2045 GMT: The Khamenei Road Trip. Fars and Mehr are reporting a big breakthrough for the Supreme Leader: his Friday meeting with clerics included Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani.
No details are given.
1930 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mahdieh Mohammadi, the wife of detained Iranian journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi, has said that the Ministry of Intelligence has denied her husband a furlough.
This is why the trip to Qom, Khamenei's first in more than a decade, is significant: this Supreme Leader is unprecedented in trying to obtain the highest clerical status through the use of mass media. Crowds are shown welcoming him, he gives a speech to a packed square, and he is exalted through the state's broadcasting and print outlets.
But a true Grand Ayatollah does not establish his credentials through TV, newspapers, and computer screens. His legitimacy comes from reputation and the informal declarations of followers when they are away from the video cameras. A Grand Ayatollah cannot announce his authority; it is conferred upon him by the respect of peers and worshippers.
So Khamenei can pursue his campaign in Qom, which now enters its fourth day, with more and more publicity, but he cannot succeed unless there is a shift in his reception behind closed doors as well as on the television screens.
2115 GMT: Khamenei Roadtrip --- Media Lowlight of the Day. Oh, dear, a pretty spectacular MediaFail from Reuters who, rather than going to their Tehran correspondent, rely on their reporter in Paris to get the story all wrong:
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appears to have scored a political success by gathering leading clerics in the holy city of Qom around him in a show of unity after months of in-fighting.
Iranian media highlighted pictures on Thursday of a smiling Khamenei sitting with several top Shi'ite Muslim dignitaries, including some who have been critical since the disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year....
Among the sages pictured sipping tea with Khamenei was Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, a critic of Ahmadinejad, along with five other clerics who have the elevated status of "marja-e taqlid" (source of emulation), meaning that Shi'ite Muslims may choose them as a personal spiritual guide.
Their turnout belied rumors that senior religious figures would boycott Khamenei's annual visit to the center of Shi'ite learning in protest at a fierce crackdown on reformists and moves to isolate and intimidate dissident clerics.
About the only accurate information in this is that Makarem-Shirazi was present on Wednesday. None of the others at the meeting have the rank of "marja-e taqlid" --- indeed, no cleric with that status apart from Makarem-Shirazi has deigned to see Ayatollah Khamenei in the first three days of his Qom visit.
Yet, as stunning as this failure is, it may be dwarfed by the misunderstanding of the "senior Western diplomat" who fed the Reuters story: "(Khamenei's) trip shows the leader has the power to unite factions ... and it is a message to those who hoped the in-fighting may lead to the collapse of the system."
2025 GMT: Did the Supreme Leader Just Smack Down the Senior Clerics? Well, this is an interesting way to end the evening....
Only 48 hours after the start of the Supreme Leader's PR offensive in the religious centre of Qom, and its momentum appears to be slowing, if not stopping.
Tuesday's public setpiece of the reception for Ayatollah Khamenei and his speech was always going to provide positive images. The bigger political question was how he would be received in private by Qom's clerics.
Iranian state media struggled on Tuesday to put the gloss of unity on the first meeting, given the notable absences among the attendees --- e.g., all of Qom's maraje (sources of emulation) --- and Wednesday's second effort has made even less impression.
The most incisive coverage comes instead from a leading EA correspondent on Iran: " Looks like Khamenei's mighty propaganda machine finally scored a Pyrrhic victory. Even Makarem is not an extremely senior Ayatollah. Let's see if they drag Saanei, Shobeyri, Mousavi Ardabili, or any other of the big wigs into the frame tomorrow --- I strongly doubt it."
2010 GMT: The Khamenei Road Trip. The Supreme Leader's office has now released photographs of Ayatollah Khamenei's meeting today with several clerics, including Grand Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi (left in the photo below):
1735 GMT: The Supreme Leader and the Clerics (Round 2). A bit more of a substantial success for Ayatollah Khamenei this afternoon, at least according to Fars. He met more clerics, notably Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi. Other Ayatollahs who were present included Sobhani, Sadegh Larijani, Ahmad Khatami, Ebrahim Amini, and Ka'bi.
A bit of confusion, however, as Fars illustrates the encounter with a photograph from Tuesday's reception for the Supreme Leader. Neither IRNA nor Press TV carries a report on today's meeting. Nor, as far as I can tell, does Khamenei's official website.
Khamenei's quest to shore up his religious authority and legitimacy is manifestly failing.
The next nine days of the visit could see further ectastic crowds, plenty of low and middle-ranking clerics, and even more provocative statements by the Supreme Leader, who yesterday compared the participants of last year's massive protests to "microbes" and railed once again against the plotting "enemy". But it is an almost foregone conclusion that the main aim of Khamenei's visit, meeting eye-to-eye with those high-evel clerics who have repeatedly fired salvos against his rule and that of President Ahmadinejad, will evaporate into the religious air of Qom.
2000 GMT: Spot the Cleric. OK, here's one publicity photo, put out by the Supreme Leader's visit. Two of the clerics are Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani and Ayatollah Javadi Amoli.
Mehr has more photographs, from Khamenei's office, of a larger gathering.
1825 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch (Amended). An EA correspondent checks in on our item about the reported statement from Hashemi Rafsanjani over his refusal to lead Tehran Friday Prayers since July 2009 (see 1440 GMT).
According to the former President's representative, Ali Asgari, Rafsanjani said he would be flaunting justice if he omitted to saying the "full truth" in the Prayers, adding that many would be upset if he did say the truth. Therefore, Rafsanjani refrains from saying the truth to avoid disturbing people or acting in violation of justice.
1805 GMT: Academic Corner. A very useful summary from Golnaz Esfandiari at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, "In Iran, Renewed Efforts To Keep University Students In Check".
2020 GMT: Subsidy Watch. Pro-Government MP Jafar Qaderi has said that in future support payments for subsidy cuts will be paid in goods.
1725 GMT: Rumour of Day. Rah-e-Sabz claims that the Ministry of Intelligence has detained a delegation sent by Hashemi Rafsanjani to Qom in advance of the Supreme Leader's visit.
1710 GMT: Currency Watch. Khabar Online reports that the value of the Iranian toman, after weeks of attempts to stabilise its value, has now dropped on the open market. While the "official" Central Bank rate is 1050 tomans to the US dollar, the market rate has now reached 1090 tomans to the dollar.
1555 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An activist reports that Islamic Iran Participation Front member Davoud Solaimani, who was released on bail on Thursday, returned to Rajai Shahr Prison today when a prosecutor refused to confirm his temporary leave.
Soleimani was detained soon after the June 2009 elections.
There is still post-game cheerleading for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's trip to Lebanon. Press TV headlines the joint statement of the Shi'a parties Hezbollah and Amal expressing gratitude to the President for his assurances of support for the Lebanese people and adds the praise of Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati at Tehran Prayers (while ignoring Jannati's sharp criticism of Ahmadinejad over impending subsidy cuts). IRNA hands over a chunk of space to Ahmadinejad's media spokesman to declare, "A New Chapter in Relations Between Iran and Lebanon Has Been Opened".
But make no mistake: the lights are going out on this show. And it is only the prelude to a much bigger, much more important one.
Friday, October 22, 2010 at 9:03