The Latest from Iran (13 April): The Movie, The Hidden Imam, and Ahmadinejad's Right-Hand Man

2040 GMT: In an interview with RASA TV, Nooshabeh Amiri speaks about her interview with Said Tajik, the man accused of verbally assaulting Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh Hashemi in February.

Amiri says Tajik, who was briefly detained over the incident, was released out of fear of his supporters. She said he questioned why he had been interrogated and was "very arrogant towards the judiciary".

Amiri has also written an article in Rooz Online about the encounter.

1945 GMT: Setting the Election Rules. Conservative MP Habibollah Asgaroladi tries to set the ground rules for the 2012 Parliament elections --- those who are against the Iranian system (nezam) and the clerical supremacy of velayat-e faqih cannot run. He continues with the observation that reformists are not yet "off the record", i.e., eliminated"; they are, he says, "serious rivals" in the elections.

Click to read more ...

Iran Snapshot: Growing Anger over Rising Energy Prices (Erdbrink/Serjoie)

Iran’s parliament has warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that resentment is building over sharp increases in the price of natural gas, which has risen at least 10-fold on average in recent weeks, and that public protests could follow.

Official media have reported on crowds complaining in the offices of the National Iranian Gas Co. since a two-week national holiday ended April 4. In Tehran, many people are refusing to pay their bills.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (12 April): Questions Without Answers

1930 GMT: Curbing Parliament. A 23-member commission in the Parliament is effectively recommending restrictions on their colleagues through a new bill establishing five punishable offences: three cover "activities against national security, and other clandestine [activities committed by MPs] from the law enforcement perspective".

The new bill also provides a "legal" process for the judiciary to arrest Majlis deputies. This would override article 86 of the Constitution, which gives immunity to the deputies from prosecution.

The interesting question is whether the measures are aimed solely at reformists or whether priciplist critics of the Government --- including Ali Motahari, Elyas Naderan, and Ahmad Tavakoli, a relative of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani --- come be caught up by the "punishable offences".

Click to read more ...

Iran Snapshot: The Charity Auction of Ahmadinejad's Car --- Surprise Ending!

For several months, EA has followed the story of President Ahmadinejad's 1977 Peugeot 504 being sold to raise funds for the Iranian welfare system. 

At the end of February, the vintage car reportedly sold for 25 billion rials (about $2.4 million) to a buyer "who wanted to remain anonymous". The head of Iran's Welfare Organisation said the winner had topped "more than half a million bidders [who] registered on the bidding website, with most saying they were doing so since President Ahmadinejad leads a simple life and because of his anti-arrogance and anti-Zionist stances". The lawyer for the buyer echoed, "My client bought the car because of a personal interest in President Ahmadinejad and his spirit of anti-arrogance and anti-Zionism." 

And now the twist in the tale....

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (11 April): Paying the Bills

2035 GMT: Two pictures from today's demonstration in front of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by Basij militia and other protesters.

Click to read more ...

Iran Story: The Movie, The President, and the "Hidden Imam"

The "End Times" film about the Hidden Imam --- translation is by Reza Kahlili, a US-based critic of the Iranian regime

We begin this morning with a look at a curious, tangled story which has run for several weeks --- it includes a movie, President Ahmadinejad, and the "Hidden Imam", the 12th Imam of Shi'a who will return at some point.

This weekend Ali Asghar Sijani, the producer of a film about the Hidden Imam which has widely circulated on CD in Iran, declared that the epiphany of the 12th Imam is near. He added that the Supreme Leader led the movement welcoming the imminent return, and Ahmadinejad was the prophet Shoaib (a rough parallel in Christianity would be of John the Baptist paving the way for Jesus the Messiah). Sijani said that part of the $15 million cost of the film was funded by the Revolutionary Guards.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (9 April): Ahmadinejad Challenges the Supreme Leader over the President's Right-Hand Man

2010 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Two supporters of the Laleh Park Mothers of Mourning, Jila Karamzadeh and Laila Saifollahi, have each been sentenced to four years in prison.

1710 GMT: The President's Former Right-Hand Man. A bit more context on the battle around controversial Ahmadinejad ally and advisor Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, who officially left as Chief of Staff today....

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, considered a spiritual advisor to Ahmadinejad, reportedly launched a furious attack on Rahim-Mashai. The cleric said the "fitna" (sedition) of 2009 around the Presidential election had ended, but now there was a new fitna on higher level.

And what could that challenge be? In a reference to Rahim-Mashai's promotion of an "Iranian model" for other countries to follow, Mesbah Yazdi asked, "Why replace Islam and Revolution with an Iran School?"

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (7 April): We Have Met the Enemy, and They are Facebook and Twitter

2015 GMT: Line of the Day. President Ahmadinejad gives short shrift to the New Year message from President Obama, "What do you know about Nowruz?"

2005 GMT: Currency Watch. Peymane claims that the Iranian toman has dropped to a rate of 1115 v. the US dollar.

The Iranian Government has been trying to keep the toman's value around 1050 to the dollar. Last autumn, after the announcement of subsidy cuts and amidst sanctions, it intervened with influxes of foreign reserves when the toman fell, on the "free market", to 1200 to the dollar.

Peymane also reports that gold prices are rising amidst economic uncertainty.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (6 April): Subsidy Cuts, Oil, and Politics

2115 GMT: Labour Front. HRANA reports that a protest of Abadan refinery workers over unpaid wages was accosted by security forces.

2000 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Oxford University has dismissed allegations of impropriety in its acceptance of the son of Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mehdi Hashemi, for Ph.D. study.

Critics alleged last month that Hashemi had been accepted even though he had not shown adequate academic standards and language qualifications. They also said he did not meet Oxford's residency requirement.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (4 April): Taking Away Zeroes

1725 GMT: Mona Lisa Watch. The head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization says Tehran has severed all ties with the Louvre Museum because the French art center has not fulfilled a promise to hold an exhibition in Iran.

Hamid Baghaei said that Iran had put on two exhibitions at the Louvre, one showcasing objects from the Safavid era and the other introducing the ancient Persian Civilization, and had given the French until the beginning of the Iranian year (21 March) for an exact date for the exhibition in Iran and a list of the artifacts to be displayed.

1715 GMT: A Stonewall on Oil. Khabar Online, the conservative website linked to Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, features President Ahmadinejad's press conference answer to a question about $11 billion in missing oil funds: "What answer is there to give?"

Parliament's Energy Commission, the Supreme Audit Court, and other conservative publications have all raised questions about the shortfall in oil revenues.

Click to read more ...