy Mehdi Ghazanfari, speaking in the religious city of Qom today, said, “The Iranian economy is dynamic, which will not be influenced by sanctions."

More interesting than Ghazanfari's rhetoric was the effective admission that he had come to Qom after senior clerics had protested over inflation. The minister insisted that difficult days have passed, that the situation in the market is good, and that “we have a sufficient stock (of goods)".

2129 GMT: Morality Watch. ISNA reports that security forces and members of the "morality police" raided 87 cafes and restaurants in a district of Tehran on Saturday, shutting them "for not following Islamic values, providing hookah to women, and lacking proper licenses".

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The Latest from Iran (29 April): The Ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guards

See also Iran Feature: Tehran Sees US Nuke Proposal as "Good Start"?
The Latest from Iran (28 April): Nuclear Step Forward, Nuclear Step Back

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1947 GMT: Currency Watch. The head of the Central Bank, Mahmoud Bahmani, has admitted that the effort to establish a single currency rate --- sought earlier this year after the Iranian Rial fell 50% in value --- has failed. He said there was "no possibility" to consolidate the rate against the US dollar. "Floating" (open-market) rates would continue, although there would be subsidised rates for importers and students.

1940 GMT: Supreme Leader Watch. Ayatollah Khamenei has declared today that those who get huge loans are equal to "traitors and looters of national income" and should be confronted. He continued, "The right way to promote national production is confronting disturbers and looters of national wealth."

An Iranian correspondent for EA ponders, "So when will the Supreme Leader confront those who have taken national wealth, say, his son Mojtaba, some senior clerics, and the Revolutionary Guards?"

The correspondent continues, "This is a clear order to the judiciary to sentence main agents of [the $2.6 billion] bank fraud --- with usual exceptions of course."

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The Latest from Iran (23 April): "We Are the Inspiration for the Arab Spring"

See also The Latest from Iran (22 April): A Lull in the Politics

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Iraq PM Maliki & President Ahmadinejad2019 GMT: Elections Watch. More than seven weeks after the first round of Parliamentary elections --- and 11 days before the second round --- we finally have a claimed breakdown of the affiliation of those elected.

MP Asadollah Badamchian, quoting from a Ministry of Intelligence report, gives these figures for the 225 candidates elected in the first round: 64 are from the Unity Front, only nine from the Islamic Constancy Front headed by Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, 50 are on the lists of both the Unity Front and the Constancy Front, and 14 are from the Steadfastness Front linked to conservative politician Mohsen Rezaei. There are 35 reformists, 39 "independents, and 14 Sunnis.

The other 65 MPs will be elected in the second round on 4 May.

2011 GMT: Abolfazl Qadyani, a senior member of the reformist Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, has used a court appearance to declare that the Supreme Leader "has dealt the biggest blow to the nezam (system)....He is the true taghout (false idol)."

Qadyani was initially detained on 28 December 2009, a day after the opposition's Ashura rallies. He was given a one-year sentence for "insulting the President" and then, in December 2011, give three more years in prison.

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The Latest from Iran (16 April): A Common Understanding?

See also Iran Special: Why Both Sides Shifted in Nuclear Talks --- And What Comes Next
The Latest from Iran (15 April): A Setback for the President

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1755 GMT: Supreme Leader Watch. Former Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham has declared that Ayatollah Khamenei is dealing with "slackers" on the Expediency Council because idle people disturb the Iranian system.

1750 GMT: All the President's Men. Yet more confusion in the case of President Ahmadinejad's advisor Saeed Mortazavi and his appointment as head of the Social Security Fund (see 0830 and 1203 GMT)....

Gholam Ali Haddad Adel --- MP, former Speaker of Parliament, and member of the Supreme Leader's inner circle --- has insisted that Mortazavi is adhering to his promise as head of the Fund amidst criticism from MPs of the appointment.

President Ahmadinejad has reportedly rejected Mortazavi's resignation.

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The Latest from Iran (10 April): Talks in Istanbul, Challenges to Ahmadinejad at Home

A young woman holds up a sign of protest during a visit by President Ahmadinejad to Bandar Abbas, "We, the Youth, are Unemployed"

See also Iran Analysis: A 4-Point Beginner's Guide to the Nuclear Talks
The Latest from Iran (9 April): No Agreement to Nuclear Talks in Turkey...Yet

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2020 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Blogger Davood Bahmanabadi has been released on bail after 140 days in Evin Prison.

2000 GMT: Parliament v. President. Back to our opening story of the day (see 0605 GMT) and the Parliamentary pressure on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad....

Fifteen MPs have asked Speaker of Parliament Larijani to summon the President to the Majlis to report on "problems" in the first phase of subsidy cuts, launched in December 2010, and plans for the second phase. Ahmadinejad will also be queried about support for production in the private production sector, and inflation.

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The Latest from Iran (10 March): Oh, the US is So Weak

See also The Latest from Iran (9 March): "Legitimacy" --- Home and Abroad

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Iran Media: "Objective Reality of US Society"2028 GMT: Protest Watch. The Mothers of Laleh Park and their supporters have issued a statement challenging the Iranian judiciary’s harsh sentencing of human rights activists.

The Mothers of Laleh Park, who emerged after the June 2009 Presidential election to protest killings and detentions, declared, “While the possibility of a humane life is evaporating for Iranian people and especially freedom seekers, the criminals are rising in stature, and there are no fair courts answerable to the people.”

The statement condemned the sentences imposed on human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani and the deputy head of the Human Rights Defenders Centre, Nargess Mohammad, contrasting their judicial fate with that of Saeed Mortazavi, the Tehran Prosecutor General when the abuses occurred at the Kahrizak Detention Centre in summer 2009.

The Mothers wrote, “Judge Mortazavi, whose many crimes are common knowledge, was dismissed after his offences regarding Kahrizak were revealed. But not only did he not stand trial, he was instead appointed as head of the task force against drug trafficking. And now he is being appointed to the helm of the Organization for Social Security.”

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The Latest from Iran (28 February): "Ballot Boxes Are Being Filled as We Speak"

See also Iran Feature: The Lives Of Women Day Labourers
The Latest from Iran (27 February): Has Khamenei Met Mousavi?

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1700 GMT: Elections Watch. Three days before the Parliamentary ballot, a special session of the Guardian Council has approved several candidates, including current MPs.

In an open letter, prominent MP Ali Motahari has accused the hard-line newspaper Keyhan of turning protesters and reformists into "anti-revolutionaries" with its attacks and libel.

The head of Iran's armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, has told high-ranking officers that Friday's elections are the basis and symbol of the power and honour of the Iranian system.

Hamidreza Moghaddamfar, the cultural and social representative of the Revolutionary Guards, has declared that more than 60% of the electorate will vote on Friday. He added criticism of leading principlists including Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf.

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The Latest from Iran (27 February): Has Khamenei Met Mousavi?

Director Ashgar Farhadi holds the Oscar for his "A Separation", winner of Best Foreign-Language Film

See also Iran Video and Pictures: "A Separation" Wins Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film
The Latest from Iran (26 February): Bashing the BBC, Jailing the Journalists

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1737 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Marzieh Rasouli has been released from prison on bail.

The release of Rasouli, a cultural reporter for several reformist publications, comes days after she was named as an "agent" of BBC Persian swept up in mid-January in the "Eye of the Fox" operation of the Revolutionary Guards. Blogger/journalist Parastou Doroukhaki, also named over the operation, was freed on Sunday.

Blogger Nama Jafari, detained on 14 February, has been freed on a bail on 80 million toman (about $42,000). The editor of the 35anj website, Jafari had compiled a series of protest poems and other writings about the post-election protests of 2009 under the title "Gathering at the Solitary Cell".

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The Latest from Iran (13 February): The Economic Squeeze

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Journalist and activist Henghameh Shahidi, serving a six-year sentence for "propaganda" and "actions against national security", speaking to a visitor in Evin Prison

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2120 GMT: Claimed footage of Tehran residents chanting "Allahu Akbar (God is Great)" this evening:

2020 GMT: Cyber-Watch. How significant was the regime's tightening grip on the Internet from last Thursday, including the cut-off of services like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Hotmail?

The Tor Project, which assists users who face surveillance and filtering, offers this image:

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