The Latest from Iran (4 June): The Supreme Leader's "Slap in the Face" for His Officials
Monday, June 4, 2012 at 10:22
Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, and President Ahmadinejad at Sunday's ceremonies for the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death
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The Latest from Iran (3 June): The Regime Marks Khomeini's Death
1950 GMT: Death-to-the Rapper Watch. Forty authors of the Rah-e Nikan religious publishing house have promised to forward royalties from their books to whoever kills rapper Shahin Najafi.
Najafi has been targeted by clerics, politicians, and pro-regime activists since he released "Naqi", a song critiquing Iranian politics and society, in May. His critics claim Najafi has dishonoured the name of Naqi, Shi'a's 10th Imam.
1940 GMT: Surveillance Watch. MTN Irancell, a joint venture between MTN Group Ltd of South Africa and an Iranian government-controlled consortium, has obtained sophisticated U.S. computer equipment despite sanctions.
MTN Irancell sourced equipment from Sun Microsystems Inc, Hewlett Packard Co, and Cisco Systems Inc through a network of technology companies in Iran and the Middle East.
Reuters reported in March and April that ZTE Corp, a Chinese telecom-equipment maker, had sold or agreed to ship millions of dollars worth of U.S. hardware and software since 2010 to Iran's largest telecom carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran.
Paul Norman, MTN Group's chief corporate affairs officer, said: "To the best of our knowledge, MTN personnel, directly or indirectly, did not acquire or seek to acquire equipment for use in Irancell's operations in a manner that was intended to avoid or circumvent U.S. sanctions. MTN is committed to compliance with U.S. sanctions, and is working with the U.S. government and its international legal counsel to remain compliant. MTN owns a non-controlling 49% share in Irancell."