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Iran: Mousavi Statement for 13 Aban Demonstrations (31 October)
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2100 GMT: A Hold-Up of the Telecommunications Privatisation? Mehr News reports that Iran’s General Inspection Organization has said uncertainties remain in the purchase of the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), submitting its report to a Parliamentary committee for further investigation.

Three Iranian firms, part of a consortium named Etemad Mobin Development, bought 50 percent plus one share of the company for $7.8 billion on 20 September. There are claims that the Revolutionary Guard is a hidden partner in the consortium.

2050 GMT: Mr Smith adds to the news (1530 GMT) that Mehdi Karroubi restated his claims of election fraud in a meeting today. Karroubi was actually meeting the leadership of Daftar-Tahkim-Vahdat, the student organisation who supported him in the Presidential campaign and whose leaders, Ahmad Zeidabadi and Abdollah Momeni, are currently in jail.

2030 GMT: More on Hengameh Shahidi. After some uncertainty this afternoon over her announced release on $90,000 bail, the Karroubi advisor was able to leave after more than 120 days in detention, including 50 in solitary confinement. There are reports that she has been transferred to hospital following her hunger strike last week.

We have been identifying Shahidi as a lawyer. Mr Smith checks in to correct us: she is a prominent journalist and war correspondent.
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Tags: 13 Aban, Abdollah Momeni, Ahmad Reza Radan, Ahmad Zeidabadi, Ali Larijani, Alireza Beheshti, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Yusuf Sane'i, Borzou Daragahi, Daftar-Tahkim-Vahdat, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hengameh Shahidi, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Iran Telecom, Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Los Angeles Times, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud Vahidnia, Mehdi Karroubi, Mehr News, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Sadegh Larijani, Seyed Reza Taghavi

NEW Iran Analysis: Checking the Scorecard of Opposition
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The Latest from Iran (14 September): Countdown to Friday

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2100 GMT: This summer’s proposed privatisation of Iran Telecom has had everything from Russian involvement to Revolutionary Guard manoeuvring, so make what you will of this story from Press TV: “Iran has postponed the planned flotation of the country’s Telecommunications Company, originally scheduled for Wednesday, in the Tehran Stock Exchange.”

1730 GMT: Battle Renewed? From this morning’s analysis: “One of [the challengers], conservative and principlist critics of the Government, has remained silent.”

Well, we need to make a minor amendment. Sniping has resumed over President Ahmadinejad’s choice of First Vice President, Mohammad Reza Rahimi. Yesterday prominent conservative MP Ali Motahhari said the appointment of Rahimi signalled “bad taste” and “a tendency to quarrel” by Ahmadinejad. Rahimi’s academic credentials presented “the same problems” as the ones possessed by former Minister of the Interior, Ali Kordan, who was forced to resign for falsely claiming a doctorate from Oxford University.

Today MP Ahmad Tavakoli echoed, “Rahimi’s degree is fake and similar to Kordan’s.” He added, “Appointing someone who has a record of lying and abusing power who can potentially substitute for the president is regrettable.”

So it is this a re-run of Ahmadinejad’s failed effort in July to appoint Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai as First Vice President, an affair which damaged the President for a few weeks until he was able to push through his Cabinet choices?

1700 GMT: Khatami’s In. An official from Mohammad Khatami’s office says that the former President invites all Iranians to participate in Qods Day ceremonies “to protest the occupation of Palestine and the oppression of Palestinians”.

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Tags: Ali Kordan, Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dastghaib, Ayatollah Bayat-Zanjani, Ayatollah Mousavi-Ardebili, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Evan Siegel, Fars News, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Iran Telecom, Iranian Labor News Agency, Islamic Republic News Agency, Javad Emam, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Morteza Motahhari, Press TV, Qods Day