Iran-Afghanistan Opinion: Tehran's Mistaken Posturing Over the US-Afghan Pact

President Karzai & the Supreme LeaderThere's a saying in Dari, the Persian dialect spoken in Afghanistan, "Ajala kaare shaitan ast (Haste is Satan's work)". It appears, however, the Iranian regime has not heard it: the ink on the US-Afghan Strategic Partnership Agreement was hardly dry when Tehran launched a verbal attack.

On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast expressed concern that the Pact may destabilise the region and called on the US to withdraw from Afghanistan immediately. Today, news broke that Iran's Ambassador in Kabul had met the head of the Afghan Senate, Fazel Hadi Muslimyar, and other legislators, asking them not to approve the Pact. The ambassador, Abdul Fazl Zuhrawand reportedly called the agreement a threat to the interests of other countries in the region, such as Russia, China, and India, as well as Iran. 

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The Latest from Iran (8 May): The Political Fight Over Subsidy Cuts

See also Iran Feature: The Battle to Become Speaker of Parliament
The Latest from Iran (7 May): The Muddle of the New Parliament

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Ali Larijani & Mahmoud Ahmadinejad1920 GMT: Oil Watch. Reinhard Baumgarten reports on Iran falling behind Iraq as oil exporter and interviews Sadegh Zibakalam about the disadvantages for Tehran in its deal to export to India.

1542 GMT: Oil Watch. More on the private manoevures behind US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's public encouragement, in her three-day visit, of India to cut oil imports from Iran....

Four Indian officials have told Bloomberg that supplies will be slashed by 20%, given the prospect of alternative supplies from Saudi Arabia.

The officials said India will lower its purchases to 14 million tons from the 17.5 million metric tons in the year ending 31 March.

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The Latest from Iran (26 April): A Nuclear Opening from Tehran?

See also The Latest from Iran (25 April): The Economic Challenge Returns

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1951 GMT: Criticising the Diplomats. What do the "hard-line" Mashregh News and Baztab have against the Foreign Ministry's spokesman Rahim Mehmanparast? Both chide, "Why does he have British nationality and an expensive house there? Where do his kids live?"

1944 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syrian Front). Al Arabiya claims that Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, Tehran Friday Prayer leader and member of the Assembly of Experts, has declared in a speech in Kermanshah that the Islamic Republic "will not allow [Syrian President Bashar] Assad to be toppled".

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The Latest from Iran (27 January): Pilgrims and Soldiers

A photo of five abducted Iranian "engineers", with their Syrian cook --- are they the five captured "Iranian soldiers" shown in a video from Syria?

See also Syria Video Special: Free Syrian Army Captures "Iranian Soldiers"

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2119 GMT: Warning the Supreme Leader. Earlier this month Hossein Alaei, the former Revolutionary Guards commander, caused a stir with an article implicitly warning the Supreme Leader against the consequences of repression. Twelve Guards commanders called Alaei an agent of the enemy and an angry crowd gathered outside his house and defaced it, while other former commanders and some conservative politicians defended him.

Now Alaei has put out another statement, in Jomhouri Eslami, about dictatorships. This one, however, is carefully worded to avoid accusations that the former commander is challenging Ayatollah Khamenei. He states that dictatorships have come to an end, referring to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and continues that "dictators cannot rule with tyranny".

2059 GMT: The "Iranian Soldiers" in Syria. The Iranian Embassy in Syria's Press attaché, Leva'a Roudbari, has declared that none of the seven Iranians held by the Free Syrian Army are in the military, “The kidnappers’ claims is baseless."

Roudbari, in an interview with Syrian State TV, also appeared to say that two of the seven men would be released, "Iran welcomes the kidnappers’ decision to free two of the kidnapped engineers.”

In statements to Reuters (see 1932 GMT), members of the Free Syrian Army said that, while the first five Iranians seized were not engineers but were snipers assisting the Assad regime's military, the two men who came to Syria to enquire about them were civilians.

There is a curiosity in the article with Roudbari's statement, however. The six men in the accompanying photograph, shown in a power plant, do not appear to be match up to the "engineers" seized in Syria.

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The Latest from Iran (15 January): Sound and Fury over "Intelligence" and Assassinations

See also Iran Photo Feature: Former Revolutionary Guards Commander Warns the Supreme Leader --- What Happened Next?
The Latest from Iran (14 January): Dealing with the Currency

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2225 GMT: Elections Watch. An EA correspondent makes an important addition to our earlier news (see 2015 GMT) that the Ministry of Interior had reinstated three MPs and prominent critics of President Ahmadinejad --- Ali Motahari, Hamidireza Katouzian, and Ali Abbaspour --- as candidates in March's Parliamentary election:

The Khabar Online item has been since updated --- it is now saying that it is unclear on which list those names featured. The Minister has passed on separate lists containing approved and disapproved candidate to the Guardian Council: so it could be that the Interior Ministry stood firm on its initial decision.

2045 GMT: Protest Watch. Green Voice of Freedom reports on more protests through graffiti on Iranian banknotes, such as this reference to Neda Agha Soltan and Sohrab Arabi, slain in the post-election conflict, "Respecting Neda and Sohrab's blood, we don't participate in the elections (for Parliament in March)":

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The Latest from Iran (21 October): Back-Channel Talks with the US?

Iran Feature: Detained Reformist Leader Tajzadeh Writes the Supreme Leader
The Latest from Iran (20 October): 240 Days of House Arrest

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1635 GMT: The Plot. It looks like Turkey is trying to broker a resolution between Tehran and Washington over the US allegations of an Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to Washington....

Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, at a joint news conference with his visiting Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, made a carefully-balanced statement: "We don't believe that Iran would be engaged in such an act, but America says they have evidence. Governments should be transparent on such issues. Those who make the claims should also be clear about their claims, and Iran should answer to that."

Davutoglu continued, "What needs to be done now is that all parties involved share what they have and clear the issue without giving way to a further increase in tensions. Turkey is ready to contribute if there is anything we can do to help relieve the tension."

Turkish media reported this week that the US sent official to Turkey to present evidence of the alleged plot. A US Embassy spokesman would not comment on the reports.

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Latest from Iran (2 September): Who's Meddling in the Revolutions?

1747 GMT: Ayatollah Namazi, a member of the powerful Assembly of Experts, has warned the government that use of libel, lies, deceit, and illegal money towards the influence of the elections would be considered " haram," banned by Islamic law. He warned that the next election would be a moral issue, and candidates should subscribe to strict morality in order to ensure that the fittest candidate won. He also said that this was imperative, because moral abuses threaten to discredit the legitimacy of the elections.

1740 GMT: The Armenian Church in Kerman, registered as a national treasure, has been destroyed. Here is a picture gallery of the church now.

1515 GMT: Energy Watch. Deutsche Welle reports that the construction of a gasoline refinery has been stopped after five years because the Ministry of Oil did not pay its assigned share of 70% of the cost.

According to the website, only 8% of the project had been completed. The halt to construction means the dismissal of 6200 employees.

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The Latest from Iran (17 August): The Fundamentalist Attack on Ahmadinejad

1948 GMT: Oil Watch. An admission of challenges for Iran's energy industries? Minister of Oil Rostam Qassemi has reportedly said that he needs "special authorisations" to circumvent sanctions and that delays in oil and gas projects are a fundamental problem.

1915 GMT: Unity Watch. Digarban makes some provocative claims that the conservative/principlist quest for unity is not going quite as planned.

According to the site, Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, the head of the Expediency Council, has rejected the conditions of the Islamic Constancy Front --- propelled by Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi --- for cooperation with the "7+8" unity front in the next Parliamentary elections.

In particular, Mahdavi Kani has resisted the elimination of representatives of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer-Qalibaf representatives from the 7+8 Committee, named because of its expansion to 15 members to include different conservative and principlist factions.

MP Asadollah Badamchian has backed up Mahdavi Kani, saying that the Constancy Front has taken a strict position and will fail if it does not cooperate with the 7+8. Mohsen Yahyavi of the Islamic Engineers party said the Constancy Front "should estimate its abilities cautiously and make no mistakes" to move with the hardliners' project more easily.

And Habibollah Bourbour of the Community of Islamic Revolution Loyalists went even farther: he declared that the Constancy Front wants to eliminate popular figures from the 7+8 and is fed by a "deviant current".

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The Latest from Iran (9 August): Drawing Different Lessons from Overseas

1920 GMT: Energy Watch. Sniping at the Government over its energy policy --- Seyed Emad Hosseini, speaker for Parliament's Energy Committee, said energy security has sharply decreased in past years and is now unacceptable. Another committee member, Asgar Jalalian, has chided that at the current speed of development of the South Pars project, Qatar --- which shares the giant field with Iran --- will have ensured no gas is left.

1910 GMT: Media Watch. Is Alef, the site owned by leading MP Ahmad Tavakoli, having a go at the press in Iran? The site posts the story of "Pinocchio and our ignorance" to preach that those who listen to domestic media are less informed people.

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The Latest from Iran (27 July): Foreign Manoeuvres

1755 GMT: Border Watch. Iranian state media are reporting that two Revolutionary Guards and 21 Kurdish insurgents have died in further fighting near the Iraq border. Two Guards were reportedly wounded in the clash in the city of Sardasht.

A senior Revolutionary Guards commander and five troops were killed in fighting earlier this week. Iranian officials say at least 50 members of the insurgent group PJAK have died in the battles over the last fortnight.

1535 GMT: Cyber-Watch. An official of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has explained that linking to social networks is a "computer crime".

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