The Latest from Iran (16 June): Preparing for the Nuclear Talks

See also Remember Iran Video: The Surprise of the Protests (Marandi/Ehteshami/Lucas)
Remember Iran Flashback: Four Scenarios for a Vote Recount (Emery)
Remember Iran Flashback: 16 June 2009 Live Coverage --- A Compromise by the Regime?
The Latest from Iran (15 June): Politics and Corruption

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1608 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Back to our opening entry, with President Ahmadinejad hugging the optimistic portion of the regime line (see 0510 GMT), "We are ready on a voluntary basis to make a positive step if the other party makes a similar step. We hope that we will make progress in Moscow."

1311 GMT: Campus Watch. Daneshjoo News reports that Basij militia beat students in Ahwaz as they dispersed protests.

The students were angered at the cancellation of some examinations and the lack of accountability of university officials.

1117 GMT: The Battle Within. Cleric Bahman Sharifzadeh, who has been close to Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai and praised his religious knowledge, has been summoned to the Special Court for Clergy.

1111 GMT: Rights Watch. The European Parliament has condemned Iran’s “current disrespect of minority rights” and urged the regime to allow minorities “to exercise all rights granted by the Iranian Constitution and international law".

The Parliament called on Iran to eliminate “all forms of discrimination based on religious or ethnic grounds or against persons belonging to minorities, such as Arabs, Bahaí'is, Azeri, Baluchi, Kurds and Turkmen".

The resolution specifically asked Iranian officials to ensure that five Ahwazi Arabs, sentenced to death in March on charges of killing a security officer and wounding another, "are tried according to international fair trial standards and without recourse to the death penalty".

1051 GMT: Loyalty Watch. Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, the head of the Assembly of Experts, has reassured that the Guardian Council's oversight of the Supreme Leader is not to gain information or supervise but to "safeguard" him.

0951 GMT: Threat of the Day. Mohammad Kowsari, the deputy chair of Parliament's National Security Commission, has said, "If Imperialism wants to start a war against Syria, we will attack all enemies, including Israel."

0945 GMT: Death to the Rapper Watch. Fifty German artists have expressed solidarity with rapper Shahin Najafi, condemned to death last months by clerics and websites offended by his song "Naqi" invoking Shi'a Islam's 10th Imam to criticise Iranian politics and scciety.

Signatories include Nobel Prize laureates Elfriede Jelinek and Günter Grass, singers Campino, Udo Lindenberg, and Hannes Wader, artists Jochen Gerz and Valie Export, theatre director Frank Castorf, and film director Volker Schlöndorf.

0645 GMT: Don't Talk About the Economy Watch. The Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Commerce has sent a letter to trade unions and associations, instructing them not to give interviews to the media about inflation.

The Ministry commanded, "Noting that the implementation by the government of the second phase of the targeted subsidies plan is drawing closer, officials of unions and associations should refrain from giving any interviews to the media, especially on the increase of prices of goods, in order to prevent disturbing the public opinion."

Iranian news agencies reported last week that the authorities increased the price of bread in Tehran by up to 33%, while other food items have risen in cost by up to 74%.

0510 GMT: Only a week ago, the discussions between Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia) on Tehran's nuclear programme were on the point of breakdown, as the Islamic Republic criticised the European Union for rejecting preparatory talks before Monday's formal discussions in Moscow.

However, a phone call between Iran's lead negotiator, Saeed Jalili, and the EU's Catherine Ashton brought an agreement to go to Russia. At Tehran Friday Prayers yesterday, Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, said, "The negotiations...have so far progressed well and the Islamic Republic hopes that the Moscow talks will also reach a positive conclusion." Vice President Ali Saeedloo said he was "optimistic" after this week's visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Tehran.

So are we on the point of breakthrough replacing breakdown? 

Not so fast. The odds are just as good that the Islamic Republic's leaders are preparing for the failure of the negotiating, showing their public that they have valiantly defended the country and putting the blame on the "West".

Or, as Jannati framed the position on Friday, "The Iranian nation has withstood years of Western pressure and sanctions for the realization of its nuclear energy rights and it will not give them up now. The Iranians are a logical nation and will not be forced into negotiating and will also not give up their inalienable rights."