The Latest from Iran (16 February): The Regime Hits Back

2145 GMT: Punishing the 25 Bahman Error. Opposition websites are reporting that two managers of the conservative Aftab News have been arrested over an incident on Monday.

Aftab briefly reported that a permit had been granted for the opposition rally. The article was quickly pulled and the site taken off-line.

Aftab also reported that Turkish President Abdullah Gul, visiting Iran, had asked to join the march.

2135 GMT: Rafsanjani Chooses a Side? The Assembly of Experts, chaired by Hashemi Rafsanjani, has exalted last Friday's regime celebration of the Islamic Revolution and denounced Monday's opposition rallies as a "counter-revolutionary" movement of heretics supported by the US and Israel.

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The Latest from Iran (15 February): Watching a Revival

2110 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Activist Ali Nabavi, whose wife Atefeh is already imprisoned, has been arrested.

2105 GMT: Deaths on 25 Bahman. Iranian officials are naming a second fatality in Monday's protests, 22-year-old Mohamad Mokhtari, 22, claiming he was shot by the banned Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO)

This morning, the Government also said Sanee Zhaleh, 26, had been killed by the MKO. That claim has also come under pressure with a photograph linking Zhaleh to the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, an opponent of the regime (see 1650 GMT).

2034 GMT: Prediction Come True. We said in our analysis this morning (see separate entry) that the regime would respond to Monday's marches by ramping up the intimidation and arrests.

And so it is already coming to pass. Tahavole Sabz reports a group of pro-Government men gathered in front of Mehdi Karroubi's residence this afternoon, chanting slogans against him.

The crowd assembled after a call by a website linked to the Government for a rally against Mir at Ark Square in front of the Tehran Prosecutor's office against Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, whose effigy was hung. After a few hours, the group moved towards Karroubi's residence.

Karroubi is under effective house arrest, prevented by security forces from leaving his home.

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The Latest from Iran (14 February): It is 25 Bahman

2140 GMT: Something's Missing. Peyke Iran prints the front pages of Iran's newspapers for Tuesday --- surprisingly, the marches of 25 Bahman have disappeared.

2130 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Grand Ayatollah Sane'i, meeting families of political prisoners, has said that today's tyranny is unprecedented in Iranian history.

The families also met Grand Ayatollahs Vahid Khorasani and Mousavi Ardebili.

2125 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mohsen Barzegar and Hossein Zamen Zarrabi,members of the Islamic Association of Nooshiravani University of Babol, have been arrested.

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The Latest from Iran (12 February): The Regime's Day Came and It Went

2240 GMT: Claimed video of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) from the rooftops tonight:

2225 GMT: 25 Bahman. An indication in Fars that the Minister of Interior will reject the request by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi for a permit for Monday's rally --- Mehdi Alikhani-Sadr, deputy director of the Interior Ministry's political bureau, said, "These people are fully aware of the illegality of their demand and they know they will not receive a permit for staging a riot."

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The Latest from Iran (11 February): The Regime's Big Show?

2205 GMT: Claim of the Night. An opposition website asserts, "The word 'Bahman' has been filtered in Iran Farsi Google search."

2145 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mohammad Housein Mehyimni, the son of the former Governor of Golestan Province, has been arrested.

2130 GMT: A New Role. What better way to end 22 Bahman than with a feel-good story?

The Basij militia are providing the dowries of needy brides.

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Iran Video Highlight: Mr Ali Larijani, Champion of Democracy

Iran's Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani summarises the situation in the Middle East for Al Jazeera in 70 seconds. Some of this is Political Rhetoric 101: "Egypt is a military dictatorship", supported by the US and Israel, who prevent the Egyptian Revolution from becoming a success.

But you gotta hand it to the guy: he has a nice line about suppression of dissent by "camels and horses" --- rather than, say, by Basij militia --- and he can keep a straight face as he declares:

In Iran, democracy is a serious matter....People vote, and politicians change according to their will."

Fun Fact: Ali Larijani reportedly called opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi on 12 June 2009, to congratulate Mousavi on his victory over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Presidential election.

The Latest from Iran (9 February): The 25 Bahman Beat Goes On

2120 GMT: Not Worried at All (cont. --- 0925 GMT). Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Hamedani has commented on the proposed march for 25 Bahman (11 February), "The seditionists (opposition leaders) are nothing but a dead corpse and we will strongly confront any of their movements. We definitely consider them as anti-revolutionary and spies, and we will strongly confront them."

The Facebook page supporting Monday's rally now has more than 25,000 supporters.

2050 GMT: Partners. China has signed a $13 billion contract to develop Iran's railway system.

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Wikileaks and Iran: Did Mojtaba Khamenei Rig the 2009 Election? (And Where Did the Cable Go?)

A curious story unfolding today: did the son of the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, worked with the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Abbas Ali Jafari, to manipulate the ballot?

That appears to be the claim, in at least one document released by WikiLeaks and obtained by the Daily Telegraph of London, by at least one Iranian source to US diplomats within days of the vote. But then another mystery starts....

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The Latest from Iran (6 February): A Notable Absence

2300 GMT: The US Hikers. In the first day of their closed-door trial (see 1115 GMT), Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer pleaded not guilty to espionage and trespassing.

The hearing lasted five hours, but there were no details, as all observers --- including the Swiss Ambassador, who represents US interests in Iran --- were excluded and the hikers' lawyer was barred from giving information. The trial for Fattal and Bauer, who were arrested on the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009, was continued to an unspecified date by Judge Salavati.

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Latest from Iran (5 February): Speaking of Egypt....

1700 GMT: Just Asking. Why weren't former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri, Presidential candidate in 1997, at the Supreme Leader's Friday Prayers?

1655 GMT: Reply of the Day. The Expediency Council, which is formally mandated to resolve disputes between branches of the Iranian system, has recently been criticised by President Ahmadinejad for hindering his plans.

The response, according to Green Voice of Freedom: "Mr President, you don't like what we are doing? Change the Constitution".

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