1950 GMT: Criticising Khomeini. That’s right — days before the celebration of the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, 180 members of Parliament have signed a statement denouncing the Imam’s grandson, Seyed Hassan Khomeini. The dispute arose when Khomeini wrote the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Ezzatollah Zarghamai, complaining about “censorship” of his grandfather’s speeches.
1930 GMT: Conservative Mischief. Ayande Newsstirs the pot with a story claiming that Ahmadinejad Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai went to Switzerland recently, not only to promote a “uranium swap” on Iran’s Kish Island but also to pursue secret meetings on other issues, presumably with US officials. The paper, quoting French and Swiss newspapers, ponders what covert messages Rahim-Mashai brought.
No prizes here to guess the propaganda: the “conservative opposition” wants to stick Ahmadinejad, through his right-hand man, with the label of appeaser of Washington.
1925 GMT: After all our frustration with the media coverage of the Ahmadinejad nuclear moves this week, full marks to Borzou Daragahi and Julian Barnes of the Los Angeles Times for nailing the story: “In a possible move to deflect attention from Iran’s political woes, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday ordered the nation’s atomic energy agency to begin enriching uranium from 3.5% to 20% purity to serve as fuel for a Tehran medical reactor.”
2200 GMT: And, on the political front, Mehdi Karroubi’s Etemade Melli party has issued a statement calling for the holding of a free election and permission to stage demonstrations.
Etemade Melli, via the Saham News website, repeated that Karroubi had the material to back up his accusations of detainee abuse: “It is necessary for you to know that Mr. Karroubi is standing firm and tall and has evidence for all his comments.” it added in an address to the country’s regime.
2145 GMT: Little hard news tonight, although rumours about Iran’s economic situation continue to swirl. There is also nothing to clarify an increasingly complex domestic political contest.
A Russian banking delegation, headed by the deputy governor of the country’s Central Bank, is due to visit Tehran on Monday, the Iranian envoy to Moscow announced on Saturday.
“Deputy governor of Russia’s Central Bank Melnikov and a number of officials from the other Russian banks will pay a visit to Iran on Monday in a bid to resolve banking issues and facilitate exchange and economic and trade activities between the two countries,” Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi told [Fars News Agency].
The Russian delegation is scheduled to meet Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Pourmohammadi and managing directors of a number of Iranian banks to discuss ways to expand banking relations between the two states.
0030 GMT: Just a quick note to say that we’ve extended our break. We’ll be back first thing Saturday morning with full updates, including the latest on “the plot against Ahmadinejad”.
1845 GMT: We’re going to catch our breath tonight after the excitement of today. We’ll be back later for a wrap-up; in the meantime, keep sending in information and your analyses.
1820 GMT: Larijani’s Opening? We’ll need to get more on this statement by Ali Larijani, during Friday Prayers in Saveh, southwest of Tehran, but there is a hint in Mehr News that the Speaker of Parliament has extended a hand to different factions when it paraphrases, “Every effort should be made to foster unity in society, and everyone should refrain from divisive actions meant to drive individuals off the political stage.”
The Persian-language report, significantly, devotes most of its attention not to the “unity” statement but to Larijani’s critique of the Government’s economic proposals.
1735 GMT: Press TV Censors Ahmad Khatami? Surely not, but the website curiously omits any mention of Khatami’s warning to Iranian protesters and the call for all to choose the side of the Supreme Leader (see 1250 and 1645 GMT). Instead, the entire report is “Cleric Says Iran Nuclear Case Important ‘Test’”. Read the rest of this entry »
2140 GMT: Sharing a Laugh. At the end of an emotional day, it’s good to relax with a bit of a laugh. So, over to you, pro-regime Kayhan newspaper: there were “a maximum of about 5000” in the crowd at the Montazeri ceremonies, as reformists “completely failed to create “a popular gathering”.
Oh, you pranksters….
1925 GMT: Arrest of the Activists. Shiva Nazar Ahari and Kouhyar Goodarzi, arrested yesterday as they travelled to Qom, are still detained. Mahboubeh Abbas Gholizadeh was released earlier today.
A video of Gholizadeh’s interview of Nazar Ahari, carried out just before her arrest, has been posted in two parts.
1910 GMT: We continue to add the best of today’s videos as we come across them (Set 1 and Set 2). The latest discovery? A lengthy clip of Mehdi Karroubi at the ceremonies.
1850 GMT: Clashes and Occupation (2). Rah-e-Sabz publishes the story we have been hearing for a few hours: The car of Mir Hossein Mousavi was attacked, allegedly by plainclothes forces, as it returned to Tehran from Qom, breaking the rear windscreen. A passenger was injured; Mousavi was unhurt. One of the attackers also suffered minor injuries.
1830 GMT: Clashes and Occupation (1). Back from a short break to find that Ahmad Montazeri, the son of the late Grand Ayatollah, has said “several people” were injured in clashes with security forces. Some of those forces are still “occupying” the Imam Hassan Mosque where services took place this morning. Read the rest of this entry »
2030 GMT: We’re still waiting for an English translation of today’s Mir Hossein Mousavi newspaper with Jamaran, the newspaper of the Khomeini family (see 1015 GMT). The headline is Mousavi’s declaration that Iran is “vulnerable” in the current political situation: “People who entered the scene of the Revolution did not do it to suffer such difficulties. They came to secure their freedom and welfare, and if the system fails to deliver, it will lose its legitimacy for certain.”
2020 GMT: An EA reader has sent us the petition, printed in full in the comments below, to the head of Iran’s judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, to commute the death sentence of Ehsan Fatahian, a 28-year-old Kurd who is scheduled for execution on Wednesday. Fatahian was initially given a 10-year prison term for “plotting against national security” but this was changed to a death sentence by an appeal court when the charge “waging war against God” was added.
2000 GMT: Back from a break to find excellent material from readers. With university demonstrations continuing today, we’ve posted four clips from a rally at Azad University, Khomeini Shahr, outside Isfahan.
Tomorrow (10 November) at 12:00 CET she will present a film, Women in Shrouds, and hold a Q&A about human rights in Iran. If anyone here would like to ask her a question through me, please post it here in these comments.
1645 GMT: Daftar-Tahkim-Vahdat, the main reformist student and alumni organisation, has issued a statement announcing that it will withstand the oppression of “coup agents” with all of its organisational power, even as almost half of its key members are imprisoned or sought by the security forces.
2200 GMT: And So To Tomorrow. We’re going to pull down the curtain for a few hours, but please keep bringing in news and comments. Back at 0600 GMT for what should be quite a big day, indeed.
2115 GMT: An Embassy Apology (see 1730 GMT). Grand Ayatollah Montazeri has said that, “considering the negative effects and heightened sensitivity” it produced amongst Americans, the takeover of the US Embassy in 1979 was a “mistaken” act.
Montazeri said the seizure, which led to the holding of 52 American hostages for 444 days, was akin to “declaring war on that country” and claimed that even “some of the revolutionary and committed youth, who were instrumental in that act at the time, now believe that it was a mistake”.
2050 GMT: Did You Write This with a Straight Face? Mehr News’ English-language site offers a classic one-eye-shut view of events: “Call for massive turnout on Aban 13 rallies”.
Here are the groups calling for that turnout: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Navy branch (“Iran’s great nation, especially students [should] commemorate the day and foil the plot of the enemies of the Islamic Revolution”), Moderation and Development Party, Islamic Association of Teachers, Ministry of Defense, Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom (“vigilance of nation against the enemies’ attempts to undermine this epical day”), Iran’s judiciary (“national unity, solidarity, obedience of the Supreme Leader, and resistance against hegemonic powers’ plots [will mark] the beginning of the downfall of the US”).
Gee, anyone missing from that list? You know, any other groups that may have been today, all day, throughout the day in these updates?
2040 GMT: Homy Lafayette has posted routes of the marches in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, Shiraz, Ahvaz, and Bushehr.
1830 GMT: An EA source sends us the news that Ali Pir-Hosseinloo, a translator and book editor, blogger, and member of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front, has been freed from jail after spending 50 days in solitary confinement.
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. Read the rest of this entry »
2100 GMT: And for those looking for yet another account of the Karroubi-Mousavi meeting (see 1220 and 1350 GMT), here is the version from Mousavi’s website Kalemeh.
1930 GMT: We’ve posted video of today’s demonstration by families of detainees in front of the Tehran Prosecutor General’s offices (see 1150 GMT).
1835 GMT: And Then There’s the Nice Supreme Leader. Mehr News ignores the Khamenei challenge to the opposition, preferring the Supreme Leader’s exhortation to students, “The political insight and religious principles and concepts in the depth of the thoughts of the youth show that today’s younger generation cannot be stopped, and this pure reality is the guarantor of the continuation of the country’s progress.”
Only later in the article does Mehr sneak in the criticism of the Green movement, “The day after the election, some called that great election a lie without any reason or justification. Is it a minor offence?”
Press TV finally gets around to the harsh Khamenei attack on “certain people”, but they prefer to avoid the issue for several paragraphs, focusing instead on “foreign attacks”.
1810 GMT: Khamenei Intervenes. And the Supreme Leader’s message, after the Media Fair episodes, the Mousavi-Karroubi meeting, and the University demonstrations is: Enough is Enough.
Speaking to university staff and students today, according to state television, Khamenei made his sharpest direct attack on opposition leaders since early in the post-election crisis, saying “questioning [of] the basis of the election [was] the biggest crime”. He added, “Of course some people inside (Iran) may not be aware that they are moving in line with the enemies’ threats, but this issue will not change the truth.”
Khamenei claimed that he had sent a private message to opposition leaders, saying that they were starting would be used by enemy”. He then issued a not-so-veiled challenge over further moves, claiming, “A politician has to be like a chess player & predict their moves & their results in advance.”
2045 GMT: Kalemeh is reporting that more than 1000 students at Sharif University demonstrated today over detentions of their classmates.
2140 GMT: Sharing a Laugh. At the end of an emotional day, it’s good to relax with a bit of a laugh. So, over to you, pro-regime Kayhan newspaper: there were “
2030 GMT: We’re still waiting for an English translation of today’s Mir Hossein Mousavi newspaper with Jamaran, the newspaper of the Khomeini family (see 1015 GMT). The headline is 
2200 GMT: And So To Tomorrow. We’re going to pull down the curtain for a few hours, but please keep bringing in news and comments. Back at 0600 GMT for what should be quite a big day, indeed.
2100 GMT: A Hold-Up of the Telecommunications Privatisation? 
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