Five days before 22 Bahman, the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, but it appears the Ahmadinejad Government would prefer that folks look away.
Friday Prayers in Tehran, the last before the marches of 11 February, were very quiet, with the least-known of the prayer leaders (Emami Kashani) giving a relatively muted statement. And this morning, the State line is all Nukes, Nukes, Nukes.
CNN declares in excitement that Iranian Foreign Manouchehr Mottaki said Friday at an international security conference in Germany, “The amount of [Iran's] uranium [to be swapped abroad for higher-enriched uranium] is negotiable. But I am confident that a solution can be found.” The New York Timestrots alongside with more from Mottaki, “We are approaching a final agreement that can be accepted by all parties. I personally believe we have created conducive ground for such an exchange in the not very distant future.”
This is not just a case of the Western media bigging-up a story and missing what is happening inside Iran. CNN took its lead from Press TV, which repeats on its website that Mottaki told the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, in a set-piece late-night meeting, “The most important point is the political will. Personally I feel this will is there.” Equally important, Press TV has a second story, boosting Bildt’s encouragement to Tehran to deal, “Go to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. “Schedule a meeting as soon as possible according to what was agreed (at the Geneva meeting with the “5+1″ powers) on October 1.”
The Ahmadinejad Government’s move is significant — and coordinated — enough for the Islamic Republic News Agency to get a quick story out on its English-language website (usually IRNA takes at least 24 hours to recycle stories from its Persian homepage), “Iranian FM upbeat on reaching a nuclear fuel swap deal.”
2140 GMT: Persian2English reports that more than a thousand relatives of detainees gathered outside Evin Prison to commemorate Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning after the religious occasion of Ashura. Demonstrators offered prayers and chanted “Allahu Akhbar (God is great)”.
1925 GMT: Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has issued a statement demanding the freeing of all political prisoners before 22 Bahman. Rahnavard, an academic at Tehran University, points to the problems that women have experienced under the regime and praises their passion on issues of freedom and equality.
1830 GMT: Catching Up. Highlighting a story that our readers noted this afternoon, Hassan Rassouli, a deputy of the Baran Foundation, headed by former President Mohammad Khatami, and Abolfazl Ghadiani, a member of central committee of the Mohajedin of Islamic Revolution party, were freed last night on bail. Read the rest of this entry »
2355 GMT: Just checking in to say we have posted a video of a Tehran University academic defending Thursday’s executions of Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour.
1910 GMT: We’re taking an evening break. We may be back for a late-night wrap-up. If not, all the latest news will open our Sunday updates.
1900 GMT: Pressure on Ahmadinejad. The “conservative” campaign against the President’s advisors has not ceased. The high-profile member of Parliament Ahmad Tavakoli has attacked the controversial Deputy Minister of Culture, Mo-Amin Ramin, and Ahmadinejad aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai. Read the rest of this entry »
2145 GMT: Mowj-e-Sabz Suspends Publication. The editors and reporters of the Green Movement website Mowj-e-Sabz/Mowjcamp, a key source of information in the post-election crisis, have announced tonight that they are suspending the posting of articles.
The authors declare that this is the “end of a wave but the beginning of a path”, as they “leave the arena temporarily to other Green [activists]“. The announcement points to 22 Bahman (11 February), the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, as a key date for mobilisation.
Overall impression? The Mowj-e-Sabz activists, having been under constant regime pressure and having had their domain “seized” by hackers (the announcement claims they were Russians hired by the regime) this week, are taking a step back and drawing breath. The impression is of an opposition movement preparing to move more slowly but consistently in a long-haul battle.
2130 GMT: Paying Respects. Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, have visited former Vice President and recently-released detainee Mohammad Ali Abtahi in his home.
2125 GMT: More than 900 Sharif University students have signed an open letter protesting the arrest of protesters on 16 Azar (7 December).
1920 GMT: Propaganda of the Day (2). Israeli officials are putting out the story that President Obama, on his trip to Beijing in November, “warned his Chinese counterpart that the United States would not be able to keep Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear installations for much longer”. This “part of the U.S. attempt to convince the Chinese to support strict sanctions on Tehran” matches up with leaks to the US media from a faction (probably including Dennis Ross of the National Security Council) in the Obama Administration — which we noted — that Israel would send the missiles into Iran if nothing was done about Tehran’s nuclear program.
The bigger story, however, lies beyond the spin. The Israeli officials added that the effect on Beijing was short-lived: “the Americans now understand that the Chinese agreed to join the condemnation announcement [at the International Atomic Energy Agency] only because Obama made a personal request to [Chinese leader Hu Jintao], not as part of a policy change”. They noted that China has “refused a Saudi-American initiative designed to end Chinese dependence on Iranian oil”.
If true, that means — for all the bluster of the pro-sanctions crowd in Washington in conjunction with the Israelis — any notion of economic punishment including the Chinese is a fantasy. Read the rest of this entry »
2000 GMT: We’ve posted video of tonight’s protests at Sharif University in Tehran.
1840 GMT: Meanwhile, despite Larijani’s harsh and perhaps troublesome intervention, the Government strategy — as signalled by the President — unfolds. The Islamic Republic News Agency is quoting an “unnamed source” that Iran has not given an “answer” to a specific deal on third-party enrichment. Instead, “The Islamic republic only announced its positive view to the negotiation and has said it is ready to have negotiations based on its technical and economic considerations regarding how to procure fuel for the Tehran reactor.” (English summary in Agence France Presse article)
Translation? Iran is trying to take the proposal for shipment of 80 percent of stock off the table, beginning from scratch on the questions of timing and amounts to be delivered to Russia. That in effect undoes three months of talks on the US-led plan while maintaining Tehran’s claim that it is still committed to discussions.
1835 GMT: Larijani the Hard-Liner. What is Iran’s Speaker of the Parliament playing at?
2015 GMT: Being a Detainee is Jolly Nice. Fars News has run an “interview” with Saeed Hajjarian in which the reformist politician expresses “his satisfaction about his condition in prison.” Hajjarian denies “being hospitalized, being subjected to harsh forms of torture or given mind-altering drugs.”
Hajjarian’s daughter Zeinab offers a different picture, writing Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili, that her mother is under severe pressure from Government interrogators and that her father has told the authorities, “I have followed your dictates and announced that my situation in prison is satisfactory. Why don’t you leave my family alone?”
1405 GMT: There Goes My Visiting Professor Post at Tehran University. At Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani has declared that the study of the humanities is very important but the subjects should be not be taught in “the Western style”.
Reuters’ take on the address is that Kashani tried to turn attention away from Iran’s legitimacy crisis towards its influence overseas: “It is now the time to export the revolution…it is not the time to treat each other like this. Such remarks cause damage to the Islamic society and prevent the export of the revolution.”
1355 GMT: Making Supreme Lemonade out of Cabinet Lemons. Full credit to Press TV and Fars News for their conversion of potential criticism of yesterday’s vote of confidence into high praise for the Supreme Leader.
Here was their challenge. The Vice Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, has revealed that up to 9 of the 21 Ministers nominated by President Ahmadinejad were not winning over the Parliament, “If we had not received the Leader’s recommendations, eight or nine ministers would have failed to win the vote of confidence. It would not have been a good start for the government.”
Hmm….that’s not high praise for Ahmadinejad’s people, and it seems to indicate the Supreme Leader interfered in a Parliamentary process. But wait. Press TV sticks that admission in the 7th paragraph, far below the “right” interpretation:
Iran’s vice speaker, Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, has hailed the Leader of the Islamic Revolution for providing Parliament with “friendly” guidance on clearing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s nominees for his cabinet.
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei “recommended that the government should start working at the earliest and with fullest capacity at the time when the country is faced with domestic and international crises and issues,” Fars News Agency quoted Bahonar as saying on Thursday.
1325 GMT: After a quiet morning, some items of interest are emerging. Khabar carries an interview with a Revolutionary Guard member describing the capture of leading reformists such as Saeed Hajjarian and the methods used to make them “confess”.
1035 GMT: Mohammad Reza Bahonar, a Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, has claimed that the Supreme Leader’s intervention was necessary for the approval of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and five other ministers (oil, industry, trade, cooperatives, and transport).
1030 GMT: We’ve just posted a warning about running too quickly with “news” on Iran, documenting how a satirical piece on Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi authorising rape of prisoners turned into “reality”.
0930 GMT: Still very quiet on news front, so we’ll happily note that Josh Shahryar’s excellent dissection of the “pro-Ahmadinejad” argument on the Iranian election — which we posted on Tuesday — has now made it to The Huffington Post.
0730 GMT: With news slowing after yesterday’s events in Parliament, we’ve taken the time to write an extended analysis of the current and future political and economic situation, “Has Ahmadinejad Won?” Thanks to all our readers, whose comments yesterday were invaluable.
Away from Parliament, the “40th day” memorial ceremony for Mohsen Ruholamini (pictured), who died in detention in Evin Prison, took place yesterday at Vali-e Asr Mosque in Tehran. Since Ruholamini’s father, Abdolhossein Ruholamini, is a prominent “conservative” political activist and advisor to Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, the authorities posed no obstacle, as they have been with other memorials for slain protestors. We’ve posted the video in a separate entry.
1855 GMT: One More Prayer Twist. Fars News, showing its allegiances, does not even put the Tehran address of Emami-Kashani on its front page. Instead it gives comfort to the President by featuring the Qom prayer statement of Ayatollah Javadi-Amoli, a fervent supporter of the Government and fervent critic of Hashemi Rafsanjani: “If differences continue, the country will suffer irreparable problems.”
1830 GMT: #CNNFail. Trying to see if any “mainstream” media outside Iran noticed the warning to Ahmadinejad, only two days after his inauguration, from a “conservative” cleric, Emami-Kashani. Here is CNN International’s current Web story on Iran: “Security tight as Iran’s Ahmadinejad sworn in”.
1800 GMT: How Bad are the Signals for Ahmadinejad? Not much coverage of Ayatollah Emami-Kashani’s address at Friday prayers in Tehran, but there doesn’t need to be to see the bad news for the President. From Press TV’s website:
As President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepares to begin his second term in office, a leading cleric says the Iranian people deserve better treatment.
Tehran’s Interim Friday Prayers Leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Imami-Kashani, urged the reelected Iranian President to pursue an agenda that would serve national interests.
“The Iranian people are kind-hearted and good, it is not right to cause them pain and distress,” said Ayatollah Imami-Kashani. ”The government should do everything in its power to be honest and truthful with the public.”
There was more standard rhetoric from Emami-Kashani in his admonition that the Islamic and the Republican cannot be separated in Iran’s system, but the immediate message was clear:
2200 GMT: A third journalist working for the Etemade Melli newspaper has been arrested. Mehdi Yazdani Khorram, the editor of the literature and art section, was arrested by plainsclothes officers at 2030 GMT.
2130 GMT: An important clarrification. Although Rafsanjani is scheduled to deliver a sermon at next week’s Friday prayers, it is far from clear that he will take up this opportunity. It should be remembered that Rafsanjani turned down several opportunities to speak at Friday prayers before his last appearance on June 17.
1725 GMT: The resumption of the Tehran trials, scheduled for tomorrow, has been delayed until Saturday. The reason is unclear.
1715 GMT: Even the choice of Ayatollah Emami Kashani, a “conservative” cleric, to lead this Friday’s prayers is far from a firm guarantee of support for the President and the regime. In a sermon at Jamkaran Mosque, the ayatollah admitted, “The brightness of velayat-e-faqih (supreme leadership) has diminished….[Since the supreme leadership can not solve the problems of the country] may you [Mahdi, the 12'th Imam] reemerge and solve the country’s problems.”
1450 GMT: A summary of today before we return to our vacation. Riz Khan of Al Jazeera posted a question which, for Riz Khan, is remarkably ill-phrased: “As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes his oath, Will Iran again spiral into another cycle of violent demonstrations?”
The issue, as demonstrated again today, is not another ominous spiral into violence. Gatherings today, which persisted despite the state’s attempt to close down visible opposition to the inauguration, continue to express clear concerns and demands (and, notably, without violence). Ahmadinejad’s speech, which has already faded into a lack of significance, does nothing to check those concerns.
So the inauguration in fact becomes a sideshow, one boycotted by some politicians and attended by others with ill humour. With the Tehran trial resuming tomorrow, and more importantly with opposition politicians and clerics renewing their challenge, we’ll get back to serious business.
These hectic trials just reflect the deep problem which exists in our country. It is definitely not a source of pride to publicly expose such personalities in a mass trial. We made a [Islamic revolution in 1979] revolution so that trials were against criminals. We wanted trials with lawyers, trials with rights for the defendants, trials where the judge acts independently and trials which make the people feel justice prevailing.
Mousavi again denied any links between the opposition and foreign countries, asserting that the problem was an attempt to limit political views: “We have to learn to face other standpoints, listen to what they say, elaborate our own viewpoints and pay attention to their elaborations as well.”
1445 GMT: The Islamic society of engineers, of which Ahmadinejad is a former member, has sent a letter to Ayatollah Rafsanjani. The head of the society, Seyyed Hasan Sobhani-nia, commented that “This letter asks about recent events and Ayatollah Rafsanjani’s position regarding them. This letter also states the concerns and worries that this society has regarding the future of individuals attached to the revolution who have played a crucial role in its formation. The society has requested Mr. Rafsanjani to clarify his position regarding these recent events.” The society had previously sent a letter to Ahmadinejad, which Enduring America also posted, asking for his own clarrification.
1440 GMT: A Twitter activist has created a Google map showing the locations of protests across the capital today.
1430 GMT: Gooya. com are reporting that “tens of thousands” of security forces were out on Tehran streets today, especially near Parliament building. Shops in the area were closed.
1415 GMT: The lawyer for detained politicians Behzad Nabavi, Mostafa Tajzadeh, and Mohsen Mirdamadi says he will not attend tomorrow’s trial because it is illegal.
1355 GMT: Another Arrested Journalist. In addition to last night’s seizure of Mir Hamid Hassanzadeh, the head of Ghalam News, Reza Nourbakhsh, the chief editor of the newspaper Farhikhtegan, was arrested. His office was searched, and some material was taken.
Five days before 22 Bahman, the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, but it appears the Ahmadinejad Government would prefer that folks look away.
2145 GMT: Mowj-e-Sabz Suspends Publication. The editors and reporters of the Green Movement website Mowj-e-Sabz/Mowjcamp, a key source of information in the post-election crisis, 
2000 GMT: We’ve 
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