The Latest from Iran (6 February): "The Regime Will Demolish Ahmadinejad"

President Ahmadinejad challenges a Cardboard Supreme Leader

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2120 GMT: Sanctions Watch. President Obama has signed an order tightening the restrictions on Iran's banks:

All property and interests in property of any Iranian financial institution, including the Central Bank of Iran, that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person, including any foreign branch, are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in.

2100 GMT: Oil Watch. Minister of Oil Rustam Qassemi has ordered five European companies, including Royal Dutch Shell and a unit of U.S.-based Honeywell International, to be put on a blacklist for failing to meet their commitments in Iran's refinery projects: "These companies will have no role in the future in Iran’s oil and gas industries."

The move is symbolic --- companies such as Shell have pulled out of projects in Iran in the last two years amidst US-led sanctions.

2050 GMT: Press Watch. Staff of the daily newspaper Roozegar, after it was banned for one month for an interview with prominent reformist Mohammad Reza Khatami (pictured on front page of paper --- see 0050 GMT):

1800 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Blogger, publisher, and physician Mehdi Khazali has been sentenced to 14 years in prison, 10 years in exile, and 90 lashes.

Khazali has been on hunger strike for four weeks. Two days ago he was reportedly taken to the prison infirmary due to hemorrhaging of his digestive tract.

Khazali has been arrested on several occasions since the June 2009 Presidential election. His previous arrest was last July --- he was released on bail after a month-long hunger strike.

1735 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Reformist MP Dariush Ghanbari has announced that the plan to summon the President for questioning will be forwarded to Majlis on Tuesday. Mohammad Dehghan, a member of the committee considering the request, said that Ahmadinejad will be summoned on 4 March, two days after the Parliamentary elections.

1650 GMT: Picture of Day. Basij students rally in front of Parliament to protest oil exports to Europe --- the Majlis has not yet followed through on a threat to ban supplies in pre-emptive retaliation for the European Union's decision to cut imports of Iranian crude from 1 July:

1645 GMT: Espionage Watch. An anonymous source has told Mehr that a number of BBC "mercenaries" have been identified and arrested.

1435 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. A couple more challenges to the President....

MP Sayed Reza Akrami has said, “ What Ahmadinejad said about Parliament not being on top of the system is wrong. This is against institutional laws, Imam Khomeini’s view, and Ayatollah Khamenei’s view. And Parliament will definitely follow this up in interrogation (of the President).”

And reformist MP Ghodratullah Alikhani has claimed that nothing is more important for the President than the view of his Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai. He added that Ahmadnejad does not respect or pay attention to experts, and consequently there are no plans for managing the country’s affairs, especially in economics.

1429 GMT: Unity Watch. Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, the head of the Assembly of Experts and of the Principlists' Unity Front for the Parliamentary campaign, has called on people to participate in the march on 11 February for the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

Mahdavi Kani said, “The more people participate in this march, the more our enemies will be disappointed and the weaker the sedition current will become."

1422 GMT: D'Oh! First Barbie was banned, now Bart....

Week after shops were ordered to take Barbie dolls off their shelves, Mohammad Hossein Farjoo, the head of "public space police", has announced a new list of prohibited toys, including the Simpsons, adult dolls or dolls with music, some types of baby dolls, and a toy kitchen with wine glasses.

1417 GMT: Economy Watch. The Central Bank, according to Etedaal, has said inflation rose 8% in the month of Azar (November-December). While food prices increased just over 6%, clothing costs were up by 23%.

1415 GMT: MP Alireza Mahjoub, the head of the pro-reform Worker's House, has announced that the organisation has selected 120 candidates to stand in the Parliamentary election. Mahjoub said some of the candidates may be presented on both reformist and principlist lists.

1225 GMT: Elections Watch. With the developments this weekend, it appears that the principlists, the largest force in Iranian politics, will have five competing lists in March's Parliamentary elections.

The two main factions up to last month had been the Unity Front and the Islamic Constancy Front, which refused to join the unity effort because of disagreement with politicians like Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer-Qalibaf.

Now there is the declaration by Ali Motahari of a Government Critics Front and rumours that diehard Ahmadinejad supporters will run as "Supporters of Islamic Revolution Discourse". A separate "Experts Council" list is also being prepared, claiming it wants to maximise voter turnout.

1205 GMT: Loyalty Watch. Ayatollah Khamenei's representative Hojatoleslam Jafar Shojouni has explained that prayer, fasting and charity are invalid without a velayat (Supreme Leader) and that a soldier who is killed in a non-velayat regime is not a martyr.

1155 GMT: Currency Watch (Interrogation Edition). Rah-e Sabz reports that the manager of the currency website Mesghal, detained yesterday, is being questioned by the Ministry of Intelligence, which is demanding that he turn over control of the site and its data.

0950 GMT: Elections Watch. It looks like Ali Motahari, the high-profile critic of President Ahmadinejad who has been omitted from the slate of Principlist candidates, will pursue a separate campaign.

Motahari said, "We will give a list of our own for the upcoming election, 'The List of Government Critics'." Motahari added that the list will include MPs Ali Abbaspour and Hamireza Katouzian, both of whom have also been snubbed by the Principlists, and Hojatoleslam Navab.

0750 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has again criticised the Government for its economy policy, saying carelessness and mismanagement have damaged the economy and production irreparably.

0730 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syrian Front). A leaked document claims to show a discussion between Iranian and Syrian officials on economic co-operation, including the possible sale of 150,000 barrels per day of Syrian oil to Iran.

Damascus has been hampered in exports of its oil by an international embargo.

0620 GMT: The Battle Within. Tabnak claims that statements have been published in Qom challenging Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, despite the support given to his election campaign by the Society of Seminary Teachers in the religious city.

The name of 27 candidates of the “United Front of Principlists” in Tehran has been published. There are notable names such as Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, former Speaker of Parliament and a member of the Supreme Leader's camp, and Ahmad Tavakoli, a leading critic of the Government; however, there are also significant omissions --- Ali Motahari, Hamidreza Katouzian, and Ali Abbaspour, who have been also vocal in challenges to President Ahmadinejad, are not on the list.

The three MPs had been blocked by the Ministry of Interior from standing in the March ballot, but reports have indicated they were reinstated by the Guardian Council.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar has protested against the removal of the three candidates.

The exclsusion has not deterred Ali Motahari from his latest challenge, as he emphasised that the next Parliament must stand firm against government’s breach of the laws.

0050 GMT: We begin with an interview, which we noted on Sunday, which has already led to a one-month ban on Roozegar newspaper.

Mohammad Reza Khatami, the prominent reformist and brother of the former President, was careful not to say "boycott", even as he said true reformists would not participate in March's Parliamentary elections. This, however, was almost the only caution he displayed.

Khatami said the result of the vote would be fixed before people went to the polls, and then he turned on the pretence within the system by savaging Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:  

We do not say that we want to be President, but we are saying that a wise man should be the president. Today in our country, Ahmadinejad has no authority; those who made Ahmadinejad “Ahmadinejad” must be held responsible towards people.

Khatami said the "deviant current" --- a label placed on Ahmadinejad's advisors by his critics --- was made by the very same people who made Ahmadinejad "Ahmadinejad", so they can control the President. Khatami claimed that the regime will bear and tolerate Ahmadinejad for two years, until the end of his second term, and "after that they will demolish him".

Khatami's was not the only troublesome voice on Sunday. Former Minister of Interior Mostafa Tajzadeh, in his most recent message from Evin Prison, has criticised the Supreme Leader for Friday Prayer and asked him to apologise to the people. Tajzadeh said Ayatollah Khamenei had continued his policy of "threat against threat" and thus endangered Iran's security.

And reformist MP Masoud Pezeshkian, commenting on the Friday Prayer, said, "An atmosphere has been created in the country which does not allow reformists to be active, let alone for the reformists to be able to compete with others in the election."

Amidst the criticisms, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani's four conditions for a successful Majlis seem rather tame: 1) maximum participation in the election; 2) care and accuracy by officials in holding a healthy election; 3) a lenient approach by the Guardian Council in approving candidates; 4) healthy competition among the candidates in which they do not insult and accuse each other.