Thursday
Jul222010
The Latest from Iran (22 July): Confusing Regime
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 20:27 
2125 GMT: Today's All-is-Well Alert. Iran's police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam has declared that there is no smuggling of gas and oil across Iran's borders.Then again, maybe all is not well: despite there being no smuggling, Ahmadi-Moghaddam has said the budget for border defence is inadequate.
2115 GMT: Religious Difficulties. Mohammad Nasser Saghaie Biriya, the President's religious advisor has resigned, allegedly because of divisions over the enforcement of hijab.
Saghaie Biriya is a disciple of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who has been seen as Ahmadinejad's religious mentor.
NEW Iran Analysis: The Supreme Leader & the Disappearing Fatwa (Verde)
Iran Media Follow-Up: War, War, War. Blah, Blah, Blah. No Facts. More War. Blah.
Iran Special: Khamenei’s “I Am the Rule of the Prophet” Fatwa — Strength or Weakness? (Verd
The Latest from Iran (21 July): Khamenei Rattled?
2100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Detained student activist Arsalan Abadi has been sentenced to six years in prison by an appellate court. Abadi, arrested during the Ashura protests on 27 December, had originally been given a nine-year term.
2055 GMT: Regime v. Rafsanjani. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami has tried to put former President Hashemi Rafsanjani in his place, saying that his position is still the same as it was on 19 June last year, when the Supreme Leader tried to close off debate over the result of the Presidential election. Khatami said Rafsanjani's s future depends on Ayatollah Khamenei's decisions and the elections for the head of Expediency Council, the position Rafsanjani currently holds.
1945 GMT: Prohibiting Remembrance. Back from a break to catch up with this news from Wednesday....
The National Front of Iran has announced that security forces pressured the organisation into cancelling its public events. The head of the National Front was that any gathering in 7th Tir Square and boarding the bus to travel to Baboyeh Cemetery is prohibited.
On 21 July 1953, demonstrators protested the dismissal of the nationalist Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, and were killed inby security forces of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The victims were laid to rest in Baboyeh.
1310 GMT: Scattering the Students. Rah-e-Sabz reports that Tehran University's dormitories will be evacuated this summer, with students distributed across the city.
1245 GMT: Economy Watch. Reformist MP Mohammad Reza Khabbaz has declared that excessive imports will break the back of domestic production.
1000 GMT: (Refuting the) Rumour of the Day. MP Qodratollah Alikhani identifying the mis-information put out by Javan, the newspaper linked to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, dismisses its latest tale that Green leaders met in a hotel sauna.
0954 GMT: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Film Expert. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has announced that a High Council for Cinema, led by the President, has been established.
An EA correspondent ponders, "What would be the titles of the films considered by this Council?"
0945 GMT: Education Corner. The licence of the Islamic Association at the University of Kashan has been revoked by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education is reportedly sending religious missonaries to 3000 girls' schools in Tehran.
0855 GMT: Sanctions. MP Mohsen Nariman has challenged the Government's official line: "Claiming that sanctions have no effects is political propaganda."
0810 GMT: Staying on Point. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani is continuing to ensure that his credentials on foreign policy are not in question, saying on Wednesday that the Iran-Brazil-Turkey declaration on a uranium swap is the only solution to the nuclear issue and adding that sanctions are sure to result in failure.
0805 GMT: Getting the Right Clerics in Place. According to Rooz Online, Seyed Reza Taghavi, the head of policy for Friday Prayers, has said 60 Friday Prayer clerics will be "retired" this summer.
0705 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Azam Visemeh after her release from detention yesterday:
0700 GMT: In the Bazaar. Nejat Bahrami, writing for insideIRAN, analyses, "Bazaari Criticism of Ahmadinejad Bursts into the Open":
Another factor that can bring the bazaar and the opposition closer to each other is the role of the government. Mistakes made by the government and their impact should never be underestimated. Continuation of failed economic policies by the Ahmadinejad administration and further pressure on Iran by the international community can further intensify the economic crisis in Iran and alienate some parts of this important, influential group of merchants.
0655 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Two overviews of interest this morning....
Shayan Ghajar writes in insideIRAN, "Sanctions Open Iran to Russian, Chinese Firms", while Ardalan Sayami's analysis in Rooz Online is that "Sanctions Turn the Government to the Private Sector".
0635 GMT: A Clue on the Fatwa? Personally, I believe that the first audience for the Supreme Leader's supposed fatwa on Tuesday was the senior clerics of Qom, some of whom have been unsettled throughout the post-election crisis and many of whom were roused to anger by the June attacks on Seyed Hassan Khomeini and on the houses of Grand Ayatollah Sane'i and the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri. (Using this line of reasoning, a possible reason for the "disappearance" of the fatwa is that it was not received well by those clerics.)
Support for this interpretation comes in Rah-e-Sabz, which posts a provocative account of Ayatollah Khamenei's recent journey to Qom and his meetings with the clerics.
0605 GMT: Perhaps the most spirited response to our coverage since Tuesday of the Supreme Leader's alleged fatwa --- "I am the Rule of the Prophet" --- has come from a reader who say, "Nothing new, he has simply reiterated the meaning of the velayat-e-faqih [clerical supremacy] as originally articulated by the late Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini....It is not always good to murky the water as you like doing here."
With respect, I beg to differ. While the content of Ayatollah Khameini's declaration has its precendents, it has not taken on the form of a fatwa, at least not under this Supreme Leader. And, as always, the distinction lays in timing, context, and developments: Why now? To what end? And what has happened to the fatwa, which has "disappeared" from many Iranian state outlets?
Mr Verde takes another look in an analysis.
Meanwhile....
Mousavi's Latest
Almost lost in the confusion over the Supreme Leader's statement --- did he or didn't he? --- was Mir Hossein Mousavi's intervention in a meeting with professors.
Mousavi, unwittingly intersecting with the presentation of and uncertainty over Khamenei's words, condemned “fabrication” and “distortion” of truth by the Government and stressed that “systematic lies” are the signs of the “decline” of a system. He said the media of the Green Movement should make every effort to “unravel” these lies and counter the “ominous phenomenon": “We must provide our people with a truthful analysis of every situation that the government represents through lies; even though our possibilities are not as much as the authoritarian government.”
Mousavi also spoke about the recent bombings in southeastern Iran, declaring that the problems of the ethnic groups in the border regions must be a priority and maintaining that terrorism can only be confronted through “development coupled with justice".
Power Crisis
Tabnak reports that electricity prices for farmers will increase 10-fold.
tagged Ahmad Khatami, Ali Larijani, Ardalan Sayami, Arsalan Abadi, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Azam Visimeh, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Iran National Front, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Javan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Mossadegh, Mohammad Nasser Saghaie Biriya, Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, Mohsen Nariman, Nejat Bahrami, Qodratollah Alikhani, Rah-e-Sabz, Rooz Online, Seyed Reza Taghavi, Shah of Iran, Shayan Ghajar, Tabnak, Tehran University, University of Kashan, insideIRAN, sanctions in Middle East & Iran
Ahmad Khatami, Ali Larijani, Ardalan Sayami, Arsalan Abadi, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Azam Visimeh, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Iran National Front, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Javan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Mossadegh, Mohammad Nasser Saghaie Biriya, Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, Mohsen Nariman, Nejat Bahrami, Qodratollah Alikhani, Rah-e-Sabz, Rooz Online, Seyed Reza Taghavi, Shah of Iran, Shayan Ghajar, Tabnak, Tehran University, University of Kashan, insideIRAN, sanctions in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (27)
[...] the original post here: The Latest from Iran (22 July): Confusing Regime | Enduring America // The Latest from Iran (22 July): Confusing Regime | Enduring America listing above has been [...]
RE: 0655 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Two overviews of interest this morning….
There's another one to complete the picture. InsideIRAN conducted an interview with an engineer and factory manager located thirty miles outside Tehran to get his views on the effects of new sanctions. He requested anonymity for security reasons.
Iranians Blame Sanctions on the West, Says Factory Manager
http://www.insideiran.org/news/iranians-blame-sanctions-on-the-west-says-factory-manager/" rel="nofollow">http://www.insideiran.org/news/iranians-blame-s...
More on the Ahmadinejad government's efforts to reduce the population of Tehran because of the threat of earthquakes.
From the LA Times:
Although the threat is especially real in Tehran, which lies on two active fault lines, many suspect the president is also eager to reduce the power and population of the relatively liberal capital, which is politically predisposed against him and his hard-line entourage.
The government recently released a list of 163 state-run companies and organizations slated for transfer. So far, local media have reported that between 4,000 and 15,000 government workers have volunteered to be relocated to provincial cities and towns, but not everyone is going willingly.
Protesters claim the move would uproot their families and in some cases cost spouses their jobs in the private sector, making the family dependent on a single breadwinner.
Moreover, many of the 163 companies to be transferred out of Tehran are merely the commercial and transport offices of factories that are already based outside the city, casting doubt on the logic behind moving them away from the country's largest population center.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/07/iran-government-workers-protest-manditory-relocation-to-provinces.html" rel="nofollow">http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2...
Tourism to Iran may have fallen by 60%, but it won't stay low for long. Fellow sanction regime sufferer Zimbabwe may change the numbers soon:
http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=21564&cat=1" rel="nofollow">http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=215...
[...] The Latest from Iran (22 July): Confusing Regime | Enduring America [...]
[...] The Latest from Iran (22 July): Confusing Regime | Enduring America [...]
[...] The Latest from Iran (22 July): Confusing Regime | Enduring America [...]
Iran stoning case woman ordered to name campaigners Iran has put fresh pressure on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman it sentenced to death by stoning last month, demanding the names of those involved in the campaign for her release. She has been interrogated inside Tabriz prison over the names of the people who have been in touch with her family and the way her photo has been distributed among the media. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/22/iran-stoning-woman-campaigners" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/22/ira...
More internal tension? "Former and Current Revolutionary Guards Commanders Clash". According to Green Voice of Freedom (quoting Alef): "Several months after Iran’s state telecommunications corporation was taken over by companies affiliated with the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in a sham deal, one (pro- administration) principalist Majlis lawmaker hinted that the corporation may be returned to the government. (...) Voiding the controversial deal that turned over Iran’s telecommunications firm to the IRGC would mean that the largest transaction ever in Iran’s stock market would be nullified."
http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/jul/22/2180" rel="nofollow">http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/jul/2...
Rooz Online now has their own report on the feckless fatwa:
Khamenei: You Must Obey Me
... A political expert told Rooz, “With this action, ayatollah Khamenei, who previously responded to non-political questions at the level of administering the city of Qom’s sanitation infrastructure, has entered the area of political discourse. This so-called fatwa can be regarded as his new step toward a form of personal dictatorship.”
The source continues, “Because he has not written a treatise and is not regarded as a source of emulation, ayatollah Khamenei had so far shied away from entering these topics. Even if he had, it was never published as a religious fatwa. That’s why his new action is unprecedented.” ...
More: http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem/article/2010/july/22//khamenei-you-must-obey-me.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem...
Iran Faces Rise In HIV/AIDS Cases
(Too bad Iran's two leading specialists in HIV/AIDS, brothers Arash and Kamiar Alaei, remain in prison, where they have been since June 2008.)
http://www.rferl.org/content/Official_Iran_Faces_Rise_In_HIVAIDS_Cases/2105694.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rferl.org/content/Official_Iran_Face...
Megan,
Whether or not Amiri was working for Iranian intelligence, this is now the public line being taken by the regime.
S.
Megan,
RE "I remember I posted the above as a possible scenario on July 15 and had a bit of fun with it but never thought it could be true. "
Since your 15 July post I've been reading all the stories about Amiri emerging on all sides with your post in the back of my head, and I too am amazed to see how much of it has formed part of the stories!
Genoa names square in honor of Iranian women
The Italian city of Genoa renamed one of its squares 'Rotonda Donne di Teheran' (Women of Tehran Square) in the Fiumara commercial district as part of its Human Rights Week on July 21, 2010.
http://homylafayette.blogspot.com/2010/07/genoa-names-square-in-honor-of-iranian.html" rel="nofollow">http://homylafayette.blogspot.com/2010/07/genoa...
Said Torabian, a spokesman for Tehran's municipal bus-service union who had been held at Rajaee Shahr prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, was released on July 20. He was detained by authorities on June 9.
His release comes days after the Tehran bus drivers' union issued a statement calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Torabian and three other bus drivers' union leaders: Reza Shahabi, Ebrahim Madadi, and Mansur Osanlu.
More: http://www.rferl.org/content/Iranian_Labor_Activist_Released_From_Prison/2106794.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rferl.org/content/Iranian_Labor_Acti...
Execution of juvenile offender overturned in Iran
Ali Mahitorabi, an Iranian juvenile offender accused of murder was released yesterday after eight years in prison.
Mohammad Mostafayi, Mahintorabi’s attorney, issued the news on his weblog saying that upon review of his client’s case, the court commuted the charge to manslaughter and issued his release after the blood money was paid.
http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/07/execution-of-juvenile-off.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/07/execution...
Iran-Turkey gas conduit blown up
Turkish rebels are suspected of exploding gas pipelines last night that carry natural gas from Iran to Turkey.
http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/07/iranturkey-gas-conduit-bl.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/07/iranturke...
[...] The Latest from Iran (22 July): Confusing Regime | Enduring America [...]
I tend to agree with the reader who said "Nothing new, he has simply reiterated the meaning of the velayat-e-faqih [clerical supremacy]".
As context, my understanding is that this statement was a reply among other replies that he was offering to various "follower" questions. The only reaction that that statement would receive from that audience would be "duh", of course everyone must obey Imam Khamenei!
Now if I'm a Green leader, I'm going to treat that statement completely differently. I'd talk it up as the first time declaration of being Mahdi's representative and a heresy. Greens need to keep this in the news for weeks and use every opportunity to refer to it.
'Thugs' creating instability -- Iran's neighbors shouldn't be a playground for "thugs" bent on harming diplomatic ties in the Asian community, the Iranian interior minister said. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/07/22/Thugs-creating-instability-Iran-says/UPI-60651279816991/" rel="nofollow">http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/07/22/...
The pot calling the kettle black!
I agree with Scott (which I know isn't exactly a nervy move), in that this has Amiri story has become the oft-repeated official meme. They can never just leave it, they have to exaggerate it to absurdly boastful levels. I might've believed part of it on some level were the not "trying a little too hard."
I also had someone tell me that he also took the $5 million back to Iran (as in, haha, take that foolish Americans!), until I ever so gently (well, not really) reminded them that that wasn't possible.
There's a lot of good stories linked here, as usual, but before I check them out, can I just say, that even though that Ashtiani story shouldn't surprise me - it doesn't - it still makes me sick.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/last-five-dissidents-leave-cuba-20100723-10o1y.html" rel="nofollow">http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/last...
It is so nice to live in a country where you are not imprisoned for your political beliefs.
Barry
You're so right!
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52248" rel="nofollow">http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52248
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