The Latest from Iran (6 July): Compromise?

2047 GMT: Today's All-is-Well Alert. Press TV plays up the statement of the head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization that, despite UN sanctions, non-oil exports have grown 27%.

No word in the statement on how oil exports are doing.

Iran & Sanctions: Could Tehran’s Flights Be Grounded?
Iran Analyses: A Rafsanjani-Khamenei Deal on Universities Crisis? (Siavashi and Verde)
The Latest from Iran (5 July): Talks and Conflicts

2045 GMT: Energy News. Iran has finally put out a major oilwell fire which had been raging for 38 days.

2040 GMT: Parliament v. President. Kalemeh has more information on today's attack by legislator Ahmad Tavakoli (see 1230 GMT) on the Government and his claim of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's lack of respect for the law.

1705 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Sasan Aghaei, held from November to April with 40 days in solitary confinement, has been given a one-year prison sentence.

1500 GMT: Parliament v. President. "Conservative" member of Parliament Reza Akrami has issued another denunciation of the recent demonstrations against the Majlis and its bill on control of Islamic Azad University: "Those who insult the Majlis stand apart from hardline principles. What happened was illegal."

1455 GMT: A Minor Strike? Press TV, while referring on today's stoppage by traders at the Tehran Bazaar, says that it was a "minor strike" by "several wholesale cloth traders". The website does note the jewellers' guild has announced it will join the strike on Wednesday (there were reports that some gold traders had closed their doors today).

In what appears to be an immediate reaction to the strike, Mehr News reports that Iran's Ministry of Commerce has reversed its decision to raise business taxes by 70%.

1355 GMT: Defending Iran. An intriguing angle emerging from the Mousavi-Khatami meeting (see 1235 GMT)....

The two men denounced the UN sanctions against Iran, questioning why no similar action had ever been taken against Israel and declaring that the Iranian people will not let any power interfere with their internal affairs". Mousavi and Khatami also criticised "the West" for its support of "terrorist groups".

1235 GMT: Meetings. Former President Mohammad Khatami's website has published a summary of his meeting on Monday with Mir Hossein Mousavi (see 1125 GMT).

1230 GMT: Parliament v. President. Another challenge from key member of Parliament Ahmad Tavakoli, who has said in a speech --- my paraphrase --- "How dare the President say that the law does not apply to him."

1220 GMT: The Bazaar Strike. Peyke Iran claims that this morning's strike in the Tehran Bazaar (see 1120 GMT) over Government taxes was in the gold and textile markets.

1215 GMT: Airlines, Sanctions, and Safety. A new twist in the tale of Iran's possibly-grounded flights: the European Union has banned most of Iran Air's jets from flying to Europe. EU officials denied that the measure was connected to international and US sanctions, with a spokesperson insisting, "We deal purely with safety requirements. Our controls focus entirely on safety, nothing else."

1130 GMT: Press Un-Freedom. One weekly publication in Tehran Province, Madineye Goftogu, has been banned for "slander of officials" and three others have received warnings.

1125 GMT: Discussions. Aftab News reports that Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami have met to discuss the domestic situation and international sanctions.

1120 GMT: Economy Watch. Kalemeh claims, from eyewitnesses, that there was "unrest and strikes" amongst merchants, protesting over Government tax policy, in the Tehran Bazaar this morning.

1115 GMT: The International Front. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has criticised unilateral US sanctions in a news briefing: "China has already noted that the United States and other parties have unilaterally put in place further sanctions against Iran. Not long ago, the U.N. Security Council approved resolution 1929. China believes that the Security Council resolution should fully, seriously and correctly be enforced and cannot be wilfully elaborated on to expand Security Council sanctions measures."

Meanwhile, the head of the Iran-United Arab Emirates Chamber of Commerce says the managers of two companies linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps have had their bank accounts frozen in response to the latest UN sanctions: “Khatam al-Anbiya and their subsidiaries, and companies that they thought were involved in Iran’s atomic work, are on the list.”

0830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Parvin Jamalzadeh, detained on Ashura (27 December) has been sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison for acting against national security by participating in illegal gatherings, disturbing public order, committing blasphemy, and insulting the Supreme Leader.

Journalist Emaduddin Baghi's court appearance has been postponed to mid-August.

Rooz Online publishes an interview with the daughter of Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand, the founder and president of the Kurdistan Human Rights Defense Organization, who is entering the fourth year of a 10-year prison sentence.

Tonia Kaboudvand speaks of worries over her father's health and says, “Human rights activists and defenders have been silent about my father’s situation and have over time forgotten about it.”

0810 GMT: Investment v. Sanctions. Rooz Online summarises this interesting development: Iran is removing barriers to foreign banks operating in the country.

Deutsche Welle, however, notes that sanctions are causing increasing difficulties for European companies such as EON and RWE to invest in Iran's energy sector.

0755 GMT: Attack on the Clerics. Ahmad Montazeri, the son of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, has reiterated that the attack on his family's house last month was carried out in the presence of some government officials.

0745 GMT: The Labour Front. Iranian Labor News Agency reports that 500 workers at the Abadan oil refinery have protested and gone on strike over unpaid wages.

0715 GMT: Halting Democracy? Green Voice of Freedom claims that the recent Parliamentary decision to postponing municipal elections is the first step in a plan, backed by the Supreme Leader, to eliminate all elections.

0705 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. And, amidst the talk of a Khamenei-Rafsanjani deal to avert immediate political crisis, two stories in Rah-e-Sabz that indicate others in the Government are still trying to cut down the former President.

The website claims that Rafsanjani was banned from ceremonies last week marking the "7 Tir" bombing of 1981. And it reports that the head of the office of Yasser Hashemi, Rafsanjani's youngest son, was arrested yesterday.

0700 GMT: Then Again.... Back to our opening story on the supposed resolution of the Islamic Azad University crisis through the Supreme Leader's intervention. A member of the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution has said that the suspension of the SCCR's decision --- which effectively overrules Parliament and backs President Ahmadinejad --- is only temporary.

Press TV is now reporting on Khamenei's letter to Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani "suspending" any decision on the university.

0650 GMT: Parliament v. Government. The Majlis is insisting that it should have the authority, as prescribed by the Constitution, to review treaties with foreign countries or companies.

The declaration should be seen in the specific context of the intervention by Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and other legislators in the international manoeuvres over Iran's uranium enrichment.

0640 GMT: Flashback of Resistance. Green Voice of Freedom recalls Mir Hossein's final appearance on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting: "Death, yes. Retreat, never."

0630 GMT: Sanctions and Iran's Airlines. More follow-up from our story yesterday that US-led sanctions on fuel for Iranian aircraft may be grounding flights....

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has denied this morning that any flights are being affected and insists that supplies are uninterrupted.

The German Government has again said that fuel has been refused. That, however, does not cover the possibility that private companies --- like BP, who said yesterday that it had suspended deliveries --- have cut off supplies.

0530 GMT: We begin this morning with another check on the state of the universities crisis between President, Parliament, and Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Iranian media are taking the line that the Supreme Leader has ordered a suspension of both the Parliament's bill and the intervention of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which in effect backed President Ahmadinejad's control of the university. It is unclear what Khamenei's decision means for the future of the institution; the university's new President was supposed to be appointed yesterday.

It is notable, however, that the suspension effectively recognised the current arrangements: 1) the Supreme Leader's order was announced by the university’s board of trustees; 2) Khamenei's directive went not only to Ahmadinejad and the SCCR but also Rafsanjani as "Board of Trustees Director".

The Latest from Iran (5 July): Talks and Conflicts

1800 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An EA correspondent brings the news that Amir Aboutalebi, an advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, was released today. Aboutalebi was detained on 28 December in the post-Ashura wave of arrests.

1400 GMT: And now the approved set of male haircuts, courtesy of the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Culture:

NEW Iran & Sanctions: Could Tehran’s Flights Be Grounded?
NEW Iran Analyses: A Rafsanjani-Khamenei Deal on Universities Crisis? (Siavashi and Verde)
Iran Special: The Green Movement, the Regime, and “the West” (Nabavi)
Iran Thought: Maybe The Robot Can Be President
The Latest from Iran (4 July): Who’s in Charge?

1350 GMT: Rafsanjani "I Heart Khamenei". Rumour: Supreme Leader and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani meet, strike deal for Ayatollah Khamenei to limit the universities crisis with Rafsanjani praising the Supreme Leader.

Fact: Rafsanjani in Khabar Online --- "Not a day goes by where my regard for Ayatollah Khamenei is less than the previous day".

1345 GMT: Make the Connection. Less than 48 hours after we noted that the brothers Arash and Kamiar Alaei, two doctors prominent in the treatment of HIV/AIDS in Iran, have entered their third year of detention, we find this: "Increase of Sexual Transmission of AIDS in the Country".

1340 GMT: Grounding Iran? We have posted a separate feature with developing news that sanctions may be grounding Iran Air flights.

0935 GMT: Warnings. Peyke Iran claims that 10 daily newspapers have been warned because they published member of Parliament Ali Motahari's critique of the Government's subsidy reduction plans.

And in the academic world, Minister of Science and Higher Education Kamran Daneshjoo has allegedly said that students "opposed to the system" do not have a right to work".

0930 GMT: Revolutionary Guard Takes Power? Rah-e-Sabz has a lengthy article claiming that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps is taking over Iran's energy sector.

0925 GMT: Parliament v. President. The Majlis Research Center has declared that 37% of the laws for Ahmadinejad's 5th Development Plan are "unclear".

0920 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? Remember, President Ahmadinejad is opening the new steel project in northwestern Iran (see 0745 GMT). Here's his dramatic annoucement:

"Sanctions won't hurt Iran."
0910 GMT: Press Un-Freedom. The Guardian of London features an interview with photojournalist Javad Moghimi, who took one of the iconic photographs of the 2009 protest, about the plight of journalists in Iran:

Since the June elections and following the demonstrations in December after the holiday of Ashura, two of his colleagues have been arrested, Moghimi says. His immediate boss, Majid Saidi, is on bail awaiting trial, charged with activities against national security and taking photographs of protesters. He says his close friend Masoud Lavasani, a political correspondent for Fars News, is in prison on hunger strike.

"He is going through hell," says Moghimi. "When I hear his news I get very upset and I get a lump in my throat, because ... I don't know what the future holds for news reporters and my friends in Iran.

"Their crime was to take photographs of the protesters and the demonstrations. If the Islamic Republic of Iran is able to arrest a photojournalist charged with activities against national security or taking photographs of the protesters, it is a joke to say we have freedom of speech, because there is no freedom as long as they arrest people for the crime of taking photos of demonstrations."

0900 GMT: Sanctions Front. Kazem Jalali,  spokesperson for Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, has warned, "Although international circles are not impartial in dealing with lawsuits filed by nations, Iran reserves the right to lodge a complaint against the US for imposing unilateral sanctions.

Jalali and other Iranian officials are specifically mentioning Washington's ban on sales of aircraft fuel to Iran.

0800 GMT: The Battle Within. A series of reports on the conflict within the establishment....

Hojatoleslam Banaei claims that the distributors of flyers against Ali Larijani after Friday Prayers in Qom have been identified: "there is a current in the country, which doesn't want calmness to be established in society".

Ali Asgari, the Parliamentary liaison of the Expediency Council, has belittled the challenge: "The radical current is a handful [of people], you can transport them with a minibus."

And the universities crisis rolls along: key member of Parliament Ali Motahari has warned the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution against intervention, as its main duty is "policy-making, not legislation". Kazem Delkhosh has asserted that the gathering of Basiji in front of the Majlis to demonstrate against the Parliament's bill on Islamic Azad University, was "organised".

In contrast, Jomhouri Eslami notes the reports of a Khamenei intervention, via a meeting with Hashemi Rafsanjani (see our separate analyses), and says the quarrel has been settled and all is business as usual.

Rah-e-Sabz takes a look over the political terrain and declares that "rifts in the hardliner camp are no longer hidden".
0755 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Advar News reports that journalist Masoud Lavasani, detained for more than nine months, has been granted a temporary release.

0745 GMT: Economy Watch. Press TV headlines the opening of a "key steel project" in Bonab in northwestern Iran, presided over by President Ahmadinejad. The website claims more than $170 million of finance with "800 job opportunities".

The ceremony comes a week after the opening of another steel complex in Natanz.

0715 GMT: We begin this morning with two contrasting analyses of yesterday's story of a meeting between the Supreme Leader and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani to resolve the dispute between Parliament and President over control of Islamic Azad University.

Meanwhile....

Iran and Sanctions

Looks like a disruption in the normal Ahmadinejed Government line that sanctions will have no effect on Iran's economy: Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the new speaker of the National Security Council, has said that if sanctions are implemented, the country will enter a period of severe difficulties.

Parliament to Dismiss Minister?

Member of Parliament Mehrdad Lahouti says that the Majlis is preparing steps for the dismissal of Sadegh Khalilian, the Minister of Agriculture

Political Prisoner Watch

Aftab News reports that Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi has met for "several hours" with high-profile detainees, includig Isa Saharkhiz, Ahmad Zeidabadi, Mansour Osanloo, Masoud Moradi, Mehdi Mahmoudian, and Davoud Soleimani.

The Latest from Iran (3 July): Fussing and Feuding

2155 GMT: Taking on the Brides. What better way to close a Saturday night than to pick up on the latest triumph of Iran's morality authorities? Mehr News reports that a bridal exhibition in Shiraz has been shut down.

2145 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A reminder that the brothers Arash and Kamiar Alaei, two doctors prominent in the treatment of HIV/AIDS through the triangular clinic system, have entered their third year of detention.

1940 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Azeri activist Hassan Rahimi Bayat was arrested today at work.

HRANA reports that Peyman Karimi-Azad, detained on Ashura, is in a diabetic coma in Evin Prison after being denied treatment.

NEW Iran Special: The Escalating Crisis Within (Verde)
Iran: Establishing the First “Anti-Censorship Shelter”
Iran Analysis: Assessing Europe’s Sanctions & Tehran’s Oil (Noel)
The Latest from Iran (2 July): Ahmadinejad v. Larijani?

1920 GMT: Economic Front. An interesting revelation about Iran's current economic tensions: while those with higher degrees from universities are 15.1% of the country's workforce, they make up 25.5% of the unemployed.

1910 GMT: Khamenei's "Guidelines" for Filmmakers. The Los Angeles Times picks up on another aspect of the Supreme Leader's statement to those involved in Iranian media (see 1540 GMT), his instructions for suitable movies:

Our film directors should offer products in which positive points eclipse negative and dark points of our society. If you magnify negative points, the society will plunge into disenchantment.

As for censorship, well.... "Sometimes, our artists raise unrealistic concerns about the [restrictions] they face in producing critical films. Some...criticisms against films and television series are correct and they have to respect certain moral, religious and cultural red lines. Transgressing these red lines will be extremely harmful."

So, for example, filmmakers had to keep on their moral toes --- "foreign networks are undertaking incessant efforts to invade chastity and hijab in a bid to destroy the foundation of families in Iran" --- and mind their political manners:

In all products, you should take into consideration the ongoing political events, specifically the animosity of bullying powers against the Iranian nation. Those who claim to be friends of Iran have proven their enmity to our history and culture by their anti-Iranian films. Under such circumstances, any politically motivated show has to be performed carefully not to play into the hands of enemies.

1905 GMT: Which Is More Dangerous: Computers or Guns? The answer of Iran's police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam is that "internet terrorism" menaces the Iranian nezam (system).

To which an EA correspondent replies, " And killing people doesn't?"

1655 GMT: Morality Message of Day. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, often seen as the "spiritual mentor" of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but now a possible critic of the President's recent comments on the "morality police", has said: "If a boy and a girl do something against morals, they should be punished with 100 lashes."

1649 GMT: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Financial Mis-Manager? Peyke Iran publishes a list of "financial irregularities", from the Tehran municipal budget of 2005 (when Ahmadinejad was mayor) to $14 billion not allocated to the national treasury in the 2008 budget.

1645 GMT: The Universities Crisis. Press TV publishes an English version of the Guardian Council's slap-down of Parliament over control (labelled as "funding") of Islamic Azad University: "Aside from religious and constitutional violations, and ambiguities that are evident in the different parts of this legislation, because this bill necessitates entering the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution (SCCR)'s domain of authority, therefore, it is against Sharia law and in violation of articles 57, and 110 of the Constitution."

In other words, Parliament is subordinate to the SCCR, which is largely seen as an enforcement arm of the Government.

1640 GMT: Holland Blackout on IRIB. The planned visit to Dutch networks by an Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting delegation, including its head, Ezatollah Zarghami, has been cancelled after protests by Iranian expatriates and Dutch legislators and media.

1635 GMT: A Clerical Critique. Ayatollah Hashemzadeh-Herissi of Khobregan has asserted that some people are caught up in security and thus act irresponsibly. He added that it is impossible to read some Iranian media because they are "full of lies" and that "values are mistreated in the name of Islam".

1620 GMT: Parliament's Counter-Attack. In the aftermath of the distributing of leaflets by Ahmadinejad supporters denouncing Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, prominent member of Parliament Gholam-Reza Mesbahi-Moghaddam has warned the critics and opponents of Larijani to back off.

Larijani ally Ahmad Tavakoli has pointed to a disruptive current that "tries to blacken all forces within the nezam (Iranian system)".

And Ali Motahari, now prominently leading the fight against the President, has said that Ahmadinejad "cannot stand criticism". He accused the President of "furnishing" the group of protestors that challenged Parliament's attempt to maintain control of Islamic Azad University, and he asserted that government policies "menace the Iranian nezam".

Ahmadinejad supporter Mohammad Khoshchehreh tried to counter by saying that many "hardliners" are not legitimate in their views.

1610 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch (Getting to the Important Part). A striking example of how the difference between viewing Iran "internationally" and watching its internal tensions.

For Agence France Presse, the importance of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's statement at today's Expediency Council lies in the sanctions issues. AFP highlights this passage:

The world arrogance (US) is trying to intimidate countries of the region, so they go along with bullying policies against Iran, but will not succeed in this act. It is an overt, bullying action against Iran when the US president officially announces that they are targeting the heart of Iran's nuclear programme.

EA's German Bureau gets past this diversion to find the importance of the statement, noting the summary of the Iranian Labor News Agency. Rafsanjani said officials should stop battles between different "gangs", as there is a danger that "radical groups" will weaken the three powers [executive, legislative, and judiciary], official institutions, and officials.

1555 GMT: Rahnavard Intervenes. Zahra Rahnavard has issued a statement urging Iranian authorities to end the oppression of political prisoners:

Today the prisons should be proud to have become the residence of the noble and pure individuals who only seek freedom, democracy, justice, and affluence of humanity and have no concern but the prosperity of the nation; today the prisons are hosts of scientific elite, students, professors, journalists, winner of scientific Olympiads, and defenders of human rights.

1540 GMT: Supreme Leader Meets Iran's State Media, Warns Against Lies. That's probably an overdramatic label --- Ayatollah Khamenei, meeting the Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Ezzatollah Zarghami, and producers, writers and artists, was not referring to any lies by IRIB.

Instead Khamenei said, "Those who provided Saddam Hussein with weapons and chemical materials to commit crimes against the Iranian nation have established so-called cultural networks today to pursue the same objectives. This fact should not be overlooked by anyone."

1520 GMT: The Universities Crisis. Rah-e-Sabz reports that the Guardian Council, favouring the Ahmadinejad Government, has rejected the Parliament bill asserting its control over Islamic Azad University.

1330 GMT: Ahmadinejad v. Sanctions. Absolutely no rhetorical overkill in today's declaration by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

[The West knows] that there is a sleeping lion in Iran which is waking up and if she wakes up all the relationships in the world will change. Their pathetic acts show they know what a great human power is hidden in Iran.

They thought that by having meetings and talking to each other and signing papers they could stop a great nation's progress. Iran is much greater than what they can perceive it in their small minds. We know that if this Iranian civilization awakes then there would be no more room for arrogant, corrupt and bullying powers.

1320 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Detained labour activist Mansour Osanloo appeared in a Karaj court on Wednesday for unknown reasons.

Hamzeh Karami, manager of the reformist Jomhouriat website and a senior official at Islamic Azad University, has reportedly been hospitalised in Evin Prison with heart and respiratory problems. Karami was arrested shortly after the June 2009 election.

1315 GMT: The Kahrizak Cover-Up. Human rights activist and former member of Parliament Ali Akbar Mosavi Khoeni has asked for a "proper" enquiry by the Government into the handling of the post-election abuses at Kahrizak Prison.

Two prison employees were sentenced to death this week and nine others were given jail terms after a closed-door trial, but activists believe senior officials responsible for Kahrizak have escaped investigation and punishment.

1300 GMT: (Digital) Economy Watch. Iran has ranked 69th out of 70 countries for strength of "digital economy" in a study conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit and IBM's Institute for Business Value.

Iran was 68th in 2009 but avoided a fall to the absolute bottom this year by edging out Azerbaijan.

1110 GMT: Play It Again, Ali. He might be fighting with the President at home, but Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani is maintaining Iran's common tough-talk line on sanctions. He told reporters Friday that threats will not work against Tehran: "If the US wants to act in the same way as before, this approach would prove costly for them."

0840 GMT: Today's All-is-Well Alert. Edward Yeranian of Voice of America offers a useful summary, "Iranian Officials Scoff at Impact of New US Economic Sanctions".

0820 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Peyke Iran publishes what it claims is a psychologist's report from August about Tehran police chief Ahmad Reza Radan. It includes provocative items such as Radan's alleged promise to detainees in the now-infamous Kahrizak Prisoners that "they should forget Auschwitz and Guantanamo".

Parleman News claims journalist Aazam Veysameh is being held incommunicado in solitary confinement, with no visits from family.

0725 GMT: We open this morning with a special analysis from Mr Verde, "The Escalating Crisis Within".

Meanwhile....

World Cup Funnies

EA has posted a comedy piece (we think it's a comedy piece) by a former speechwriter for George W. Bush who claims, "Soccer is a Socialist Sport", but football humour isn't limited to the US.

Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did a routine on how the World Cup humiliations of France, England, and the US were due to God's smiting of those who oppressed Iran with sanctions (and qualification for the World Cup). The punchline comes from Parleman News, however: the website notes that God seems to have turned against Tehran by taking down its ally on the nuclear issue, Brazil.

EA is waiting for Mottaki's assessment of what God thinks about Holland, Brazil's conquerors in the quarter-finals.

Conflicting Signals

Unfortunately for the Government, the confusion is not only over God and football. While Tehran's Friday Prayer leader, Ayatollah Emami Kashani, was giving the party line that opposition could not be tolerated, warning lawyers that defence of wrongdoers is forbidden, the Friday Prayer leader in Golestan, Ayatollah Nour-Mofidi, said, "Criticism of government does not mean opposition to nezam [the Iranian system]", and media loyal to that system should be free.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Alaeddin Boroujerdi tried to hold everything together by denouncing Iran's enemies --- the US is like the Soviet Union before its decline --- and attacking Mir Hossein Mousavi. Not sure that the attack brought home its intended message, however. Boroujerdi said Iran ad 80% popularity in Muslim countries before elections and this dropped to 27 % afterwards --- but is that shift really due to Mousavi rather than, say, some other politician or regime figure?

The Latest from Iran (2 July): Ahmadinejad v. Larijani?

1930 GMT: The Battle Within. Back from a break to find what may or may not be a significant incident in the internal tension between the President and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani.

Iranian Labor News Agency reports that, after Qom Friday Prayers, a number of supporters of the Ahmadinejad Government issued a statement --- signed "People of Hezbollah" --- saying that they no longer regard Larijani as their representative in the Parliament and "want their votes back".

The statement claimed, "“It is said that you voted for Mr. Ahmadinejad’s opponent.”

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1755 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. HRANA reports that Hamed Rouhinejad is in critical condition in Evin Prison due to complications related to multiple sclerosis and a lack of proper medical care.

Rouhinejad, a philosophy student, has been in detention since April 2009 on charges of membership in an anti-government organization and has been refused medical leave. He was sentenced to death in a trial last autumn but this was later commuted to 10 years in prison.

The website also writes that authorities in Karaj’s Rajae Shahr Prison have extended Behrouz Javid Tehrani’s time in solitary confinement, which has now lasted more than a month, at the request of the Ministry of Intelligence.

Javid Tehrani is the last remaining political prisoner from the 1999 student protests, the anniversary of which takes place next week.

1420 GMT: Friday Prayers Goes to Penalties Update. Looks like Ayatollah Emami Kashani may have made it through to the next round with a couple of late, hard challenges in his Tehran Friday Prayers sermons (see 1320 GMT).

Having played a conventional, unexciting game, Kashani suddenly got aggressive and put his boot into lawyers: "Defending the false is religiously prohibited and court attorneys should only defend the rightful. When they read a file and realize that the client is not in the right, they should not defend them.”

1415 GMT: Assessing the Situation. The full interview with Professor Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand, an advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, which we noted noted this morning (0725 GMT), is now in English.

1320 GMT: Your Friday Prayer Summary. Ayatollah Emami Kashani giving it his best today on the Tehran podium but I'm not sure he is going to eclipse World Cup fever.

Emami Kashani played it safe by going with a bash-the-West approach, "They accuse Iran of [efforts aimed at] producing nuclear weapons while Iran's [nuclear] program is scientific and industrial. Producing nuclear weapons has no place in Iran's nuclear pursuit."

There was the "they're keeping us down line" --- "They are well aware of this but they do not see Muslim states prosper. They do not want Islamic glory and awakening" --- which moved into the rallying call, "[Let's] join hands and through cooperation manage the country's affairs in the best possible way, particularly at present when the enemies are attacking the Islamic Republic with false accusations."

And Kashani went to the tried-and-true of Palestine, notably Gaza: "If Muslim states awaken and fulfill their duties, this land (Palestine) will not be swallowed up by the enemy."

So a competent performance but nothing too creative: I'm not sure if that would get Kashani past the quarter-finals of a major competition.

Then again, when are we likely to see the champions of recent years. e.g., H. Rafsanjani, vie for the Friday Prayers Cup?

1015 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Peyke Iran claims that Ghaemshahr Prison with a capacity of 250 prisoners, now has 763 detainees.

The website also has published this list of detainees in Rejai Shahr Prison:

Behrouz Javid Tehrani, 9 years imprisonment
Kobra Banazadeh, 5 years
Zahra Joushan, 1 year
Mansour Radpour, 8 years
Mansoor Osanloo, 5 years
Alireza Karami-Kheyrabadi, sentenced to death
Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, unclear status
Mostafa Eskandari, unclear status
Masoud Bastani, unclear status
Ahmad Zeyabadi, unclear status
Mehdi Mahmoudian, unclear status
Reza Rafiee, unclear status
Behnam Foyuji, unclear status
Rassoul Bodaghi, unclear status
Isa Saharkhiz, unclear status
Davoud Soleymani, unclear status
Ali Saremi, sentenced to death
Mohammad Ali Mansouri, 17 years of prison
Saeed Massouri, lifetime sentence
Houd Yazorlou, 3 years
Meyslogh Yazdannejad, 13 years
Ali Moubedi, 3 years
Afshin Baymani, lifetime sentence
Seyed Mehdi Fetrat, 3 years
Karim Marouf-Aziz, lifetime sentence
Hossein Tofah, 15 years
Shir-Mohammad Rezaie, 4 years
Farhang Pour-Mansouri, lifetime sentence
Reza Joushan, 1 year
Shahram Pour-Mansouri, lifetime sentence
Nasseh Yousefi, 5 years
Esmail Ordouie, 15 years

1010 GMT: More on the Drug Issue (see 0915 GMT). Abbas Deylamizadeh, the head of an Iranian welfare organisation, claims 300,000 poor drug users are in danger of becoming street addicts.

1005 GMT: The Battle Within. Hojatoleslam Mohammad Ashrafi Esfahani has warned that "radicals", with their unwillingness to discussion, have divided the "hard-line" camp in Iran, splitting it into two groups.

0959 GMT: The Budget Battle. The Parliament has passed President Ahmadinejad's 5th Plan on Monday with the cancellation of three articles. One of the cancelled provisions would have given the President millions in spending for "cultural purposes". Ahmadinejad's representatives reportedly were offended and left the session.

0955 GMT: The Oil Squeeze. Rah-e-Sabz reports that the Kuwaiti Independent Oil Group has joined the international suspension of gasoline sales to Iran.

0945 GMT: Labour Front. Peyke Iran claims that dismissed workers in Sanandaj in Kurdistan have gathered in front of the work ministry and that workers of Tabriz Tile Company have not been paid for four months.

0940 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. RAHANA reports that detained student Zia Nabavi is in serious condition after hysteria and convulsions in Evin Prison.

0915 GMT: "Psyche Spinners" in Tehran. Writing for The Huffington Post, Setareh Sabety takes a look at disillusionment and drug use in Iran's capital.

0910 GMT: The Labour Front. Iran Labor Report claims that many Tehran Bus Company employees with more than 20 years of service have been offered a "buyout" of $15,000. The website adds that, to put pressure on  the workers, the company has moved depots farther from the city and even to other cities such as Karaj while reducing employee bus shuttles.

Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran asserts the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps is starting a takeover of the company with purchase of buses and new bus lines. The chief executive of the company is alleged to be Revolutionary Guards commander Ardeshir Moghimpour, using the pseudonym Hossein Bijani.

There is still no news from detained bus union members Saeed Torabian and Reza Shahabi.

0905 GMT: We have posted a separate feature on the establishment of the world's first "anti-censorship shelter".

0735 GMT: The Oil Front. Amidst our discussion today of Iran's energy sector, a point to note about its internal production: Deutsche Welle claims that a fire at the Naft Shahr wells is still burning 40 days after it started.

And, with thanks to EA readers, another item about foreign investment: "South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction ( said on Thursday that it has called off a 1.42 trillion won ($1.2 billion) gas project in Iran following sanctions on the Middle East nation."

0730 GMT: The Battle Within. The Motalefeh party, fighting back against pressure from Ahmadinejad supporters, has asserted its "good" credentials, declaring that the hope for leaders of "fitna" (sedition") to return to the Revolution has faded.

0725 GMT: Challenging the Radicals. Mohammad Salamati, secretary-general of the reformist Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, says that radicals have "no real understanding of leading a country". Professor Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand claims "hardliners" are implementing a new constitution and declares that an independent media is needed.

Those criticisms do not appear to have had any effect, however, on Gholam-Hossein Elham, a member of the Guardian Council. He says those who want to change the religious regime into a secular state, on the basis of the Constitution and "wrong" reformist currents, are a symbol of division.

0715 GMT: Nuclear Front. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko has announced that the P5+1 group (US, UK, Russia, France, Germany, China) will meet today in Brussels.

0605 GMT: We start today with a look at Iran's economic position and sanctions. In a separate feature, Pierre Noël looks at Europe's sanctions and their effect on Iran's oil and gas sectors.

The Christian Science Monitor runs with the "Ahmadinejad bans Coca-Cola" story, which links up with Tehran's public spin of defiance: Press TV is headlining, "Iran Sanctions May Hit Japanese Firms".

More significantly, Press is featuring a sign of hope amidst the growing international pressure on Iran. Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said in an interview, "Turkey will continue to cooperate with Iran because the sanctions did not include any specific restriction on energy deals....Energy is not part of the UN sanctions."

Oh, I guess we should also mention that President Obama has signed the new US legislation passed by Congress earlier this week: "With these sanctions --- along with others --- we are striking at the heart of the Iranian government's ability to fund and develop its nuclear programmes."

Obama added:

To date, Iran has chosen the path of defiance. The door to diplomacy remains open. Iran can prove that its intentions are peaceful. It can meet its obligations under the [nuclear non-proliferation treaty) and achieve the security and prosperity worthy of a great nation.