Latest from Iran (9 September): Ignoring Ahmadinejad on Syria

See also Iran Special: Mousavi's Moment Outside House Arrest "The Future is Bright"
Latest from Iran (8 September): Fearing Persian Spring

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1610 GMT: Ahmadinejad and Syria. Fars reports on President Ahmadinejad's meeting with Kuwaiti media. Its English-language website highlights Ahmadinejad's caution to Turkey not to host a NATO missile defence system: "Turkey is among our brothers and sincere friends, but when enemies deploy a missile system there and admit that it is against Iran, we should be careful."

Fars, however, does not utter a word about Ahmadinejad's proposal (see 1400 GMT) for an Islamic summit on the Syrian crisis.

Mehr News, however, does mention the President's comments, well into an article on the meeting, on a summit and on reforms in Syria.

1540 GMT: On the Border. Fars reports that a Revolutionary Guards commander, Abbasali Jannesari, has been killed in a battle with the Kurdish insurgency PJAK in northwestern Iran.

Iran State media had reported that Majid Kavian, a deputy commander of PJAK, was slain during Iranian tank bombardments last weekend.

1400 GMT: Ahmadinejad and Syria. Another intervention (see 0745 GMT) by Iran's President in the Syrian dispute....

Speaking to Kuwaiti media, President Ahmadinejad offered to convene an Islamic summit to consider the crisis. He said the first step was to prevent an escalation of conflict, "The people and the government of Syria are Muslims and the Islamic nations should get involved for a collective understanding to help solve the problem and implementation of reforms."

Ahmadinejad added, "There is reliable information that America and its allies have an extensive program and intend to wreck the region and have sent weapons to Syria."

The news was initally reported by BBC Persian and then by Egypt's Ahram Online --- I have not seen it in Iranian media.

1315 GMT: Your Friday Prayer Update. Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, used his Tehran Friday Prayer sermon today to warn anyone still thinking of dissent --- while disagreements are normal, the "greatest sin of people is the sin against the regime".

Jannati put in a word for his Guardian Council, saying that its role in supervising elections --- and vetting candidates --- was necessary to "observe piety".

And, in a tour of the region, the Ayatollah denounced Turkey for its consideration of a NATO radar system, criticised Bahrain's monarchy, and said "religious democracy" must be presented to the victorious Libyan insurgents.

1310 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Meeting students, Grand Ayatollah Sane'i has called for an end to tyranny and the violation of rights.

1050 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Committee of Human Rights Reporters, claiming reliable reports from Tabriz, says women’s rights activist Faranak Farid was beaten by plainclothes agents when she was arrested last Saturday during a march over the drying-up of Lake Urmia.

Farid's arm was allegedly injured and her left eardrum seriously damaged to the point where she has lost hearing. It is also claimed that she has suffered because of the lack of medical care and facilities at Tabriz’s police detention centre.

Farid has been interrogated and charged with “insulting the Supreme Leader”, “propaganda against the regime”, and “acting against national security”.

1000 GMT: Corruption Watch. Iran Inspector General Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi has spoken to Fars of dealing with "unprecedented" levels of fraud and embezzlement of bank funds.

0950 GMT: Elections Watch. Opposition advisor Ardeshir Amir Arjomand has repeated in an interview that the freeing of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi from strict house arrest is a pre-condition for reformist participation in next March's Parliamentary elections.

0810 GMT: Yesterday's Man. In case anyone is listening, Tony Blair --- who used to be Prime Minister of Britain --- is pronouncing, "Regime change in Tehran would immediately make me significantly more optimistic about the whole of the region."

0800 GMT: Today's All-is-Well Alert. The Governor of the Central Bank, Masoud Bastani, has declared that, even though some speculators have entered the foreign exchange market, the Bank's programme "is being implemented in a satisfactory manner".

Bastani's reassurance comes amidst continuing pressure on the Iranian toman, with a widening gap between the official rate and the free-market rate and a surge in the price of gold.

0745 GMT: If President Ahmadinejad speaks but no one in Iran reports it, does he make a sound?

We return to yesterday's story of Ahmadinejad's call on the Syrian regime to pull back from its bloody crackdown on protest, to institute reforms, and to talk with the opposition. The apparent shift in the Iranian Government's position, in the President's interview with a Portuguese television station, has now reached the pages of The New York Times, which reports the statement from Ahmadinejad's official website, “Regional nations can assist the Syrian people and government in the implementation of essential reforms and the resolution of their problems.” Summaries beyond the website carry the even more striking declaration, “A military solution is never the right solution.”

Yet the important story, at least within Iran, may not be Ahmadinejad's statement but the steadfast silence in the Iranian media on it. Press TV continues its full ignorance, while the pro-Ahmadinejad IRNA this morning prefers the President's promotion of  the "cooperation in justice and development" between Iran and Brazil.

Could the silence come from caution that Ahmadinejad may not be in step with the Supreme Leader? Ayatollah Khameini, in his address to the Assembly of Experts, omitted Syria from his survey of the developments of the Arab Spring. But Damascus may have been an unnamed reference point in his warning of "the great threat of establishment of West-dependent systems under the cover of democracy and freedom".