The Latest from Iran (22 August): A Death Threat Against Ahmadinejad's Right-Hand Man

1810 GMT: Deviant Current Watch. Hojatoleslam Mehdi Hosseini, the deputy education manager of Qom's religious seminaries, has said that the "deviant current" --- the label for advisors around President Ahmadinejad --- is much more dangerous than the "fitna (sedition) group".

1730 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Has Hashemi Rafsanjani's brother Mohsen Hashemi tipped off the former President's election strategy?

Hashemi said he was not sure if he would run for Parliament; however, he advised that "moderate hardliners" and reformers should unite, as "you cannot run a country with radicals".

Hashemi, who resigned as the chief executive officer of the Tehran Metro earlier this year said that the country needs efficiency and realism "which have been lost". Politically, President Ahmadinejad had topped everything "by libelling his rivals".

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The Latest from Iran (7 August): Commemorating "Journalists Day"

1940 GMT: Journalists Day. And here is how President Ahmadinejad marked the eve of Journalists Day, in remarks at the end of the Cabinet meeting, “We hope that Iran’s news community will be vibrant, motivated and committed to human and divine values as before. I hope that our journalists could provide the international community with a suitable model."

Ahmadinejad made no apparent reference to the more than 100 Iranian journalists in prison or under threat of heavy bail.

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The Latest from Iran (23 July): A Furlough in Repression

1840 GMT: The Slain Scientist --- Confusion Alert. We have been working throughout the day on the initial report that the scientist slain today in Tehran was a 35-year-old "Professor of Physics" named Dariush Rezaei, as initially reported by Iranian media (see 1503 and 1530 GMT).

This led us to Dariush Rezaei, also identified as Dariush Rezaei-Ochbolagh, a faculty member at Mohaghegh Ardabili University (see 1600 GMT). However, there is a curiosity in Rezaei's profile --- he is listed as 46 years old.

(Mehr, however, do seem to have a consistent story, with Rezaei a 45-year-old professor at the University, which is in the city of Ardebil in northwest Iran.)

Now Fars and IRNA that the victim, named Dariush Rezaeinejad, is actually a postgraduate student in electrical engineering at Khaje Nasir University in Tehran. IRNA, from an "informed source", says Rezaeinejad was "cooperating with a number of universities and scientific centers".

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The Latest from Iran (12 May): So You Thought the Battle Was Over?

2025 GMT: At the Movies. The Cannes Film Festival is honouring filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof --- both sentenced to long prison terms --- and Iranian officials are not amused.

Mohammad Hosseini, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said, “The festival takes a political stance on certain specific cases, which is unacceptable and we condemn it. We think that since Cannes is an international event, it should keep its artistic and professional biases to itself."

Last week, Cannes organizers said they would show Rasoulof’s “Good Bye” and “This Is Not a Film”, Panahi’s depiction of a day in his life as he waits for the verdict of a court appeal.

Panahi will also be awarded the Carrosse d’Or (Golden Coach) prize by the SRF (Film Directors’ Society) in absentia as a tribute to the “innovative qualities, courage and independent-mindedness” of his work.

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The Latest from Iran (2 April): Getting Outside

2000 GMT: Arrests on 13 Bedar. Rah-e-Sabz reports that people celebrating the outdoors festival of Sizdeh Bedar and using it to highlight environmental issues have been accosted and arrested by security forces in Tehran, Tabriz, and Urmia in northwest Iran.

1955 GMT: The Battle Within. One of the regime's stalwart clerics, Mashhad Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Alamolhoda, has launched a furious attack on President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

Alamolhoda said that Rahim-Mashai is not fitna (seditious), but he is monharef (deviate), playing with God and the notion of being a prophet.

The Ayatollah warned that if Rahim-Mashai claims he was misunderstood, "I have his even worse CD" with his views, notably the insult that "religious society isn't ideal society".

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The Latest from Iran (20 March): Anticipating a Happy Nowruz

1640 GMT: Cartoon of Day. Maya Nayestani presents a different version of the traditional 7-item "Haft Sin" table, offered by a member of Iran's security forces, for New Year --- Sandis (juice given to those attending regime rallies), Saloos (leech), Sarneyzeh (bayonet), Sangsaar (stoning), Sangdeli (hard-heartedness), Sarkoob (oppression), Saltanat-e Faghih (clerical monarchy). Her young boy responds, "I'll go to Grandpa's celebration."

1630 GMT: Missing. Journalist Behrouz Samadbeygi has not been seen since 15 March, the eve of Chahrshanbeh Suri (Fire Festival).

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The Latest from Iran (24 December): An Execution and a Hero

2110 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The Reserve Bank of India will no longer arrange payments for Iranian crude imports.

India's central bank said future payments will have to be settled outside the existing Asian Clearing Union mechanism, which includes central banks of India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Iran, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

1730 GMT: Execution Watch. Rawa News has published an interview with the sister of Habibollah Latifi, the Kurdish prisoner scheduled for execution on Sunday (now see the English text in a separate entry).

She says, "[The authorities] acted very cleverly. They delivered the sentence 1 1/2 hours before the close of office hours on Thursday. So we could not do anything. Today was a Friday [weekend in Iran]. Tomorrow is the last day [before the execution], unless a miracle appears. They have planned so that we can not actually do anything."

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The Latest from Iran (13 November): Sanctions, Talks, and a Twist on Iraq

1838 GMT: Economic Revelation of Day. Minister of Welfare and Social Security Sadegh Mahsouli has explained that Iran cannot define a poverty line due to huge differences between rural and urban areas, although the Government "does everything to distribute national wealth".

Fun Fact: Sadegh Mahsouli is a millionaire.

1835 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Arsalan Fathipour, the head of Parliament's Economy Commission, has said that the Majlis has no information on the government's "support packages" to ease the economic pain of the cuts.

1830 GMT: Soft War is Everywhere! It's in the pulpits: Kalemeh claims an official order has been sent to Friday Prayer leaders for the holy month of Muharram (December/January), telling them to explain the 2009 "fitna" (sedition) and informing people about the soft war.

And it's on the easels: Minister of Culture Mohammad Hosseini has declared that artists are "front commanders" in the soft war.

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The Latest from Iran (10 November): Covering Nukes, Remembering Rights

2120 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A source close to Nasrin Sotoudeh says that the detained attorney has ended her dry hunger strike after almost two weeks.

Sotoudeh, imprisoned since 4 September, was also on hunger strike for four weeks up mid-October. Iranian authorities say she will be tried in court on Monday.

1955 GMT: Women's Rights. Iran has failed to secure election to the executive board of the new UN super-agency on women's rights.

Initially, Iran was guaranteed a seat becasue the Asian region put forth 10 candidates for 10 seats, but East Timor was a late applicant.

Saudi Arabia, whose candidacy was also criticised by rights groups, secured one of the seats.

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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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