The Latest from Iran (21 July): Stand By Your (Supreme) Man

2010 GMT: Literature Watch (cont.). More about the poetic debut of the head of the Basij militia, Mohammad Reza Naqdi (see 0710 GMT)....

Naqdi's effort, which has failed to impress our Literary Correspondent, is titled “The Youth and Soft War", rhythmically (or not-so-rhythmically) takes on Twitter, Facebook, rap music, and jazz. The opening lines, which may lose a bit in translation:

He [ failed in hunting me with his gun. He came back with lowly hired musicians, the Internet, and musical instruments/

His navy hasn’t been able to rein me in. He came with an eye-catching doll/
Bombs and missiles failed to scare me. He came back with the rumor-spreading Twitter and Facebook/
He used chemical weapons and I still didn’t back off. He came with crack and heroin.

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The Latest from Iran (19 July): Assessing the Opposition

1950 GMT: Clamping Down on a Cleric. Security forces have raided the home of Ayatollah Amjad while the cleric is on a three-day trip to Malaysia.

Ayatollah Amjad has been increasingly critical of the Government since January.

1935 GMT: Elections Watch. Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, has pulled back from a blanket ban on the reformist parties Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, saying that their dissolution has not been declared by the courts.

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The Latest from Iran (25 June): A 2nd Week for the Hunger Strikes

2040 GMT: Elections Watch. Teaser of the day comes from Aftab News, which reports that a series of allies of Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf have resigned their posts to run for Parliament next March and that Qalibaf has set up an election headquarters.

1925 GMT: Oil and Politics. Further signs of pressure on Tehran over the international oil price....

Iran's OPEC representative Mohammad Ali Khatibi has charged, "America and Europe...have done everything they could to reduce global oil prices. The developments of the past few days are not at all based on supply and demand or the needs of the market, but are rather a side effect of political pressure exerted particularly from the American side."

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The Latest from Iran (17 May): Reacting to Ahmadinejad

2025 GMT: Sanctions Watch. US authorities have added another Iranian state-owned bank to its sanctions list.

The US Treasury claims Iran's Bank of Industry and Mines, the 21st to be listed by Washington, is handling transactions on behalf of two previously sanctioned institutions, Bank Mellat and Europaesch-Iranische Handelsbank.

2010 GMT: Execution Watch. Iran’s Supreme Court has approved the death sentence for Habibollah Latifi, according to his family.

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The Latest from Iran (26 April): The President's Right-Hand Man Launches a Newspaper?

1855 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? Khabar Online reports that President Ahmadinejad and the Cabinet have cancelled a trip to Qom scheduled for this week.

1815 GMT: The Battle Within. Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, a senior advisor to the President, has denied reports of his resignation.

1702 GMT: Budget Watch. Parliament approved the 2011/12 budget by a vote of 149-61 today.

That would appear to be a breakthrough after months of stalemate; however, there were still signs of tension. The 149 "yes" votes were only just over half of the 290-member Majlis, as there were nine abstentions and 71 absences.

Some of those who were absent were pro-Ahmadinejad MPs. The reason for their protest is not yet clear.

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The Latest from Iran (19 April): A Regime Confession About the Greens?

2010 GMT: On the Sports Pages (Parliament v. President Edition). Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, has filed an official complaint with the judiciary against the Ahmadinejad Government for failing to establish a Ministry of Sports and Youth.

Last December, Parliament passed a law for the formation of the ministry of youth and sports by 9 April 2011. Last week, Larijani sent a letter to Ahmadinejad reminding him of the deadline.

However, the president’s chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, said on Sunday: “The government and the president believe that this issue is not in the interest of the country’s sports and athletics.”

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The Latest from Iran (12 April): Questions Without Answers

1930 GMT: Curbing Parliament. A 23-member commission in the Parliament is effectively recommending restrictions on their colleagues through a new bill establishing five punishable offences: three cover "activities against national security, and other clandestine [activities committed by MPs] from the law enforcement perspective".

The new bill also provides a "legal" process for the judiciary to arrest Majlis deputies. This would override article 86 of the Constitution, which gives immunity to the deputies from prosecution.

The interesting question is whether the measures are aimed solely at reformists or whether priciplist critics of the Government --- including Ali Motahari, Elyas Naderan, and Ahmad Tavakoli, a relative of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani --- come be caught up by the "punishable offences".

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The Latest from Iran (25 March): Remembering the Victims

1805 GMT: Press Watch. Kamran Najafzadeh, a journalist with state broadcaster IRIB, has been expelled from France. The reason for the expulsion is unknown.

1545 GMT: Tehran Friday Prayers Update. Ayatollah Seddiqi courting controversy in today's Friday Prayer, as he called on Iranian officials and people to try their best and lay the foundation for the country's economic prosperity.

Seddiqi carried out the risky strategy of using exactly the same language deployed by the Supreme Leader on Monday, declaring that the success of "economic jihad" would help solve problems such as addiction and unemployment. He explained that economic hihad is a form of all-out war with the enemy which requires the possession of qualities such as a jihadi spirit and faith as well as the unity of the people with officials and officials with one another.

Seddiqi also revealed that Iran was way better than any other country: “The only miracle of the West was industrial development and progress. This is while presently there is a country like [the] Islamic [Republic of] Iran which possesses science and technology, and also presents its science and technology in a spiritual form."

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The Latest from Iran (8 February): Dominoes Falling?

2125 GMT: Closing Down a House of Worship. A Sunni prayer-house in Tehran has been sealed and prayer leader Moulavi Obeidollah Mousazadeh arrested.

2100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A judge has revoked bail for detained journalist Nazanin Khosravani, saying she was likely to flee Iran.

Khosravani's bail was suddenly increased last week, preventing her from leaving prison.

2055 GMT: Interrogating the Mothers. The website of the Mothers of Mourning says that more than 15 members have been summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence.

2020 GMT: Khamenei Quitting? Press TV appears to know something we don't --- its headline today, "Leader: Despotism Coming to End".

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The Latest from Iran (16 January): An Execution Passes But Stuxnet Breaks Up the Quiet

2125 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Mohammad Hossein Mozafari has been released from detention.

A court has confirmed the six-year sentence of teachers' union activist Rasoul Badaghi.

Security forces have raided the home of journalist Peyman Aref, who was arrested in June 2009 and sentenced in March 2010 to one year in prison. He was given temporary release for medical reasons in April.

2035 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Radio Zamaneh summarises the statement of families of political prisoners about the dire conditions for women detainees in the quarantine section of Evin Prison.

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