The Latest from Iran (7 March): Avoiding Elephants in the Room

2115 GMT: The Assembly of Experts Meeting. The gathering of the 84 members of the Assembly of Experts begins tomorrow, but already there is a ripple: the office of Ayatollah Dastgheib, whos is the member for Shiraz, says the cleric has not received his invitation to attend and has demanded the release of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

2110 GMT: An Unscripted Moment for the Speech. Footage from Voice of America of a member of the audience interrupting today's speech in Shiraz by President Ahmadinejad:

1935 GMT: Economy Watch. An official at the Central Bank has said that Iran's annual rate of inflation, in the second month after subsidy cuts, has risen from 10.8% to 11.6%.

1915 GMT: Labour Front (cont.). More on the Shiraz Meat Industrial Complex strike from Peyke Iran and in video from Voice of America....

1700 GMT: Labour Front. As President Ahmadinejad visited Shiraz to launch new industrial projects, workers from the Shiraz Meat Industrial Complex gathered in protest in front of the governor’s office today. The employees protested lay-offs and failures to provide pension payments.

The workers reportedly tried to move their protest close to where Ahmadinejad was speaking but were pushed back by security forces.

1655 GMT: The Arrests. Dozens of activists, journalists, and scholars have signed an open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon asking him, on the eve of International Women's Day, to intervene for the freedom of activists Zahra Rahnavard and Fatemeh Karroubi and their husbands Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

1645 GMT: Tomorrow's Marches? Rah-e-Sabz posts a series of statements from activists and women's rights groups, including the Coordination Council of the opposition movement, supporting demonstrations on Tuesday for International Women's Day.

1005 GMT: Parliament v. Government. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has claimed that there are 36 Government measures which have not been given proper scrutiny and approval.

0945 GMT: The Next March? Fereshteh Ghazi sumarises support from leading activists, lawyers, and artists for Tuesday's demonstration in support of International Women's Day, including statements from Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, lawyer Mehranghiz Kar, poet Simin Behbahani, and journalist and poet Asieh Amini.

0715 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. On the eve of his battle against pro-Ahmadinejad forces to retain his leadership of the Assembly of Experts, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has put out a pointed challenge, "In today's world, it is no longer possible to govern through intimidation", given the "awakening consciousness" of people who now have access to the Internet and technology.

Rafsanjani also launched a specific attack on the Ahmadinejad economic policies, maintaining that targeted subsidies were necessary for prosperity. He specifically cites the need to support Iran's agricultural sector.

0520 GMT: We are now well into a phase of politics and pronouncements which gloss over key conflicts, if indeed they mention them at all.

Consider Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Sunday showpieces. He used a meeting with Kenya's President to declare the place of the two countries in global expansion of comprehensive co-operation. And he had an interview published in a business magazine:

The Islamic Republic of Iran has cordial and brotherly relations with most governments and nations across the world, has always insisted on promotion of ties based on justice, mutual respect, friendship and brotherhood, has stood up to international acquisitiveness and expansionism, and spoken out against aggression, occupation and violation of nations' rights.

The President's rhetorical tour took in economic ties among Asian nations but lamented, "Unfortunately, certain European countries are influenced by some international bullies which are led by Zionists who won't let fair and friendly relations get established."

Somehow, in the Ahmadinejad grand vision, there was no notice of the continuing detentions of opposition figures, the recent protests in Iran, or even the tensions over his economic programme.

There was one display on Sunday which did rest on political reality: the Government scored a narrow victory when, by vote, it avoided the impeachment of a second minister, Energy's Majid Namjoo, in a month.

And of course, there will be no avoiding even bigger political theatre soon. The Assembly of Experts is gathering, either today or tomorrow, to begin the formal process which will either lead to Hashemi Rafsanjani's re-election as head of the body or to his eclipse in the Iranian political system.