The Latest from Iran (7 December): Rallying the Students

See also Iran Video Feature: On National Students Day, A Tribute to Detained Activist Bahareh Hedayat
Iran Follow-Up: Why is US Playing Crash-and-Tell Over Its Drone?
The Latest from Iran (6 December): The Drone Mystery

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Majid Tavakoli2355 GMT: Media Watch. Press TV, the English-language Iranian media outlet operating out of the UK has been fined £100,000 by OfCom, the British communications regulatory body, for "breaches of the Broadcasting Code" and ordered to broadcast a statement of Ofcom's findings on its service.

Press TV appears to have complied with the broadcasting of the OfCom finding by posting an article on its site claiming that OfCom has contradicted itself:

The regulator announced that Press TV is required to pay a 100,000-pound fine and “broadcast a statement of Ofcom's findings on its service Press TV.”

This is while Ofcom had previously stated that it would not direct Press TV to broadcast a summary of its findings, requiring the English-language channel to only pay the fine. The summary is as follows:

“Ofcom found that Press TV presentation of the interview of Mr. [Maziar] Bahari in the news item was unfair because it missed out important facts, for example that the interview was conducted under duress whilst Mr. Bahari was being held in a prison in Tehran.”

“Also the interview was broadcast in a context in which inferences adverse to Mr. Bahari could be drawn. Press TV did not obtain Mr. Bahari consent to the interview.”

“Ofcom also found that the filming and broadcast of the interview without Mr. Bahari's consent while he was in a sensitive vulnerable situation was an unwarranted infringement of his privacy.

“As a result Ofcom has fined Press TV 100,000 pounds and directed it to broadcast this summary.”

Maziar Bahari is an Iranian journalist and NewsWeek correspondent that was in Iran in June 2009 during the uprising that followed the disputed presidential election. He was arrested and held in prison for several months before being released after a considerable amount of international scrutiny and pressure on the Iranian government. Mr. Bahari reported that he had been subjected to repeated torture while under detention.

Press TV states that Mr. Bahari confirmed the statements he had made and that Press TV had broadcast, and that other media had also aired the same material.

Press TV claims:

Independent analysts say Ofcom is under mounting pressure from the British royal family to silence Press TV's critical voice. The British royal family exercises an overarching power over all branches in the political system of the country, including the government and the parliament, as well as on Ofcom.

Press TV has criticized the royal family's lavish expenditures at a time of great economic difficulty in the UK. The royal family later sent a message to Press TV, asking the network to stop criticizing them.

Recent documents released by WikiLeaks revealed that American and British diplomats had discussed restricting Press TV operations in Britain.

The cable, sent in February 2010, quotes a member of Britain's Foreign Office stating that the UK government was "exploring ways to limit the operations of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Press TV service, which operates a large bureau (over 80 staff) in London".

A small speculation: Whether the pressure on Press TV has anything to do with its criticism of the British royal family's "lavish expenditures" or not, perhaps OfCom and the UK government realize that Press TV doesn't exactly operate as an independent news outlet, and by broadcasting Maziar Bahari's statements while he was in detention under the control of the Iranian authorities Press TV was taking advantage of the situation.

£100,000. Ouch. That's gotta hurt. Or maybe not, depending on whose actual pocket the money will come out of...

2308 GMT: More on the Virtual Embassy. A statement from the White House Press Secretary condemns the blockage by Iran of the recently launched online "Virtual Embassy" in strong words:

"We condemn the Iranian government’s efforts to deny their people the freedom to access America’s recently launched Virtual Embassy Tehran. Through this action, the Iranian government has once again demonstrated its commitment to build an electronic curtain of surveillance and censorship around its people. The Iranian government’s systematic efforts to deny information to its citizens—to control what the Iranian people see and hear—is doomed to fail in a 21st century when technology is empowering citizens around the globe.

The United States remains steadfast in our commitment to a dialogue with the Iranian people based upon mutual interests, mutual respect, and admiration for a great and ancient civilization. The Iranian government should explain to its own people why it fears their ability to access the information that they choose."

While it would not have been a huge mental leap to assume that Iranian government authorities would act to censor the website, obviously there is a political calculus in all of this--a sort of soft pressure on the regime at the same time as hard pressure is being applied in other ways.

2250 GMT: Satellites Watch. While Iranian media is staying relatively quiet today on the matter of the U.S. drone supposedly in their possession, IRNA reports that Iran plans to launch 3 new satellites "in the near future".

2155 GMT: Is Fars covering up the regime's pullback from the Embassy raid? A week after the attack on the UK embassy in Iran Fars claims that the British Foreign Ministry wants to resume ties with Iran. There is nothing in the UK press that corroborates this, and this is after the UK government retaliated by expelling all of the Iranian diplomats in the Iranian embassy in the UK, and effectively halting the operations of the embassy.

2145 GMT: Dave Siavashi of Iran News Now takes over the LiveBlog for the first time.

1745 GMT: Foreign Affairs (British Front). President Ahmadinejad has signed into law the bill downgrading Iran's ties with Britain.

Parliament approved the measure, which reduced representation to the level of chargé d'affaires on 27 November, two days before protesters occupied the British Embassy.

1715 GMT: Students in a Coma. Asr-e Iran offers the perspective on National Students Day that the student movement is "in a coma" because of discrimination, a "barracks situation" on campus, and the love of power. The website also jabs at the Basij students who occupied the British Embassy last week.

1705 GMT: The Virtual Embassy. As Iranian authorities moved quickly to block the US Government's Virtual Embassy (see 1229 GMT), Esmail Kowsari, the deputy head of Parliament's National Security Committee, has said that the project will not last more than a year: “On the one hand, they say they want to counter terrorism and, on the other hand, they make backroom deals with terrorists and .. their actions are 180 degrees opposite their words. Therefore, the website will not receive any attention."

1655 GMT: Currency Watch. Peyke Iran reports that Bank Melli in Qom had to shut today because of a run on gold coins.

As Iran's currency has fallen, amidst a fragile economy, Iranians have been rushing to buy gold.

1355 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Is this a sign that Russia will accept tougher European action against Iran's energy sector or a warning not to move too aggressively?

Minister of Energy Sergei Schmatko said Russia was “trying to be as neutral as possible” over the prospect of a ban on Iranian oil imports by the European Union. However, he added, “We have to avoid the politicisation of decisions related to the energy sector. It's quite obvious this decision is based on political factors."

1345 GMT: Drone Watch. Nasim Online quotes an "informed military source" that the US RQ-170 drone --- downed by "electronic warfare" --- will soon be shown to the media.

1229 GMT: The Virtual Embassy. Thomas Erdbrink reports that Iranian authorites have already moved, within 24 hours of its launch, to block the US Government's Virtual Embassy. He says they are re-directing traffic to an anodyne Iranian site.

Reuters later reported that a message greeted would-be visitors, "In accordance with the cybercrime law, access to this website is not possible." Fars declared, "A decisive reaction by Iranian authorities has neutralized another sly plot by the Americans."

Tehran residents confirmed the block and re-direction, having been able briefly to access the website on Tuesday.

1225 GMT: The Embassy Attack. The reformist clerics of the Assembly of Teachers and Researchers of Qom, denouncing the regime's "strategy of conflict and confrontation" with Britain, has said that university staff and students --- as opposed to Basij militia --- had "no role" in last week's attack on the British Embassy.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi assured on Tuesday, in an interview with a German newspaper, "This experience has immunised us against these kinds of illegal actions. This won't happen again."

0835 GMT: Economy Watch. The Central Bank has put Iran's official inflation rate for the past year at 19.8%.

The announcement was made as a Parliamentary report criticised the Government's subsidy cuts plan, launched a year ago. The report claimed that, far from generating revenues, the plan was likely to produce a 15 trillion Toman (about $11 billion) deficit.

0830 GMT: The Wall Street Shuffle. We have paid close attention in recent week to the Iranian regime's embrace of the Occupy Wall Street movement, from calls for mobilisation of Basij militia to the "Wall Street Fall" website to the rap song extolling the collapse of evil American capitalism. Now Michael Theodoulou of The National, with a cameo appearance from EA, writes, "Ahmadinejad Emerges as an Unlikely Ally as Iran Lauds the Occupy Movement Protests".

0800 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Shahin Fazli, serving a six-month sentence for collaboration with anti-regime groups and anti-regime propaganda, has been releaseed.

0740 GMT: Drone Watch. We have posted a follow-up analysis by James Dunne, after Tuesday's initial dissection over the mystery of the crashed US drone in eastern Iran --- he now asks, "Why is the US Playing Crash-and-Tell Over Its Drone?".

A US official offers more crash-and-tell to The Wall Street Journal:

U.S. officials considered conducting a covert mission inside Iran to retrieve or destroy a stealth drone that crashed late last week, but ultimately concluded such a secret operation wasn't worth the risk of provoking a more explosive clash with Tehran, a U.S. official said.

Tehran said it shot down the unmanned craft. But the U.S. official said the drone developed mechanical difficulties and remote pilots lost control of the aircraft, and said officials knew immediately it had crashed in eastern Iran.

Initially, officials in Washington didn't believe Iran had detected the drone crash....

The officials considered various options for retrieving the wreckage of the RQ-170 drone. Under one plan, a team would be sent to retrieve the aircraft. U.S. officials considered both sending in a team of American commandos based in Afghanistan as well as using allied agents inside Iran to hunt down the downed aircraft.

Another option would have had a team sneak in to blow up the remaining pieces of the drone. A third option would have been to destroy the wreckage with an airstrike.

However, the officials worried that any option for retrieving or destroying the drone would have risked discovery by Iran. "No one warmed up to the option of recovering it or destroying it because of the potential it could become a larger incident," the U.S. official said....

Some officials argued in private meetings that because the drone crashed in a remote part of eastern Iran, it might never be discovered, and therefore, leaving the remains where they were could be the safest option....

Officials said they were concerned about the remains of the craft falling into Iranian hands, but don't believe the aircraft's technology can be reverse engineered with ease.

Iranian state radio said Wednesday that the drone was detected over the Kashmar, about 225 kilometres (140 miles) from the border with Afghanistan.

0610 GMT: It is National Students Day in the Islamic Republic.

Two years ago, the day was marked by widespread protests against the regime and a call for rights and justice, almost six months after the disputed 2009 Presidential election. Thousands turned out, while Iranian authorities hit back by mobilising security forces and detaining leading activists on and around the day. Bahareh Hedayat was arrested, eventually to receive a 9 1/2-year sentence, and Majid Tavakoli, who had rallied students in 2008 with a stirring speech, was seized when he tried to do so again --- he would not only be imprisoned but, in an attempt at humiliation, would be photographed wearing hijab.

This year, after the sustained pressure from the regime and the decapitation of the movement, students are unlikely to show much public resistance. Instead, the Islamic Republic is putting out its message this morning that Iran's youth are promoting a spirit against "global arrogance". Minister of Science and Higher Education Kamran Daneshjoo and  Armed forces commander Seyyed Masoud Jayazeri are among the officials setting out the right line.