2045 GMT: Sunday Absurdity. A slow day, which leading to a perusing of opinion in the newspapers. Unfortunately, that turns up a piece of anti-Muslim diatribe posing as analysis by Ephraim Karsh in The New York Times: “Muslims Won’t Play Together”. The slurs have to be read to be believed, but here is the policy recommendation: “A military strike must remain a serious option: there is no peaceful way to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, stemming as they do from its imperialist brand of national-Islamism.”
1700 GMT: Where’s Mahmoud? President Ahmadinejad has been at a conference in Tehran attended by Palestinian leaders such as Hamas’ Khaled Meshaal, Islamic Jihad’s Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, and the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (General Command), Ahmed Jibril. Ahmadinejad offered this commentary:
1730 GMT: Political Prisoner Update. Lawyer Massoud Aghaee was freed last night on bail. (http://www.ilna.ir/newsText.aspx?ID=109018)
1710 GMT: The Iranian Parliament has launched its 4th enquiry into the Kahrizak Prison abuses. (http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/feb/20/1244)
1655 GMT: Economic Projections. Key member of Parliament Ahmad Tavakoli has warned of possible zero growth or contraction in the economy in 2010-11. (http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=13758)
1645 GMT: Grand Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi has declared that officials should serve the people and that if the people do not appear in public anymore, there will be great difficulties. (http://www.ilna.ir/newsText.aspx?ID=109009)
1640 GMT: Conservative Watch. Mohsen Rezaei, Presidential candidate and Secretary of the Expediency Coucil, has called on the Council to “apply corrections” to electoral laws. (http://www.ilna.ir/newsText.aspx?ID=109015)
1630 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Council, has declared at a Council meetint that “exclusion, elimination, and insulting” of figures in the Iranian system is a poison to domestic affairs and should be stopped.
Rafsanjani, reaffirming his position, declared that 22 Bahman invited Iranians to unity, following the Supreme Leader.
(http://www.ilna.ir/newsText.aspx?ID=109080)
1620 GMT: Afternoon Economy Watch. Bus drivers have gathered in front of the Social Security building in Tehran to protest against working conditions. (http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=13750)
Iranian Labor News Agency warns that factories in many industrial sectors face closure. (http://www.ilna.ir/fullStory.aspx?ID=109010)
At least 1500 jobs have been lost in recent shutdowns. (http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/feb/19/1237)
Alireza Mahjoub, the head of a workers’ syndicate, has said the promise of 50 percent increase in oil prices in next year’s budget is “bizarre and inaccurate”. (http://www.ilna.ir/fullStory.aspx?ID=109089)
1120 GMT: This Month’s Twitter-Bash. This is almost as predictable as British weather: every few weeks, someone in the “thinking” press patches together faulty assumptions, a mis-understanding of social media, an Iran anecdote, and an “analyst” to claim that he/she has discovered: Twitter Had Nothing to Do With Post-Elections Events in Iran Whatsoever.
This month’s 15-second fame of Twitter-bashing is enjoyed by Mary Fitzgerald of The Irish Times. She is not as obnoxious or arrogant as Will Heaven, but the piece plumbs the same shallow waters of “analysis” that does no justice to social media or, more importantly, to those in Iran. (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0220/1224264860222.html)
1045 GMT: The Flag Flap (cont.). Well, I guess the issue of the magically changing colour of the Iranian flag — from red/white/green to red/white/blue — isn’t just a joke any longer.
At least not for the President’s office: it has issued a statement that “light reflection twisted the colour” of the flag at Ahmadinejad’s press conference this week. (http://bit.ly/crcDMW)
0905 GMT: Moscow’s Two-Faced Missiles. Russia, meanwhile, plays its own game with Iran. Having given Israel one message by holding up immediate delivery of S-300 missiles to Tehran, Moscow balanced with reassurance to Iran on Friday. Press TV quotes Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, “There is a contract to supply these systems to Iran, and we will fulfill it … Delays (with deliveries) are linked to technical problems with adjusting these systems.”
Iran has just sent a letter to the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, repeating its request for fuel to run a research reactor in Tehran that produces nuclear isotopes for medical purposes, according to U.S. and European officials.
They are readi
ng the letter as Iran’s latest, and perhaps final, rejection of an offer the United States and five other countries made last October to provide the fuel by taking low-enriched uranium out of Iran and enriching it for use in the research reactor…..
“We understand that Iran has recently sent a letter to the IAEA that simply repeats its request from last year for assistance to acquire fuel – a request the IAEA has responded appropriately to with its offer last October,” National Security Council spokesman Michael Hammer said.
“We see nothing new, and it would appear to reiterate Iran’s rejection of the IAEA’s proposal. Coupled with the IAEA’s latest report on Iran’s nuclear program, this reinforces why our concerns about Iran’s nuclear intentions are deepening.”
In other words, diplomatic stalemate. Tehran will continue to put forth its request for uranium through purchase or a swap inside Iran, while “the West” will insist on a swap in a third country. This could drag on for some time: both sides are getting public-relations value out of their positions.
It is one of the most striking articles to come out of Iran in recent weeks. A journalist for a US newspaper, who has stayed behind when his colleagues have left or been expelled, sits in a kitchen with four Iranian activists:
The opposition supporters nervously smoked cigarettes in the kitchen as loud music blared from the empty living room. A student, a businessman, a writer and an artist had planned a victory party but instead were mourning their defeat.
“It’s all over,” said the student, a young woman in a sleek black dress. “Our only option is to leave the country.”
That is the opening of Thomas Erdbrink’s atmosphere piece in The Washington Post this morning, and the bleakness is unrelenting:
The world is once again watching Iran. A series of weekend developments are in the global press this morning. Thomas Erdbrink of The Washington Post covers the Parliamentary report on the abuse of detainees, headlining the allegations against former Tehran Prosecutor General and current Presidential aide Saeed Mortazavi, “An Iranian parliamentary probe has singled out a former Tehran prosecutor as being responsible for the violent deaths of three protesters in a now-closed prison facility after anti-government demonstrations in July.” Nazila Fathi of The New York Times writes on the same lines.
Credit to both reporters and to others for picking up on the development. Credit also for coverage of the Supreme Leader’s weekend address as well as notice of President Ahmadinejad’s presentation of his five-year National Development Plan to Parliament.
However, all the information deserves a much closer look. Below the surface of pronouncement and public reports, there are powerful currents swirling within the Establishment. This is no less than an attempt, perhaps the last one before showdown reaches the highest levels of the regime, to find a way out of the political conflict. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
2015 GMT: 13 Aban Does Not Exist. Homy Lafayette offers more detail on the Government’s order to state media to “refrain from disseminating any news, photo, or topic which can lead to tension in the society or breach public order” during the demonstrations on 13 Aban (4 November).
The article includes an English translation of the document, issued by Deputy Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Alireza Malekian.
1810 GMT: Iran’s Nuclear Manoeuvre. If this story from Press TV is accurate, then Tehran is haggling over the details of third-party enrichment, rather than walking away from the deal.
The article re-quotes the source who spoke to Al Alam TV (see 1015 GMT), “Iran will announce its response to the proposal put forward by [International Atomic Energy Agency] Director-General [Mohamed] ElBaradei on Friday, October 30.” The official added that Iran did not want to send 80 percent of its uranium stock in a single shipment to Russia, as set out in the deal from the Vienna talks: “Iran as a uranium buyer knows best how much uranium, enriched to a level of 19.75 percent, it needs [for its medical research reactor]; based on this argument, it will raise certain issues with this proposal.”
In other words, Tehran will insist on a lower amount of uranium — currently, the deal is for 1.2 million out of 1.5 million tonnes — being sent to Russia in the first shipment. More would be delivered for enrichment as the medical reactor required new supplies.
The report is seconded by the head of Parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, “Iran can send the scheduled amount in separate shipments so that its fuel supply [provided by foreigners] is guaranteed….Iran can send only a part of its stockpile … and then as it receives its 20 percent enriched fuel it will send the next portion.”
A word of caution on this interpretation: Boroujerdi is close to President Ahmadinejad and is putting the pro-deal view. It is unclear whether the dissenting voices such as Ali Larijani (and possibly, behind Larijani, the Supreme Leader) have come around to this position.
1750 GMT: Back from a teaching break to find that Rooz Online, following up a story prominent on the Internet this morning, has published details of an alleged Government order to censor and possibly shut out any news of mass demonstrations on 13 Aban (4 November). Read the rest of this entry »
On Tuesday, we profiled our first entry in the competition to write the worst story about Iran’s Presidential election: Colin Freeman’s effort, for The Daily Telegraph of London to turn the campaign into a “a rock gig moshpit” and “a World Wrestling Federation grudge match” and to make over President Ahmadinejad as a member of The Sex Pistols.
We could not have anticipated the flood of entries that would follow. Each time, we thought the bottom had been reached, an intrepid reporter or commentator would take the bar lower. So, without further ado, the ultimate in Bad Election Journalism: Read the rest of this entry »
2045 GMT: Sunday Absurdity. A slow day, which leading to a perusing of opinion in the newspapers. Unfortunately, that turns up a piece of anti-Muslim diatribe posing as analysis by Ephraim Karsh in The New York Times: “Muslims Won’t Play Together”. The slurs have to be read to be believed, but here is the policy recommendation: “A military strike must remain a serious option: there is no peaceful way to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, stemming as they do from its imperialist brand of national-Islamism.”
2000 GMT: Widespread reports of loud “Allahu Akhbar” rooftop chants tonight. We’ve 
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.
2015 GMT: 13 Aban Does Not Exist. Homy Lafayette 
On Tuesday, 
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