The Latest from Iran (31 July): Past and Present
Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 7:14 
1520 GMT: More War, No Facts, Blah. The deputy head of Iran's armed forces, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, says the US is escalating its "war of nerves" against Iran: "US Congress Bill 1553 which gives the hated Zionist regime a free hand to confront Iran is part of a psychological warfare scenario devised at the request of an American think tank to affect Iranian nuclear insiders."
Hmm...Resolution 1553, which backs Israeli miitary action against Tehran, has been sponsored by a minority of Republicans --- which is the minority party --- in the House of Representatives, the junior chamber of the US Congress. It is unlikely to be adopted by Congress, let alone be supported by the Obama Administration.
Still, I'm not sure Jayazeri needs to worry about such details....(http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136890§ionid=351020101)
NEW Iran Analysis: Looking Back on the 1980s (Verde)
Iran Music Video Special: The Award-Winning “Ayatollah, Leave Those Kids Alone”
Iran’s Persecution of Rights: The Pursuit of Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei (Shahryar)
The Latest from Iran (30 July): Stepping Up the Criticism
1515 GMT: All Hail Rahim-Mashai. He may be widely disliked, even amongst conservatives, but the President's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai continues to pile up the posts.
Indeed, the latest may help Rahim-Mashai answer his critics: Fars News says he will manage the Islamic Republic News Agency. (http://is.gd/dUUoU)
1340 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A group of families of political prisoners have reportedly gathered in front of the office of the Tehran Prosecutor General to protest the detention of their relatives. (http://fb.me/ER74sOKd)
1330 GMT: Larijani Watch. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has said that that he is ready to “confront the government through legal channels” if they refuse to send their legislation to the parliament for review: “According to the constitution, government legislation has to be relayed to the parliament to assure correspondence with the law. But it is a while now that this has not been done and this is a blatant breach of law.”
Asked if he will summon President Ahmadinejad to the Parliament, Larijani said that it is not yet time for such an action.
The President’s parliamentary deputy has denied the allegation and said the Government is delivering the new legislation to Parliament before execution. (http://bit.ly/ccwHpe)
1315 GMT: We have posted a separate analysis considering the establishment of War with Iran as part of "normal" discussion in the US media.
1300 GMT: Missing Lawyer Mostafaei Update. A follow-up to this week's story on EA by Josh Shahryar about prominent human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei, who went into hiding after Iranian authorities tried to detain him, arresting his wife and brother-in-law....
Mostafaei has now written to the Tehran Prosecutor General, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi. An Iranian activist summarises the letter, "I'll give myself in if my wife and brother-in law are released, and I am guaranteed a fair trial and legal process. Otherwise, catch me if you can." (http://bit.ly/9e9TLz)
1100 GMT: Threat of the Day. The head of Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, has become the go-to guy for Iranian state media for quotes challenging sanctions, and he does not disappoint today: “The European Union will receive an appropriate response should it put into practice [new] sanctions against the Iranian nation.” (http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136860§ionid=351020104)
0600 GMT: We begin this morning with a feature from Mr Verde considering how the current political crisis is bringing out new information and debate on the Iran of the 1980s and the war with Iraq.
Meanwhile....
Getting (and Understanding) the News from Iran
Azadeh Moaveni has a sharp, incisive anlaysis on Foreign Policy, "What the West Isn't Hearing About":
With reporters on the ground so compromised by self-censorship, our ability to get a decent read of public opinion in Iran, let alone any smart, rigorously reported insight into domestic politics -- the opposition's strategy, the displeasure of the ayatollahs in Qom, the establishment's discomfiture at the prospect of sanctions -- is nonexistent. Even small, telling stories have become too sensitive to report, like the post-election defection of young journalists from Press TV (the government's English-language TV network) [Editor's Note: EA knows about this from personal correspondence with sources] or the distressing rise of so-called "experimental hires" as firms exploit young people's desperation for jobs to extract months of unpaid work under the false premise of a trial period....
It is perhaps understandable that Western readers are less interested in granular details from Iran than in the broad geopolitical sweep of the last year. But the loss of these stories is still a travesty, for it obscures the extent to which the spirit of the opposition still rules Iran. Certainly, the Islamic Republic knows better than to underestimate the scale and depth of people's disillusion and the swiftness with which inchoate grievances can be transformed into running street battles. A year after events so extraordinary that staid Tehran matrons found themselves setting fire to the barracks of Iran's feared Basij paramilitary, it would be unfortunate indeed if Western journalists, with whatever good intentions, faltered in their understanding of Iran, when it is so obvious that the regime itself acknowledges the power of its foes.
The Detained Americans
President Obama has made another appeal to Tehran to free three Americans --- Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal --- detained one year ago when they allegedly crossed the Iran-Iraq border on foot.
Sarah, Shane and Josh committed absolutely no crime. Yet for a full year, they have been held in prison, causing extraordinary grief and uncertainty for them, for their families, and for their loved ones. I want to be perfectly clear: Sarah, Shane and Josh have never worked for the United States government....
I call on the Iranian government to immediately release Sarah, Shane and Josh. Their unjust detention has nothing to do with the issues that continue to divide the United States and the international community from the Iranian government.
On a related matter, Iranian-American academic Kian Tajbakhsh, sentenced last autumn to 15 years in prison (later reduced to 5 years on appeal), remains on temporary release.
Reader Comments (16)
Second quake hits Iran. A magnitude 5.8 earthquake jolted southeastern Iran on Saturday, the country's state television reported. There was no word on casualties or damage. The TV's website said the quake struck in the Negar region of Kerman province, an area about 1,075 kilometers south of Tehran. Saturday's earthquake came only a day after a magnitude 5.7 quake injured 170 people in the northeast city of Torbat-e Heydariyeh, damaging several villages in the region and temporarily disrupting communications.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/31/AR2010073100808.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...
Iran's Wishful Thinking As Sanctions Take Hold
Op-Ed by Reza Taghizadeh a regular contributor to RFE/RL
How could a country with 10 percent of the world's known oil reserves (No. 3 after Saudi Arabia and Canada) and 15 percent of natural-gas reserves (No. 2 after Russia) rank 101st in terms of foreign direct investment? http://www.rferl.org/content/Commentary_Iran_Wishful_Thinking_Sanctions/2114100.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rferl.org/content/Commentary_Iran_Wi...
(WitteKr - this is a story about your favourite subject: FDI) :-)
RE The Detained Americans
Interview: Mothers Say U.S. Hikers' Yearlong Detention 'Outrageous' http://www.rferl.org/content/Interview_Mothers_Say_US_Hikers_Yearlong_Detention_Outrageous/2114227.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rferl.org/content/Interview_Mothers_...
Iran gives Zimbabwe 40 million Euro loan
Iran has extended a 40-million-euro line of credit to Zimbabwe to finance energy, banking and industrial projects, the local media reported Wednesday, quoting the country's top diplomat in Tehran.
(I guess money growing on trees is that one Iranian natural resource no one has heard about - so much for sanctions!)
http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/jul/31/2202" rel="nofollow">http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/jul/3...
And now for the Straight Face Challenge bit:
"Zimbabwe's Ambassador to Iran, Nicholas Kitikiti, said the funds would be used, among other projects, to rehabilitate the country's main power station to increase electricity supplies and reduce rationing. The country faces critical power shortages, producing only 65 percent of its nor mal requirements. It imports the balance from neighbours."
RE Azadeh Moaveni has a sharp, incisive anlaysis on Foreign Policy, “What the West Isn’t Hearing About”
Scott,
Excuse me, but this article was the first of six published by FP back on 7 June in a collection called 'Misreading Tehran', which WitteKr first linked to in a comment and I welcomed as a treasure trove (June 8 Iran Latest), but which you pooh-poohed more than once. :-)
Families of Iranian detainees stage protest
Families of the 16 Iranian detainees that have started a hunger strike, gathered in front of Tehran Prosecutor’s office this morning.
RAHANA reports that families of Hosein Nourinejad, Bahmad Ahmad Amouyi, Ali Tajernia, Ali Parviz, Massouv Bastani and about another 60 people were present in the gathering but many of them were scattered due to intervention of the security forces.
http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/07/families-of-iranian-detai-3.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/07/families-...
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula on Saturday offered to give asylum to an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, according to news reports. "I want to make an appeal to my friend (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, the supreme leader of Iran (Ali Khamenei), and to the government of Iran" to allow Brazil to take in the woman, Lula said during a campaign rally for his chosen successor in the southern city of Curitiba, the Estadao news agency reported. Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old Iranian mother of two, was sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted in 2006 of having an extramarital affair during the trial of her husband's alleged murderer, according to Amnesty International.
AFP http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100731/wl_mideast_afp/iranexecutionstoningbrazil_20100731195427;_ylt=ApaqfGutBiqhVNlXvjtUDtD5SpZ4" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100731/wl_mideast...
Excellent, Catherine. Religious minorities such as the Mandaeans are especially fascinating to me, though I only know of the Mandaeans secondarily, as mentioned through Boyce, Zaehner, Hinnels, et al.
Yes, I just saw that too WitteKr about Ashtiani.
That Lula is a smart cookie.
Curious that you brought up the Yazidis, in that I was about to bring them up as well, seeing as both they and the Mandaeans have been victims in Iraq of what nears an ignored genocide.
The Yazidis conical temples are quite striking. And, their seven angels certainly suggests syncretism of earlier Persian beliefs with Sufi beliefs, among others. Like the Sikhs though, I think the sum is greater than its parts, and may have its own original sources, as well.
I believe I've read this at some point, but it's hazy:
E.S. Drower's "Peacock Angel"
http://www.avesta.org/yezidi/peacock.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.avesta.org/yezidi/peacock.htm
Idries Shah, under his pseudonym, also wrote of a secret society in London inspired by the religion, which I read many years ago. I take that one with a grain of salt though.
The use of the globus cruciger is ironic in a country where the necktie was discouraged by Khomeini, among other reasons of "Western decadence" as resembling a cross. It's also ironic, that in what is likely one of their careless cultural mistakes, that they inverted the symbol of women. There's a bit of poetry to that. Maybe that was meant, though, and in their zeal to appropriate but modify a proper state-sanctioned interpretation of Islamic feminism, they overlooked the Christian symbol. It would fit a pattern that is woefully typical.
Look at me, overthinking another humorous foible of the regime. ;-)
I can only imagine what Hooman Majd's "Mr. X" is like. I don't altogether blame him, in that case. It is worth remembering, that anyone reporting from Iran is under such pressure. Whenever I see Ali Arouzi on NBC, I have half a mind to check his eyelids for Morse code.
Kurt,
RE "in what is likely one of their careless cultural mistakes, that they inverted the symbol of women ... [and] overlooked the Christian symbol"
I think it was just carelessness, too - but what a hoot! :-)
Catherine
I am yet to decide whether this gesture is very smart or very naive.
Lula has just handed a sharp double-edged sword to Iran - whichever way they try to take hold of it, it will cut them. They are at least smart enough to see that. Perhaps, this may at least assist Lula to see through them after all.
Barry
A hoot indeed... there are more posters like this! http://www.hijab-poster.ir/post-100.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.hijab-poster.ir/post-100.aspx :-)
http://jafarpisheh.persiangig.com/image/main%2520site/poster/cyber%2520group/hijab%2520poster%252005%2520big.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://jafarpisheh.persiangig.com/image/main%20...