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1900 GMT: Former President Khatami has followed up his speech in Yazd Province (1445 GMT) with a strong challenge to the regime
on his website: “Be sure that people will never back down. Today, we are living in a world in which no dictator could be imposed on people to force them to be absolute obedient to him. An acceptable government is a government born out of people.” An English summary is
in the Los Angeles Times.)
1845 GMT: We've posted the full English-language summary of the Mousavi-Karroubi meeting
in a separate entry.
1630 GMT: EA's Mr Smith checks in with a snap analysis of the Mousavi-Karroubi meeting (1430 GMT):
General mood appears to be to be firmness on opposition to government, but strictly within the parameters of the nezam (political system)....They both asked for airtime on national television to air their version of the post-election events. All in all, I think they are attempting to settle in for a more long-term strategy of opposition, one that implicitly relies on sporadic street protests, coinciding with the main "mobilisation" events of the regime. They will keep well within the boundaries of the political system to progressively claw away at Ahmadinejad's power.
I personally think they reached this conclusion after running out of other options, and frankly it is not quite clear whether it holds at all as a long-term strategy.
1445 GMT: Former President Mohammad Khatami
has spoken with an audience in Yazd Province. Criticising violent and brutal acts against reformists and protestors, he warned the Government that, if they do not let critics express their opinions, then the movement will move toward radicalism. (
English summary on Facebook page connected with Zahra Rahnavard)
1430 GMT: Green Talks.
Tagheer, the website connected with Mehdi Karroubi, has a lengthy article on
a meeting between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi yesterday.
1420 GMT: An Iranian activist is reporting a fourth post-election detainee
has been sentenced to death. Hamed Rouhinejad, like Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Pour-Rahmani, is accused of belonging to a monarchist organisation carrying out crimes against the state.
1050 GMT: Fereshteh Ghazi is reporting
the sentences handed out to 16 post-election protesters (according to state media, 18 were convicted in September and are now appealing the verdicts): "Alireza Eshraghi 5 years, Mohsen Jafari 4 years, Mehrdad Varshoie 3 years, Yaghoutil Shanoulian 2 years 6 months, Faramarz Abdollah Nezhad 2 years 4 months, Amir Hojjati 2 years 3 months, Mousa Shah Karami 2 years 3 months, Kamran Jahanbani 2 years, Hossein Bastani 2 years, Hossein Ezami 2 years, Mehdi Fatah Bakhsh 1 year 9 months, Majid Moghimi 1 year, Mohammad Farahani 10 months, Mohammad Rasouli 10 months, Meysam Ghorbani 6 months and 74 lashes, Reza Imanpour 6 months".
1030 GMT: Really? Someone needs to show Secretary of State Hillary Clinton our analysis of the story from
The Washington Post. As the Obama Administration pursues a private deal with Tehran over uranium enrichment, she is
blowing the public smoke of threat, telling reporters in London, the world "will not wait indefinitely" for Iran to meet international obligations.
1025 GMT: We've posted two important items this morning. Jerry Guo of
Foreign Affairs, echoing analyses that our readers have discussed for weeks,
considers the "control" of the Iranian Government by "the Revolutionary Guard and its allies". Glenn Kessler of
The Washington Post, fed the information by Obama Administration officials, reveals the developing
US-Iran deal for enrichment of Tehran's uranium.
1020 GMT: Our sharp-eyed, sharp-minded readers
have been discussing a number of stories about Iran's difficult economic situation and the impact it might have upon the regime.
This item stood out: "1700 employees of Wagon Pars Company in Arak have gone on a hunger strike to protest the company’s failure to pay their wages and pension....This is the ninth protest organized by the employees this year." Wagon Pars, which was recently privatised, is one of Iran's largest manufacturers of railway vehicles.
1000 GMT: The reaction to the Behnoud Shojai execution (see 0630 GMT) continues to dominate Interenet discussion. A reader alerts to
a moving statement on the case, and Rosemary Church of CNN has
picked up via Twitter on the developments (though there is still no reference on CNN's website).
0630 GMT: Little political movement so far today. Iranian state media is reinforcing the image of Government by highlighting
the attendance of President Ahmadinejad at a conference on...Iranian state media. The Islamic Republic News Agency reports that the discussions of media operations included more than 800 experts from 21 Government agencies and units, with the Head of Cultural Commission of Parliament and the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance also present.
One of those media operations is in Fars News.
The newspaper features an Isfahan University professor declaring that the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to recipients such as Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi and President Obama is a "green light" for the Green movement of post-election protest.
Meanwhile, after a day of tension and confusion over the death sentences handed down to three post-election detainees, activists have been occupied overnight with
the execution of Behnoud Shojai. Shojai, whose case precedes the election, was 17 when convicted in 2005 of murder in a fight; the execution, which had been delayed four times, was carried out despite Shojai's claim of self-defence.
Friday, October 16, 2009 at 10:58 
On Sunday, 
The Desperate Blogger at Salon breaks the real news