1945 GMT: Reports that today’s gathering of mothers of political prisoners, held every Saturday in Laleh Park in Tehran, was attacked by security forces with tear gas. Despite the assault, 150 people participated.
1915 GMT: The Revolutionary Guard Posturing. It comes from commander Mohammad Ali Jafari: “The era of threatening Iran with force is over, especially at a time when the majority of Iranians are willing to defend the Revolution and their country.”
Speaking in Shiraz, Jafari added that the intimidation “even failed at the height of the nuclear issue, and now Iran is standing firm despite economic, political and cultural pressures”.
1815 GMT: Tough talk. The Associated Press is featuring a statement by Mohammad Karimirad, a member of Parliament’s National Security Commission, declaring that Iran should block IAEA inspections and consider withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The media are also noting hostile statements from the Revolutionary Guard. Read the rest of this entry »
1940 GMT: A contact reports that Ahmadinejad’s business trip to Mashad could be met with opposition demonstrations. Online rumour has it that an ‘assassination attempt’ will be staged by the Ahmadinejad camp, which will provide an excuse to increase security and surveillance in Iran- which can then be used against the opposition.
1930 GMT: A group of scholars have released a letter in support of Ayatollah Ostadi, who said after leading prayers in Qom last Friday that they would be his last for the foreseeable future. [Link: Persian / English via iran88] One of the scholars is Ayatollah Javadi-Amoli. [Link: Persian / English]
1920 GMT: An article on the UG Government’s Radio Farda site demonstrates the diversity of opinion over what may be in The Rafsanjani speech tomorrow. The staunchlly pro-Government Kayhan is asking for a “unifying speech that is worthy of a pillar of Islamic leadership”, while members of the reformist party have stated that “generally speaking, Mr. Rafsanjani’s speeches in Friday prayers have always had large political significance with huge effects”.
1715 GMT: A possibly significant development from Wikileaks on the resignation of Aghazadeh as head of the Iranian nuclear programme: “Week ago, source in Iran gave WL a report of a nuclear accident at Natanz. Now Iran’s nuke head resigns-no reason. Anyone know more?”
1610 GMT: Twitter’s IranRiggedElect states that Mehdi Karroubi will also attend Friday prayers. (AUT News link, in Persian).
1545 GMT: Twitter’s iranbaan reports says that, “Etemade Melli newspaper reports that Mohammad Khatami, Mehdi Karroubi, Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Ali Nategh Nouri will not attend Ahmadinejad’s inauguration ceremony.”
1230 GMT: How Big is This News? Iranian Students News Agency reports that the head of Iran’s nuclear programme, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, submitted his resignation to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad almost three weeks ago.
It is unclear if the resignation is related to post-election conflict and why news of it was not released until now. An Enduring America correspondent notes, however, that the development could be very unsettling in the ongoing manoeuvres between Iran and the “West”: “Aghazadeh was close to Ayatollah Khamenei but had also developed a good rapport with [former International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohammad] El-Baradei. He was one of the last of the Khatami-era officials.”
Combined with Hillary Clinton’s clumsy statement on Iran yesterday — the US will “engage” but only to the end of September — this news points to difficulties related to but beyond Iran’s internal situation. Read the rest of this entry »
1945 GMT: Reports that today’s gathering of mothers of political prisoners, held every Saturday in Laleh Park in Tehran, was attacked by security forces with tear gas. Despite the assault, 150 people participated.
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