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Entries in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (808)

Saturday
Feb252012

The Latest from Iran (25 February): A Far-from-Simple Election

A man sweeps up discarded flyers for the Parliamentary campaign

See also Iran Snapshot: Expecting an Unhappy New Year in Tehran
Iran Analysis: Elections and Power --- This is More Than The Supreme Leader's Show
Iran Document & Snap Analysis: The IAEA Report on Tehran's Nuclear Programme
The Latest from Iran (24 February): Here a Deviant Current, There a Deviant Current


1735 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. Voice of America has posted video of Amir Mansour Khosravi, the man at the centre of the $2.6 billion bank fraud, detailing bribes of 600 billion Toman (then about $500 million) to officials from Transport, Industry, & other Ministries, as well as banks.

1725 GMT: Elections Watch. Digarban notes conservative and principlist bloggers who are calling for an election boycott next Friday, including Ahmad Najmi from Qom, Mohammad Saleh Meftah of "Tribune of the Disenfranchised", and Hesameddin Motahari of "Ketab-e Esha".

The pro- Ahmadinejad "Armanshahr" (Utopia) and "Khat-khati" (Criss-cross Lines) blogs also doubt that the Parliamentary vote will have any value for people.

Click to read more ...

Saturday
Feb252012

Iran Analysis: Elections and Power --- This is More Than The Supreme Leader's Show

This week there has been a sudden bandwagon of comment that the Supreme Leader is the only man in town when it comes to Iranian politics.

So that's it, then? Not just the elections but all the political conflict of the last three years has been a show, with Ayatollah Khamenei sitting comfortably in power the entire time?

Not quite.

Click to read more ...

Friday
Feb242012

The Latest from Iran (24 February): Here a Deviant Current, There a Deviant Current

See also Iran Document & Snap Analysis: The IAEA Report on Tehran's Nuclear Programme
Iran 1st-Hand Video: A 53-Minute Look at Life, Politics, and the Economy
The Latest from Iran (23 February): Don't Panic!


2045 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Dr. Sadegh Akhoundi, associate professor in the Department of Orthodontics at Tehran University's School of Dentistry, has been arrested.

1950 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Police in Sanandaj in northwest Iran arrested dozens of people at a meeting of a mountain climbing group last Friday.

The reason for the detentions is not clear.

Since the arrests, families of those arrested have gathered daily outside the Intelligence Office for news. A source said the Intelligence Office has promised the families to release the detainees on bail of about 40 million Toman (about $2000) each.

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
Feb222012

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Death of A Journalist

Marie Colvin, the journalist for The Sunday Times killed in Syria today, speaks to CNN on Tuesday about the death of a baby in Homs

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: US Activist Radhika Sainath "Joining the Protests, Being Detained"
Syria Feature: Homs --- Dying Without Food, Medicine, or Supplies

Syria Special: Points to Consider When Arming an Opposition
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "A City of Torture"


2015 GMT: In Idlib in Syria, a gunman fires in the direction of the cameraman who screams, "Damn it, that was right beneath me!":

Protesters at Aleppo University raise the Syrian "Flag of Independence" today:

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Feb212012

The Latest from Iran (21 February): Please Vote

See also Iran Audio Feature: Scott Lucas with the BBC on "War" and the Nuclear Programme
Iran Snapshot: The Difficulties of Getting Around Sanctions
The Latest from Iran (20 February): A Meeting with the Supreme Leader?


1830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Mahsa Amirabadi has been sentenced to a prison term for the second time in the past two years.

Amrabadi was given a five-year term, four of it suspended, for “assembly and collusion against national security". She wass charged with refusal to denounce opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi; attendance at gatherings of political prisoners to read the Qur'an; interviews and writing reports for newspapers; visits to independent members of the clergy; and defence of the rights of her husband, detained journalist Masoud Bastani.

Amrabadi, sentenced to one year in prison soon after the 2009 Presidential election, was arrested in March 2011 by intelligence officers of the Revolutionary Guards and released on bail.

Amrabadi's husband, Massoud Bastani,has been sentenced to six years in prison for his journalism.

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Feb212012

Iran Snapshot: The Difficulties of Getting Around Sanctions (Zeb Khan)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad & Pakistan President Asif Ali ZardariSanctions-hit Iran has been offering new trading agreements to countries in an effort to skirt around the restrictions but it may be reluctant to extend the same to Pakistan, according to sources.

“We are ready to export the 200,000 tons of rice that Iran needs but its tariff and non-tariff barriers and unwillingness to agree to a currency swap arrangement stand in the way,” the president of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan, Javed Islam Agha, said on Sunday.

Click to read more ...

Monday
Feb202012

The Latest from Iran (20 February): A Meeting with the Supreme Leader?

See also Syria Audio Feature: Iranian Rappers Sing for the People of Homs
Iran Snapshot: The Economy --- "How Am I Going to Live Like This?"
The Latest from Iran (19 February): "The Islamic Republic Does Not Need a Supreme Leader"


2225 GMT: Apologies for limited service today, as EA staff have been travelling and giving presentations. We will be back from 0600 GMT with latest news.

1125 GMT: Diplomacy Watch. In contrast to (or possibly alongside) the military posturing, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi continues to pave the way for nuclear talks with the US and other powers:

Neither European countries nor Iran can disregard the need for mutual cooperation because we are both complementary to each other, Salehi told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day conference on relations between Iran and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in Tehran on Monday.

The top Iranian diplomat further said that enhanced economic ties with all countries is among the priorities of Iran's foreign policy, stressing that Tehran attaches importance to bolstering relations with neighboring countries as well as the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).

Click to read more ...

Friday
Feb172012

The Latest from Iran (17 February): The Political Battle

See also Iran Feature: Saeed Malekpour, A Web Designer Condemned to Die
The Latest from Iran (16 February): Cutting Off the Opposition, A Year Later


1903 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the European Union's foreign policy representative Catherine Ashton have welcomed Tuesday's letter from Saeed Jalili, of Iran's National Security Council, proposing a renewal of talks about Iran's nuclear programme.

Clinton said the letter was "one we have been waiting for", while Ashton said she was "cautious" but "optimistic" that talks could resume.

Both women said that they were still studying the reply.

1855 GMT: Budget Watch. Moayed Hosseini-Sadr of Parliament's Budget Committee has claimed that the Government has given 600 billion Toman (about $320 million) of its budget to "unknown foundations led by influential people".

Click to read more ...

Thursday
Feb162012

The Latest from Iran (16 February): Cutting Off the Opposition, A Year Later

Nikahang Kowsar portrays the competition for votes and influence between President Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader>


2130 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. State outlet IRNA features President Ahmadinejad's photo opportunity with his Pakistani colleague Asif Ali Zardari during tripartite meetings between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran in Islamabad.

There are no details in the article, only the rhetorical posture: "The presidents of Iran and Pakistan have emphasised the Western and colonial conspiracy against peace and stability in the region, creating insecurity to prevent the development of independent countries. They stressed the need for vigilance by the governments and peoples of the region.

Click to read more ...

Thursday
Feb162012

Iran Snap Analysis: The Political Truth Behind Ahmadinejad's Nuclear "Breakthroughs"

President Ahmadinejad seized the headlines on Wednesday with his double declaration of Iran enriching uranium to 20% for its Tehran Research Reactor, producing medical isotopes, and installing new, faster centrifuges at the Natanz facility for the first step of enriching the fuel to 3.5%.

Clear away the grandstanding, however, and both postures are more show than substance. Iran has repeatedly said it will enrich uranium to 20% at home, thus avoiding the need to import it from suppliers who can withhold it at any point --- Ahmadinejad and Tehran's officials made also the exact same declaration on the 2010 anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. And the President was also posing in front of a new centrifuge around the same date.

What was more significant than any supposed "breakthrough" was the juxtaposition of the President's announcement with another development. Saeed Jalili, the head of the National Security Council, sent another letter to Catherine Ashton, the representative for the European Union, proposing a resumption of talks on nuclear issues. Ashton said she is consulting with the "5+1" Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China) over a response.

So once more the Islamic Republic, or at least Ahmadinejad, puts out its line --- we will negotiate, but we are negotiating from strength. In fact, that strength is illusory, as Iran's nuclear programme is hindered by lack of uranium and technical difficulties, but the illusion has to be created if there are to be any discussions.

That is doubly so because it is Election Season in Iran, with less than three weeks to go before the Parliamentary votes. And so Ahmadinejad's pose yesterday was as much for domestic support as it was for foreign consumption. 

Whether it works is an open question, of course. But so is this: to what extent does the President have the Supreme Leader behind him when he takes the podium? And given the domestic rivals who have undercut him since October 2009, when he came closest to a deal with the Americans and their allies, does Ahmadinejad --- if he is genuine in his search for a settlement --- have any hope of more than a posture?

While we are talking about illusion and reality, let's also note the Wednesday declaration that soon fell apart. Trying to give the impression of strength, the Ministry of Oil puffed that Tehran was cutting off oil exports to six European countries.

Soon, however, reality jumped in --- if Iran wants to punish the European Union before the EU's suspension of oil from Tehran takes effect on 1 July, it will have to take an immediate hit in revenues. So the six countries soon became two, with four more on a "warning". And by the end of the day, six was zero as a well-placed official said no suspension was being implemented.

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