2200 GMT: Closing Notes (Until Tomorrow). Big news is that, despite attempts by some analysts to declare “Much Ado About Nothing“, Mehdi Karroubi has not only clarified his challenge today, not only maintained it, but declared that he will soon be extending it by setting out his demands on the electoral, legal, and political processes.
Elsewhere, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has maintained his own defiance by appointing aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, the target of both “reformist” and “conservative” opposition, as the chief of the President’s youth advisors. This is an addition to Mashai’s positions of President’s deputy for affairs of Iranians living abroad, special advisory of President in oil affairs, head of assembly for free economic zones, and the chairman of the cultural commission in the cabinet.
Mohammad Taqi Rahbar, the head of the clergies committee in Parliament, is not impressed, however: he has criticised Ahmadinejad’s special relationship with Mashai, declaring that the President is sacrificing the regime and Government for Mashai’s favour.
There has been a massive buzz about the appearance by Dr Javad Etaat, a professor of political science at Shahid Behesti University, on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Possibly in response to criticism that it has been one-sided in post-election coverage, IRIB has headlined a series of debates. It may not have bargained, however, for the intensity of Etaat’s comments, made in his discussion with “conservative” MP Ali Reza Zakani.
*I was once invited to hold a speech about the attempt to topple Iran political system with a Velvet Revolution. But we all know that Velvet Revolutions always occur in dictatorships. So basically when you say that some forces are planning to make a Velvet Revolution, you have indirectly admitted that your system is not democratic.
1955 GMT: Dealing with Insults. Tabnak reports that a special order has been has issued from high-level officials declared that anyone who insults the heads of the three branches of Government (Presidency, judiciary, legislature) and the head of Assembly of Experts “will be dealt with severely”.
(Crazy question: since Hashemi Rafsanjani is the head of the Assembly of Experts, will Ahmadinejad allies like Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, who have implied Rafsanjani and his family have acted illegally, “be dealt with severely”?)
1904 GMT: Montazeri on Responsible Protest. Grand Ayatollah Montazeri has declared that the regime “raises the ‘overthrowing’ charges so that they can repress people; possibly they send some individuals among the people to chant slogans in favour of overthrowing the system”.
Montazeri continued, “If the authorities give permission for free and peaceful gatherings, they will witness that the majority of people do not want anything but to reinstate their denied rights and be compensated for them. They want the freedoms that have been clearly mentioned in the Constitution and, in general, the reform of the system.”
1850 GMT: Tavakoli Moved to Solitary Under Eyes of Revolutionary Guard. A reliable Iranian activist reports that Majid Tavakoli, the student leader detained during the 16 Azar protests, has been brought to Revolutionary Court and then put in solitary confinement in Evin Prison’s Ward 240, overseen by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps. Read the rest of this entry »
2140 GMT: A Special Note for Closing (and for Opening Tomorrow). In another portion of his press confernce, Iran Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei took aim at the son of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani: “If there are any charges against Mehdi Hashemi, he should be summoned and his case investigated. If he is found guilty, he should be punished without any mercy.”
Subtext? The Government is pulling out the threats because it is worried that Rafsanjani is up to something big.
And guess what? He is. Tune in first thing tomorrow morning.
2100 GMT: Cyber-Protest. The Green Movement has hacked the website of Gilan University. The homepage still features a protest poster and the slogan, “Green Movement is Alive”.
2115 GMT: Hacking the State Media. HomyLafayette has the story of today’s cyber-attack on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting:
At least a dozen web sites connected to the Islamic regime’s radio and television broadcasters were hacked early this morning in an orchestrated operation. The attacked web sites include Radio Javan, Radio Payam, Radio Varzesh, Radio Tehran, Radio Qoran, the literary section of the state radio-television’s web site, and the Jomeh Irani (NB Iranian Friday) program.
The hackers, calling themselves Y! Underground, substituted the homepages of the attacked web sites with the above image. The Farsi text reads, ‘We will stand until the end.’ The title of the pages became ‘Defaced by Y! Underground.’ Most of the web sites were quickly closed down by their technical staff….
Astonishingly, the literary section of IRIB’s web site continues to show the image placed on it by the hackers.
2100 GMT: Ahh, This is Why Mahmoud’s Upset. Full credit to Reuters for getting the possible story behind the Ahmadinejad warning to Russia tonight (see 2040 GMT). A “senior Russian diplomatic source” has said, “If there is a consensus on Iran sanctions, we will not stand aside.”
This appears to be a continued Russian balancing act rather than a shift behind US-led sanctions. “Consensus” may mean that Russia will accept the measures only if China also is willing. And the source cautioned that economic punishment was a longer-term prospect: “We will be thinking about sanctions but this is not an issue of the next few hours or weeks. We would rather have Iran cooperating more openly and consistently with the IAEA and showing clear steps to lift concerns — which are gaining greater foundation — than introducing sanctions against Iran.”
2040 GMT: More on Ahmadinejad’s Defiance. If nothing else, these lines from the President’s televised interview are attention-grabbing: “”[Western countries] need us more than we need them. It is psychological warfare and isolating Iran is impossible. Any finger which is about to pull the trigger will be cut off.”
More significant may be Ahmadinejad’s warning to Moscow to come back into line — no sanctions, renewed co-operation — with Tehran, as he criticised the Russian vote on the IAEA resolution criticising Iran’s nuclear programme: “Russia made a mistake. It does not have an accurate analysis of today’s world situation.”
1940 GMT: The Ahmadinejad Speech. After a 24-hour postponement, the President appeared on national television this evening. He offered, in the words of one viewer, “a geography lesson” for his tour of Latin America, comparing Iran favourably to its partners in Venezuela and Brazil.
Then, in the passage that Western media will pick up, Ahmadinejad declared, “Iran’s nuclear issue has been resolved….We will hold no talks (with major powers) over this issue. There is no need for talks.” He said that Tehran might allow inspectors to some sites or to none at all. Read the rest of this entry »
2030 GMT: El Baradei’s Clues. Want to know the state of the nuclear talks with Iran? The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad El Baradei, offers all the necessary hints in an interview with Reuters.
1. Iran’s “swap” proposal, exchanging 20% enriched uranium for Iranian 3.5% stock inside the country, is not acceptable. “They are ready to put material under IAEA control on an (Iranian) island in the Persian Gulf. But the whole idea as I explained to them, to defuse this crisis, is to take the material out of Iran. I do not think (Iran’s counter-proposal) will work as far as the West is concerned.”
To back his line, El Baradei is playing up uncertainty over the state of Iran’s nuclear plans, pivoting on the controversy over the second enrichment plant at Fordoo: “You cannot really use it for civilian purposes. It’s too small to produce fuel for a civilian reactor.” So while the IAEA has “no indication that there are other undeclared facilities in Iran” or “any information that such facilities exist”, Fordoo’s existence raises questions about a wider Iranian programme — questions that El Baradei can use (or create) to push back the “swap” initiative.
Iranian state media has already reacted: “IAEA fails to address Iran nuclear swap concerns”. But this pretty much puts an end to Tehran’s offer: if El Baradei won’t back it, then it’s almost certain none of the “5+1″ powers will be offering any support.
2. But the talks are still very much alive, resting on a “third-party enrichment” arrangement. The plan would be one in which the IAEA would “take custody and control of the material. We’ve offered also to have the material in Turkey, a country which has the trust of all the parties…. I am open (to Iranian amendments) if they have any additional guarantees that do not involve keeping the material in Iran.”
3. So, for now, El Baradei does not see a move to aggressive sanctions: UN resolutions are mainly “expressions of frustration”.
Summary? Ball’s in your court, President Ahmadinejad (and Supreme Leader Khamenei). Don’t knock it back — take a modified “third-party enrichment” offer and everyone will be happy. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, I noticed this entry in the blog of Pedestrian, Sidewalk Lyrics:
This has got to be one of the most important pieces of – official state – news to get out after the election.
Ali Reza Zakani, a hardline, pro-government MP and a member of Parliament’s election committee, in a speech he gave at Imam Sadegh University has said, that based on two polls the day before the election by both the Interior Minister and the Ministry of Intelligence, the results would be close between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad. According to the Supreme National Security Council’s reports the day before the election, the same results were predicted.
I had noted the Zakani statement in our updates but my translation was not strong to bring out the analysis offered by Pedestrian. He adds, from Zakani’s speech, the evidence of Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei that votes were manipulated through “ballot-stuffing” in the last five hours of the day.
And there is this: “In the statement released by the six-member Parliamentary committee, the lines congratulating Ahmadinejad were crossed out and this was done by “a source close to the speaker of parliament” [Ali Larijani] who stated that “fraud in the election” had taken place.
Beyond the election, here’s a bonus revelation which indicates why the National Unity Plan has been stalled if not demolished and points to the deep split in the conservative/principlist movement between those who back the Speaker of the Parliament, Ali Larijani, and those who oppose him:
—
Pedestrian’s summary
On the committee’s tasks:
The committee consisted of me, Katouzian, Naderan, Abbaspour, Aboutorrabi and Kazem Jalali. We met with all three candidates. On the Tuesday following the election, we met with Mir Hossein Mousavi for one and half hours and Mousavi had nothing special to say. Read the rest of this entry »
2130 GMT: A very depressing end to the day. The Committee on Human Rights Reporters has announced that Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, a member of the The Association of Monarchists, is to be executed by hanging for taking part in the demonstrations following the June elections. Zamani, who had no access to independent legal representation, was transferred on Monday from Section 29 of Evin Prison to Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Courts and his sentence was handed down by Judge Salavati.
To our knowledge, this is the first death sentence for a partipicant in post-election protest.
(http://chrr.us/spip.php?article6138)
1800 GMT: Disturbing article in Payvand that 10 of the 21 members of the “press court jury” have been replaced in elections. Out go Fatemeh Karoubi, wife of Etemade Melli party head Mehdi Karoubi, Masih Mohajeri, editor-in-chief of Jomhouri Eslami newspaper, and cleric Mohsen Doagu, all of whom have been critical of the Ahmadinejad administration. The news accompanies the closure of three more newspapers since Sunday.
1715 GMT: Report that 12 members of the Iran Teachers Union who were arrested on Tuesday (the day after World Teachers Day) have been released from detention.
1530 GMT: Let’s Keep It Global, OK? Sure looks like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to talk about matters other than domestic trifles. He appeared on Iran state television after a Cabinet meeting to confirm Tehran’s willingness to consider “third-party enrichment” of its uranium, adding:
I think these negotiations were a step forward and I hope we proceed with the same trend so we will have constructive cooperation to resolve all outstanding global issues….In these negotiations we witnessed better behaviour than in the past from some countries and we noticed that the logic of respect and justice is being established gradually. These talks are good basis for continuation of the negotiations.
1319 GMT: Prompted by readers, we’re investigating the story that the Obama Administration has cut funding to four Iran-centred human rights organisations. The only article so far, in Boston.com, considers the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. The three other groups are not identified.
1315 GMT: Fereshteh Ghazi (“Iranbaan”) has updated on the condition of a number of detainees, including the two of 18 students who were not released after University protests last week.
The enemy started to throw mud and spread rumors in order to undermine and downplay this big political victory….The enemy caused unrest in a part of the country. We see that it is worried about the 85 percent participation of the Iranian nation in the presidential election….Iran’s foes are angry with progress and development of the nation.
2200 GMT: Closing Notes (Until Tomorrow). Big news is that, despite attempts by some analysts to declare “Much Ado About Nothing“, Mehdi Karroubi has not only clarified his challenge today, not only maintained it, but declared that he will soon be extending it by setting out his demands on the electoral, legal, and political processes.
1955 GMT: Dealing with Insults. Tabnak reports that 
2140 GMT: A Special Note for Closing (and for Opening Tomorrow). In another portion of his press confernce, Iran Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei 
2115 GMT: Hacking the State Media. 
2030 GMT: El Baradei’s Clues. Want to know the state of the nuclear talks with Iran? The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad El Baradei, offers all the necessary hints 
Yesterday, I noticed 
2130 GMT: A very depressing end to the day. The Committee on Human Rights Reporters has announced that Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, a member of the The Association of Monarchists, is
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