The Latest from Iran (19 July): Criticisms and the Leader

1845 GMT: Academic Corner. A follow-up to our stories that 30 Tehran University professors were being "retired", ostensibly because they had completed their period of service....

Professor Rouhollah Alami said he suddenly received news about his dismissal from Tehran University officials. He had been at the university for 22 years but had 14 years left to retirement.

1735 GMT: Pressing the Government. Reformist MP Darius Ghanbari has noted, "Apparently some ministers have 'special immunity'," since the Minister of Interior, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, did not reply to his question from April and did not appear even once in the Majlis.

1725 GMT: After the Bombings. Iran has closed the Taftan post on the Pakistan border, about 55 miles southeast of Zahedan, the site of last Thursday's double suicide bombing. Reports indicated this has caused significant supply problems for inhabitants.

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1640 GMT: Reformist Rift? MP Ahmadreza Dastgheib of the Imam Khomeini Line has blamed reformists, especially non-academics, for not spreading their ideas throughout society. Dastgheib said that "we" should have explained our theories to all sectors of society but that this is obviously impossible today.

The MP added that a "big mistake" was that former President Mohammad Khatami, given his recognition in Iran, did not run for the presidency in 200.

1625 GMT: Pictures of the Day (2). Mehr News, which is far from an anti-Government site, posts a series of photographs illustrating the effect of power outages on Iranian industry:



1620 GMT: Picture of the Day. Filmmakers Mohammad Nourizad and Jafar Panahi are reunited. Both were released this spring on bail, Nourizad after six months in detention, Panahi after three.

1500 GMT: Challenging the Supreme Leader. Fereshteh Ghazi offers an analysis of journalist Isa Saharkhiz's statement in court --- covered in our opening update (0555 GMT) and a separate analysis --- refusing to offer a defence and challenging the authority of Ayatollah Khamenei.

1455 GMT: Watching Larijani. OK, here's what Larijani said publicly today in Geneva after his meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon: "We need a new plan [on Tehran's nuclear programme] in which Iran's rights are completely supported....The problems of Iraq and of Afghanistan after occupation, which have caused an increase in the production of illicit drugs and led to the spread of terrorism, are the result of wrongful US policies and actions. “

Yeah, yeah. But what did Larijani say in private?

1450 GMT: We've posted a feature in which Fereshteh Ghazi exposes the made-up news of Fars and gets called a "Zionist" for her efforts.

1340 GMT: Sanctions Front. The Wall Street Journal, citing "Western officials", targets the European-Iranian Trade Bank AG (EIH) for helping Iran to get around international sanctions.

The officials allege that EIH has been "conducting euro-denominated transactions on behalf of Iran's Bank Sepah", involving business with Iran's Defense Industries Organization, the Aerospace Industries Organization and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

The newspaper also carries an interview with India's petroleum secretary, who says "the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Iran could complicate the activities of Indian state-controlled companies that are looking to invest in Iran's oil and gas sector".

Elsewhere, a memorandum, signed by Turkish Public Works & Housing Minister Mustafa Demir and Iranian Minister of Housing & Development Ali Nikzad in Tehran, envisages cooperation in the construction sector. The memorandum commits to exchange of information and experience, cooperation in public housing projects, research and training of experts, production of construction materials, and use of products of latest technology.

1335 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of Hashemi Rafsanjani, has given a lengthy interview about her views on the political and legal situation. Amidst that discussion, she reiterated that her father would not return to lead Tehran Friday Prayers until there was political reconciliation. (Rafsanjani's last Friday Prayer was 17 July 2009.)

In another passage of the interview, Hashemi rebutted charges that she was accumulating private wealth: "I am a normal woman. My husband provides for me and I have no income."

1215 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? In a speech broadcast on state TV, President Ahmadinejad told industrialists in northern Iran, "[The US] adopts a resolution to force a dialogue, but this cowboy logic has no place in Iran."

Ahmadinejad continued with the defiance, "They say we have intelligence that Iranians will most likely build one atomic bomb. Well, this is a lie, but let's say it is true. How many atomic bombs do you have? The Americans themselves say 5,000 plus....Is someone who has 5,000 fourth and fifth generation atomic bombs, with very advanced launchers, afraid of one bomb? They are not afraid of one, not of a hundred, not of a thousand (bombs). They are afraid of the collective awakening of the Iranian soul."

Yet --- and forgive me if I am reading too much into Mahmoud's rhetoric --- there may have been a glimpse that Ahmadinejad would like to get back to last autumn's discussions: "We are for negotiations, but to do so you have to sit down like a good boy."

1050 GMT: Claim of Day. An Iranian cleric explains, "We have made swimming pools and Jacuzzis in Evin for prisoners."

0950 GMT: Iran's Networks. Dr. Gholamreza Kashi, speaking in a conference about social networks and identity at Iran's Strategic Center, has said that the "first (older) generation" are not represented in media and the "second generation" has no possibilities to make its views known.

0945 GMT: Power Outage. Ebrahim Jamili of the Iran Chamber of Commerce has demanded that the Ministry of Energy pay for the heavy losses of private companies due to power shortages. He noted that Iran's claims to be the leading power in the region do not fit with "putting production in chains".

0940 GMT: Parliament v. President (cont.). More counter-attacks against the Government and media seen as its supporters....

Tehran Emrooz claims that insults against Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, in demonstrations in front of the Majlis, were instigated by editors of Hemmat magazine. Tehran Emrooz adds that some of those editors were arrested recently after attacking Hashemi Rafsanjani, senior clerics, and Seyed Hassan Khomeini.

Azam Taleghani, former MP and head of the Society of Islamic Revolution Women of Iran, has said that some hardliners have finally realised they cannot continue without co-operation with reformists.

Leading MP and Government critic Ahmad Tavakoli is reportedly gathering votes against a Government order that all governmental advertisements are given to the daily newspaper Iran.

0935 GMT: The Zahedan Bombings. With the toll from last Thursday's double suicide bombing at 27 dead and 311 injured, Abbas Ali Noura, one of three MPs from the Zahedan area who have resigned, says that people of the area expect the dismissal of the Minister of Interior.

0924 GMT: Parliament v. President. MP Hassan Ghafourifard has accused the Government of violating the principles of the Constitution by not presenting its legal decisions on the budget, saying the Majlis will not approve the economic plan if these decisions are not presented. MP Shahabeddin Sadr adds that the claims of the President's office are untrue, and the Parliament has not received the decisions.

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani adds in a letter to Ahmadinejad that payments to managers of Free Trade zones are illegal.

0920 GMT: Shifting Politics. An intriguing story in Khabar Online, linked to Ali Larijani....

Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf has reportedly started his campaign for the next Presidential elections, due in 2013. The kick-off was in Zanjan and --- here's a twist --- it was staged by a committee of "reformist" hardliners.

Now is Khabar implicitly backing Qalibaf and this notion of "reformist hardliners" --- as an alternative to the not-so-reformist hardliner who is currently President --- or damning Qalibaf through such an association?

0915 GMT: The Nuclear Scientist/Non-Scientist Defection/Abduction Story. Rooz Online, from an "informed source", claims Shahram Amiri is being held in security quarantine after his return to Iran from the US.

0900 GMT: Not-at-All Hypocritical Headline of Day. Press TV: "Iran Slams Canada on Human Rights".

But it gets "better" in the body of the story, which is the continuation of an Iranian campaign against Ottawa over its handlings of protests at the G20 summit earlier this month:

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, "Canadian officials should provide a response to all questions and ambiguities regarding human rights violations in their country."

"Such instances of brutal and deadly approach by the Canadian police, the interference of security forces in the private lives of citizens and violations of rights of the native people have recurrently happened during this Canadian administration," Mehmanparast noted.

The Iranian spokesperson went on to criticize Canada for its illegal and brutal approach toward protestors during a recent summit in Toronto, arguing that "The issue of human rights is an international commitment and countries should not brush aside such matters by resorting to political justifications."...

"Repeated violations of citizenship rights and assaults against protesters are not an issue that one can keep silent on," he further stressed.

0750 GMT: We have now posted an analysis by Mr Verde, "Voices Raised --- Removing the Supreme Leader".

0625 GMT: Labour Watch. HRANA summarises regime pressure on unionists, from the retrial of Mansur Osanloo to other detentions and intimidations.

0555 GMT: We begin this morning with two pointed critiques of "legitimacy".

Journalist Isa Saharkhiz, detained 13 months ago, appeared in court yesterday. A copy of the full text of his statement has been brought out and published: it is a rousing denuncation of those who have crushed "democracy", "free elections", "human rights" and the "republic", and it pays special attention to one man. "Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has trampled the Constitution."

It is unknown whether Saharkhiz was able to read the statement in court, but we do have a picture as he left:



Prominent academic Sadegh Zibakalam cannot be quite so direct in his criticisms --- after all, he is a public figure who is not detained --- but his latest interview is still pretty sharp. He points to a "brain drain" and division of clergy in governmental and non-governmental roles. The power of legal forces like Parliament and the judiciary has been diminished, while the power of "irresponsible forces" on the rise.

And Zibakalam considers that the worst result of the post-election dispute has been an irreversible collapse of legitimacy, asking, "Is it possible to bring people back to vote?"