The Latest from Iran (22 January): Breaking News

0030 GMT: Just a quick note to say that we've extended our break. We'll be back first thing Saturday morning with full updates, including the latest on "the plot against Ahmadinejad".

1845 GMT: We're going to catch our breath tonight after the excitement of today. We'll be back later for a wrap-up; in the meantime, keep sending in information and your analyses.

1820 GMT: Larijani's Opening? We'll need to get more on this statement by Ali Larijani, during Friday Prayers in Saveh, southwest of Tehran, but there is a hint in Mehr News that the Speaker of Parliament has extended a hand to different factions when it paraphrases, "Every effort should be made to foster unity in society, and everyone should refrain from divisive actions meant to drive individuals off the political stage."

The Persian-language report, significantly, devotes most of its attention not to the "unity" statement but to Larijani's critique of the Government's economic proposals.

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1735 GMT: Press TV Censors Ahmad Khatami? Surely not, but the website curiously omits any mention of Khatami's warning to Iranian protesters and the call for all to choose the side of the Supreme Leader (see 1250 and 1645 GMT). Instead, the entire report is "Cleric Says Iran Nuclear Case Important 'Test'".

1730 GMT: Journalist Leili Farhadpour has been arrested.

1645 GMT: More on That Friday Prayer (see 1250 GMT). Persian2English translates passages of Ahmad Khatami's statement, which is his usual warning to deviant demonstrators:

To our brothers who call themselves protesters, we ask, how much longer are you going to continue with your protests? Are you still going to use your destructive statements which neglect the law? Are you going to water the roots of those who try to turn any cooperative situation into a conflict? They say it was not them who created the chaos; the question is who initiated this atmosphere? How long are you going to continue your protests and annoy the people?

This passage, however, does give pause for consideration: "The group who considers themselves critics should announce where they stand. Either they are on this side [with the Supreme Leader and velayat-e-faqih] or they are on the other side. There is no third way."

That seems to echo Ayatollah Khamenei's statement earlier this week on "make your decision", but to whom was Khatami pointing the statement? Those deviant demonstrators, or the "critics within" the establishment?

1530 GMT: The German magazine Der Spiegel reports that Abed Tavancheh has been sentenced to one year in an Iranian prison for giving an interview about student protests.

1525 GMT: Hassan Rohani, an ally of Hashemi Rafsanjani, has continued to clash with President Ahmadinejad over the "failed" 4th Development Plan. After the Government ridiculed his data, Rohani has responded in detail in Peyke Iran.

1515 GMT: Earlier today (0845 GMT), we noted the manifesto of 31 Iranian expatriate intellectuals and artists: "The way out of this darkness, and of poverty and oppression caused by it, is that people make clear their relationship with tyranny through free elections, monitored by competent international institutions." This will bring "a system separating government from religion institutions, on behalf of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, separating legislative and executive powers, and [ensuring] judicial independence".

The statement has now been picked up by BBC Persian and by Radio Farda.

1309 GMT: The Purge at Allameh Tabatabei University. We've had reports this week of academic staff being terminated or relieved of duties. Putting them together:

Political philosopher Seyed Morteza Mardiha and women’s rights activist Saba Vasefi have been banned from teaching. According to Tabnak, eight faculty in the Economics Department have been expelled, and all but one stripped of the right to teach. The salaries of two faculty members of the Department of Agriculture have been cut.

The Development Program at Allameh Tabatabei has been completely terminated.

1250 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayers Summary. It's Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami setting out all that's significant in religion and politics today. Behold:

When you hold an election, that's the people's opportunity to put forth their views. Then someone wins and you stop for four years. Ahmadinejad won. So, protesters, be quiet.

And the US military is occupying Haiti, which proves they are very bad.

1240 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? President Ahmadinejad has opened a factory at Khorasan Steel and dealt with the current political crisis by calling on all Iranians to have a spiritual focus and obey Allah.

1235 GMT: Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that the files of 18 more Ashura protesters have been sent to the Revolutionary Court.

1015 GMT: We have posted comments from an EA correspondent on our featured analysis, "The Plot Against President Ahmadinejad".

0845 GMT: The Opposition Manifesto. More than 30 expatriate Iranian intellectuals and artists have issued a statement in support of Mir Hossein Mousavi.

0835 GMT: Slamming the  Opposition. Last night's debate on Iranian state media was a non-debate, as MPs Ruhollah Hosseinian and Alaeddin Boroujerdi were generally in agreement. An EA correspondent describes it as a “Love-Making discussion in which both side were praising and appreciating each other".

There was some drama, however. In addition to his claim of "a plot within" to topple the Government, Hosseinian talked of the "Axis of Revolt" of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. He offered this advice: the Supreme Leader was too patient with the opposition --- "if we had the authority; we would have sorted it out straightaway".

0820 GMT: An Iranian activist has posted a list, with English translation, of the arrest and current state (if known) of 229 people arrested on 16 Azar (7 December) or in the Tasua-Ashura demonstrations (26-27 December).

0655 GMT: We are putting the last touches to what we believe is a significant story: a high-level plan to move against President Ahmadinejad and possibly remove him from office. As soon as that is completed, we will update on latest news. (We have now posted the story.)

Comments

[Barry]

Scott

Exciting "news" - and convenient for my time zone :)

But jumping ahead a little - replace AN, but afterwards???? Who would replace him, when, how, etc.

Regards

Barry

[Anthony]

Are you sure the source is legit?

[Selected Headlines – Jan]

[...] America, January 22 The Latest from Iran (22 January): Breaking News We are putting the last touches to what we believe is a significant story: a high-level plan to [...]

[Scott Lucas]

Barry,

Sources indicate no plan on who would become President, although both Larijani and Qalibaf have been mentioned in chatter as possible replacements.

S.

[Dave Siavashi (IranNewsNow)]

The comment in the debate, about SL being too patient, in my opinion hints that he is in on all of it--the debates, the comments from multiple insiders imploring people to avoid extremism, and the portrayal of SL as a patient, lenient person--Kham has endorsed it all.

I think it would have been impossible to get the debates on national TV otherwise.

Considering the magnitude and during of opposition to AN, SL and the system since the rigged election, it is probably the most clever move the regime could make at this time. It may convince some people in Iran with limited access to information, or who only get info from national TV. But ist is not likely to fool the majority of people since SL has been actively and openly condemning and insulting protesters, as well as virtually ordering his supporters to wage war against them since his June 19 speech.

All of this fits perfectly with what we know about Khamenei. He plays all sides and is openly and unabashedly hypocritical, so long as it keeps him perched in the SL chair.

He has likely forsaken Ahmadinejad, and also is likely to have tacitly endorsed the campaign by Larijani, Rezai, Ghalibaf and Ruholamini (reported by Scott Lucas on EA today) to oust Ahmadinejad (or at least attempt to do so). I wouldn't doubt it if he has also continued to express support to Ahmadinejad and his people. He is playing both sides, with the hopes that whichever side wins, he gets to keep being SL. However, from the get-go Khamenei attached himself (and by extension his fate) to that of Ahmadinejad... So go figure... all of it very Machiavellian.

The irony of it all is that the history of revolutions is littered with despots that have tried to console the people by sacrificing their own loyalists, only to find that the concession emboldening those who oppose them, and eventually leading to their demise.

[Dave Siavashi (IranNewsNow)]

Please forgive my typos, misspellings and grammatical errors in my previous post. I should proofread more often...

[shirley clay]

total american rubbish half protesters not even old enough to vote a ack of rebels without a clue spoilt middle class student morons .beat ten police to death they deserve to be in jail along with 120 more badly injured ashura if this hapened in US or EU there would be total outrage and the killers would get death penalty.you can hardly hold any demonstration in west without battern weilding police huge security gates kept miles away from politicians take a look at your own back yard stupid.ex iranians are no better carry on about yhe dealth penalty in Iran when they live in USwhich has the death penalty hypocites every nut case goes to Us to live.Bulshit Obama is a mass murderer child killer human rights abuser 9\11happened because of the jackboot state Israel and its ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity policies against the palestinian people. The TAliban had nothing to do with 9\11.this is the truth not the continual warmongering lies that spew from the DEATH HOUSE!!!! encouraged and most times formulated by AIPAC .

[Bosco]

Shirley Clay has pretty much summed up the position of the rabid pro-regime apologists in the most articulate way that i've seen so far. Thought i'm disappointed that there was no mention of Obama causing the Haiti earthquakes.

[Barry]

Bosco

"Shirley Clay has pretty much summed up the position of the rabid pro-regime apologists in the most articulate way that i’ve seen so far. "

Nah - much simpler than that. She/he has just forgotten to take her/his medication today.

Barry

[Rev. Magdalen]

Shirley Clay, If people in America want to protest something, they follow standard procedures and are given a permit. No topic is off limits. There's a vicious old man who continually gets permits to protest at soldiers' funerals with the most offensive possible outrageous blasphemy and hate speech. But it is his right to speak, and we know that we must tolerate him in order to secure our own rights to speak freely as well.

When the monarch--excuse me, "rahbar"--declares that a certain topic has been decided once and for all, and no more demonstrations or speech about it will be tolerated, and then he proceeds to enforce that decree with lethal force, that is in every way the opposite of the way things work in the United States of America, thank God.

Have atrocities occurred at American hands? Yes. Are they what define America? No. My country has made terrible mistakes in the past, but we are an experiment in democracy created by brilliant people who devoted their lives to the concept that legitimacy for a government derives from the consent of the people, not the blessing of any religious or military authority. Whenever we stray from this path, we correct ourselves, and no one is above the law.

That is very different from a nation where the ruler-for-life is declared legally sacred, and his job performance cannot be questioned even if he slaughters tens of thousands of nonviolent people in cold blood simply for disagreeing with him.

[Anthony]

a popular software repository has been banned inside Iran. Right after Hillary's speech on censorship too!!!!

If someone could shed light on this and get the word out it would help those inside Iran a great deal. http://balatarin.com/permlink/2010/1/21/1923257

[Anthony]

Sorry the site is: sourceforge.net