The Latest from Iran (10 June): Mousavi-Karroubi Withdraw Request to March

1950 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Iran Focus reports that activist Mehdi Farahi Shandiz was detained on Wednesday.

1900 GMT: Tonight's Rooftop "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) and "Marg Bar Dictator" (Death to the Dictator) Chants:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqqqbdY0Yso[/youtube]

NEW Iran Urgent: Mousavi-Karroubi Statement on 22 Khordaad Protest (10 June)
NEW Iran Interview: Ahmad Batebi “People’s Movement Will Stay Alive with Knowledge and Information”
NEW Iran Document: Karroubi “In the End, the Wiser Ones Will Take Over Iran” (9 June)
Latest Iran Video: Obama Statement on Sanctions…and Rights (9 June)
Iran Analysis: What’s Most Important Today? (Hint: Not Sanctions)
Iran Analysis: 4 June “The Day the Regime Will Regret” (Verde)
The Latest from Iran (9 June): Paying Attention

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj3IAX369J0&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

1450 GMT: We have posted the English text of the Mousavi-Karroubi statement.

Dissected News evaluates:

"One way to look at this move by Moussavi and Karroubi is that they did the only thing they could. Neither leader can risk being arrested and having no legitimate and legal means to pursue reform. As was alluded to in the official statement, if large numbers of protesters show up for a rally that has been called off, it will appear as though the Green Movement is larger than its public leadership (this is true, anyway). If few numbers show up, then the Green Movement will still be able to say that the absence of large numbers was due to the backing off of the leaders of the movement."

1355 GMT: 22 Khordaad. Agence France Presse have picked up on the Mousavi-Karroubi statement, "Iran opposition leaders call off demos for vote anniversary".

1340 GMT: It's Official: Green Movement Bigger Threat than Saddam. The head of the Revolutionary Guard, General Mohammad Ali Jafari has pronounced, "Although last year's sedition did not last more than around eight months, it was much more dangerous than the imposed war which Saddam began against us through the support of the international community."

Jafari continued, "Because of the grace of God and the prophet-like guidance of the supreme leader and people's vigilance, we put this bitter incident behind us and the enemies found out the revolution cannot be diverted through these methods."

1230 GMT: New Mousavi-Karroubi Statement. As we still await the final word from the Ministry of Interior on requests for permits to march on 12 June, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have issued another statement, via both Karrroubi's Saham News and Mousavi's Kalemeh. In view of the threat to people's safety, they are withdrawing their request to march; however, they note the turnout on 25 Khordaad (15 June) last year, which was also in an "undeclared" protest. They continue, "In the great nation of Iran, it is not possible to block people on the way they have chosen and their creative role in making this path will appear....It is simplistic to think you can suppress the opposition with lies, threats, and humiliation."

1000 GMT: 22 Khordaad MediaFail. Reuters puts in an early candidate for worst pre-12 June "analysis": "Iran's Reformers Discouraged a Year after Vote".

On the basis of interviews with four --- count 'em, four --- Iranians, the comment of a political scientist, and an absence of any consideration of the latest developments in the political situation, the article assures us, "A year after Iran's disputed presidential vote, hardliners are firmly back in charge of a country where economic challenges and the nuclear dispute with the West now loom larger than a once-vibrant reform movement."

0843 GMT: Labour Front. Peyke Iran claims Saeed Torabian, the spokesman for Tehran bus workers, has been assaulted at home and taken away by security forces.

0839 GMT: Blood Money Will Make It All Go Away. Fereshteh Ghazi, speaking with the families of those killed in the post-election crisis reports: "Rather than conducting investigations to identify those who ordered and carried out the murder of protesters, the Iranian government has been pressuring the families of murdered protesters to forego holding memorials for their loved ones. One family member was told that “because the murderer was not identified, the case has been sent to the implementation division for payment of blood money from the public budget.”

0835 GMT: The Detained Journalists. More information on the status of imprisoned reporters and editors: a new list from the Committee to Protect Journalists has 37 currently imprisoned, but Reporters and Human Rights Activists of Iran counts 47 in jail, e.g.. Sousan Mohammadkhani Ghiasvand from Kurdistan, who does not appear on the CPJ list.

0830 GMT: A Solution. Rah-e-Sabz posts a long analysis from the Council of National-Religious Activists and its suggestion of five ways out of the crisis: 1) a free and protected rally on 22 Khordaad/12 June; 2) release of political prisoners and an end to executions; 3) restoring the political freedoms laid down in Constitution to the Iranian people, especially freedom of assembly, speech, and media; 4) an end to restrictions on political parties, non-governmental organisations and human rights organisations; 5) correction of election laws and free elections under impartial supervision.

0820 GMT: Larijani v. Ahmadinejad. Despite the attempts by the Supreme Leader to referee the Parliament's dispute with the President, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani presses on. At a lecture, Larijani warned, "If legislative and judiciary branches become subordinated to executive branch, it might accelerate the process of following [the President's] plans. But it would lead to dictatorship." Larijani continued, playing up to Ayatollah Khamenei and putting down Ahmadinejad:

Centralization of the Supreme leader's power won't lead to corruption since the leader should possess special qualifications which are not taken into account when the parliament speaker and the president are elected. Therefore the executive branch must adhere to the laws defining its authority. The government is not allowed to interfere with the duties of the legislative branch and disagree what passed by the Majlis.

Khabar Online also features the statement of Larijani ally, MP Ahmad Tavakoli: "Although in observing the bills, the Majlis may not be flawless, the government is not authorized to disobey the laws ratified by the legislative branch. Even if the statesmen believe that a law can not be executed, they should formally request the Majlis to revoke that and help the lawmakers to ratify the bills with the least amount of mistakes."

0815 GMT: 4 June Follow-Up "The Shadow Man". Earlier this week, Mohammad Ali Ansari, the coordinator of the commemoration for Ayatollah Khomeini last Friday, wrote Seyed Hassan Khomeini about the disruption of the event with the heckling of Hassan Khomeini's speech. Ansari mentioned, amidst discussion of possible organisation of the sabotage, a "Commander Vahid".

Rooz Online does some investigating to find out who Commander Vahid is and how he might be connected to the Supreme Leader.

0733 GMT: 22 Khordaad. The number of cities around the world holding rallies on 12 June is now 79.

0723 GMT: Rafsanjani Trashes the Election (and Criticises the Supreme Leader)? Yesterday we passed on reports that the office of Hashemi Rafsanjani had put out a tough letter denouncing President Ahmadinejad's behaviour over the election and challenging Ayatollah Khamenei for remaining silent on the issue.

We've had a look at the letter on Rafsanjani's website and, despite the former President's normal caution, it seems quite challenging. Could it be that Rafsanjani, just before 22 Khordaad (12 June), is going to make a public stand against the President --- and ask the Supreme Leader to make a stand as well?

0720 GMT: Hanging Judges. Omid Memarian profiles "hardline" judges --- Abolghasem Salavati, Mohammad Moghiseh, and Pir-Abbasi --- of the Revolutionary Court.

0710 GMT: Winning With Information. We have posted an interview with activist Ahmad Batebi, "The People's Movement Will Stay Alive with Knowledge and Information".

0625 GMT: Larijani Strikes A Nuclear Pose. He may be at odds with President Ahmadinejad on political issues, but Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani is making sure he's alongside the Government in defiance of the latest UN sanctions on Iran's nuclear programme.

Larijani said at a press conference, "We are regretful that the US is playing a naive game in New York these days," adding that this game was being led by the "Zionist lobby".
0615 GMT: No More Nedas? Rumour of the day comes from The New York Times, citing a pro-Government website:

A factory in Iran has been closed down after trying to mass produce statuettes of people who were killed in the protests that followed last year’s disputed presidential election, among them, Neda Agha-Soltan....

The pro-government Aty News Web site, reported on Wednesday that the factory, located in the eastern province of Semnan, was shuttered after just one month, though officials denied the closure.

The Web site....also states that the factory’s 40 female employees were discovered working without hejabs...and that they were mixing freely with the male members of the staff.

0545 GMT: 22 Khordaad. Yet another invitation to show up on 12 June comes from the students of Azad University of Tehran.

0530 GMT: First, a reminder of Iran just over 48 hours before the anniversary of the elections --- last night's rooftop Allahu Akhbars (God is Great):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B073FkNZdDQ&playnext_from=TL&videos=4udYKWS5xNc[/youtube]

We have also posted yet another interview by Mehdi Karroubi in the run-up to 12 June. He reviews the development of Iran from the Revolution to today and, despite much pessimism, asserts, "In The End, The Wiser Ones Will Take Over Iran".

Of course, the headline story in non-Iranian media is yesterday's UN Security Council resolution for a new set of sanctions on Tehran. Even that, however, could not completely escape the internal situation in Iran: we have posted the video of President Obama's comments, with his reference to the "repression" of the Iranian people, and a snap analysis in yesterday's updates.

Dave Siavashi of Iran News Now evaluates the developments and puts out this warning: "The sanctions lend an air of legitimacy to the regime’s claim that nefarious outside forces, or Doshman (the all encompassing enemy), as [Ayatollah] Khamenei likes to refer to them, have it in for Iran; thereby giving the hardcore Islamist radicals of the regime a pretext and excuse for continued harsh repression of the opposition."

Iran Document: The Supreme Leader's Speech (4 June)

An excerpt from the Supreme Leader's remarks at the Tehran Friday Prayers commemorating the death of Ayatollah Khomeini. Translation by Iran Focus:

Today, in the first part of the sermon, I will share some points about the esteemed Imam [Khomeini]. We will study the Imam as a symbol or a criterion. This is important because the main challenge of all sizeable social developments, including revolutions, is to safeguard the principal course of action offered by the said revolution or development. This is the most important challenge for any powerful social change, in the sense that such a change embodies certain goals and is geared to move towards those goals, inviting others to join in. This sense of direction towards the goals of a revolution or social movement must be preserved. Otherwise, that revolution will turn into its complete opposite and operate against its own goals.

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The sense of direction for any revolution serves as its fundamental identity. If the sense of direction were to change and attention is diverted from the main path, then the revolution will not achieve its ends. This is significant because such change is gradual and intangible. It is not as if a 180 degree turn would take place right at the outset. Rather, it starts from smaller angles, and as it continues, the distance between the main path, which is the right one, will increase with such deviations on a daily basis.


Usually, those who seek to alter the identity of the revolution will not have an official flag or will not label themselves as such. They do not act in a way that shows their opposition to the [main] path, and sometimes, they even perform an action or make a statement to show support for the path of the revolution. They are creating a divergence to make the revolution move away from its direction and ultimately bring it down. In order to prevent this wrong direction or deviation from taking hold, there must be certain criteria. If such criteria are in place, and if they are clear and readily observed by the people, then a deviation would never take place. Moreover, if someone were to move in the direction of that deviation, they will be identified by the masses of people. But, if such criteria were absent, then the threat will become serious. Now, what is the criterion for our own revolution?

There is a threat. The enemy, the enemy of the revolution and the enemy of the Imam will not stand by. The enemy is trying to uproot this revolution. How? Through deviations from the path of the revolution. So, we must have a criterion, and the best criterion is the Imam himself and his path.

We must explicitly make reference to the Imam, along with his stance against the arrogant powers, against reactionary movements, against western liberal democracy, and against hypocrites and charlatans. One must make a direct reference to the Imam with regards to such matters. Those who were influenced by the Imam’s outstanding personality, and those who heard his positions, surrendered themselves. We cannot cover up or hide the Imam’s positions, or diminish the power of the ones we deem as too radical, so that certain people would appreciate it.

Those who follow the Imam must know that the Imam would not have joined a coalition that explicitly waves the flag of opposition against the Imam and Islam. It cannot be accepted that the US, Britain, CIA, Mossad, monarchists, and the Monafeqin [pejorative term used by the regime to refer to the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran] are all in agreement about an axis, and then the same axis claims to follow the Imam’s path. This is not acceptable.

Another fundamental point about the path of Imam is that he repeatedly stated that judgment about people must take place using their current circumstances as a criterion. The individuals’ past actions are not of concern. The past comes into play when the current situation is not clear. That is when we would resort to the past to discover how it was in order draw a line to the present. But, if the individuals’ current situation is the complete opposite of their past, then the latter would be irrelevant. This is the judgment that Imam Ali made in the case of Talhe and Zobeyr. You should know that Talhe and Zobeyr were not insignificant figures. Zobeyr had a glowing history, which very few of Imam Ali’s followers shared. After Abu Bakr became the caliph, during the very first days, a number of Muslims rose up during Abu Bakr’s sermon and opposed him. They told him, ‘you are wrong. Ali is right.’ The names of these people have been recorded in history, and it is not just recounted by the Shiites. It is all recorded in history books. One of the people who had risen up to defend Ali’s right was Talha bin Ubaidullah. Such was his background. Twenty-five years separate that day from the day Zubayr pulled out a sword against Ali. Now, our Sunni brothers want to excuse Talhe and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and say their knowledge could only lead them to that point. Anyhow, whatever the case was, we are not in a position to say what their situation is as they face God. But, what did Ali do with them? He fought against them. He took an army from Medina to Kufa and Basra to fight against Talha and Zubayr. This means that their pasts simply vanished.

This was Imam’s criterion. [In 1979] there were some people who were on the plane alongside Imam and came to Iran from Paris. There were executed during the Imam's time for treason. There were also some who had contacts with Imam during the periods he was in Najaf and later in Paris. They were treated cordially by the Imam at the beginning of the revolution. But, later, their positions and deeds led Imam to reject them....