The Latest from Iran (3 April): Protesting Discrimination

Young Iranian men criticise racism against Afghans, with one of the signs declaring, "I am also an Afghan" (see 0610 GMT)

See also The Latest from Iran (2 April): Talking About Oil

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1840 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Peyman Aref has been released from prison.

Aref, held on six occasions since the disputed 2009 Presidential election, was released in October 2011 after serving a year and receiving 74 lashes, but he was seized again in mid-March.

1805 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. Masoud Jayazeri, the deputy head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has declared, "In the face of any attack, we will have a crushing response. In that case, we will not only act in the boundaries of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, no place in America will be safe from our attacks."

Jayazeri added that Iran would not strike any country first.

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Iran Analysis: "The Supreme Leader Has Tied His Fate to That of Ahmadinejad" (Siavashi)

Ahmadinejad's domestic opponents, including the Supreme Leader would like to contain Ahmadinejad, and I am certain that if it was politically expedient or even possible, they would have already done so.

The problem for the Supreme Leader, is that he made some judgement calls which have reduced his options. He has essentlally cornered himself. He cannot get rid of Ahmadinejad without the potential of incurring potentially fatal damage to his own reputation.

Ayatollah Khamenei's fate is, in this way, tied to Ahmadinejad's.

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Iran Special: Taking Apart the Supreme Leader's Speech --- Another Perspective (Correspondent)

Internally, there were at least three significant things the Supreme Leader said:

A) “Contrary to the opinion of some, rationality doesn’t call us to try to reconcile with the enemy and step back; no, the very opposite, it is rational to stand fast and hold our ground” --- in other words,  no detente with America, gentlemen. Khamenei's declaration of this means there had to be some discussions of rapprochement with Washington within the circles of power;

B) the spirituality reference --- a jab at President Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai perhaps but I can’t read it exactly

C) “Those whose views differ from ours but who don’t betray or try to topple the regime –-- they have to be treated justly”. This may be an answer to former President Mohammad Khatami’s plea for reconciliation and/or a signal for former President Hashemi Rafsanjani that he is welcome again.

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Iran Special: Taking Apart the Supreme Leader's Speech on "Uprisings" (Siavashi)

It is in Khamenei's consideration of what is "new" --- the uprisings in the Arab Spring --- that the significance of this speech lies.

For the Supreme Leader has to go through the looking glass to explain why these demands for rights, justice, and legitimacy of rulers are very, very good from Tunisia to Bahrain and, at the same time, to portray why they are very, very bad in his own country. In that looking glass, however, there is no resolution, only the paranoia, delusion, arrogance, and hypocrisy that mark Khamenei even as he pays homage to his predecessor and the Islamic Republic.

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Iran and the Real Net Effect: A First-Hand Response to the Pessimists (Siavashi)

While Evgeny Morozov uses the medium of Twitter to get out his essential  information --- "During our interview today David Frost discovered that in Russian 'Morozov' means 'son of frost'. He denies the rumor!" --- others are using the technology from different motives.

They are doing so, often in defiance of the control and repression that occupies Morozov, to change the world.

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