The Latest from Iran (4 June): The Supreme Leader's "Slap in the Face" for His Officials

Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, and President Ahmadinejad at Sunday's ceremonies for the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death

See also Turkey-Iran Analysis: Why Ankara Maintains Its Golden Relationship with Tehran
The Latest from Iran (3 June): The Regime Marks Khomeini's Death

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1950 GMT: Death-to-the Rapper Watch. Forty authors of the Rah-e Nikan religious publishing house have promised to forward royalties from their books to whoever kills rapper Shahin Najafi.

Najafi has been targeted by clerics, politicians, and pro-regime activists since he released "Naqi", a song critiquing Iranian politics and society, in May. His critics claim Najafi has dishonoured the name of Naqi, Shi'a's 10th Imam.

1940 GMT: Surveillance Watch. MTN Irancell, a joint venture between MTN Group Ltd of South Africa and an Iranian government-controlled consortium, has obtained sophisticated U.S. computer equipment despite sanctions.

MTN Irancell sourced equipment from Sun Microsystems Inc, Hewlett Packard Co, and Cisco Systems Inc through a network of technology companies in Iran and the Middle East.

Reuters reported in March and April that ZTE Corp, a Chinese telecom-equipment maker, had sold or agreed to ship millions of dollars worth of U.S. hardware and software since 2010 to Iran's largest telecom carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran.

Paul Norman, MTN Group's chief corporate affairs officer, said: "To the best of our knowledge, MTN personnel, directly or indirectly, did not acquire or seek to acquire equipment for use in Irancell's operations in a manner that was intended to avoid or circumvent U.S. sanctions. MTN is committed to compliance with U.S. sanctions, and is working with the U.S. government and its international legal counsel to remain compliant. MTN owns a non-controlling 49% share in Irancell."

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Iran Feature: The Chinese Telecom Giant Helping Tehran Track and Block Its Opponents (Stecklow/Fassihi/Chao)

When Western companies pulled back from Iran after the government's bloody crackdown on its citizens two years ago, a Chinese telecom giant filled the vacuum.

Huawei Technologies Co. now dominates Iran's government-controlled mobile-phone industry. In doing so, it plays a role in enabling Iran's state security network.

Huawei recently signed a contract to install equipment for a system at Iran's largest mobile-phone operator that allows police to track people based on the locations of their cellphones, according to interviews with telecom employees both in Iran and abroad, and corporate bidding documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. It also has provided support for similar services at Iran's second-largest mobile-phone provider. Huawei notes that nearly all countries require police access to cell networks, including the U.S.

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