The Latest from Iran (7 May): The Original Post-Election Muddle

1415 GMT: Hunger Strike. Students at Azad University in Shahrekord in western Iran have entered the third day without food to protest limitations imposed by authorities on student activists.

1400 GMT: We Will Punch You in the Mouth (without Irony). Your Tehran Friday Prayers update....

One of our favourites, tough-talking Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami laying down the religious law today, especially to other nations: A senior Iranian cleric on Friday warned the world powers that if their threats continued, "If you threaten or attack our nation and religion, we will reply and you will get yourself a punch in your mouth and jeopardize all your world."

Khatami spun his clerical six-shooters and continued, "These people of ours are not afraid of sanctions and threats and the language of force against such people is irrational and futile. Whether you like it or not, Iran is already in the nuclear club and it would be better to acknowledge it."

Having calKhatami called on the world powers to adopt a "polite and logical dialogue" with Iran rather than using threats and intimidation.

1215 GMT: Nuclear Deal or Just Posture? After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's flutter earlier this week about Brazil mediating a deal on uranium enrichment --- denied by the Brazilians --- Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said he will pay a surprise visit (which I guess is no longer a surprise) to Istanbul to discuss an arrangement for a uranium swap with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.

0850 GMT: Banning Books. We reported earlier this week that the stall with the works of the late Ayatollah Beheshti, a key figure in the Islamic Revolution, had not been allowed at the Tehran Book Fair because of the views of his son, Mir Hossein Mousavi's advisor Alireza Beheshti.

Now Rah-e-Sabz claims that the works of Grand Ayatollah Sane'i and the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri were also barred.

NEW Iran: Ahmadinejad’s Chief Aide “Not Too Many People in the Prisons”
Mahmoud’s Iran Wonderland: Ahmadinejad Says “I’m in Favour of Protestors”
Iran Snap Analysis: Ahmadinejad’s Nuclear Roadtrip
The Latest from Iran (6 May): Rattling the Cage

0845 GMT: A New Website and New Information. The "Center to Defend Families of Those Slain and Detained in Iran" has established an on-line presence.

Rah-e-Sabz has posted a list of names of 32 students detained in Evin Prison.



0840 GMT: A Hospital Visit. Former President Mohammad Khatami has seen Ahmad Motamedi, a Minister in Khatami's Government and now professor at Amir Kabir University. Motamedi was stabbed earlier this week in his office.

0830 GMT: A Clerical Jibe. Ayatollah Javadi Amoli has declared that, if bribery is eliminated from Iran's judiciary, the country will prosper. He added, in a reference to an Ali Khamenei, "a certain cleric was Hojatoleslam, but became an Ayatollah when he got an office".

0745 GMT: After a night covering the British General Election and writing the assessment that it's all a big mess, it's kind of a relief to get back to the relative clarity of post-election Iran.

We open this morning, however, not with clarity but with fantasy. We've posted extracts from an extraordinary interview with Ahmadinejad right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, who declares, "There are not too many people in the prisons."

The International Front: "Have Some Food"

To put forward Iran's case on its nuclear programme, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has hosted diplomats of other countries at a dinner in New York, amidst the United Nations conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

And, yes, an American official showed up.

Fighting for the University

Rooz Online has an interesting article about manoeuvres for control of Iran's private system of universities, Islamic Azad, reading them as  "a coming battleground [for the 'hardliners'] against [former President Hashemi] Rafsanjani".

Comments

[Catherine]

Shajarian to perform in Sydney on Sunday week at the Enmore Theatre:

Iran's voice of dust and dirt stands up to regime
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/irans-voice-of-dust-and-dirt-stands-up-to-regime-20100506-ugpx.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/irans-vo...

[Arshama]

Catherine,

BBC Persian has a video on the rally, showing AN's and the SL's posters burned in front of the Iranian embassy in Kabul: http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=16450" rel="nofollow">http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=16450

Afghan MP Fatemeh Aziz deplores in the interview that 48 Afghan citizens were hanged because of alleged "drug traffic", all of them without having access to a lawyer. That is the "justice" of our Holy Republic, what a shame!

Thank you so much, Afghan protesters and Ms Aziz, dastetan dard nakonad :-)

Arshama

[Catherine]

Arshama,
I bet that video will make the rounds amongst Greens as a bit of vicarious enjoyment :-)
Was the Afghan MP speaking Persian (I don't know about the words, but her intonation and accent were quite different from the presenter's) or can they understand each others' languages?

[Arshama]

Ange and all French readers,

Iran Green Voice has a French site now: La voix vert de liberté, http://fr.irangreenvoice.com/" rel="nofollow">http://fr.irangreenvoice.com/

Félicitations :-)

Arshama

[Catherine]

Vive la voix verte de la liberté!

[Catherine]

The Leveretts and the Accountability of the American Analysts on Iran
By Omid Memarian who writes for IPS News

The list of foreigners who unconditionally support the Islamic Republic of Iran is short but not unexpected: Omar Albashir of Sudan, Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah, Khalid Mashal of Hamas, and Hugo Chavez of Venezula might be at the top. Add to this list an unlikely duo: Flynt Leverett and his wife, Hillary Mann Leverett.

Notwithstanding over two decades of collective experience working for organizations and entities like the CIA, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and the National Security Council, the Leveretts are today America's most prominent, and abrasive, defenders of the Iranian regime and its president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Read on: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omid-memarian/the-leveretts-and-the-acc_b_566955.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omid-memarian/the...

[Catherine]

In an interview for the Persian-speaking Radio Farda, Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo described the Green Movement as a transitional tool for the Iranian society that has led to the country's civic maturity—which in his view guaranties consistency of the protest in different shapes.

Jahanbegloo, an Iranian Canadian professor of political science who specializes in non-violent movements, who has previously been detained in Iran for his studies, is currently working on a research project regarding the Green Movement.
Interview: http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3540.cfm" rel="nofollow">http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3540.cfm

[Ange-Paris]

Thank you Arshama . Our poor leaders are so excited with " sanctions's story "; I think the west has found the right way avoiding "L'Apocalypse" and has to continue without falling into their trap ( asking more time to discuss with Brazil or Turkey ) ;" the beginning of the end "is imminent ! Hi Mr Parsi !! :-) ; you know, when you are speaking about HR, Regime's members say : "don't interfer in our internal management", but Nuclear Issue is a common problem of all the countries in the world; it's why sanctions will work and not warning only about HR violations ! using both of them is the best .

[Catherine]

Amnesty International has urged the Iranian authorities to release human rights lawyer Mohammad Olyaeifard who was arrested after speaking out against the execution of one of his clients in an interview he gave to Voice of America's Persian Service shortly after his client, juvenile offender Behnoud Shojaee, was hanged for a murder he committed when he was 17 years old.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGNAU2010050616720&lang=e&rss=recentnews" rel="nofollow">http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGNA...

[Catherine]

Iran detains 80 youth at illegal concert
Iranian police detained 80 young men and women for “lustful pleasure-seeking” activities at an illegal concert, Tehran’s chief prosecutor was quoted as saying on Friday.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/iran-detains-80-youth-at-illegal-concert/article1560032/?cmpid=rss1" rel="nofollow">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/iran-...

[Arshama]

Catherine,

(2nd try) Ms Aziz, the Afghan MP, is indeed speaking Farsi, although with a different accent. In Afghanistan it is called Dari, but in fact Farsi and Dari are the same, i.e. "Farsi-ye dari or darbari" (courtly Farsi), having developed independently since the end of the 18th century. The Iranian version has more loanwords from Arabic, French and English, while the Afghan version is more influenced by Indian languages (i.e. Urdu), Pashtu and Turkish dialects. Dari is also more archaic and has retained more classical terms, which makes it very appealing to Iranians :-)
Their relationship is somewhat comparable to German and Austrian: both speak the same language, but sometimes don't understand each other ;-)

Arshama

[Arshama]

Feminist Majority Foundation awarded a prize to Esha Momeni in recognition of all Iranian women’s rights activists and the women who have been arrested in the recent protests in Iran. http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/may/07/1822" rel="nofollow">http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/may/0...

[Catherine]

Arshama,
Thanks for your excellent explanation about the relation between Farsi and Dari. I knew one of the languages spoken in Afghanistan was very similar to Farsi, but nothing more.

[wdavit]

Ctherine,

The link you have is bad. Here is a better one:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omid-memarian/the-leveretts-and-the-acc_b_566955.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omid-memarian/the...

I do find it quit comical when the Left attacks another leftist--then you really know the one being attacked is truly a lost cause!!

Thx
Bill

[Catherine]

Hi Bill,
That's weird, I just compared the Urls of the two links and they're exactly the same. ??

Anyway, I'm probably being really politically dense here, but why do you consider the Leveretts to be leftists? I only know their views on Iran, no other issues, but advocating for engagement and against sanctions and military action is also a view those who are socially and fiscally conservative can hold. In fact, the Iranian regime and its leaders the Leveretts jump to defend, and the likes of Dr Marandi, with whom they are in lock step, are quite conservative.

As for Omid Memarian, I guess any IPS contributor would be considered to be on the left by those who are somewhere on the right (http://www.ips.org/institutional/global-themes/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ips.org/institutional/global-themes/) :-), so no mystery there!

[Catherine]

RE my previous reply to you asking why you consider the Leveretts to be leftists, I've just finished looking through the comments on Memarian's piece about the Leveretts and indeed I saw several other people refer to them as being considered (or "passed off as") 'leftists'. I had no idea this was their reputation, deserved or not. But for the reasons I mentioned above, and for some others like "Last time I checked, Leftists were pretty big on human rights." :-), it never would have occurred to me to think of them as such.