The Latest from Iran (16 July): Waiting for Rafsanjani’s Prayers
NEW Iran: How Friday’s Prayers Might Develop

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UPDATE 14 July, 0605 GMT: Latest on plans for the march to Friday prayers. The newssite Sharaf says it is probable that Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi will participate, but spokesmen for both men say decisions will be announced in forthcoming days through “official channels”.

UPDATE 13 July, 0845 GMT: How serious could this challenge be? Rumours are being spread, possibly by pro-Ahmadinejad sources, that this Friday’s prayers will be Rafsanjani’s last. Rafsanjani’s son has denied this, and Ali Asghari, the repesentative of the Expediency Council in Parliament, has reaffirmed that Rafsanjani remains a prayer leader in Tehran.

UPDATE: A reader offers the following clarification and comment, “On the Mousavi Facebook it says, “Until now there is no confirmed report of the presence of Mousavi, Khatami and [Presidential candidate Mehdi] Karroubi in the prayers”. I also wished that you had given more credit to Karroubi in your analysis. I think that Karroubi was very active and organized in supporting the protesters, organizing ways for families of the protesters to get in touch with the arrested and taking personally taking on the regime regarding the state of the arrested people.”

We began today’s updates by noting, “For the second day in a row, there were no significant open demonstrations, and statements were limited,” and wondering when the opposition would make its next big move.

It’s come. Four hours ago, on his Facebook page, Mir Hossein Mousavi declared, part in English, part in Farsi:
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