2045 GMT: Taking the Green Out of Iran. I don’t want to say the Government is in any way threatened by the Green movement, but somebody has apparently decided that, when President Ahmadinejad is speaking, the Iranian flag no longer has to be Red, White, and Green:

1630 GMT: Activist Ehsan Hushmand and 4 Kurdish students have been freed on bail.

1620 GMT: All is Well. Really. Ahmad Khatami may have tried to put out the message that Hashemi Rafsanjani and the pro-Ahmadinejad Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi have reconciled, but both Rah-e-Sabz and BBC Persian are claiming that Khatami has been pressing Rafsanjani not to publish his letter of grievance over Yazdi’s allegations of Rafsanjani’s irresponsibility and ambiguity.

1610 GMT: At Tehran Bureau, Setareh Sabety posts a poem reflecting on the executions of two “monarchists” (see 0940 GMT), “They Did Not Hang My Son Today”.

1605 GMT: Where’s Mahmoud? So how does President Ahmadinejad respond to the growing today? Well, with this declaration to officials in Tehran: “They (imperialist powers) seek to dominate energy resources of the Middle East….But the Iranian nation and other nations will not allow them to be successful.”

1600 GMT: Let Mehdi Make This Perfectly Clear. We can no longer keep up with Mehdi Karroubi as he hammers home his attack against the Ahmadinejad Government. We have posted his latest interview, this one with Saham News.

1530 GMT: The Dead and Detained. The Guardian of London has updated its list of those killed and arrested in the post-election crisis. There are now 1259 people, arranged alphabetically by first name.

1525 GMT: All is Well Alert. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami wants everyone to know that Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, who only a few days ago slammed Rafsanjani’s ambiguity, have made up and are now very good friends.

NEW Iran Document: Karroubi Maintains the Pressure (28 January)
NEW Iran Document: Resignation Letter of Diplomat in Japan “Join the People”
NEW Iran Document/Analysis: Karroubi’s Statement on the Political Situation (27 January)
NEW Iran Analysis: Leadership in the Green Movement
NEW Latest Iran Video: When Karroubi Met Fars (25 January)
NEW Iran & Karroubi: Why This is “Much Ado About Something”
The Latest from Iran (27 January): Battle Renewed

Beyond our smile, the possible significance: Government supporters are signalling to Rafsanjani that they will reduce the pressure on his family if he joins forces with them.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Ahmad Khatami, Arash Pour-Rahmani, Arash Rahmanipour, Ashura, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, BBC Persian, Elham Gheytanchi, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Financial Times, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehdi Hosseinzadeh, Mehdi Karroubi, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, Mohareb, Nuclear Proliferation, Obama Administration, Rah-e-Sabz, Saeed Mortazavi, Saham News, Setareh Sabety, Sky News, State of the Union 2010, Tehran Bureau, The Guardian

NEW Iran: Karroubi Responds to Government Threats “Bring. It. On.”
Iran-US-Russia Deal on Enrichment, The Sequel
Latest Iran Video: Selling Ahmadinejad’s Economic Plan (13 October)
Iran: The Latest on Mehdi Karroubi
The Latest from Iran (14 October): Watching Karroubi, Rafsanjani, and the Supreme Leader’s Health

Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis

2010 GMT: Our Daily Contribution to the Khamenei Death Rumour Mill. The Supreme Leader’s Facebook site has the following message from Wednesday, “Today Noon; Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran attended a rite in respect of Imam Sadeq(A.S)”.

If true, this would disprove Tuesday’s Peiknet story, the original source of the current health rumors, that the Supreme Leader had been confined to his house by doctors.

1620 GMT: A Dutch Member of Parliament, Harry van Bommel, has urged Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen to take further action against the imminent execution of Iranians sentenced in post-election cases:

Protest at the European level is not enough. The Netherlands should also use its own channels. There is an escalation of political oppression in Iran and we should react to that by using heavier diplomatic means….To prevent the eradication of any kind of opposition in Iran, the Netherlands must act now.

Human rights is one of Verhagen’s policy priorities, and he can be contacted in English or Dutch via Twitter.

1545 GMT: Mehdi Karroubi has responded — big-time — to Government attempts to arrest him over his allegations of abuses of detainees. We’ve got the details in a separate entry.

1405 GMT: Fereshteh Ghazi has posted an interview with  the lawyer of Arash Pour-Rahmani, who was sentenced to death for subversive activity last week. Her headline is a blunt description: “Close to Death but Clueless”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arash Pour-Rahmani, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Basiji, Facebook, Fars News, Fereshteh Ghazi, Green Wave, Harry van Bommel, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Jafar Panahi, Javan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Maxime Verhagen, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Revolutionary Guard, Setareh Sabety, Shirin Ebadi, Tehran Bureau, Washington Post