The Latest from Iran (8 May): Watching the Cabinet

1920 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. So, after a week of high political crisis, how does a President end his speech at a critical Cabinet meeting?

He congratulates the National Tae Kwon Do Team on its victory in the world championships.

1915 GMT: Cabinet Watch (Bin Laden Conspiracy Edition). So now that Ministre of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has been allowed back into Cabinet meetings by the President, what does he have to say?

Iran’s Minister of Intelligence has accused the U.S. of fabricating its account of Osama Bin Laden’s death, alleging that Bin Laden had died much earlier from health complications....

[Moslehi said] Iran is in possession of “accurate information and reliable and significant documents” regarding Bin Laden’s death. He did not expand on the contents of thesaid documents....

“If the U.S. military and intelligence have truly arrested or killed Bin Laden,” Moslehi said, “why do they not show him to the world? Why do they dispose of his remains at sea?”

“We are of the opinion that the U.S. and its media dictatorship are trying to overshadow the regional uprisings with such news,” Moslehi said. “Furthermore, they are also trying to resolve internal problems such as their economical woes.”

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Iran Flashback: Ahmadinejad, at Cabinet Meeting, Bows to Authority of Supreme Leader

Amidst the growing political conflict in Iran, the President's office has put out its version of today's Cabinet meeting.

The summary starts with the apparent political concession by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, acknowledging the authority of the Supreme Leader:

We all must follow leadership of the supreme jurisprudent, a reference to Office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei....President considered the Guardianship of Supreme Jurisprudent as a most important pivot of Islamic Republic and referring to Leader of the Islamic Revolution‘s statements made the remarks that we will never let the enemies to abuse some interior issues of the country.

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The Latest from Iran (7 May): Message to Mahmoud --- "Say Uncle!"

1235 GMT: On Campus. The Deputy Minister of Science for Research and Technology, Mohammad Mehdi Nejad Nour, has said at least 36 university courses will be changed by September to make them more "Islamic".

Authorities announced last year that Iran would review 12 disciplines in the social sciences, including law, women's studies, human rights, management, sociology, philosophy, psychology, and political sciences, to consider if their contents were too closely based on Western culture. A group of university and seminary experts was appointed to carry out the review.

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Today's Worst Iran Analysis: It's all about (the) US

Esfandiar Rahim-MashaiDavid Ignatius of The Washington Post pronounces on the current crisis between the Supreme Leader and President Ahmadinejad, "When there’s political upheaval in Tehran, it’s often interwoven with the explosive question of possible outreach to the United States."

In other words, the dispute is all because "[Ahmadinejad right-hand man] Esfandiar Rahim] Mashaei is said to have initiated a series of contacts attempting to open a dialogue with the United States".

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Iran Caption Competition: What is the Supreme Leader Thinking?

The Latest from Iran (5 May): Cabinet Confusion

1730 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ali Malihi, a senior member of the alumni organisation Advar Tahkim-e Vahdat, has been released on bail after 14 months in prison.

Malihi has been sentenced to four years for "assembly and collusion with the intention of disturbing the domestic security of the regime, propaganda against the regime, participation in illegal gatherings, publishing falsehoods and insulting the President".

1700 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Another warning to the President, this time from the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari: "In defending the Islamic Revolution, Sepah [the Guards] will not wait for instructions".

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The Latest from Iran (4 May): Economy Watch

2010 GMT: Cabinet Watch. Back to today's confusing chapter in the crisis over the President and his attempted dismissal of the Minister of Intelligence....

The website 7 AM, close to Presidential aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, offers an explanation for why Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi was reportedly at the Cabinet meeting (see 1225 GMT) but did not appear in the photograph issued by the President's office (see 1610 GMT).

7 AM says "an informed source in the President's office (Rahim-Mashai?) denied" that "the President ordered the Minister of Information out of the Cabinet meeting". The source adds that going in and out of the Cabinet meeting "is not unusual".

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The Latest from Iran (2 May): Ahmadinejad Re-Appears

2015 GMT: A Matter of Intelligence. Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times, drawing from a source in Iran, offers this intriguing addition to the story of the political crisis over President Ahmadinejad's attempted dismissal of Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi:

The source, an official in the conservative Islamic Coalition Party, said the President decided to fire Moslehi after being told that both Intelligence Ministry and Revolutionary Guard spies were eavesdropping on [Esfandiar Rahim] Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's in-law and right-hand man, who is mistrusted by hard-liners and right-wing clergy. Many believe Ahmadinejad is positioning Mashaei as his successor after his term ends in 2013.

"Top intelligence commanders of the Revolutionary Guard and Heydar Moslehi bugged the office of Mashaei --- as they must --- and monitored his private and public political behavior," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

Mashaei, himself a former Intelligence Ministry official, discovered the electronic surveillance with the help of the ministry's No. 2, Hassan Abdollahian, the source said. Moslehi fired Abdollahian after discovering his role in divulging sensitive information to the Presidential office.

Told of the surveillance and the firing of Mashaei's confidant, Ahmadinejad on April 17 ordered Moslehi to hand in his resignation, appointing Abdollahian to replace him.

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Iran Special: 5-Point Guide to Ahmadinejad v. Supreme Leader --- What Caused It, What It Means, and What Will Happen

1. IS THIS SERIOUS?

Yes --- as an Iran-based EA correspondent summarised, "It is more than cosmetic and it is more than a minor spat."

For confirmation, look at the signals from all sides. The President's disappearance since last week is more than a "sulk": with his failure to attend meetings of the Cabinet as well as other important bodies like the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, he is effectively boycotting government with his colleagues.

The Supreme Leader staked out his position, first in a letter (leaked to supportive media) and then with a public statement, that he would not accept the forced "resignation" of the Minister of Intelligence, Heydar Moslehi. The Ministry would remain in his domain, not Ahmadinejad's.

And others around and linked to the two sides have staked out serious positions. Clerics, politicians, and officials have supported the Supreme Leader or the Government --- usually the former --- and there have been threats that Ahmadinejad could meet the fate of Iran's first President, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, who was forced from office and barely escaped with his life in 1981.

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The Latest from Iran (28 April): Ahmadinejad Watch

2000 GMT: A Matter of Intelligence. The reformist Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution have issued a statement that the reinstatement of Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi by the Supreme Leader is unconstitutional and paves the way for absolute dictatorship.

1955 GMT: Campus Watch. Claimed footage of a demonstration at Soreh University in Tehran on Wednesday --- students were protesting the presence of security forces which made the campus a "garrison":

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