The Latest from Iran (2 February): Mousavi and Karroubi Make a Statement

1955 GMT: The Mayor Who Won't Be Curbed? More than half of the Majlis --- 166 of 290 MPs --- have congratulated Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf for the third-place award given to the capital in the International Transport System competition.

Qalibaf was prevented by the Foreign Ministry from going to Washington for the ceremony, held by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

Shayesteh Asadi has more on the case, including Qalibaf's comment:

Don't focus on me going or not, or whether my trip is approved or not. But focus on this, and inform the citizens about it, that what transformation in the public transportation system has occurred that we have achieved this rank. I beg you to have a different look and do not view it from a political vantage point.

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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 (26 January): Blindness, Silence, and Injustice

2100 GMT: Nuke Talks. A hat tip to Scott Peterson of the Christian Science Monitor for his article today trying to sort out the details of the failed Istanbul talks on Iran's nuclear programme....

After my initial criticism of the US media's coverage of Istanbul, Peterson followed up with a message, which we noted in our subsequent analysis. And he has continued to consider those points while other US reporters --- most of whom have not noticed the key points at issue in the talks --- have moved on.

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Iran Interview: Daughter of Condemned Zahra Bahrami "A Political Death Sentence"

UPDATE 1645 GMT: Radio Farda reports that Zahra Bahrami had a visit from her daughter, Banafsheh Nayebpour, on Tuesday. "I was allowed to meet her...at Evin [Prison] for about 20 minutes and I could tell that she was extremely scared," Nayebpour said.

“The death sentence issued to my mother is completely political and I implore people, the media, and all human rights activists to not believe the fabricated and trumped-up charge of ‘possession of narcotics’ [levelled against my mother]. The accusation is meant to distract and deceive people to believe the reason behind the death sentence is ‘possession of drugs’ so they refrain from supporting and helping us.”

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The Latest from Iran (15 January): The Regime's Fizzling Displays

1715 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mehdi Yarmohammadi, who worked for Mir Hossein Mousavi, has been sentenced to three years in prison.

1610 GMT: Energy Watch. Iranian officials said natural gas consumption had hit a record high due to cold weather, despite recent subsidy cuts.

Earlier this month, the officials had said consumption had dropped about 5% since the introduction of the cuts.

1545 GMT: Execution Watch. Kurdish detainee Hossein Khezri was executed in Oroumiyeh in northwestern Iran this morning.

Khezri was accused of being a member of the Kurdish insurgent group PJAK. He was arrested in July 2008 and sentenced to death in July 2009 for mohareb (”war against God”) and “endangering state security."

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Iran Interview: Mousavi's Response to The Regime's Propaganda --- "Promoting Awareness Peacefully"

For us being Green does not mean that we want to turn everyone into our colour and into a single colour, the same way the totalitarians and authoritarians prescribe their own colour and view for everyone. Green is living side by side each other while understanding the differences, varieties in views, opinions and tastes. If the totalitarians and their propaganda try to highlight the gaps created in families and society, by accepting these differences, we must try to propose a prescription for peaceful living side by side with each other. Promoting awareness peacefully is the most effective weapon against violence and the spread of division and ignorance.

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The Latest from Iran (11 January): Remembering Hundreds of Political Prisoners

2100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The son-in-law of detained journalist Emaduddin Baghi, Ali Maghami, has been released on bail.

Maghami was arrested last month. Baghi, detained in December 2009, was sentenced last autumn to seven years in prison.

Eight students of the Islamic Society of Arak University have reportedly been arrested.

2040 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. On Sunday we noted a speech by former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, marking the anniversary of a January 1978 protest that helped spur the Islamic Republic. A correspondent commented Rafsanjani made his historical parallel to jab directly at Ahmadinejad aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai and indirectly at the Supreme Leader: "those who build their power on cobwebs". He pointedly referred to the situation then of "fire under the ashes", a possible reference to the state of protest today, and blamed those who practiced "lies and hypocrisy".

Well, the newspaper Kayhan is not impressed.

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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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The Latest from Iran (3 January): Will Wolves Attack?

2140 GMT: Full Circle. We started today with thoughts about the regime's threat to arrest opposition leaders and the sharp response by Mehdi Karroubi, and we'll end today there as well....

Michael Theodoulou of The National considers, "Karroubi Throws Down Gauntlet to Iranian Government", with a guest appearance from EA:

Iran's most defiant opposition leader has challenged his government to try him in an open court for the momentous unrest that swept the Islamic republic after the "stolen" presidential elections in 2009.

Theodoulou also notes the curious and still murky development of President Ahmadinejad's dismissal of up to 14 advisors.

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Iran Feature: Assessing the Threat To Arrest Mousavi and Karroubi (Yeranian)

"On the one hand the regime has consistently said since the last presidential election that the protesters, that the Green movement, are a bunch of street hooligans, they're small in number, they're insignificant, we've crushed them, it's over," said Hashemi. "But, on the other hand, seemingly, every single week, a high member of the Iranian regime is speaking out and condemning and raising new charges against the Green Movement. So, if the Green movement is insignificant, is dead, is crushed, why do you constantly speak about them?"

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