The Latest from Iran (5 September): Admission --- The Sanctions Hurt Both the People and the Regime

See also Iran Feature: Regime to Media "Print Only Hope and Joy About Sanctions"
The Latest from Iran (4 September): Back to Business?

---

0015 GMT: Resistance Watch. Najmeh Bozorgmehr summarises today's International Conference and Festival of Islamic Resistance, with the emphasis of the Supreme Leader's advisor Ali Akbar Velayati on support for Syria as "the golden link of the resistance chain against Israel" (see 1025 GMT).

Bozorgmehr notes that, while the Syrian Ambassador to Iran warned that the "vicious plans" of the US and its allies in the region would lead from overthrow of President Assad to regime change in Tehran, "the Lebanese and Palestinian groups at the conference appeared less concerned with Syria or Iran than with their own struggles".

Click to read more ...

US Politics Feature: Why Romney's Tax Returns Could Decide an Election

Vice President Joe Biden, in a speech on Tuesday, calls on Republican Presidential candidate to release his tax returns

---

What Democrats are looking for is an issue for Obama to embarrass Romney in October debates.

The Obama team will have watched over and over again Romney's performance in the Republican primary encounters, and they must have noticed his discomfort and indecision when Gingrich went after him over the tax returns. Romney was visibly on the defensive when Gingrich goaded him, and his response of publishing only one year's accounts has allowed Democrats to picture a similar scene in October.

Some commentators might regard this interest in Romney's tax returns as irrelevant or misguided, compared to important matters like the economy. But what both campaigns need is a surprise wedge issue. The longer Mitt Romney allows the perception to fester that he is hiding something about his wealth, the greater the chance that he will hand the Democrats the "buzz" they need to prevail on Election Day.

Click to read more ...

Remember Iran Flashback: "The Obama Administration Fails to React" (14 June 2009)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Vice President Joe Biden, 14 June 2009: "Our interests are the same before the election as after the election"

---

In contrast to the drama unfolding on the streets of Iran, the key non-event outside the country is the lack of reaction from the Obama administration. Contrary to the position taken by the Bush administration in cases from the Ukraine to Georgia and Lebanon, there will be no welcoming or encouraging of a velvet revolution in Iran. The Obama administration is, instead, preparing itself to deal with whoever emerges as president. Despite the protestations of Mir-Hossein Mousavi's supporters, this will almost certainly be the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. While the United States would have strongly preferred to be dealing with a Mousavi administration, the basic strategic and political rationale for US-Iranian rapprochement remains unchanged.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (23 May): Nuclear Talks in Baghdad

The European Union's Catherine Ashton meets Iran's Saeed Jalili at today's nuclear talks in Baghdad

See also Iran Snap Analysis: How the Nuclear Talks Developed Today
See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Standing Against Homophobia, Defending Students, and More
Iran Analysis: A Guide to Watching Today's Nuclear Talks
The Latest from Iran (22 May): Tehran Plays Up Hope for Nuclear Talks

---

2050 GMT: Nuclear Watch. After a bilateral meeting between the EU's Catherine Ashton and Iran's Saeed Jalili of almost two hours, discussions have ended in Baghdad for today.

2010 GMT: Nuclear Prediction Comes True. EA this morning:

Iranian media features the line of politicians and clerics that any discussion must begin with a "Western" offer to ease sanctions. That is the requirement for the talks to move to consideration of limits and monitoring of Tehran's enrichment.

Scott Peterson of the Christian Science Monitor this evening:

"The response from the Iranian side is: 'What you are asking for is ... not what we agreed to in Istanbul,'" an Iranian diplomat close to the talks [said[, referring to the demands of six world powers that include Iran capping uranium enrichment and scrapping a deeply buried facility.

Steps were meant to be “reciprocal, simultaneous, and ... balanced” in their value to each side, says the Iranian diplomat. Instead, Iran was told there would be “consideration” of easing sanctions “later,” after Iran made concessions.

EA this morning:

Behind the public pose, there has to be a significant assurance by the Americans and Europeans over sanctions, on the basis that Iran will not demand self-sufficiency in enriching uranium to 20%.

Peterson this evening:

"This is what we were afraid of," says the Iranian diplomat. "No one is going to accept these things this way. [Giving up] the 20 percent and shutting down Fordow [enrichment plant], in return for nothing? Nothing?"

Click to read more ...

Bahrain Live Coverage: Recognising an Independent Journalist

Flashback to Wednesday when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke of "human rights" during the visit by Crown Prince Salman --- Today, Washington followed up further meetings with Salman by renewing arms sales to the Kingdom

See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Uncertainties After the Damascus Bombs
Thursday's Bahrain Live Coverage: "Almost Broken, But Not Entirely So"

---

2019 GMT: Amid clashes including tear gas to disperse marchers, police approach youth in Karzakan:

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (3 December): A Regime Feeling Remorse?

Men and women wait at a Tehran airport for the Iranian diplomats expelled from Britain --- the personnel were taken away before the crowd could welcome them

See also Iran Music Special: The Basij Militia Rap for Occupy Wall Street
Iran 1st-Hand Special: Basij Student's Account of the Attack on the British Embassy
The Latest from Iran (2 December): After the Embassy, It's Back to the Economy

---

2025 GMT: Economy Watch. The Tehran Stock Exchange has been removed from the World Federation of Exchanges.

1935 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. Gholamreza Asadollahi, the head of Parliament's Article 90 Commission has repeated his claim that the Ministries of Trade, Transport, and Economy, as well as the Privatisation Organisation and Customs are involved in the $2.6 billion bank fraud.

Asadollahi said the Aria Group, at the centre of the fraud, was the import agent for subsidised goods 4 the Ministry of Trade ministry and was involved in an illegal permit for the Shiraz-Bandar Abbas railway with the Ministry of Transport.

Asadollahi also said Aria received illegal permits for privatisation of the National Steel Company, Luristan Automotive, and Railway Services.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (2 December): After the Embassy, It's Back to the Economy

Maya Neyestani compares protest and Iran's security forces 2009 with protest and Iran's security forces 2011: "Nah, they are students. Take it easy."

See also Iran 1st-Hand Special: Basij Student's Account of the Attack on the British Embassy
Iran Analysis: The Embassy Attack --- "A Serious Mis-Calculation" by the Regime
The Latest from Iran (1 December): A Spot of Bother

---

2120 GMT: The Embassy Attack. The British Ambassador to Iran, Dominick Chilcott, has given his account of Tuesday's occupation of the Embassy --- interestingly, it matches up with that of one of the Basij militia who took over the building. Chilcott said:

One of our staff was on his own in his keep (safe area) and he barricaded the door with a heavy safe and a bed, and braced himself against the wall. And for 45 minutes he could hear people bashing down the door, smashing the windows and trying to get in because they knew he was there. It must have been a very frightening experience — until eventually the door gave way and they got him.

Chilcott said seven staff --- Iranian accounts say six --- were taken to another building and made to sit quietly, some of them being "quite roughly handled", until they were escorted away by security forces. He said of his experience:

We could hear them trying to smash the doors and buildings down below. But they couldn't get into our part of the building. Except in one point, where they got into one of the consular offices and started a fire. And in the end it was the fire and the smoke coming up onto the third floor corridor which forced us out.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (12 November): The Rise of the "Cotton Hero"

The Revolutionary Guard base, west of Tehran, struck by an explosion today (see 1515 GMT)

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: Friday's "Festival of Loyalty" Opposition Rally
Arab Spring/Iran Special: Is This a Music-Driven Revolution?
The Latest from Iran (11 November): Chest-Thumping

---

2135 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Influential MP Ahmad Tavakoli, a prominent critic of the President, has denied that he asked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stand for election in 2005. He says instead that he stepped aside in favour of a candidacy by Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, now Mayor of Tehran.

Ahmadinejad claimed in a speech last week that a number of important conservative and principlist figures implored him to run for President.

Click to read more ...

4-Point Guide to Obama and Afghanistan: "This is Not a Withdrawal, It is a Limit to Escalation"

1. This is not "a substantial withdrawal". It is a limit to the escalation in the US military presence begun by the Obama Administration soon after it took office.

2. This "withdrawal" is based on an Al Qa'eda puppet show.

3. This is not a Presidential victory over his military advisors, with a full US withdrawal as the eventual outcome.

4. This is a speech looking towards a domestic victory.

Click to read more ...

Afghanistan Feature: Obama to Announce Plans for Troop Withdrawal --- But How Many and How Fast? (Landler/Cooper)

President Obama plans to announce his decision on the scale and pace of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan in a speech on Wednesday evening, an administration official said Monday.

As he closes in on a decision, another official said, Mr. Obama is considering options that range from a Pentagon-backed proposal to pull out only 5,000 troops this year to an aggressive plan to withdraw within 12 months all 30,000 troops the United States deployed to Afghanistan as part of the surge in December 2009.

Under another option, a third official said, Mr. Obama would announce a final date for the withdrawal of all the surge forces sometime in 2012, but leave the timetable for incremental reductions up to commanders in the field — much as he did in drawing down troops after the surge in Iraq.

Click to read more ...