The Latest from Iran (4 November): Ahmadinejad Punches Back

Iranians demonstrate on the 32nd anniversary of the takeover of the US Embassy

See also Iran-Israel War Talk: "Do We Always Have to Be Taken In By This Transparent Ploy?"
Iran-Israel Opinion: Why Jerusalem Is Making War Noises
The Latest from Iran (3 November): Threats, Threats, More Threats

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2120 GMT: Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Another angle on Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami's address to the faithful (see 1515 GMT), as Fars picks up the warning to the Bahraini and Saudi regimes: "With these crimes, you will have the fate of Qaddafi and the treacherous Saddam."

But, in the end, today's message came back to America: "The US administration has never seen such days of humiliation."

2050 GMT: Economy Watch. Gholam-Reza Mesbahi-Moghaddam, a leading MP on economic affairs, has warned that people will spend part of their support payments for subsidy cuts to buy foreign currencies, which are rising in value against the Iranian currency.

An EA correspondent analyses, "There is much chatter about people buying dollars because of fear of more sanctions and a worsening economy."

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The Latest from Iran (3 February): Glancing at Cairo

2120 GMT: The "Right" Egyptian Revolution. How much is Tehran playing up Egypt? To the point where almost all the story on Press TV's "Iran" section after actually about Cairo....

The military advisor to the Supreme Leader, Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, suggests that some of the opposition figures are not "right" for Iran: “By introducing several people as [protest] leaders, the US is seeking to pave the way for creating rifts amidst the Egyptian nation and to use the outcome to its own advantage.”

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani is also setting out Good and Bad for the demonstrators, warning anti-regime protesters in Egypt over the dangers of a “secular revolution".

So what is the right path? MP Gholam-Reza Mesbahi-Moghaddam helps out, “Thanks to the Islamic Revolution, Islam and Shiism is cultivating in the world and this revolutionary culture is Islamic.”

The Foreign Ministry says it is monitoring the "wave of Islamic awakening".

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The Latest from Iran (24 September): Back to Life, Back to Reality

1315 GMT: A Rafsanjani Move on Political Prisoners? Rooz Online offers an English translation of its article on former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's 3 1/2-hour meeting this week with families of political prisoners. It provides this intriguing quote from Rafsanjani, taken from his website, on the dynamics of a visit to the Supreme Leader:

If I communicate your requests to government authorities, I am not sure I will get a positive response and in fact this may produce the opposite response....The esteemed leader had issued suitable instructions regarding the speedy examination of the prisoners’ cases and also on respecting their legal rights, which could solve many of the current problems....

I hope that this will not be a futile effort.

What makes this intriguing --- and Rooz notes this --- is that it is a follow-up to Rafsanjani's meeting last month with Ayatollah Khamenei, in which he directly handed the Supreme Leader files of political prisoners, insisting to Khamenei's office that he had to give them to the Supreme Leader personally.

As we later reported from reliable sources in Iran, Khamenei refused to look at the files in front of Rafsanjani. The frustrated former President later told members of his Kargozaran Party, "I won't bear this situation."

So is this a renewed attempt by Rafsanjani to "push" the Supreme Leader?

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