Iran Feature: Naming the Officials in the Attacks on Karroubi's House and Qoba Mosque

In the five nights before Qods (Palestine) Day on 3 September, the residential complex of opposition cleric Mehdi Karroubi was surrounded by a pro-regime crowd. Violence escalated until, on the fifth night, a group tried to storm Karroubi's apartment. Several people were injured; Karroubi's bodyguard was reported to have been seriously wounded.

On Qods Day, a pro-regime crowd launched an assault on Qoba Mosque in Shiraz, the base of opposition cleric Ayatollah Dastgheib. They entered the mosque, injuring worshippers and forcing the abandonment of services.

Now Tagheer website, linked to Karroubi, claims that Mohammad Larijani, Governor of Shemiranat country in Tehran Province, was involved in the assault on the Karroubi home. It adds that Mohammad Larijani was in regularly telephone contact with Morteza Tamaddon, Governor of Tehran, reporting on the attacks from the scene.

On the Qoba Mosque front, Arshama3's Blog posts the list from opposition websites of 41 alleged attackers. Of the 41, only Hojatoleslam Voldan has been arrested; he was released on 25 September on bail.

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The Latest from Iran (27 September): Corruption and Economic Crisis

2034 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, at his press conference for Iran's judiciary, said officials were following up the claims of torture in detention made by Hamzeh Karami, former aide to Hashemi Rafsanjani and managing editor of the website Jomhouriyat.

Karami had written a five-page letter about his treatment in prison, parts of which came out in the opposition media. Rafsanjani also personally presented Karami's file to the Supreme Leader and asked for his intervention.

2030 GMT: Oil Squeeze. Earlier today (see 1520 GMT) we reported on the warning by Hamid Katouzian, the chair of Parliament's Energy Commission, that Minister of Oil Masoud Mirkazemi might be impeached if he defied the Majlis over international treaties. 

That was not all. Katouzian also took apart Mirkazemi's public claim that Iran was rapidly becoming self-sufficient in gasoline production, warning that such a push --- with measures such as conversion of petrochemical plants --- could be harmful in the long term to the country.

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Iran Analysis: How Secure is Ahmadinejad?

The Los Angeles Times parallels our analysis with an article this morning, "Iran is Far From United Behind Mahmoud Ahmadinejad".

And this passage in a Council on Foreign Relations interview with Professor Kaveh Ehsani, who is based at Chicago's DePaul University, is striking:

I don't think Ahmadinejad is in such a strong position. In fact, nobody is in a strong position in Iran at this moment.

It's very unclear who has the ultimate legitimacy. The population seems to be highly angered, disillusioned with a lot of the leaders. The Green Movement leaders --- [Mir Hossein] Mousavi and [Mehdi] Karroubi, the two presidential candidates who were the victims of the rigged elections --- seem to have retained their popular support among those who are unsatisfied with the system, but we don't know how strong these sentiments are because there is no way to measure it. There are no opinion polls, there is no free media. All the oppositional press has been suppressed.

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The Latest from Iran (23 September): Sending Out the Message, Cutting Off the Message

1559 GMT: Propaganda of Day. So I'm watching Press TV for a hint of when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will take the podium at the UN and these glorious shots of high-technology plants and hard-working engineers appears....

"The proud Iranian nation has accomplished another ground-breaking feat: the beginning of gasoline production in six petrochemical plants....Self-sufficiency in gasoline production is now within reach. The National Iranian Petrochemical Company. 'Yes, We Can'."

1555 GMT: Another Russia Snub? Novosti, via Peyke Iran, reports that President Medvedev has banned Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi and Iranian nuclear officials from entering Russia.

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The Latest from Iran (22 September): Sedition and Treason

2055 GMT: Claim of the Day. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz offers a story which matches our analysis that the Obama Administration is looking to resume talks with Iran on the uranium enrichment issue and on other regional matters from the Middle East to Afghanistan:

Diplomats from the United States and Iran have begun initial contacts to examine the establishment of covert communication between the two countries.

Sources in New York told Haaretz that the two sides secretly convened at the United Nations headquarters in New York, as preparations continue for the UN General Assembly on Thursday. American and Iranian officials discussed a U.S. initiative to establish unofficial diplomatic relations.

2050 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Theology lecturer Ahmad Ghabel, who was recently returned to prison, has put out the message that his renewed detention is because of his revelations of widespread executions at Mashhad Prison.

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The Latest from Iran (20 September): A Quieter Monday --- So Far

1915 GMT: Clerical Challenge. Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani, in his latest criticism of the Government, has said that Iran's main problem today is the lack of tolerance for opposition votes and opinions. He added that "unfortunately" religions are abused to confront civilisations and people instead of supporting dialogue and rapprochement.

1900 GMT: Fact-Checking. Earlier we cast some doubt on the President's ability to tell the truth. Looks like his 1st Vice President might also need some help....

Mohammad Reza Rahimi, on the eve of scheduled subsidy cuts, has said that inflation is single-digit (official rate 10,4%) and rice is imported only to cover deficiencies (Iran's heavy imports of rice and sugar have led to widespread bankruptcy of domestic producers).

Meanwhile Iran's banking experts have called published inflation data "an insult to people's intelligence". One said, "You have to add 15% due to subsidy cuts to the official rate of 10%."

1850 GMT: Parliament v. President. Reformist Emad Afrough strikes back at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "I Rule" statement with a call to fellow legislators to get tough.

Afrough said it is a reality that the Majlis is not at the head of affairs, even though it should be and would be had it not retreated from its rights in many cases. He calls on the Parliament to demand "why Ahmadinejad talks like this and why he falsifies Imam Khomeini's words" about the need for an Iranian legislature to prevent government becoming a dictatorship.

It's not just reformists speaking out. Key conservative Hossein Sobhani-Nia has also said that Khomeini's injunction is "not temporary" and announced that a joint Majlis-Government-Guardian Council commission on the legal powers of the three bodies will discuss Ahmadinejad's latest statement. 

On the clerical front, Isfahan Friday Prayers leader Mohammad Taghi Rahbar has warned that no one should "freely interpret" Khomeini's words, for what he said about the government and Majlis was "still valid". Isfahan's head of seminary Ayatollah Mazaheri declared that "insults against the Majlis are not acceptable".

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The Latest from Iran (19 September): While the President's Away....

1920 GMT: Striking Back. Mehr News posts responses from eight members of Parliament, ranging from conservative to reformist, on the President's recent remarks about his office and the Majlis. The summary --- "A number of lawmakers have criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent claim that the executive branch of government is more important than the legislature" --- is far milder than the comments summarised. 

An example? Key MP Ali Motahari's statement, "Among the three branches of government, the parliament is still on top of affairs and has the authority to impeach the president and remove him from office."

1850 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Majid Tavakoli, detained since December, has reportedly met his family for the first time in two months.

Tavakoli's sentence of 8 1/2 years in prison was confirmed last week by an appeals court. Last month, he and 16 other political prisoners went on hunger strike; one of their demands was the restoration of visits with relatives.

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Iran Analysis: Karroubi's Challenge --- Who Acts and What Happens Next?

The President, as he presses on with his appointments, his rhetoric, and his journeys --- "Look at Cyrus the Great." "Now Look at Me." --- has thrown the Supreme Leader's intervention for unity back at his feet. 

So after Rafsanjani put out his coded jab at Ahmadinejad at the Assembly of Experts this week, after Karroubi tossed in his brick of a letter, and after the President persists in his grandstanding, does the Supreme Leader finally set aside a "unity" which is not happening? Does he point the finger at the Larijanis --- or others in the establishment --- and say....

"Will not someone rid me of this troublesome....?"

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Iran Breaking: Karroubi Intervenes with Letter to Rafsanjani "Take Charge"

UPDATE 1910 GMT: Rah-e-Sabz has published the full text of the Karroubi letter to Rafsanjani.

BBC Persian is reporting that opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi has made a pointed intervention with a letter to former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, in Rafsanjani's capacity as the head of the Assembly of Experts.

Karroubi's letter, sent to Rafsanjani just before this week's bi-annual Assembly meeting, called on the Assembly to exercise its powers to "monitor the functions and institutions under the auspices of Iran's Supreme Leader". Karroubi cited problems such as "a lack of independence of the judiciary and courts", the interference of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Basij militia in political issues, and the IRGC's expanded involvement in Iran's economy.

And, in an even more provocative challenge, Karroubi pointed to the Assembly's powers, under the Iranian Constitution, to remove the Supreme Leader if he becomes incapable of carrying out his supervisory role.

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The Latest from Iran (16 September): Suspending Damocles' Sword

2030 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. University student Mohammad Reza Valian, detained after the Ashura protests last December --- one of the charges against him was "throwing stones" --- has been released. 

2015 GMT: Stopping the Attorneys. Radio Farda follows up on the story, reported on EA earlier this week, that the husband and lawyer detained human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh have been threatened with arrest if they spread information about her case.

Sotoudeh's husband, Reza Khandan, said he and attorney Nasim Ghanavi had been warned by the Ministry of Intelligence: "They told Ms. Ghanavi that a case has been filed against her and me for giving interviews about my wife's arrest."

Sotoudeh was detained on 4 September on accusations of "collusion against national security" and "spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic". Days earlier, she had spoken about a raid on her office, claiming that Iranian authorities were trying to stop her representing clients like activist Shiva Nazar Ahari.

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