Iran Cartoon of the Day: Khamenei and Ahmadinejad on a Precipice (Kowsar)

Nikahang Kowsar portrays the significance of the latest skirmishes between the Supreme Leader and the President:

The Latest from Iran (24 April): Noticing Syria

2300 GMT: Apologies for the suspension in service --- EA staff have been on a holiday break this evening with family and friends. We will be back from 0530 GMT with all the latest news.

1500 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Alireza Rajai of the Freedom Movement of Iran has been arrested for "security offences".

1150 GMT: Fashion Wars. Tehran Friday Prayer leader Ahmad Khatami has explained, ""Cultural education and work are not enough to eradicate bad Hijab --- blood must be spilled."

1130 GMT: A Proper Facebook. Tebyan.net, affiliated to the Islamic Propagation Organization of the regime, has announced that it will launch a "social networking" site.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (22 April): More Questions About Intelligence

1805 GMT: our Tehran Friday Prayer Update --- Part 2. Ayatollah Emami Kashani, unlike other Iranian figures like the President, dared to mention this week's dispute over the "resignation" of the Minister of Intelligence.

The Ayatollah said the uproar was all due to "Western media": “Through such acts they intend to suggest there is division and conflict in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

1800 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Ayatollah Emami Kashani steps up to the podium today to pronounce on the Islamic and popular nature of the recent revolutions in the Middle East, explaining saying that violence will not stop the uprisings.

The cleric condemned the silence of Arab leaders over "massacres", “Those who are among the Muslim nations, instead of preventing the killing of the Muslim people of Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and other countries and supporting the people, talk nonsense."

There is no report that Emami Kashani said the word "Syria" in his address.

Click to read more ...

Iran and WikiLeaks 2010: Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai "A Key Advisor for the Increasingly Isolated President"

Ahmadinejad's opponents use the president's relationship with Mashaei for mockery and to score political points. Numerous IRPO contacts have related well known anecdotes about Mashaei's religious views and firm belief in the imminent return of the Twelfth Imam. Among them is the political "urban myth" in Tehran that Ahmadinejad's devotion to Mashaei is said to stem from his belief that Mashaei is in fact in direct contact with the Twelfth Imam. According to these rumors, Mashaei allegedly occasionally enters a trance-like state to communicate with the Twelfth Imam or will sometimes randomly say "hello" to no one at all and then explain that the Twelfth Imam just passed by.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (21 April): The Ping-Pong of Power

2015 GMT: Rumours of the Day (President's Right-Hand Man Edition). Mashregh News says Ahemadinejad confidante Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai is in hospital for diabetes. Fars says he is in good health.

Bottom line: Rahim-Mashai was not with the President on Ahmadinejad's trip to Kurdistan yesterday and today. Any significance?

1400 GMT: International Front. Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah has told Al Arabiya that an alleged Iranian spy cell had explosives to bomb "strategic" facilities: "We are talking about a cell whose task was not only to monitor and record the (US) military presence that is in their view hostile --- the American forces presence on Kuwait lands --- but it exceeded that."

The Foreign Minister claimed the cell, revealed last year, "had explosives and the intention to explode vital Kuwaiti facilities. They had names of officers and they had extremely sensitive information. This indicates bad intentions to harm Kuwaiti security."

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (20 April): Ahmadinejad's Powers of Intelligence?

2140 GMT: Ahwaz Watch. Most Iranian media may be avoiding any reference to clashes in Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran, which activists claim have killed up to 15 people, but the conservative site Tabnak has made an indirect but blunt approach....

Tabnak, linked to Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei, has written that militant Wahhabi groups are being supported by Gulf states to foment separatist unrest in the region and that the British are encouraging this.

Tabnak claims that the "British Ahwazi Friendship Society", a group claiming to promote Ahwazi Arab culture, is co-ordinator of the Wahhabi separatists of the "Arab People's Front".

Click to read more ...

Iran and the Green Movement: Life, Death, Rebirth (Ansari)

These circumstances create space for an emerging opposition committed to the objective of regime change conducted by Iranians in their own interests. This objective is even more evidently on the right side of history in 2011 as it was in 2009. This new Iranian force is intent on broadening its appeal, finessing its organisational structure, and developing a strategic plan. Those who risked their lives by taking to the streets in Iran in 2009 can take pride in the fact that their democratic spirit and bravery helped inspire the wind of change across the Arab middle east. They still aspire to reclaim their country and their destiny.

Click to read more ...

Iran Cartoon of the Day: A New Game of Intelligence (Kowsar)

Nikahang Kowsar portrays the latest power games within the regime, thanks to Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi, President Ahmadinejad, and the finger of the Supreme Leader:

Iran Feature: How the Civil Rights Movement Challenged the Regime...And Then Made A Mistake (Boroumand)

As one thinks back over the breathtaking events that rocked Iran during the middle of this year, one cannot but recognize that there are mistakes which change the course of history. No doubt the decision of the Iranian civil-rights movement to involve itself in the 2009 elections will count as such a mistake. For if it is true that they failed to help the lesser evil win—and some of them are now paying dearly for this failure—it is no less true that they were instrumental in thwarting the Islamic Republic’s plot to usurp popular legitimacy.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (18 April): A Matter of Intelligence --- Ahmadinejad v. Khamenei?

2115 GMT: A Matter of Intelligence. Ali Akbar Javanfekr, former media advisor to President Ahmadinejad and now managing director of State news agency IRNA, reinforces his paper's line (see 2030 GMT): "The lying media, claiming the aupreme leader has refused the change of the intelligence minister, are executing new scenarios against the government and pretending the president isn't loyal to the supreme leader. Changing a minister in such a strategic and important ministry is impossible without coordination between the president and the dear supreme Leader."

2050 GMT: Claim of Day. Tahavol-e Sabz asserts that a domestic flight was cancelled because of the high price of fuel, which has tripled recently. The website says a senior deputy of the Ministry of Oil stopped the flight at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, even though President Ahmadinejad ordered payment on credit for domestic airlines.

Click to read more ...