The Latest from Iran (30 August): The Big Names Arrive at the Non-Aligned Summit

Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi at the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement this morning

See also Iran Document: The Supreme Leader's Speech to the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement
The Latest from Iran (29 August): Side-Stepping Syria at the Summit

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1630 GMT: Summit Watch. We have already noted that Iranian media have censored Egyptian President Morsi's remarks on Syria (see 1520 GMT). Now it appears that outlets are re-writing the speech....

Khabar Online claims that Morsi issued a warning of "sedition" against the Syrian people and said all should hope that the "popular" regime remains in power.

There is also scepticism over the headline of Fars that Morsi, soon after his provocative statement at the Non-Aligned Movement's summit criticising "bloodshed" in Syria and supporting the opposition to the "oppressive" regime, "Egypt Thinks of Iran as a Strategic Partner".

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The Latest from Iran (29 August): Side-Stepping Syria at the Summit

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon meets the Supreme Leader today

See also The Latest from Iran (28 August): The Propaganda Display at the Summit

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2040 GMT: Summit Watch. Looks like the meeting between United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the Supreme Leader was quite feisty for a diplomatic encounter....

Ayatollah Khamenei replied to Ban's concerns on the nuclear issues (see 2015 GMT) with the challenge that the United Nations is "defective", given the "dominance" of the US and its allies in the Security Council.

The Supreme Leader also spoke at length on Syria and "the victimisation of the innocent people of this country", criticising "a flood of weapons" to "irresponsible groups" and the opposition for a "proxy war".

Ayatollah Khamenei's website did not present his responses to Ban's comments on human rights issues and "offensive and inflammatory statements" on Israel.

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The Latest from Iran (28 August): The Propaganda Display at the Summit

The car in which an Iranian nuclear scientist was killed is displayed atop a platform at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Conference Center (Photo: Barbara Slavin)

See also The Latest from Iran (27 August): Meanwhile, Away from the Non-Aligned Summit....

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2035 GMT: Sedition Watch. Yadollah Javani, the head of the Political Bureau of the Revolutionary Guards, has declared that former President Mohammad Khatami was the head of the 2009 "sedition" and pronounced that the system will not allow him 2 run for office again.

1900 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. General Massoud Jazayeri, the deputy head of armed forces, has said the Islamic Republic will hit back at the blocking of Iran's assets by the US:

If it takes 50 years, we will take back the frozen assets in the US even if by force.

The blocking of the assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran is economic terrorism and financial theft in which, unfortunately, the US is adroit like in other forms of terrorism and physical elimination of human beings.

They should be sure that we will seize back our assets from the Great Satan. It will not take long before the tables are turned to Iran's interests and the evil regime of the US will have to give many times more than Iran's frozen assets back [to the Islamic Republic] and the American people should take note of this issue.

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The Latest from Iran (21 August): All Hail the Supreme Leader

2214 GMT: Military Watch. An Iranian commander, Mohammad Hosseini, has said that the Islamic Republic has started construction of its largest air defence base.

Hosseini said the base in Fars Province in southern Iran would be built at the cost of $300 million and will have 6,000 personnel.

Rahim Zare', an MP for the area, said, "This air defense site will be the product of the achievements gained in all areas of science in the world."

2206 GMT: Human Rights Watch. Iranian officials have written the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, to call on the UN Human Rights Council to investigate the alleged support of Western states for "terrorists" in Syria.

"It is much clear that certain western countries along with their regional allies intend to change the Syrian government at any price and they don't pay any heed to the bloody and inhumane consequences of this seditious measure whose painful manifestations are already evident," the letter asserted. "We demand your Excellency to compile a report on the role of such countries in equipping and arming the terrorists in Syria, which has had a direct effect in increasing the number of human rights violation cases in the country and committing of crimes against humanity, and inform the world of its results."

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The Latest from Iran (11 August): US Uses Syria for More Sanctions

See also Iran and Syria Audio Feature: Why Tehran's Conference "Stunt" Means Little --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
The Latest from Iran (10 August): The Regime Fights Isolation

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1955 GMT: Earthquakes in the Northwest. The death toll in the two earthquakes which hit northwest Iran has risen to 180, with 1300 people injured.

The earthquakes, measuring 6.3 and 6.4 on the Richter scale, struck near Tabriz in East Azerbaijan.

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The Latest from Iran (8 August): A Short Break for the Olympics

The family of Omid Norouzi celebrate his Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling

See also Iran Analysis: Is This the Last Elected President?
Iran Snap Analysis: Scrambling Over Syria
The Latest from Iran (7 August): The Currency "Situation"

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2017 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front). Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has published a statement "announc[ing] Iran’s readiness to host a meeting of countries committed to immediately implementing these steps in hopes of ending the violence...[and] reiterat[ing] our willingness to facilitate talks between the Syrian government and the opposition and to host such a dialogue".

That is not new --- Salehi has said this on several occasions in recent weeks. What is new is the outlet: an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

And what is even more distinctive is Salehi's recognition --- the first I can recall from a high-ranking Iranian official --- of the legitimacy of protest against the Syrian regime:

When the Islamic Awakening — also known as the Arab Spring — began in December 2010, we all saw people rising up to claim their rights. We have witnessed the emergence of civic movements demanding freedom, democracy, dignity and self-determination.

We in Tehran have watched these developments with delight. After all, a civic movement demanding the same things that many Arabs want today is what led to the emergence of our Islamic Republic in 1979. During the past three decades, Iran has consistently underlined that it is the duty of all governments to respect their people’s demands. We have maintained this position as the Islamic Awakening has unfolded.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Inaction is a "Licence for Further Massacres"

Protesters in Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Damascus tear down a poster of President Assad --- 13 refugees reportedly were slain on Friday by Syrian security forces

See also Bahrain Opinion: The Regime's Propaganda Machine is Cranked Up to Eleven
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A New "Massacre"?

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2039 GMT: Syria. Journalist Martin Chulov adds this important note to his published article on the mass killing in Tremseh (see 2009 GMT):

Spoke to 2 #Tremseh residents present during massacre. They said some attacking soldiers tried to defect & were executed #Syria

— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) July 14, 2012

2009 GMT: Syria. A far different account by Martin Chulov of The Guardian than that in The New York Times (see 1905 GMT) about Thursday's mass killing in Tremseh....

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 140 Die as US and Russia Talk of "Plan B"

Claimed eyewitness testimony to Wednesday's mass killings in al-Qubair in Syria's Hama Province

See also Syria Transcript: Kofi Annan's Speech to the UN General Assembly
Palestine Feature: The "Lost" Refugees on the Iraq-Syria Border
Yemen Feature: Who are the Competing Factions?
Turkey Live Coverage (7 June): Politics and Pressure over the Kurdistan Talks
Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Spread of the Conflict

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2030 GMT: Syria. Back from an extended academic break to find that UN monitors returned to their base in Hama after being unable to visit the site of Wednesday's mass killing in the village of al-Qubeir.

Meanwhile, State news agency SANA has posted the regime's presentation of the slayings:

Several people from Mazraat al-Qubeir and Marzaf villages in Hama countryside narrated the horror and crimes which were committed by the armed terrorist groups against them, revealing the reality of the horrific crime which took place in their village last night as 9 citizens were killed with cold blood.

In phone calls with the Syrian TV, Abu Hawash, a citizen from Mazraat al-Qubeir village, said that armed terrorists who had RPG launchers and PKC machineguns stormed the area and attacked children and women, calling on the Syrian army and law-enforcement forces to protect them from the terrorists.

Another citizen denounced the bloody satellite channels which are counterfeiting the truth to serve their interests.

For his part, Abu Mohammad said an armed terrorist group infiltrated to Mazraat al-Qubeir and killed 9 citizens, adding that after the crime took place, the residents called the authorities to protect them.

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Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protest Renewed in Cairo, Ever-Present Beyond Damascus

Al Jazeera English on Saturday's events in Egypt, from the sentencing of former President Mubarak to mass protests

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: "I Was Tortured by Prince Nasser"
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Largest Protests Ever?

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2025 GMT: Libya. Members of an elite unit set up by the Government to rein in militias have been accused of kidnapping and severely beating a prominent surgeons.

Salem Forjani, a heart surgeon working for the Ministry of Health, was seized on 17 May when he went to Tripoli Medical Centre to carry out the Ministry's order to remove the director, who was accused of links with the Qaddafi regime.

Instead, Forjani was confronted by members of the Government's Supreme Security Committee, who dragged Forjani through the hospital, beating him unconscious in front of the staff.

A fellow medic photographed Forjani being carried, shirtless and spreadeagled, down the hospital's ambulance ramp while an SSC soldier threatened to shoot unarmed hospital security staff giving chase.

The SSC troops bundled the doctor into a car and incarcerated him in a base at Naklia, a suburb of Tripoli, where he was beaten and kicked so hard in the groin that he was left with a ruptured testicle. For five days neither his family nor the Ministry of Health could find him or get confirmation that he was still alive.

Finally, after Forjani had been moved to a second facility, at Tripoli's Mitiga Airport, the SSC contacted the Ministry and released him.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: After the Houla "Massacre", Another 60 Deaths

A rally in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Saturday night with a message about the Houla "masscare", "These are our martyrs, we will never forget them"

See also Bahrain Live Coverage: Regime on Human Rights "You Are Biased. P.S. We'll Sue You"
Saturday's Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 50 Die in Houla; A Presidential Run-Off in Cairo

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2200 GMT: Syria. The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria say 51 people have died today, including 11 children, four women and six defected soldiers

The toll is likely to increase if the death toll from today's shelling of Hama is as high as feared --- so far the LCCS only claim 25 slain in Hama Province.

2034 GMT: Syria. Activists are reporting on social media tonight that at least thirty people have been killed in regime shelling of Hama.

Opposition sources said the shelling began in the morning on areas near the northern entrance of the city, after a series of insurgent attacks on army roadblocks in the city, and resumed in the evening on the southern al-Malaab district.

Footage has been posted of some of the victims (Warning: Graphic).

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