The Latest from Iran (31 August): Unity? What Unity?

2005 GMT: Execution (Stoning) Watch. The Los Angeles Times, citing Human Rights Activists News Agency, reports that Iranian courts have handed down two more sentences of death by stoning for adultery. The verdict was issued on Saturday to Vali Janfeshani and Sariyeh Ebadi, convicted of having an extramarital affair.

The developments follows international protests over the death sentence given to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani for adultery. Ashtiani's execution by stoning has been suspended by Iranian authorities, although there has been no clemency over capital punishment.

1905 GMT: Economy Watch. Deutsche Welle offers an article on the growing economic influence of the Revolutionary Guard, "Iran's largest employer".

1855 GMT: Karroubi, Qods Day, and A Nervous Government. James Miller, at Dissected News, offers a concise overview of latest developments from the "siege" of the Karroubi house to the Government's stumbling propaganda ahead of Qods Day this Friday.

NEW Iran: Ahmadinejad's Trash Talk (Theodoulou)
NEW Iran Witness: Activist Mahboubeh Karami on Six Months in Detention
NEW Iran: The Latest on the Karroubi “Siege” and the Qods Day Rally
Iran: The Regime Feels the Pressure on Stoning
Iran Special: Political Prisoners, Election Fraud, & The Regime’s Backfiring Propaganda
Iran Breaking: Karroubi on Election Fraud; House Surrounded by Pro-Regime Crowd
The Latest from Iran (30 August): Khamenei Slaps Down Ahmadinejad

1640 GMT: MediaWatch. Arshama3's Blog has posted a useful list of websites for Iran news and analysis.

1635 GMT: The Protests Are Not Over (Says the Regime). Ali Fazli, commander of the Basij militia, has said that last year's fitna (sedition) is like fire under the ashes; "when we let it go loose, it will start again".

Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi explains: from 1991-2010 Iran's enemies have spent $17 billion to topple the regime through "soft war", with the money handed over by several foreign embassies in Iran, European parties, "Western" foreign ministries, US-connected Iranian organisations, and dozens of foundations.

(If you're in one of these locations, you could be in for some money from "US Bureaus", according to Moslehi: Baku in Azerbaijan, Frankfurt, London, Istanbul, and Dubai.)

1630 GMT: We have updated on the "siege" of Mehdi Karroubi's house by a pro-regime crowd with an interview with Karroubi's wife Fatemeh Karroubi.

1400 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A bit of a twist with the arrest of Hamid Hassanzadeh, President of the Council of Ahwaz....

Hassanzadeh, whose home was raided and whose belongings and computer were seized, is not a Green or a reformist. He was the Ahwaz campaign manager for the conservative Mohsen Rezaei in the 2009 Presidential election.

1330 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish detainee Rahim Rashi has ended his hunger strike after 43 days.

1320 GMT: Parliament v. President (cont. --- see 1310 GMT). From the reformist wing, Qodratollah Alikhani has said, that as the government refuses to allocate funds for the Tehran Metro, it also obstructs other laws, as workers go without pay. Alikhani also criticised Minister of Science Kamran Daneshjoo for his statement warning of "flattening" universities that do not adhere to Islam.

Dariush Ghanbari said he was concerned about new restrictions on the press, suggesting that the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance should be summoned to Majlis. Ghanbari made the sharp comment that the dispute over the Family Protection Bill, now sent back to committee, obscured critical issues such as control of inflation and unemployment and stimulation of economic growth.

Meanwhile, MP Mohammad Khoshchehreh has made a conciliatory statement by claiming that the common base of conservatives and reformers is revolutionary principles and anti-imperialism, and any movement to overcome divisions is important.

Which gives us the excuse to publish this not-so-conciliatory photograph of another MP, Mehdi Kouchakzadeh, and Ali Larijani (hat tip Tehran Bureau from Mehr):



1310 GMT: Parliament v. President. Almost two weeks since the Supreme Leader's intervention, let's see how the call for unity is faring....

The President's spokesman Ali Akbar Javanfekr has accused the Majlis of "misunderstanding laws" and "making laws against Constitution", leading to dictatorial behaviour.

On the other side, key member of Parliament (and ally of Speaker Ali Larijani) has denounced Ahmadinejad's "rowdy" statements. Another member of the critical bloc, Ali Motahari, says the government is fleeing from laws and has established a "half-suffocating" situation: "Ahmadinejad refusing to implement laws is a sign of dictatorship."

Expediency Council member Dorri Najafabadi insists that laws approved by the Council are laws of the Islamic Republic and complains that Ahmadinejad is "not too friendly". Fellow Council member Mohammad Hashemi declares that the government is not the interpreter but executor of laws.

Leading conservative Morteza Nabavi has repeated his criticism that the President has been absent from Expediency Council meetings, saying the Supreme Leader expects Ahmadinejad to attend.

And in an intriguing statement, Habibollah Asgarowladi, leader of the Islamic Coalition Party, says that a principlism with former President Hashemi Rafsanjani on one side and Ahmadinejad on the other is "not desirable".

1240 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Heidi Hautala, the head of the European Parliament's Human Rights Commission, has called for the immediate release of activist Shiva Nazar Ahari.

Ahari has been detained since July 2009. She is due in court on 4 September, reportedly to face charges that include "mohareb" (war against God), which carries the death penalty.

Intellectuals, academics, activists, and family members have issued a statement calling for the freeing of Azeri political prisoners.

1110 GMT: The Battle Within. Monavar Khalaj of the Financial Times is on the case with "Iran's Warring Factions Reignite Tensions": "Iran’s radical and conservative fundamentalists have ignored the orders of the regime’s supreme leader and begun exchanging recriminations once again."

1105 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The court hearing for Emad Bahovar, a member of the reformist Freedom Movement of Iran and of Research Supporting Khatami and Mousavi, has been postponed again.

Bahovar has been detained since March.

1100 GMT: All the President's Men. Of Iran's 290 members of Parliament, 216 have signed a statement supporting the suspension of Presidential aide and former Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi, ordered by the judiciary because of Mortazavi's alleged complicity in the post-election abuses at Kahrizsak, and hoped for a quick end to the case.

1034 GMT: The Supreme Leader Slaps Down Ahmadinejad. The website of Ayatollah Khamenei has published the English summary of his Monday meeting with the President and the Cabinet, including the rebuke of Ahmadinejad for carrying out a parallel foreign policy.

However, Khamenei has offered public support for the Government subsidy reduction plan.

1030 GMT: Execution (Ashtiani) Watch. The members of Parliament of Portugal's ruling party have joined the call for clemency for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery.

1015 GMT: It's All About Me. I would not dare to call the President's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, self-centered; however, for the record, here is the banner from his personal website:



1010 GMT: Endorsing the Supreme Leader's Slapdown of the President. The Iranian Foreign Ministry, given cover by Ayatollah Khamenei's criticism of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday, has said that it is essential to avoid "parallel work" in foreign policy.

Last week Ahmadinejad appointed four special representatives for international affairs.

1000 GMT: We have posted a separate feature, written by Michael Theodoulou, on the language being used by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iranian media about internal and international disputes, "Ahmadinejad's Trash Talk".

Already there have been further developments. The Iranian Foreign Ministry has said that it does not agree with insulting another country's officials and specifically denounced the description, offered by Keyhan, of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife Carla Bruni as a "prostitute".

Keyhan, however, does not seem to be listening. Today it wrote, "Studying Carla Bruni's record clearly shows the reason why this immoral woman is backing an Iranian woman who has been condemned to
death for committing adultery and being accomplice in her husband's murder and, in fact, she herself deserves to die."

Bruni had spoken out for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death for adultery.

0850 GMT: We have posted an interview with women's right activist Mahboubeh Karami, freed on bail this month but facing a four-month prison sentence, about her six months in detention.

0710 GMT: Shutting Down Information. A reader's comment to Tehran Bureau says that the site is now blocked in Iran.

0700 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Reports say Arjang Davoudi, on Day 49 of his hunger strike, is in a coma. Davoudi, a poet and teacher, is detained in Gohardasht Prison.

The detention order for blogger Hossein Ronaghi (Babak Khoramdin), who has been imprisoned for 10 months, has been extended for another month. He is reportedly being held in solitary confinement.

0655 GMT: Execution Watch. For days now, we have followed stories on the Internet that hundreds of prisoners have been put to death in Mashhad. Rah-e-Sabz is now posting the claim.

0650 GMT: In a separate entry, we post the latest on the "siege" of Mehdi Karroubi's house and, via a Deutsche Welle interview with his son Hossein, his declaration that he will not be prevented from rallying on Qods Day this Friday.

0600 GMT: A busy, tense, and dramatic Monday --- from the surrounding of Mehdi Karroubi's house by a pro-regime crowd to the Supreme Leader's slap-down of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to uncertainty in the Iranian establishment over its image on the stoning issue --- and today offers the prospect of more.

Khamanei Slaps Down the President on Foreign Policy

Very cute (and telling?) approach by Press TV to the Supreme Leader's criticism of Ahmadinejad in a meeting with the President and the Cabinet's. The website does note, from Khamenei's official website, the Leader's statement that "Iran's Foreign Ministry is in charge of leading all matters related to the country's foreign policies and affairs".

What Press can't bring itself to say is the rest of the Supreme Leader's rebuke, where he denounced "parallel" structures for foreign policy. That, of course, refers to Ahmadinejad's appointment last week of four special representatives for international affairs.

Indeed, the Press headline is all happiness: "Leader praises Govt. 'Diplomatic Spirit"

The Latest from Iran (28 August): Music, Sanctions, and Science

2020 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Cosmetics Edition). Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi, who has been putting himself on front pages all week with tales of danger and how Iran's services are triumphing, does it again today by accusing the Swedish cosmetics firm Oriflame of trying to harm Iran's security: "Oriflame intended to fight the (Iranian) system. There are no economic reasons behind the company. We realised through the evidence that the arrogants (Western powers) and intelligence agencies sought to create security problems for the country through this company."

Oriflamme's chief financial officer Gabriel Bennet responded, "We are a cosmetics company, we are selling direct. We are of course not involved in any political activities in the country (Iran). It is very very difficult to comment on [the accusations]."

On 22 August, Iranian authorities closed Oriflamme's Tehran office and arrested five employees, reportedly on charges that the company was running a pyramid scheme.

NEW Iran: Obama Rejects a Public “Red Line” on Nuclear Capability (Porter)
NEW Iran Music Special: The Kanye West No-War Rap
NEW Iran: Conservatives v. Ahmadinejad (Jedinia)
NEW Iran Special: The Supreme Leader and One Voice on Nuclear Talks with US?
The Latest from Iran (27 August): One Voice in Iran?

1625 GMT: The American Detainees (cont.). There is chatter, amidst the statement of Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi that the case of Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal "is nearing its end", that the US hikers could be released before the end of Ramadan.

There have been a number of moments over the last 13 months when there were indications that freedom was imminent, and each time hopes have been dashed. So the attitude might be "believe it when we see it".

The lesson could be --- as with many other cases and seen this week in the campaigns for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (see 1415 GMT) and Shiva Nazar Ahari --- that pressure not be relaxed for justice and resolution of the situation.

1500 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ten days after he was summoned back to prison, journalist/filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad has finally been allowed to see his family.

Reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh, who also returned to detention and shares a cell with Nourizad, has written an open letter to the Tehran Prosecutor General. In the message, he talks about seeing his wife after 11 days incommunicado.

1435 GMT: The American Detainees. Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has said the case of three detained American nationals --- Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal --- is near closure: "The investigations in the case of the three (Americans) is nearing its end and the verdict to be announced soon."

The trio were arrested in July 2009 when they allegedly crossed an unmarked border into Iran while hiking in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

1420 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. HRANA reports that the four-year prison sentence for human rights activist Mahboumeh Karami has been confirmed.

1415 GMT: Political Prisoner (Ashtiani) Watch. The Iranian judiciary has released a statement on the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery.

The judiciary, implicitly recognising the international presssure for clemency and/or freedom for Ashtiani, said that the rights of all citizens were defended; however, the charges of adultery and complicity in her husband's murder had been proven against the 43-year-old woman.

1120 GMT: Diplomatic Service. Iranian official Mohammad Reza Sheibani Rauf has defended the President's appointment of four special representatives, including Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, for areas of foreign policy. He claimed this was "not uncommon" and cited the example of the US.

Rauf also noted that the President's office had appointed a Special Representative on Caspian Affairs in the past.

1100 GMT: The Battle Within. Leading conservative Morteza Nabavi has criticised the President for his failure to attend meetings of the Expediency Council, saying this was a "legal claim" as well as a political issue.

Nabavi noted the possible conflict between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the head of the Expediency Council, Hashemi Rafsanjani, but said both should reject "inflexible positions" and show an example of "political maturity" in reaching resolutions.

0900 GMT: Uranium Watch. Peyke Iran, drawing from Asr-e Iran, claims that Moscow is unsure about Tehran's proposal for a joint consortium to produce fuel for the Bushehr nuclear plant.

0850 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Dr. Shiravi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and former Dean of Shahid Chamran University in Dezfoul, has been arrested.

0615 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Muhammad Sahimi, writing in Tehran Bureau, has a lengthy profile of Shiva Nazar Ahari, the activist detained since July 2009 and facing death on the charge of "mohareb" (war against God).

0610 GMT: Economy Watch. Street Journalist, relaying an item we saw in Peyke Iran, quotes Ali Deghan Kia, a member of the Higher Islamic Council Association Board, who says there has been a 40% increase in unemployment in manufacturing and "more than 90 percent of productive units transferred to the private sector are at risk of bankruptcy”.

Deghan Kia blamed "uncontrollable importation and smuggling of Chinese goods [as] the number one cause for unemployment....Every billion dollars of smuggled good entering the country is responsible for unemployment of 25,000 workers in Iran.”

0600 GMT: Academic Corner. Science follows up on the firing of Professor Yousef Sobouti, the astrophysicist and founder-director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences who was Chancellor of Zanjan University. It claims that Sobouti's replacement, Rasoul Khodabakhsh, is a "nuclear scientist known to have links with the pro-government Basij militia".

Science that the Government has also replaced the leaders of at least 17 other academic and scientific institutions over the past month, including the chancellors of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, the University of Golestan in north Iran, and Arak University.

0545 GMT: We open Saturday with a music special, as Kanye West and Jay-Z put out a rap against war with Iran.

Meanwhile, the Swiss energy group EGL spins another message, saying that 18 billion Euro ($23 billion) gas contract with the National Iranian Gas Export Company is not affected by American sanctions: “We are not violating any regulations, and follow rules; we feel we are not really deserving to come on the sanctions list.”

“Using of the revenues by Iran from the EGL deal to finance terrorism and its allies Hamas and Hizbullah. That is speculation. We do not pay money for supporting terrorism. I cannot really comment on such a speculation,” spokeswoman Lilly Frei said.

Last week EGL put out a somewhat different rationale: “As we noted in the past when this deal was first announced, oil and gas deals with Iran send the wrong message when Iran continues to defy UN Security Council resolutions. We have raised our concerns with the Swiss government about this arrangement on multiple occasions."

However, Frei is now saying, “We have a contract with the company, not with Ahmadinejad." Asked about other connections, Frei said EGL did “not know if the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is affiliated with National Iranian Gas Export Company".

The Latest from Iran (26 August): Ahmadinejad v. "Seditionists"

2115 GMT: Economic Number of the Day. Deutsche Welle reports that the Ahmadinejad Government is now more than $140 billion in debt.

2010 GMT: Family Protection. Back to our first item of the day....

The Los Angeles Times offers an overview of the Family Protection Bill currently being considered by the Parliament, with Iranians offering a range of views on its provisions. The legislation has prompted criticism because of its provisions on the registration of temporary marriage (rejected yesterday by the Majlis) and on relaxing the conditions on polygamy.

2005 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Safe World for Women has published a special on human rights activists Shiva Nazar Ahari, detained since July 2009 and facing a possible death sentence on the charge of "moharab" (war against God).

Kurdish journalist Ejlal Qavami has been freed from interrogation.

1845 GMT: Parliament v. Government. MP Elyas Naderan, a leading critic of the Government, is at it again: he claims there is no serious will to implement subsidy cuts and says the Government is offering no information on implementation.

Members of Parliament for Zanjan have protested the dismissal of the head of Zanjan University, Professor Yousef Sobouti (see 0625 GMT).

Iran Propaganda Special: US Soldiers, Bitter Chocolate, & the Prophet Muhammad
Iran: Is President’s Chief of Staff Rahim-Mashai Taking On Foreign Policy?
The Latest from Iran (25 August): Unity?

1840 GMT: A Basij Empire? According to Peyke Iran, the head of the Basij paramilitary, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, has offered a vision of 7000 new Basiji bases: "Today we have 3.5 million active Basij; we must raise it to 20 million."

1830 GMT: Ahmadinejad Tough Talk. Rooz Online, drawing from Iranian sources, claims that the President has been dishing out critical comments in meetings: he called former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and former Presidential candidate Nategh Nouri "mofsed" (rotten people) and said that "seditionists" have not been dealt with yet.

1815 GMT: The President's Man Turns? Mehdi Kalhor, a former advisor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has harshly criticised the President in a lengthy interview with Khabar Online.

Kalhor talked about Ahmadinejad's "wrong urban planning", including "forced migration" from Tehran, mis-management of the Mehr Housing Project, with the wasting of money by the Revolutionary Guard, and subsidy cuts.

Kalhor brought up the post-election conflict: "We have to find a sensible solution for many of last year's problems; there is still fire under the ashes." And he added this provocative comment about the President's loyalties: "I was insulted many times instead of [Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim] Mashai."

1800 GMT: Is This Iran's Nuclear Strategy? Some thoughts on the latest statement from Iran's head of atomic energy, Ali Akbar Salehi, proposing a joint consortium with Russia for production of fuel for the Bushehr nuclear plant (see 0835 GMT):

With the possibility of talks with the "5+1" (US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China) this autumn, it appears Iran is playing down its need to enrich uranium to 20%, stressing instead the cooperation with Russia on low-level nuclear enrichment for power stations as well as finding domestic sources of uranium for an expanding system of nuclear energy production.

The presentation is that Iran is a responsible, low-enriching state, working under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency and with the help of Russia. In essence, it is a proposal to the Western powers of what a nuclear Iran would look like if sanctions were eased and/or concessions were made.

Salehi's statement is therefore much more than a proposed arrangement for Bushehr and other plants. It is a challenge to Russia to endorse this vision of Iran's nuclear future, giving Moscow the opportunity to serve as a broker between Iran and the West.

1555 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Turkey's Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergun has said that joint projects with Iran will continue despite United Nations and United States sanctions on Tehran.

1545 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Radio Zamaneh has more on the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front's statement of concern about the return to detention of senior member Mostafa Tajzadeh and journalist/filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad.

The IIPF calls describes the blackout of information since Tajzadeh and Nourizad were summoned back to prison 11 and 8 days ago, respectively, as the “apex of lawlessness of the cruel-hearted jailors". The organisation condemned the violence against political prisoners and said that this will lead to the “fall of the Islamic Republic".

1500 GMT: Freedom Corner. Journalist and women's rights activist Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Mexican journalist Pedro Matías Arrazola have won Germany's Johann Philipp Palm Prize for freedom of expression and of the press.

1240 GMT: Missiles and Bombs. Edward Yeranian of Voice of America has a look at Iran's military posing, including yesterday's firing of a new version of a medium-range missile. EA makes an appearance by being just a bit cynical about the Tehran show of big muscles:

It is the other side of the threat narrative, that just as you get these whipped up stories in the United States about 'there could well be an Israeli attack on Iran,' that this is how Iran strikes back. If you are going to promote the fact that Tehran might be attacked, (Iran) will promote the fact that (it) can defend (itself).

And we also make the inconvenient --- well, inconvenient for some in the Government --- linkage to internal matters: "Facing all types of political pressure within the system, and we are not just talking about pressure from the (opposition) Green Movement or reformists, but pressure from other conservatives and from clerics within the system, that you want to present this image of authority, this image of control."

And for some more threat chatter, over to Reuters:

Iran has stockpiled enough low-enriched uranium for 1-2 nuclear arms but it would not make sense for it to cross the bomb-making threshold with only this amount, a former top U.N. nuclear official was quoted as saying.

In unusual public remarks about Iran's disputed nuclear programme Olli Heinonen, the former chief of U.N. nuclear inspections worldwide, told Le Monde newspaper that Iran's uranium reserve still represented a "threat."

0900 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Britain's leading publication on universities, Times Higher Education, picks up the story --- reported in EA on 19 August --- that Durham University has gone public with its concern over the health and situation of detained Ph.D. student Ehsan Abdoh-Tabrizi, writing an open letter to the Iranian Ambassador to Britain.

The university, in consultation with Abdoh-Tabrizi, had pursued the case quietly since the student was detained during a visit to Iran last December. However, it had grown frustrated with a lack of response from Iranian officials to its correspondence.

0855 GMT: One Way Around the Sanctions? Press TV reports that creditors of Daewoo Electronics, South Korea's third-largest electronics firm, have reached a deal to sell the company to Iranian home appliance maker Entekhab Industrial Group.

South Korea recently joined international sanctions against Tehran.

0850 GMT: The Election "Coup"? Green Correspondents carries a lengthy statement by reformist politician Ali Shakouri-Rad about the complaint brought by seven of his colleagues --- all in detention --- over alleged military interference before and after the 2009 Presidential election. Shakouri-Rad reviews the audio of the Revolutionary Guard commander outlining the military's tactics to suppress oppression.

0845 GMT: Fashion Watch. HRANA claims that Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi has said that "bad hijab" is a crime.

0835 GMT: A Nuclear Solution? Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, has said that Tehran has made a proposal to Russia for joint production of nuclear fuel for the Russian-built Bushehr plant: "We have made a proposal to Russia for the creation of a consortium, licensed by that country, to do part of the work in Russia and part of it in Iran. Moscow is studying this offer."

0830 GMT: MediaWatch. William Yong and Robert Worth of The New York Times pick up on the formal order from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance barring media from mentioning Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mehdi Karroubi by name.

Iraj Jamshidi, the editor of the recently banned newspaper Asia, tells them, “They [the Iranian Government] have already made it clear indirectly that news about these figures is banned,” said Under the current climate, no one dares to interview Mr. Moussavi or Mr. Karroubi. They want them to be forgotten.”

Interestingly, Yong and Worth tuck away in the story the news --- which may be far more politically important --- that Presidential aide and former Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi is one of the three officials suspended for connections to the Kahrizak Prison abuses.

0818 GMT: Tough Talk Today (Sedition and World War II Edition). Press TV, quoting Fars News, gets to the press conference of Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi that we noted yesterday.

The "highlight" is Moslehi's assurance from his imagination, backing up the magic figure put out by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, of a US-Saudi backing of opposition figures for "regime change": "This issue is true. A fund of over even one billion dollars can be imagined.

Moslehi then gave his proof: "We have found clear clues about foreign support for the leaders of sedition. [Iranian state media have been ordered not to refer to Mir Housavi Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami by name: thus "leaders of sedition.] For example, a man who collected news for the leaders of sedition was arrested and confessed to receiving aid from the CIA intelligence services." Another person who has fled the country used to write statements for the sedition leaders, he continued: "The individual has acknowledged receiving support from intelligence services."

But, Moslehi assured, there was really nothing to worry about: wise and timely measures adopted by Iran's security forces had thwarted all the plots.

Press TV also features an attempt by Iranian officials, reaching back to World War II, to get some of that $1 billion from its foes: "Vice-President for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad-Reza Mir-Tajeddini said Wednesday that Iran sought to demand compensation since it sustained heavy damages despite its neutrality in the war....'More than 4,000 documents have been prepared and we are compiling more on the issue,' he went on to say".

0635 GMT: Cartoon of Day. Nikahang Kowsar, in Rooz Online, portrays --- with the help of the image of Mir Hossein Mousavi --- the Iranian regime's model of national reconciliation.



0630 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish author and civil rights activist Behzad Kurdestani has been detained. The reason for arrest is unknown.

0625 GMT: Academic Purge. Deutsche Welle offers an overview of Government pressure on academic officials, claiming more than 20 university presidents have been dismissed in recent months in a "purification" of academia.

Mehdi Karroubi has protested the dismissal of Professor Yousef Sobouti, the President of Zanjan University. Sobouti's removal brought vocal protests by Zanjan students earlier this week.

0615 GMT: Story of the Day: Revolutionary Guard and Ministry of Intelligence Fight It Out....

Rah-e-Sabz claims that the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps had installed monitoring systems in a seven-story building frequented by high-ranking politicians.

Last week some of the politicians detected the surveillance and, unaware of who carried it out, asked the Ministry of Intelligence to check the building. The Ministry denied responsibility and sent technical specialists, who inevitably discovered many IRGC cameras and microphones. As the specialists were leaving, they were accosted by a group of Revolutionary Guard. A fight followed, with guns even being drawn.

Rah-e-Sabz claims that the order for surveillance was given by Hossein Taeb, the chief of the IRGC's Intelligence Bureau. It adds that one of the missions was to gather information on Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, who has fallen out of favour with the Supreme Leader. The IRGC are allegedly sending reports directly to Ayatollah Khamenei.

0555 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Massoud Shafiee, the lawyer for three Americans --- Sarah Shourd, Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer --- arrested in July 2009 when they walked across the Iraq-Iran border, has written Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi to request review of the case, in part of Shourd's deteriorating health: “I told the authorities in charge of this case that this woman is sick and has an acute gynecological illness, asking them to at least allow her to be transferred to the the Swiss Embassy until her trial time, which of course they turned down."

Shafiee said, “The charge of espionage is unwarranted" against his clients; however, even "in the impossible event that my clients were guilty of the charge of espionage, the punishment for this charge is one year in prison".

The lawyer added that the three Americans have not had any interrogation sessions during the past six to seven months.

The mother of Sarah Shourd has asked concerned people to write Iranian authorities to press for the release of the detainees. President Adbullah Wade of Senegal, who is also chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, added his voice to those calling for the freeing of the trio.

0545 GMT: Family Protection. Straight into the news this morning....

The Parliament has rejected one of the provisions of the Family Protection Bill, which has been heatedly opposed by women's rights groups and many other activists. Article 21 for legal registration of "temporary marriages" was rejected with only 45 of 290 MPs voted for it.

The vote on Article 23, which makes it easier for men to pursue polygamy by dismissing the current conditions for the first wife’s consent and for proof of financial means, is still ahead.

The Latest from Iran (24 August): Keeping the News Alive

2030 GMT: Sanctions Watch. A high-level South Korean delegation is in Washington to discuss sanctions against Iran.

2025 GMT: Bad Dog. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has banned Iranian media from publishing any advertisements about pets or pet-related products. The order was issued after a fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi.

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The Latest from Iran (23 August): Political Cease-fire?

2015 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Reporter Ohne Grenzen has launched a German-language petition for the freeing of human rights activist and journalist Shiva Nazar Ahari, detained since July 2009 and facing a charge of "mohareb" (war against God).

2000 GMT: We've posted an evening feature, mulling over the possibility that the President's office, including controversial Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, is trying to take over Iran's foreign policy.

1630 GMT: Karroubi Watch. Kalemeh has picked up the Sunday statement of Mehdi Karroubi, made as he visited released detainee Mohammad Reza Jalaeipour (see 0715 GMT). Their take-away line is Karroubi's challenge to the regime to release political prisoners for Ramadan.

Saham News has also posted a Karroubi statement on women's rights.

1620 GMT: Truce Over (cont. --- see 0955 GMT)? So much for smooth sailing for the Government after last week's Supreme Leader intervention....

An impeachment bid has been lodged against Minister of Agriculture Sadegh Khalilian for excessive import of agricultural products, incompetence, and disregard for the insurance fund of agricultural crops. About 25 MPs have signed a letter to impeach Minister of Energy Majid Namjoo, on grounds of failure to implement plans and appointment of inexperienced personnel, and MP Mousa al-Reza Servati said some legislators are seeking to impeach Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar.

1420 GMT: Mousavi Watch. In his latest statement, made to children of veterans of the Iran-Iraq War, has declared that "the Green Movement has laid the foundation of achieving national reconciliation": “The continuation of the Green Human Chain that was formed [during the Presidential campaign] from Tajrish Square (in north of Tehran) to Rah-Ahan square (in south of Tehran) is being pursued on the national stage and all of us, despite our polarity of votes, different ideas, cultures and ethnicity, will gradually overcome our stammers and will be able to talk to each other more easily.” He added:

The political organizations that had been separated due to wring policies, are gradually coming closer together, talking to each other and sitting at one table. What that is their point of connection is the effort for achieving freedom, justice and understanding to guard people’s rights. The borders of “insiders” and “outsiders” are gradually fading and instead compromise and dialogue are becoming dominant. Today, more than ever, the blessings of the Green Movement of the people have laid the foundation of national reconciliation, friendship and unity among the various cultures, ethnicities, Shia and Sunni and all the layers [of the society].

Mousavi warned, however, "Some who see their interests in creating division and shattering people’s unity are continuing to spread hatred through fabricating false charges and other extensive measures in the name of fighting soft war'....They want to infect the cyber-space that emerged from the Green Movement with their viruses just as they turned the national media to a divisive and biased media with their meddling, so that our Muslim nation loses its trust in this beautiful window that has been opened."

1400 GMT: Reaching Out to the Opposition? Muhammad Sahimi at Tehran Bureau posts a lengthy article, "Hardliners Seek Peace with the Green Movement". I can't quite see how Sahimi's narrative supports that dramatic headline, but this extract is intriguing, especially in light of the Supreme Leader's effort last Wednesday to resolve in-fighting amongst conservatives and the Government:

249 Majles deputies -- almost all of the parliament aside from its Reformist wing -- issued a statement supporting him, and asking for vahdat-e ommat (union of the masses). The most important aspect of the statement was the recognition of the effect of the sanctions and the threat of war. For example, Mohammad Hossein Farhangi, a member of the Majles leadership, said, "Given that the enemies of the people and the nezaam [political system] will do their best to harm them, it is imperative that a united front becomes the top priority of the officials, and those who committed mistakes correct them and come back."

On Saturday, August 21, Reza Akrami, a spokesman for the Society of Combatant Clerics (SCC) of Tehran, the leading right-wing clerical group, said that that the SCC wants mediation between the ruling establishment and the opposition. He said that he had made the same suggestion last year to Majles Speaker Ali Larijani, Mahdavi Kani, and former Majles Speaker Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri, a relatively moderate cleric [presumably during the time when there was talk of a "National Unity Plan" being circulated and even presented to the Supreme Leader], but that they had turned him down. Another leading member of the SCC, Majles deputy Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam, said that the mediation should not be done by the officials, but by those "whose words are influential". The opposition "must become convinced" that the reconciliation gesture is sincere, he said, "otherwise they will not return" to the ruling elite. Jafar Shajooni, a radical SCC member, attacked Akrami for speaking of mediation between the hardliners and the Green leaders. He declared that Akrami does not speak on behalf of the SCC and misunderstands what Khamenei has said.

1200 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Nokia Siemens Edition). The Guardian of London has now noted the lawsuit brought by detained journalist Isa Saharkhiz and his son Mehdi against Nokia Siemens Networks for selling and providing technology used for surveillance by Iranian authorities.

1115 GMT: Opposition Watch. In her latest statement, Zahra Rahnavard declares, "The people are the ones who have the hand of God behind them", in contrast to a "government that claims to be religious, suppresses millions of people on the streets, tortures and executes the children of the people, and, with a thoughtless bill called the Family Protection Act, launches the destruction of the families in this nation."

0955 GMT: Truce Over? So what is happening less than 48 hours after President Ahmadinejad and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani supposedly reconciled with their joint press conference and declarations of co-operation?

Why, it looks like Alef, the publication close to Ahmad Tavakoli, high-profile conservative MP and cousin of Ali Larijani, claims that the President has a 10-point plan to curb the power of clerics through invocation of the "hidden" 12th Imam.

Power game back on?

0745 GMT: Academic Walkout. Shafaf claims that about 50 professors walked out on a speech by Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the former Speaker of Parliament, at Sharif University.

0735 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim write for the Los Angeles Times:

Businesspeople, officials and analysts inside and outside the Islamic Republic describe the sanctions as taking a toll on the economy and ordinary citizens, increasing the cost of everything from the production of medicine to the manufacture of baguettes.

But they also say key businesses and government operations controlled by the Revolutionary Guard have found ways to skirt the sanctions, which ban trade with state-run firms connected to the nuclear program, by enlisting private-sector firms as fronts.

The reporters cite Kamran Vakil, an official at the private-sector Iranian Union of Mineral Products Manufacturers and Exporters, who says the 2,500-member Iran-China Chamber of Commerce and Industries has become more important than Iran's Central Bank. They describe, from "merchants", how the Revolutionary Guard circumvents sanctions, for example, selling old machinery and buying new equipment from Venezuela through Iranian companies.

Daragahi and Mostaghim also describe how some companies are charging others to move funds in and out of Iran.

With prices for both businesses and consumers rising sharply, an elevator manufacturer says, "To break the sanctions through middlemen costs so much. The private sector loses to the military and Revolutionary Guard-affiliated companies. Now the private sector must import items via governmental companies."

0725 GMT: Cartoon of the Day. Nikahang Kowsar portrays the disposal of Presidential aide and former Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi, suspended on Sunday with two judges for their alleged role in the post-election Kahrizak Prison abuses.



0715 GMT: A Sledgehammer for a Hazelnut. Mehdi Karroubi has said that he "never imagined" the political situation in which Iran finds itself.

In a visit to Mohammad Reza Jalaeipour, the student activist recently freed from prison, Karroubi discussed how Iranian authorities had used a sledgehammer to crack a hazelnut, spreading fear among the people.

0655 GMT: We open today with two features. Pedestrian reflects on the tensions between hopes for political change and hopes for a "normal" life for Iranians, while --- with a huge debt of gratitude to EA readers --- we write how new media helped "discover" the case of Iranian-Dutch national Zahra Bahrami, detained since December.

Meanwhile....

Iran MediaWatch

In the continuing tale of how Iranian authorities are trying to shut down news, The Guardian of London follows up yesterday's revelations that the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has issued an order to newspapers to avoid all mention and images of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami:

Keeping the society and the public opinion calm is the main responsibility of the media. Security officials have considerations about publishing news, photos and speeches of Mr Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammad Khatami. Therefore, according to Clause 2 of Article 5 of the Press Code, publishing news, photos and reports about the these people are prohibited.

As EA noted, the Ministry has also declared that media should avoid any mention of the effects of sanctions on the Iranian economy.

Academic Protest

We opened Monday by noting that students at Zanjan University had protested the dismissal of Professor Yousef Sobouti. An Iranian blog follows up with news and pictures of the "farewell" to the academic, including claims that the students were beaten by security forces.

The Latest from Iran (23 August): Political Cease-fire?

1830 GMT: Shh, Don't Mention the Sanctions. In an interview with former President Abulhassan Banisadr, Deutsche Welle refers to two directives from Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. One banning newspapers from printing pictures and news of opposition figures has already been mentioned (see 0919 GMT).

The other is new to us: Iranian media have apparently been told to make no mention of the effects of sanctions.

NEW Iran Document: Interview with Detained Filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad
NEW Iran Special: Have Ahmadinejad and Ali Larijani Kissed and Made Up?
Iran: Today’s Shiny Object for Media? Why, It’s an Ambassador-of-Death Drone Bomber!
The Latest from Iran (22 August): Ahmadinejad Aide Mortazavi Suspended?

1800 GMT: The President's Men. Fars News is now carrying the story of the suspension of three officials over the Kahrizak Prison abuses, but does not name any of them, including Presidential aide Saeed Mortazavi.

1745 GMT: MediaWatch (cont.). Thomas Erdbrink, writing in The Washington Post, is the first "Western" reporter to name Presidential aide Saeed Mortazavi as one of the three officials suspended for alleged connections with post-election Kahrizak Prison abuses. Erdbrink quotes human rights lawyer Saleh Nikbakht, "Mortazavi is among them, and now that he no longer has judicial immunity, he could face trial."

And The Financial Times is clearly on a roll with its coverage of the in-fighting. Having noted the Supreme Leader's intervention on Wednesday (see 1735 GMT), the newspaper also features Najmeh Bozorgmehr's article "Shia Schism Deepens Ahmadi-Nejad's Woes": "The infighting between Iran’s fundamentalists has deepened the gulf between supporters and opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad."

1735 GMT: MediaWatch on The President's Men. Credit to Reuters for picking up on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appointment of his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, as one of his four "special representatives" for foreign policy --- Rahim-Mashai's responsibility will be the Near East --- and for putting that in the context of political battles within the establishment.

Not so sure, however, that Reuters' snap conclusion is on the mark: "[This suggests] for now that for now [Ahmadinejad] may have the upper hand over the critics." (Someone might want to consult Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani.)

The Financial Times, belatedly but interestingly, notes the Supreme Leader's intervention last Wednesday and frames it as "Ayatollah Warns Bickering Politicians". The reporter, Monavar Khalaj, picks out this extract from Ayatollah Khamenei's statements, “I gave a serious warning to the officials not to make their differences public....Unity and solidarity among the country’s officials is a religious duty and the intentional rejection [of unity] is, especially in the upper echelon, against religious teachings.”

1720 GMT: Baby Basij. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, drawing from Aftab News, reports that female commander of the Basij militia, Zohreh Abbasi, has said that her unit has introduced a special program that allows baby girls to be registered as members of the force and receive training.

Abbasi said that, in the past six years, 23 baby girls had been trained as Basij members through "Koranic, cultural, educational, and military" classes.

"Basij mothers register their baby girls 40 days after they were born at the Hossein Haj Mousaee unit by presenting documents and IDs," Abbasi said. She declared that two babies have recently been born and  work is under way to prepare a dossiers for the new arrivals to enrol them in the special program.

1715 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Detainees at Rajai Shahr Prison written to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, asking him to support human rights and labour activism.

1450 GMT: Energy Squeeze. Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH, the company behind the amibitious Asia to Europe "gas bridge", will supply Europe through links to Turkey’s borders with Georgia and Iraq, rejecting a connection to the Turkish-Iranian border. Nabucco said the shareholders' decision was “due to the current political situation".

1335 GMT: MediaWatch (President's Man Edition). Almost 24 hours after the suspension of Ahmadinejad aide and former Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi from his post because of alleged links to the Kahrizak Prison abuses, non-Iranian media --- like their counterparts in Tehran --- are not providing a name. The BBC, following the lead of the Associated Press, say only that "Iran has suspended three judicial officers".

1315 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Persian2English reports that Amnesty International and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands have expressed concern over the possibility of a death sentence for Zahra Bahrami, an Iranian-Dutch citizen arrested in Iran after the Ashura protests of 27 December.

1245 GMT: Tough Talk Today. Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, the Revolutionary Guard's Navy Commander, says Iran's missile-launching vessels are the best in the world for speed and power. “American warships currently have a maximum speed of 31 knots while Iranian vessels can travel twice as fast on average,” Fadavi said at a ceremony to open production lines for domestically-built Zolfaghar and Seraj craft.

1100 GMT: The Nuclear Front. Yesterday we noted, from a paragraph in a New York Times article on the Bushehr nuclear plant, the significant announcement that "Russia would provide Iran with iodine and molybdenum, nuclear isotopes used in medicine" and asked, "Will Iran withdraw its demand that it be allowed to enrich uranium to 20%, at least while discussions proceed on a long-term deal over the nuclear programme? And is Washington up-to-speed and supportive of the Russian move?"

An EA source offers an answer, noting this statement from the head of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme, Ali Akbar Salehi:

We will go as far as our needs are met. So we have no intention to proceed forever for enriching [uranium] to 20%, although it is our right according to the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] and the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] statute to enrich uranium to any percentage that is needed for peaceful uses in nuclear energy. But this does not mean that we shall do so. We only embarked on 20% because of the conditions that were imposed on us. I reiterate that we will go as far as our needs are met.

Our source comments, "Seems to me that Iran is gearing up to offer this as a bargaining chip."

0919 GMT: Blackout in the Newspapers. Daneshjoo News publishes a document which it claims is a Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance order barring the names and pictures of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami from newspapers.

0918 GMT: Silence in the Theatre. Voice of America offers an overview of new restrictions by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance on Iran's theatre.

0915 GMT: We have published a separate feature: journalist and filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad, just before returning to prison last week, posted his comments in an interview for his website.

0739 GMT: The Hunger Strike. Jila Bani Yaghoub, the wife of journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, one of 17 detainees who recently went on hunger strike in Evin Prison, has offered an update on her blog.

Bani Yaghoub says the hunger strikers, who ended their fast last week, are "weakened" but in excellent spirits. She claims that, when they were finally returned to the general ward --- Amoui was one of the last three prisoners to be let out of solitary confinement --- they knew already about the international "echo" of their protest.

0735 GMT: Cleric Stands Tough. Following yet another attempt by a crowd to intimidate him by gathering outside the Shiraz mosque where he presides, Grand Ayatollah Dastgheib has warned "those who meet clandestinely to attack Qoba Mosque again". He said that he is interpreting the Qu'ran in mosque, and all that his followers want is justice and implementation the Constitution.

0725 GMT: The Supreme Leader and the Students. More on Ayatollah Khamenei's three-hour meeting with student represenatives on Sunday....

The Supreme Leader declared, "I am united with all those who follow principles, but others are outside" the Iranian system. He added, "We must not eliminate people with weak religious belief on pretext of purifying society."

Khamenei admitted --- interestingly, in light of yesterday's news about the suspension of three officials --- that procedure in the Kahrizak abuse case had been slow.

0650 GMT: An Ahmadinejad-Ali Larijani Deal? Really?

Already EA correspondents are moving beyond the public face of a reconciliation between the President and the Speaker of Parliament --- considered in our special analysis this morning --- and the notion of a resolution between the Majlis and the Government is far from clear-cut.

First, the Ahmadinejad meeting with Parliament that preceded the press conference with Larijani....

The President, attending with Minister of Agriculture Sadegh Khalilian (who is under some pressure from the Majlis) and Minister of Economy Shamsoddin Hosseini, welcomed the monthly discussions. Then the questions began on topics which have been long-standing and growing sources of dispute: privatisation, proper implementation of laws, cultural problems (hijab), and the possible impeachment of Khalilian.

That in itself was a bit of a climb-down for Ahmadinejad, who had balked at given an account of his meetings, but it cut off an initiative by some MPs for formal questioning of the President. This, as well as the Supreme Leader's intervention on Wednesday, lay behind the good-news statements that followed the meeting: Ali Larijani said the Majlis has made the first step for unity of powers, while Ahmadinejad declared, "If you make good laws, the Government will implement them."

Whether that reconcililation holds is another issue. In the meeting, Ahmadinejad faced challenges, such as Mohammad Ebrahim Nekounam insisting on the Government's "duty" to implement Majlis legislation and Gholam-Ali Hadad Adel insisting that the President's enforcement of the "hijab and chastity project" is absolutely necessary. (As always, make what you will of the fact that this description is appearing in Khabar Online, linked to Ali Larijani.)

And there are signals of persistence, if not defiance, from each side. The President has given his Chief of Staff --- Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai --- a prime target for the criticisms of conservative MPs --- yet another post, appointing him as special representative for the Near East. (There have also been appointments for Asia, the Caspian Sea area, and Afghanistan.)

From the Parliamentary side, Mohammad Karami-Rad said that a meeting with Minister of Agriculture Khalilian, postponed because of Wednesday's discussions with the Supreme Leader, will take place and the Majlis will proceed with moves for impeachment.

0640 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Persian2English publishes a letter from Sepideh Pooraghaiee, a friend and colleague of Shiva Nazar Ahari, about the deatined human rights activist and journalist:

Shiva Nazar Ahari has acted very distinguishably throughout the years. She never allowed intimidations and threats to turn into an impenetrable dam against her sacred efforts. Along with her bravery and clarity, she also was calm, patient and hopeful. She never expected to be praised. She never compromised with the resolution of a problem, however small, for a human being.

Nazar Ahari has been imprisoned since July 2009 and reportedly faces a charge of "mohareb" (war against God), which carried the death penalty.

0630 GMT: A Kurdish Political Perspective. Rooz Online carries an interview with the head of the Komeleh Party, Abdollah Mohtadi. The opening exchange:

Rooz: The Komeleh Party and the Green Movement! Is this not strange?

Abdollah Mohtadi: No, I do not believe it to be strange. I view the green movement to be a rightful and democratic movement, and we support any such movement. Even though this movement has not cut its nuptial cord from people who I think are official reformers and is still connected to them, I do not view the green movement to be the simple extension and continuation of what has been known as the reformist path in Iran. On the contrary, I believe that impasse of that model of reforms and ineffectiveness of its methods in its confrontation of dictatorship and the inability of reforms to create change at the top, has caused the green movement to take shape from the bottom through the public to attain its demands.

0615 GMT: We begin today with a special analysis: has the Supreme Leader mediated a political compromise between President Ahmadinejad and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani? And is the Ahmadinejad-Larijani profession of co-operation more than a temporary, public measure?

Meanwhile....

Political Prisoner Watch

This week we have been noting the case of Abed Tavancheh, the student activist sentenced to one year in prison. To put further pressure on him, Iranian authorities have threatened to seize his family's home.

Now, according to Tavancheh's Facebook page --- as relayed to EA by a reader --- a deal has been proposed. The activist has been told that he should be at home on Wednesday, so agents accompanied by the relative who posted the house as bail can raid it and detain him. This way the relative has made a sign of co-operation and the house will not be confiscated.

Academic Corner

Students at Zanjan University staged a sit-in protest on Sunday to protest the firing of Professor Yousef Sobouti.