The Latest from Iran (11 January): A Car Bomb in Tehran
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 18:26State media Press TV's coverage of the bombing this morning in Tehran, killing Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, deputy head of procurement at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility (video via The Guardian)
See also Iran Feature: The Regime Isolates the Rafsanjani Family
Iran 1st-Hand: How the Currency Crisis Began
Ahmadinejad's Men Strike 1st Blow in the Elections
The Latest from Iran (10 January): "A Big Atomic Bomb Will Come Out"
2108 GMT: The Tehran Bomb. According to Mehr, today's victim in the Tehran bombing, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan --- scientist and deputy head of procurement at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility --- had met officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who are in Iran reviewing the nuclear operations.
Roshan's driver, wounded in the attack, later died from his injuries.
2058 GMT: Elections Watch. Rasa News reports that Soulat Mortazavi, the head of Iran's Election Commission has asked clerics in Qom to tell people that there is no fraud in the elections and that high turnout is important.
1944 GMT: The Tehran Bomb. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said, "I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran."
1844 GMT: The Tehran Bomb. Washington's reaction, via State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, "The United States strongly condemns this act of violence and categorically denies any involvement in the killing."
1835 GMT: Judiciary All-Is-Well Alert. The head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani has assured that currency traders violating the law will be prosecuted, that the files of those implicated in the $2.6 billion bank fraud will go 2 court next week, and that there will be "splendid participation of the people" in March's elections.
1825 GMT: Elections Watch. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has said that MPs Fazel Mousavi and Kazel Delkhosh are not banned from candidacy in the March elections, even though their names have appeared on lists of those disqualified by the Ministry of Interior.
However, Etedaal reports that most of those seeking to run against Parvin Ahmadinejad in Garmsar, southeast of Tehran, have not been approved.
1635 GMT: The Tehran Bomb. Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior official in the judiciary, has written to Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, asking her to investigate the assassinations of Iran's scientists.
1615 GMT: Satellite Watch. Roozegar Daily notes that a provision in Parliament's currency and smuggling bill establishes punishment of two to six years for carrying satellite dishes.
1605 GMT: CyberWatch. Etedaal offers a photograph of Iran's current Internet status, as authorities moves toward a national Intranet detached from the WorldWide Web:
1555 GMT: Elections Watch. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has commented on the banning of at least 32 MPs from running in March's Parliamentary elections. He said that some prohibitions were "apparently baseless" and that candidates should pursue legal procedures for redress.
Larijani's remarks follow those of his brother-in-law and political ally, MP Ahmad Tavakoli, that there must be freedom of speech for MPs, as set out in the Constitution.
1545 GMT: Economy Watch. Khabar Online confirms that Parliament has passed a bill to halt the increase of energy prices (see 0812 GMT) and says that the second part of President Ahmadinejad's subsidy cuts plan may be delayed.
1525 GMT: Currency Watch. Back from a media break --- I'll be on Al Jazeera English's Inside Story at 1730 GMT, talking about the US, China, and Iran sanctions with Professor Sadegh Zibakalam and former Iranian diplomat Mehrdad Khansari --- to find that the official "open-market" rate of the Iranian Rial is settled at 16930:1.
The price of gold coin (see separate feature) has been rising, however. It is up about 8% at 675,000 Tomans (about $400) per coin.
1125 GMT: Economy Watch. Complementing reports from EA sources (see 0715 GMT), Mohammad Tahanpour, the head of Iran's Home Appliances union, has said the currency crisis has sent the Bazaar "into a coma".
1115 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Mardomak summarises Japanese efforts, with a visit by the Foreign Minister to Dubai, to assure oil supplies from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The effort is part of a wider US-led initiative for Japan to reduce its oil imports from Iran. US Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner is in Tokyo later this week for talks with Japanese officials, who have indicated they will reduce --- but not embargo --- shipments from Tehran.
Meanwhile, as Geithner meets with Chinese officials in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin has put down a marker that China will not publicly accept tougher sanctions: "It is unreasonable for a country to impose its domestic laws as overriding international law and to demand that other countries enforce it....We have repeatedly stated that China has normal and transparent energy cooperation with Iran, and that does not violate Security Council resolutions."
It remains to be seen whether Beijing, in practice, will cut back oil imports. Shipments of Iranian oil to China are down 50% for January and February, ostentsibly because of a dispute over payment arrangements.
I will be discussing the issue on Al Jazeera English's Inside Story at 1730 GMT.
1105 GMT: The Tehran Bomb. A picture from State news agency IRNA of the body of university professor Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, killed in this morning's bombing in Tehran.
1050 GMT: Dissent from the Guards? Over the last two days, we have noted an episode in which Hossein Alaei, the formal commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Navy, appeared to have issued a warning to the Supreme Leader, through an article citing how the Shah's repression after the uprising of January 1978 in Qom only led to his downfall.
How serious is this? Well, an EA source notes that in December, Saeed Qassemi, another former commander, said, "During the 'ruse time' [the protests after the 2009 Presidential election], so many kept silence, from our own [friends and advocates] to those in religious schools and some commanders."
And there is the reaction in the Iranian media. Nedaye Enghelab, in an article "What is the Cause of All These Hatreds? Mr Alaei, Don't Take Yourself Seriously", compared the former commander with the murderer of Imam Hussein, Shia's third Imam, and accused him of "an inappropriate economic profile". Raja News said Alaei was a blind person, regardless of his past position. Raja also asked why Khabar Online, the outlet of Speaker of Parliament, Larijani, published a summary of Alaei's article (the website later withdrew the item).
0950 GMT: At the Movies. In what appears to be a victory for public protest, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has withdrawn its ban on the House of Cinema, Iran's largest professional organisation for filmmakers.
The prohibition, announced last month, was sharply challenged by those in the film industry and by some Iranian politicians.
0830 GMT: The Tehran Bomb. Iranian media identify this morning's victim of a car bomb, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, as "a deputy director...for commercial affairs", i.e., procurement, at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
0812 GMT: Currency All-is-Well Alert. State news agency IRNA has no news on the Iranian currency this morning, but it does feature an interview with an official, noting the rise in interest rates to 20%. The effort is to reduce the flow of cash in the economy, but the official says it will increase capital investment by banks in an "impressive market".
0758 GMT: Elections Watch. Leading MP Ahmad Tavakoli, a prominent critic of President Ahmadinejad, has claimed that the Ministry of Interior's banning of candidates --- including at least 32 MPs --- from standing in March's Parliamentary elections is inappropriate and violates Iranian law.
One of the disqualified MPs, Ghodratollah Alikhani, protested his exclusion in a speech in the Majlis. Alikhani was notable after the 2009 Presidential election for his support of Mir Hossein Mousavi as protesters challenged the outcome.
Conservative MP Ali Motahari talks with colleagues after news that he was banned by the Ministry of Interior from standing:
0753 GMT: Tehran Bomb. Fars explains who is behind this morning's explosion killing a University professor and wounding two people (see 0700 GMT): "The Secret is in the Headlines --- American Diplomacy Seasoned with Terror":
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar condemned the bomb as an act of "global arrogance". Khabar Online adds that there were shouts of "Death to America" in the Majlis.
0749 GMT: Economy Watch. With Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani declaring that "price increases would impose a heavy burden on the shoulders of the people", the Majlis has passed a bill which limits the rise in cost of State-provided services and goods --- such as energy --- to 20% in one year.
Parliament also declared that the second phase of the Government's subsidy cuts, which officials have said will be launched soon, should not produce further inflation.
0740 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. President Ahmadinejad is welcomed on Tuesday by his Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega. Ahmadinejad, on the second stop of his four-country Latin American tour, declared, "These two peoples, in different parts of the Earth, are fighting to establish solidarity and justice."
0725 GMT: Currency Watch. Iran's mobile phone companies have denied blocking text messages with the words "dollar" and "currency" amidst the fall of the Iranian Rial.
Phone users had complained that messages with "arz" (currency) and "dollar" were not delivered.
Khodnevis notes that the ban may not have been effective --- people simply texted, "1 Rose [Dollar] Cost 1800 Tomans".
Mesghal puts the current rate of the Iranian Rial v. the US dollar at 16900:1, or 1690 Toman to the dollar.
0715 GMT: The Economy, The Elections. For the moment, this morning's news of the Tehran bomb --- and the inevitable speculation that the US and Israel are trying to kill Iran's nuclear scientists --- overtakes the developments over the economy and March's Parliamentary elections.
On the elections, we have a snap analysis of Tuesday's significant and unexpected developments, with the banning of at least 32 MPs from candidacy: "Ahmadinejad's Men Strike 1st Blow in the Elections".
On the economy, Tuesday's steady downbeat of news on falling production, a shaky currency, and fraud was marked by the first-hand report, from an EA source, of prices doubling and tripling within days --- sometimes within 24 hours --- on washing machines and computer software.
0700 GMT: Wednesday begins with news of a car bomb in Tehran, killing a university professor and wounding two other people.
Fars, from witnesses, said a motorcyclist stuck a bomb on the side of the Peugeot 405 in which Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was travelling at 8:20 a.m. (0450 GMT). The website said Ahmadi Roshan was a specialist in the study of ethylene co-polymer membranes, notably the dissolution of two types of vinyl acetate with ethylene. He graduated from Sharif University in Tehran in 2002.
Fars also notes that the method of the attack is similar to those which have killed and wounded Iran's nuclear scientists over the last two years. These include the assassination of Masoud Alimohammadi in January 2010 and the killing of Majid Shahriari and wounding of Fereydoun Abbasi, the current head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, in November 2010.
The car exploded in Ketabi Square, near the Social Sciences faculty of Allameh Tabatai University.
Reader Comments