The Latest from Iran (24 September): Rafsanjani, Nukes, Ahmadinejad in New York

Nikahang Kowsar links last night's shutdown of Google and Gmail in Iran to President Ahmadinejad's trip to the US

See also Iran Opinion: Thoughts on the US De-Listing of the "Terrorist" Mujahideen-e Khalq
Iran Interview and Analysis: Ahmadinejad's Show Begins with Washington Post --- An Easy Ride on Nukes, And Nothing on Human Rights
Iran Analysis: Daughter in Prison, Son Back in Tehran --- What Now for Ex-President Rafsanjani?

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2030 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The US Treasury has officially designated the National Iranian Oil Company as "an agent or affiliate" of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, supporting Washington's pursuit of new sanctions on foreign banks dealing with the NIOC.

The Treasury told Congress that there was not enough information at this time to conclude that the National Iranian Tanker Company is linked to the IRGC.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Aleppo --- Expecting the Regime Assault

1810 GMT: Syria. Russia has made a direct threat that any attack on its naval base in Tartous will be met with extreme prejudice:

"If the armed Syrian opposition ventures to implement their threat and to attack the Russian naval supplies and maintenance facility, Russia has ample capabilities in the region now to provide an adequate response. We won't recommend hotheads in the Syrian opposition doing that," a source in the Russian General Staff told the Interfax news agency.

What's fascinating is the source also added a line about the Syrian government having stepped up their support of the base as well.

Also interesting, the word "now," indicating that the Russians have significantly stepped up their ability to strike targets inside Syria.

Still, it's an unverified threat from a low-level anonymous staff member. One would expect any attack on Russian property to be met with force. What's interesting isn't the content of the report - it's the fact that a threat was made in the first place. Whether this was a direct response to a threat from insurgents, or a provocation, is not known.

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The Latest from Iran (24 January): "Iranian Economy is Humming Along Nicely"

Nikahang Kowsar's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad deals with the currency crisis, using a wishing well and "Heads or Tails?"

See also Iran Featured Question: Is the Currency in Free Fall?
The Latest from Iran (23 January): Hibernating While The Currency Falls

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2154 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Former student activist Saeed Razavi Faghih was arrested at Imam Khomeini International Airport and sent to Evin Prison on 18 January.

1924 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar assures,“The sanctions [imposed] by the European Union will not affect Iran and will further deteriorate the economic condition of the European countries. We do not mind the implementation of sanctions by Europe because we have constantly faced such sanctions in the past 30 years."

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has apparently explained how Europe is self-harming with the sanctions by summoning the Danish Foreign Minister. Denmark is the current President of the European Union.

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The Latest from Iran (18 December): Ahmadinejad Throws Down Another Challenge

2050 GMT: Spy Watch. State television has displayed an American-Iranian, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, accused of being spies for the US.

Hekmati said that he had served with US military intelligence in Afghanistan and Iraq, working with the Army's "Advanced Research and Information Center", which "took money from the CIA to certain movies and games designed to change public opinion in the Middle East".

Hekmati "confessed", "[The] plan [of US intelligence] was to initially burn some valuable information, to give it free so that (Iran's) Intelligence Ministry would see the good things and then would contact me."

Iranian State TV showed a card with writing in English identifying the bearer as an "army contractor" and several photos claimed to be of Hekmati. In some, he was in military uniform with US army officers.

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The Latest from Iran (26 October): It's All About US Crimes....

2250 GMT: Reality or Illusion Watch. Prominent Iranian academic Sadegh Zibakalam, speaking at the Tehran Media Exhibit, said the "Islamic Awakening" --- declared by the Supreme Leader to be inspiring movements across North Africa and the Middle East --- is an illusion of the Islamic Republic. Zibakalam said the real significance of events is that Arab people are fed up with dictatorship.

1810 GMT: The Plot. In a speech in South Khorasan Province in eastern Iran, President Ahmadinejad has said the "Iranian nation is very kind and just and does not need to terrorist acts".

Responding to US accusations that Tehran planned the assassination of the Saudi Ambassador to Washington, Ahmadinejad asserted, "Every time the Iranian nation moves toward the peaks of progress, its enemies grab it with their teeth showing." He turned the charge of assassination against others, claiming they had killed Iranian scientists.

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The Latest from Iran (23 October): Qaddafi Visits the Supreme Leader

Today's protest, in front of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, declaring "The End of Wall Street">

See also Iran Special: How Bahrain's Foreign Minister Fed "The Plot" to Top Washington Post Columnist

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2000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Ehsan Mehrabi has been freed after completion of a one-year prison sentence.

Mehrabi was Mehrabi charged with propaganda against the regime after he gave an interview to BBC Persian.

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The Latest from Iran (1 October): Problems with Banks and Oil

See also The Latest from Iran (30 September): Where's the President's Right-Hand Man?

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1845 GMT: Cyber-Question of Day. So who is behind the fake BBC Persian website, with the lead story that its editor raped a female employee, but she returned to work?

1835 GMT: Do You Think the Supreme Leader Knows? Hours after Ayatollah Khamenei opened Tehran's International Conference on the Palestinian Intifada by denouncing the Palestinian Authority's leadership, including Mahmoud Abbas, and its approach to the UN for recognition of Palestinian leadership, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal sang a different tune, even in the cautious wording of the Tehran Times....

The article frames Meshaal's position as "the plan presented by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is worth mulling over", but in expressing his criticism that "the United States and the Zionists exposed their true face as they have started efforts to stymie the plan", the site portrays support for his Palestinian rival:

Meshaal said Abbas is resisting pressure exerted by the U.S. and Israel. “In this moment of history that the true face of the Zionists has been revealed, Mahmoud Abbas and our brothers in the Fatah movement as well as other independent figures should make efforts to achieve unity,” the Hamas political leader stated.

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The Latest from Iran (6 March): Catching Up with the Regime and Rafsanjani

2000 GMT: A Right Nuclear Mess. Looks like Iran has got itself in a real tangle over its first nuclear plant at Bushehr.

Last week reports emerged that Iran was having to withdraw fuel rods from Bushehr, opened last autumn, because of unspecified technical problems.

Although there was some discussion of whether the difficulty was the Stuxnet computer worm, allegedly introduced by the "West" and/or Israel into software running the plant, the issue might have stopped there. But then Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Tuesday denied reports that any fuel has been removed, saying operations at the facility "are running their normal course."

And now the deputy head of Parliament's Energy Commission, Abdollah Kaabi, has given the nuclear tension another stir with accusations against Moscow, contradicting the Foreign Ministry line that all is well. Kaabi said Saturday, “If Russia continues to delay the inauguration of Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) will definitely table a motion to demand compensation from Moscow.”

Kaabi said the Russians had always been “unreliable partners in the course of history”, causing “unacceptable” delays in the project and imposing heavy costs on Iran.

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The Latest from Iran (24 February): The Mousavi-Karroubi Question

2130 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. The debate over Hashemi Rafsanjani's future as head of the Assembly of Experts continues. MP Hojatoleslam Seyed Reza Akrami has jumped in on Khabar Online, declaring that criticism of Rafsanjani is "against law and morality".

2120 GMT: Assessing Crackdowns. Majid Mohammadi, writing for Gooya, offers a sharp analysis of regimes "managing street protests" and setting limits on the killing of dissenters, comparing Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Iran.

2110 GMT: Tonight's Regime Show. The Internet chatter this evening is not about the opposition but about the performance of Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi on national television.

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The Latest from Iran (4 January): Calling a Regime Bluff?

Cartoon: Nikahang Kowsar2035 GMT: He's Coming Alert. Amidst his denunciation of the West in his speech in northern Iran today, President Ahmadinejad also brought this news: the Epiphany of the "Hidden Imam" is very near.

The Hidden Imam is the mystical 12th Imam of Shi'a Islam.

2025 GMT: Parliament v. President (Bank Edition). Iranian Labor News Agency reports that the Parliament is making another attempt to take control of the Central Bank from President Ahmadinejad.

The Majlis is proposing that the head of the Bank, currently named by the President and approved by the Bank's General Assembly, will now have to be approved by Parliament. The Majlis is also altering the membership of the Assembly, although the President will remain the head.

An earlier version of the bill was rejected by the Guardian Council after the Government refused to implement it.

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