The Latest from Iran (4 March): 19 Days and Counting

2230 GMT: Three more claimed videos of last Tuesday's protests:

"Mousavi, Karroubi Must Be Freed!"

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Iran Special Analysis: Grand Ayatollahs, Rafsanjani, and the Supreme Leader's Struggle for "Authority" (Azadi/Lucas)

At least nine of Qom's 12 Grand Ayatollahs have either rejected the Supreme Leader or have serious issues with him and/or his handling of the Government. Those are not good numbers for a Khamenei who wants to, once and for all, establish his authority atop the Iranian system.

Some might say that the senior clerics are peripheral in a political contest where the President and institutions like the Revolutionary Guard are trying to express and sometimes impose power. However, as long as Iran is an "Islamic" rather than "Iranian" system, the maraje carry at least a significant symbolic role.

The Supreme Leader knows that, which is why the path to Qom has been worn out in the last few weeks. And now he has another date to ponder: the 1st anniversary of the passing of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri is next months, coming only days before the religious ceremony of Ashura. Those who cannot come out on the streets to express political frustration and opposition may be considering such a display for the religious commemoration of Montazeri's death.

Security is declared, but so is the threat of sedition. Current Presidents cannot completely vanquish former Presidents. The dead still retain authority and acclaim while the living desperately seek it.

It is a most curious "stability".

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The Latest from Iran (2 November): Honouring an Un-Free Press

2135 GMT: Speak Up. Darioush Ghanbari, the spokesman of the minority in Parliament, has called on reformists to break their silence and express their viewpoints about the issues facing the country: “In the current situation, it is necessary that reformists, especially the reformist parliamentarians, express their criticisms… because in this way people become informed about the issues and our identity as a political group is recognized in the Majlis.”

2130 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Iran's Deputy Minister of Trade has given shopkeepers a 48-hour ultimatum to "adjust" prices so they will be acceptable.

1740 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Fararu claims that the cleric who requested the release of prominent reformist politician Ali Shakouri Rad was Ayatollah Shobeiri Zanjani (see the claim by Iran's Prosecutor General in yesterday's updates).

Another son-in-law Of Molavi Abdul Hamid, Zahedan's Friday Prayer leader, has been arrested.

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