The Latest from Iran (23 March): New Year's Break
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 11:54
1700 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has thrown another jab at the Government in his website message for the New Year: "We unfortunately witness the pursuing of indecent methods by those in charge, such as making lies and giving empty slogans to the people....The Iranian people are educated and well-informed and neither deserve lies nor promises which are impossible to be implemented....Those in charge should listen to criticism, and either convince the critics through logic or correct their policies.
Rafsanjani, who lost his post as head of the Assembly of Experts this month, even had a poke at the post-election repression: "What we should, however, definitely not do as Muslims is acting beyond ethics and eventually expose an Islamic society as disgrace."
1640 GMT: The Battle Within. Promient MP Hojatoleslam Hossein Sobhani-Nia has declared that the further the Government goes, the more dissent there is within the camp of the hardliners.