The Latest from Iran (4 February): The Supreme Leader's Big Day?

2305 GMT: A Reply to the Supreme Leader. Looks like Ayatollah Khamenei's Friday Prayer has fallen flat with his target audience....

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has issued this response: "[We] regard the revolution as the Egyptian People's Revolution, not an Islamic Revolution....The Egyptian People's Revolution includes Muslims, Christians, from all sects and political [factions]."

2255 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Mehran Faraji has been released on bail after almost two months in detention.

Faraji had worked with the Presidential campaign of Mehdi Karroubi.

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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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Iran Cartoon of the Day: Tehran's Pharaoh (Kowsar)

Nikahang Kowsar looks from Cairo to Tehran and notices the rulers of Iran:

The Latest from Iran (1 February): An Impeachment?

2015 GMT: Mousavi and Karroubi. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have met today, issuing a joint statement that "dictators in the region should listen to people's demands for freedom in Tunisia and Egypt."

The two men called for a halt to executions, and they denounced the Government's economic policy, with hundreds of companies shut down and thousands of workers jobless because of mismanagement.

In the run-up to the forthcoming anniversary of the 1979 Revolution on 22 Bahman (11 February), Mousavi and Karroubi called the Islamic Republic its biggest achievement but one that had gone wrong because some wanted to stay in power and ignore the people.

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The Latest from Iran (31 January): Hatching Freedom

1945 GMT: Execution Watch. Looks like the Iranian authorities are scrambling to justify their sudden execution of Dutch-Iranian national Zahra Bahrami (see separate feature)....

Press TV is claiming it has a video in which Bahrami explains how she concealed cocaine and opium in her house. In the video, Bahrami gives the camera crew a tour of her house, showing them how she concealed drugs in a compartment inside her bed, in cereal boxes and in an electric heater.

The style of the video sounds similar to Press TV's recent "documentary" in which Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose death sentence for adultery has also been condemned internationally, was released from prison to make a "confession" in her home.

The Tehran Prosecutor's Office now claims that, during a search of Bahrami's house, 450 grams of cocaine and 420 grams of opium were uncovered. Previously, Iranian officials said Bahrami was holding a kilogramme of cocaine.

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The Latest from Iran (30 January): Tough Poses, Tough Actions

0845 GMT: One to Watch. Today the Parliament will discuss President Ahmadinejad's open letter criticising the interference of the Majlis, the judiciary, and the Expediency Council with his plans.

0840 GMT: Diplomatic Breakthrough. The Parliament has approved the permanent appointment of Ali Akbar Salehi as Foreign Minister.

Salehi has been in the post since early December, when Manouchehr Mottaki was suddenly dismissed.

0835 GMT: And Another Pose. Hossein Sobhaninia of Parliament's National Security Council says a plan to end relations with Britain has been sent to the Majlis and will probably be discussed before consideration of the 2011 Budget.

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani was quoted in Iranian media on Saturday, “Iran is a powerful country and I believe some of the British politicians are confused about Iran and assume that they can exercise influence in Iran using their past methods.” However, Khabar Online, linked to Larijani, asserted that while the Speaker had received the opinions of different bodies, he believed it was up to Parliament to decide on cutting ties.

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The Latest from Iran (28 January): The President Protects His Man

1020 GMT: Claim of Day. The hard-line Raja News writes that Mehdi Karroubi went to Behesht-e Zahra cemetery today to honor post-election victims but fled after families protested.

1015 GMT: Sedition Watch. Ayatollah Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayer leader in Mashhad, has proclaimed that some fitna (sedition) leaders and activists are trying to "desecrate" the Supreme Leader.

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The Latest from Iran (27 January): No Money for the Babies

2145 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. We started with babies this morning, we'll close with very adult behaviour. Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has attacked former President Hashemi Rafsanjani once again, saying religious seditionists and silent elites must be dealt with. Moslehi declared that he had documents of the 2009 sedition to back up his allegations.

2140 GMT: Parliament v. President. Reformist MP Mostafa Kavakebian has invited President Ahmadinejad to a public discussion about his letter to MPs warning that Parliament, the judiciary, and the Expediency Council were acting wrongly to oppose his plans on the budget and the Central Bank.

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The Latest from Iran (25 January): A Political Conflict Escalates

2145 GMT: Cyber-Watch. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports on how Iranian activists are welcoming the introduction of Google software, include the Chrome browser, Google Earth, and the photo-sharing service Picasa, into Iran.

2140 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rooz Online publishes the English text of the appeal by 133 intellectuals and academics, such as Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, and Jurgen Habermas, for the freedom of Ebrahim Yazdi, the 80-year-old head of the Freedom Movement of Iran detained since last September.

2125 GMT: Leaving the Mayor at Home. Ayande News notes that Tehran has finished third out of five cities nominated for an international award in sustainable transport, awarded in Washington by a US-based non-government organisation. It mentions that Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf was not at the ceremony.

It does not mention why he was absent, however. Qalibaf was denied an exit visa by the Foreign Ministry.

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The Latest from Iran (24 January): Two More Political Executions

Jafar Kazemi2040 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Prominent reformist Ali Shakouri Rad has been released from detention.

Shakouri Rad was arrested last month after he said in a public debate that the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, had congratulated Mir Hossein Mousavi on his "victory" on Election Day in June 2009.

1945 GMT: Claim of Day. President Ahmadinejad speaking in Gilan Province in northwest Iran: targeted subsidy cuts are the work of the 12th (Hidden) Imam.

1940 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and blogger Siamak Ghaderi has been sentenced to four years in prison for “propaganda against the regime”, “disturbing public opinion”, and “spreading lies”.

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