Iran Video: The Khamenei-Ahmadinejad “Non-Kiss” (3 August)
NEW Iran Analysis: Naming a President
Trials in Iran: The Latest from Mousavi
NEW Iran Video: The Abtahi “Confession”, Roohul Amini, and Tehran Trial (2 August)
The Latest from Iran (2 August): Raising the Stakes

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2115 GMT: A Personal Note “#CNNFail”. I am watching, open-mouthed, as CNN milks the Khomeini-Ahmadinejad “non-kiss” for 10 minutes of blather, with Reza Sayah, his producer,and the happy, chatty, vacuous Michael Holmes chuntering on about how they disagreed about the meaning of the physical interaction: Did Khameini block Mahmoud’s embrace? Did Mahmoud check the Supreme Loyalty because he wanted to show sufficient loyalty? It’s all ho-ho, ha-ha at the end of their proclaimed 15-hour day.

Here’s a friendly suggestion to all the CNN folks. If you spent as much time carefully evaluating political sources over the last two weeks, including the Khamenei-Ahmadinejad tensions, or if you gave a little thought to the politics beyond the single image of the Supreme Leader and the President, including today’s demonstrations and the reactions to Saturday’s trial, you wouldn’t have to spend 600 seconds saying nothing of consequence beyond flagrant self-promotion.

2040 GMT: Another Effort for Conciliation. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, Maryam Behrouzi, the head of the society of Zeynab, a conservative women’s group has stated, “Both principalist and reformist factions have had faults and irregularities and must attempt to cleanse themselves so that the establishment regains its reputation and regains the trust of the people.” At the same time, Behrouzi said, “In these [televised] confessions [of reformists] wno mention has been made of  ‘velvet revolution’….The Supreme Leader has called the two factions of principalist and reformist to be to wings of the same system and accusing one fraction of ’soft deposition’ will cause a huge damage to the establishment….If some individuals of a fraction make a mistake that mistake should not be used to indict a whole faction.”

2030 GMT: A Very Important Correction. Mehdi Karroubi has denied the report of Fars News alleging that he participated in a demonstration between Vali-e Asr Square and Vanak Square as “an absolute falsehood”. Karroubi says, “At the alleged time [I] was participating in the memorial service of the filmmaker Seifollah Daad at the Nour Mosque. This mosque is located between Vali-e Asr and Vanak; however, [I] did not get out of [my] car and did not address the people.”

Our correspondent Mani analyses:

Karroubi is not back tracking. The account is from Etemade Melli, Karroubi’s official site, and therefore should be considered true. I think that the reason why Karroubi is making this statement is because Fars News had a mendacious reason for reporting Karroubi’s presence. The number of demonstrators today was relatively small so  Fars News is implying that Karroubi has participated in a demonstration in which support for him and the reform movement is waning.

Karroubi’s statement is reinforcing the fact that he did not call for this demonstration, as opposed to last Thursday in which he had effectively called for protest and got sizable popular participation in one of the least accessible locations in Tehran.

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Tags: Abdolhossein Roohul Amini, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Bizhan Nobaveh, David Sanger, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Fars News, Iran, Iran Election 2009, Iranian Labor News Agency, Islamic Republic News Agency, James Jones, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehdi Karroubi, Michael Holmes, Mohsen Roohul Amini, Mowj-e-sabz, New York Times, Press TV, Saham News, Seifollah Daad

The Latest from Iran (30 July): Memorial Day

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Iran: The “40th Day” Memorial and the Inauguration
Latest Iran Video: Mousavi Speech, Nighttime Protests (27-29 July)
The Latest from Iran (28 July): The Regime Crumbles

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2105 GMT: Still no confirmation of the release of Saeed Hajjarian from detention, which was supposed to take place today. Gooya.com, reporting of behalf of the “Green Wave”, says the news should not be trusted.

2025 GMT: Another Arrest. Now it is Khatami advisor Shayesteh Amiri who has been arrested.

2015 GMT: The Latest from the Police. It’s not just the Ministry of Intelligence that is being shaken up (see separate story). Three high-ranking officers — the head of preventive forces, the head of the traffic section, and the head of airport police — have been replaced.

Meanwhile, the overall head of the security forces, General Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, is adjusting his position. Hours after the Prosecutor General insisted that officers show restraint, Ahmadi-Moghaddam said, “The security forces try to install calm and justice in society…..however no type of provocation must cause the security officers to step out of the law….Some members of the security forces have overreacted.”

Ahmadi Moghaddam added, “In response to the complaints of 440 of our countrymen we have compensated 197 of 300 people that have sustained damages….The total amount of compensation paid was $50,000.” (Correspondent Mani thinks the General is being a bit of a cheapskate, since the cost of a  car in Iran starts from $8000.)

2005 GMT: Press TV Coverage Meter – Mousavi Up, Mahmoud Down. There is an overload of indicators of the shifting view of state media in this story from Press TV’s website, “Amid growing dissension among Iran’s ruling elite over the president’s conduct, former presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says the post-vote crisis is the product of undervaluing the will of the people.”

Who is the troublemaker now?

2000 GMT: Don’t Give Up the Story Now. Press TV may have stopped treating the murder of Neda Agha Soltan as a foreign plot (0720 GMT), but others are not ready to quit. A Revolutionary Guard commander has told an audience that the “accident was completely planned”.

1905 GMT: Mahmoud, We Want Our Vote Back. An editorial in Ya Lassarat newspaper, associated with Ansar al Hezbollah activists, has demanded, “Mr. Ahmadinejad, apologize to the nation!” The editorial continued,

We must tell you, Mr. Ahmadinejad, that our criteria in voting for you was your indisputable allegiance to the Leadership. But now we see that you, in the past week, have done things that raise questions about your allegiance to the Leader. The appointment of [First Vice President] Rahim Masha’i, the removal of the ministers, leaves doubts about allegiance to the Leader whose only fault was reminding you to obey the order of the Leadership. Your hesitation in carrying out the Leader’s orders has led us to begin to assume that your love for a person such as Masha’i is far greater than your love for the Leader. Of course we hope that we are mistaken.

We would like you to be aware that in the event you repeat, persist with such behavior, we will have no choice but to ask you to return our votes.

1900 GMT: Some Come Out, Some Go In. Further illustrating that the release of 140 detainees is a limited concession, Iranian authorities have reportedly arrested Saeed Shariati, a leading member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front.

1800 GMT: Press TV’s English website reports from Iranian security services: “An underground network providing foreign media outlets with photos and footage of the post-election unrest has been identified and arrested in Iran.” No further details of the network, the foreign outlets, or the footage is given.
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Tags: Admiral Shamkhani, Ansar al Hezbollah, Ayatollah Dorri-Najafabadi, Ayatollah Rasti, Dad, Emad Behavar, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, Etemade Melli, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hassan Abutorabi-Fard, Hossein Alaie, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Islamic Iran Participation Front, Islamic Republic News Agency, Jahan News, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami, Neda Agha Soltan, Press TV, Saeed Hajjarian, Saeed Shariati, Seifollah Daad, Shayesteh Amiri, Ya Lassarat