Latest from Iran (9 September): Ignoring Ahmadinejad on Syria

See also Iran Special: Mousavi's Moment Outside House Arrest "The Future is Bright"
Latest from Iran (8 September): Fearing Persian Spring

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1610 GMT: Ahmadinejad and Syria. Fars reports on President Ahmadinejad's meeting with Kuwaiti media. Its English-language website highlights Ahmadinejad's caution to Turkey not to host a NATO missile defence system: "Turkey is among our brothers and sincere friends, but when enemies deploy a missile system there and admit that it is against Iran, we should be careful."

Fars, however, does not utter a word about Ahmadinejad's proposal (see 1400 GMT) for an Islamic summit on the Syrian crisis.

Mehr News, however, does mention the President's comments, well into an article on the meeting, on a summit and on reforms in Syria.

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Latest from Iran (8 September): Fearing Persian Spring

2020 GMT: Warnings of the Day (cont.). Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi appears to have put out a caution to the President's office and to MPs: "There are some currents that try to depict the guardian jurist [the Supreme Leader] as not having the final say and distinguish the decrees of the Leader as governmental and non-governmental ones....From the viewpoint of such currents, seizing the Presidential office and the Parliament is the only way of changing the regime, this is why they are trying to attract the people."

And last but certainly not least, the head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has criticised "certain executive offices" which "create obstacles in the path of the fight against economic corruption".

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Iran Snapshot: So How Does the Supreme Leader Spend His Day? (Farahabadi)

In the interview, the Supreme Leader's bodyguard says, ”After the morning prayer, he goes hiking three times a week and walks uphill for about 45 to 60 minutes, spending about 30 to 45 minutes on the way back."

On some days when the hiking takes place at a more distant location, the Ayatollah carries out his prayers on his way to the hike location. Shahpasandi also mentioned the issues that the guards faced when the leader was on his hike: “We cannot use the same mountain for the hikes, as the enemy can find this out to hurt us. He uses any heights or hill in/around Tehran, from the Bibishahr in Rey to the northern hills of Tehran, such as Velenjak or Darband. There is no exclusive hill to which we go. There are two, three exclusive places we go to,”.

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WikiLeaks and Iran Document: Why US Diplomats Suspected Fraud in 2009 Election

Iran analysts, both Iranian and foreign, have reacted with incredulity to the results of the Iranian presidential election and accused the IRIG of grossly rigging the election and falsifying the resuls. The Iran Regional Presence Office's review of Iran's recent presidential elections and the current election indicate the accusations of fraud have merit.

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Latest from Iran (3 September): Elections and the Revolution

1901 GMT: People protest in Tabriz, but there appear to be snipers on the rooftops.

Yet another video from Tabriz. Some of the people there are carrying objects (it is unclear whether they are looters, or merchants who work in the area) when suddenly gunfire breaks out:

1856 GMT: Video of the protests in Tabriz, in support of the people of Urmia and against government policies that have led to the drying of Urmia lake:

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Latest from Iran (31 August): Religious Freedom & Lakes Drying Up

1842 GMT: An EA Correspondent has this assessment of the Supreme Leader's approach to the upcoming Majilis elections.

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Farrokh Negahdar, a Fedayeen member who always defends the IR, commented on Kham's statement on Radio Farda today: apparently the SL prefers "secure" Majlis elections to a massive outcome of voters, i.e. high security measures will be taken to guarantee a fluid "election" for appearances' sake. To me this news is the most obvious evidence for the fact that he has lost all hope in attracting the masses via pro-regime "reformists".

1840 GMT: Al Jazeera English is reporting that Mehdi Karroubi has resided in solitary isolation inside an Iranian prison for the last several weeks. However, they have not provided the source of their report.

1700 GMT: According to Fars News, Abbas Mottahari, the Revolutionary Guards commander in Garmsar, has stated:

"the final goal of the new structure of the Basij is to make 70% of the people in the neighborhood Basij members, 50% participants in group prayer, and 20% participants in Friday prayer."

1441 GMT: "TV Makes Kids Satan" Alert - IRNA is reporting that Ayatollah Mazaheri said today that satellite dishes are far more dangerous than the atomic bomb, because TV is making the youth turn towards moral corruption and prostitution.

1335 GMT: Never Work with Children, Animals, or Honest Experts. The danger of live television, as an Iran News Network anchorman found in this interview with an analyst on Afghanistan....

The trouble began when the analyst, instead of keeping focus on the problems and errors of the US, said, "Countries in the region, including Pakistan and Iran, don't want a democracy to exist in Afghanistan,... [Iran and Pakistan] have carried out damaging interference in Afghanistan in the past 10 years,"

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The Latest from Iran (30 August): "Conflict & Retaliation"

Former President Mohammad Khatami (left) to Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest since February: "Just make a false confession, and Seyed Ali [the Supreme Leader] will pardon you (like me)" [by Eghbal Mahvari]

See Also, Iran Special: Assessing the Latest Cyber-Threat --- The "Rogue Certificate" (Arseh Sevom)
The Latest from Iran (29 August): Catching Up

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2009 GMT: Elections Watch. Akbar Torkan, Minister of Defence in the Rafsanjani Government of the 1990s, said today that the power of the military, the state, and even the Supreme Leader depends on republicanism and the ability for people to vote freely. He also said that the institutions of Iran are threatened if they have no free elections backing them, and thus no popular support.

1958 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Parvin Baharzadeh, assistant professor at Al-Zahra University and member of the "Gnosis Group, and several other people have been arrested by intelligence forces and sent to Evin Prison.

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The Latest from Iran (26 August): The Show on Quds Day

Past Quds Day rally, undated

2032 GMT: During his Quds day speech, Sadroddin Shariati, head of Allameh Tabatabaei University, said that, "today we have to [follow] the [Supreme Leader] because the scale of our lives and our beliefs has to be matched with the scale which is determined by the leader."

As several readers have pointed out, we're still waiting for some pictures from Tehran that would really show the "scale" of this leadership.

1900 GMT: Khatoon Special - According to Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, current deputy speaker of the Majilis, Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini stated that Bahonar has no power to confront the Khatoon contraversy. Hosseini fired back, denying those claims and cautioning that Bahonar should not talk in Hoseini's place.

1849 GMT: Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, the head of the Audit Office, has confirmed that the Tehran government is guilty of $11 million dollars in fraud, according to the now-blocked-in-Iran Ayande News. Pour-Mohammadi said that much of the misappropriation of funds was committed under previous governments, but insinuated that the fraud is ongoing.

1656 GMT: Ayande News is being filtered in Iran. They are also denying that this news is related to a story about Hossein Ansarian and Mousa Sadr. Preacher Hossein Ansarian had recently apologized to the people for the failed promises of the revolution.

1650 GMT: The Iranian state-run news agency, Press TV, provides this coverage of today's rallies, complete with chants of "death of Israel, death to America," and the claims (disputed by the Associated Press) that millions marched today:

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Iran Snapshot: Tehran's Relationship with Africa --- Scott Lucas with World Politics Review

Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade and Mahmoud AhmadinejadIt is important not to tie Iran interests in Africa too closely to sanctions and conflict with the West. Even if there were no sanctions, Iran would certainly be making an effort to use aid and development to pursue trade and investment opportunities.

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The Latest from Iran (20 August): Regime's Cyber-Warriors "We Don't Get No Respect"

US citizens Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, shown with fellow hiker Sarah Shourd, who were convicted today of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison (see 1350 GMT)

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1422 GMT: Some People are So Ungrateful Watch. The head of State broadcaster IRIB, Ezzatollah Zarghami, has declared that he said to the "losing" candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi after the 2009 Presidential elections, "You got these 13 million votes only with the help of IRIB."

The official returns, challenged by millions of Iranians in the days after the ballot, showed President Ahmadinejad with 24 million votes v. Mousavi's 13 million.

Zarghami said IRIB, with the permission of the Supreme Leader, had shown campaign ads for Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, even though Karroubi's ads "crossed red lines" by showing "prohibited persons".

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