The Latest from Iran (11 July): "Wasn't It You Who Raised Ahmadinejad to this Point?"

1150 GMT: Revolutionary Guards Do Politics. Ayatollah Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayer leader of Mashhad, tries to clarify the issue of whether the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps can intervene in political issues --- he explains that the late Ayatollah Khomeini never said the IRGC should not enter politics, only that they should not interfere in political parties and elections.

IRGC commander Hossein Hamedani offers another bit of logic to support the Revolutionary Guards' invovlement: all Iranian people are Basiji fighting for the country, the Revolutionary Guards are not separated from the Basij, thus the IRGC is a principlist movement beyond a narrow military role.

1040 GMT: Cartoon of the Day. Nikahang Kowsar depicts President Ahmadinejad's escape from interrogation by legislators, thanks to opposition from the Board of the Parliament and --- it is reported --- the Supreme Leader's office:

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The Latest from Iran (10 June): No Ceasefire

1855 GMT: Girls and Boys. Ayatollah Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayer leader of Mashhad, has explained that a woman who wears her headscarf back is "more dangerous than any insect". When seen on a bike, she "shatters a boy's faith".

The opposition website Peyke Iran helpfully illustrates the Ayatollah's point with this photograph:

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The Latest from Iran (7 June): Ahmadinejad's Men = "Gravest Danger in the History of Shiite Islam"

1740 GMT: Parliament v. President. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has sent his 4th letter in two days to President Ahmadinejad, claiming 14 additional infringements of the law by the Government.

1710 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. So Mr. President, what about the staff from your office arrested as sorcerers and exorcists?

Ahmadinejad replied to the question at his press conference today, "Let's just think about Government service."

He continued, again without reference to any sorcerers, "The Government is on track under the guidance of the Supreme Leader."

However, Ahmadinejad acknowledged, with reference to advisors like Abbas Amirafar, the head of Friday Prayers in his office, and Abbas Ghaffari, the alleged sorcerer, "They arrested those people. Good for them."

Now it was time to move on: "They should let us continue our job. The Government is seeking for nothing rather than serving the people and fulfilling the revolutionary aims." He refused to answer further questions, "Our position at the moment is to stay silent. An inspiring unity silence."

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The Latest from Iran (2 April): Getting Outside

2000 GMT: Arrests on 13 Bedar. Rah-e-Sabz reports that people celebrating the outdoors festival of Sizdeh Bedar and using it to highlight environmental issues have been accosted and arrested by security forces in Tehran, Tabriz, and Urmia in northwest Iran.

1955 GMT: The Battle Within. One of the regime's stalwart clerics, Mashhad Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Alamolhoda, has launched a furious attack on President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

Alamolhoda said that Rahim-Mashai is not fitna (seditious), but he is monharef (deviate), playing with God and the notion of being a prophet.

The Ayatollah warned that if Rahim-Mashai claims he was misunderstood, "I have his even worse CD" with his views, notably the insult that "religious society isn't ideal society".

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