The Latest from Iran (6 December): From Nuke Talks to Student Demos

1900 GMT: BBC Notes Sedition. The BBC has picked up on comments by Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, that opposition to the system of velayat-e-faqih (clerical supremacy) is a denial of God.

Jannati made the remark in a speech on Sunday in Shiraz: "Denying the guardianship of the Uupreme Leader [is the same as denying God."

The comment effectively equates dissent with mohareb (war against God), a crime which can carry the death penalty.

1740 GMT: 16 Azar. Kalemeh posts an article on today's protest at Tehran University. We have posted six clips of the demonstration in a separate entry.

1725 GMT: Claim of Day. Green Correspondents reports that several people, including Parvin Fahimi, the mother of the slain protester Sohrab Arabi, were detained today at Behesht-Zahra cemetery.

Fahimi was released but others remain in custody.

1655 GMT: Sedition Watch --- Assassinations Suspects Confess (Again). An unspecified number of suspects, supported by unspecified foreign intelligence services, have confessed yet again to the killing of two nuclear physicists and wounding of another in car bombs.

Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei offered today's repetition of the breakthrough announcement: "Those arrested have confessed to receiving certain training for assassination attempts. However, those connected to the assassinations, who were trained by foreign intelligence services for carrying out this terrorist attack haven been identified, nabbed, and are now in detention.

1440 GMT: 16 Azar. More statements from Mashhad Azad and Mashhad Ferdowsi Universities, the Azad University system ("The university is our territory and Resistance is our tradition”), and Amir Kabir University.

1345 GMT: 16 Azar. Qazvin International University students have issued a statement inviting classmates to commemorate National Student Day tomorrow with a sit-in strike, protesting the imprisonment of colleagues and restrictions imposed on academia.

The Islamic Association of Mazandaran Province Universities (North of Iran) has declared in its statement that "The University is Alive". The statement demanded the immediate release of all imprisoned student activists and warned the Government to end oppression and illegal actions.

0940 GMT: Mystery of the Day. The mystery of Sunday is also the mystery of Monday: why did the Supreme Leader go to Qom last week, his third visit since his 10-day October stay was supposed to establish his authority and build support amongst senior clerics?

All we know is that he met Ayatollahs Malakouti, Kharrazi, and Shahroudi.

0930 GMT: 16 Azar. University professors have issued a statement for National Students Day, complaining about arrests of students and the "security atmosphere".

More on the statement of the student organisation Advar-e Tahkim Vahdat (see 0720 GMT): "We stay until all signs of dictatorship ARE gone. We firmly support Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi and demand their presence."

0810 GMT: Today's Sedition Special. Iranian state media trumpet, "One of the members linked to former Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi's headquarters who has had extensive cooperation with the terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) has been apprehended."

The report, which started in Fars News

, said "Benjamin" had "organized the street protests following the June 12 Iranian presidential election in 2009". He was arrested in a demonstration but released a week later.

Subsequently "Benjamin" "was introduced to the MKO by one of the key agents of the terror group at Mousavi's headquarters who is on the run at the moment". He then was trained by the MKO and given various missions.

0740 GMT: Mahmoud's Message. Ahmadinejad's Twitter helpers have mobilised this morning. They now point us to the "President in a glorification ceremony of sample retirees of the country: era of atomic bombs over".

Ahmadinejad told the audience, "The United States launched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but did not use atomic bombs because the era of using nuclear bombs has come to an end." He then asked an audience further away, "You have a thousand A-bombs, [so] how is it that you are worried that Iran might be able to develop atomic bombs in three years' time?" 

But not all was sweetness and light in the speech. Ahmadinejad linked today's talks to the weakness of his adversaries, "Some [people] thought that Western countries have a special status, but we saw what happened following the economic crisis."

And he assigned blame for last week's killing and wounding of nuclear physicists in car bombs: "Americans are worse than the most dictatorial dictators. They assassinate nuclear scientists because they are not strong enough to counter the Iranian nation, and think a nation will step back with the assassination of its loved ones."

0720 GMT: The world's media will be deployed in Geneva today to cover the resumption, after a break of almost 14 months, of talks between Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China) on Tehran's uranium enrichment.

We'll be watching for any developments beyond the rhetorical posturing, but we will also be paying attention to the manoeuvres in Iran on the eve of National Students Day.

Last year on 16 Azar, students and others mobilised in protest, meeting a staunch security presence which detained many and kept crowds from gathering. Some of those seized on the day, such as Majid Tavakoli, have become iconic figures in the continuing challenge to the Government and regime.

This year, protest is likely to be through statements circulated via e-mail and on the Internet, given the continuing suppression of any demonstrations. Still, there may be gatherings on campuses. Advar-e Tahkim Vahdat, the main student organisation, has joined university groups in the call for everyone on the campuses "to commemorate 16 Azar in full force".

If you want a non-nuclear distraction from this, you can follow Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Twitter account promoting the President announces that he will be in Chabahar in southeastern Iran to inaugurate a railroad project.