Iran Live Coverage: The Clerics Vs. Ahmadinejad

See also Wednesday's Iran Live Coverage: Tehran Continues to Push "Positive" Nuclear Talks

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2032 GMT: Drone Watch. Pentagon officials have altered their story about the encounter between a Predator drone and an Iranian fighter jet (see 1848 GMT), over or near the Islamic Republic's airspace over the Persian Gulf.

"One of the US aircraft discharged a flare as a warning to the Iranian plane, which then broke off pursuit," spokesman George Little said.

Officials earlier suggested that two Iranian jets had "targeted" the Predator.

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Venezuela Analysis: Hugo Chavez's Dubious Legacy for Iran and the Middle East (Postel)

In June 2009, as millions of Iranians took to the streets to ask Where Is My Vote? Chávez was among the first world leaders to congratulate his ally Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on his reelection.

“In Egypt, the situation is complicated,” Chávez pronounced during the Tahrir Square protests that brought down Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. He remained conspicuously silent on the Battle of Cairo, one of the great democratic uprisings of recent times, remarking merely that “national sovereignty” should be respected.

But silent he was not as the Arab revolts spread to Libya and Syria; he spoke out emphatically in support of Muammar Qaddafi and Bashar Assad.

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Iran Live Coverage: Chest-Beating for the Next Nuclear Talks

See also Iran Analysis: Tehran's Signals on Nuclear Talks --- We Will Negotiate, But We Can Be Tough Just Like the US
Thursday's Iran Live Coverage: "Our Enemies Are Within Our Houses, Mosques, Seminaries, and Schools"

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1530 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Scott Lucas returns from an academic break....

Ayatollah Movahedi Kermani takes the podium today to give the crowd an economic message from the Supreme Leader: "Temporary hardships can be overcome with faith in Islam....The enemy scorns us because of our progress."

The cleric said sanctions had aimed at "opposing the people to the rulers, but they had failed, as seen by the turnout of the Iranian people at rallies in February for the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

In other words, "unlike the West, we have solutions for economic problems".

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Iran Live Coverage: "600 Journalists Work With the Enemy"

See also Iran Caption Competition: The Supreme Leader Plants A Tree

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1809 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Gholam Hossein Elham, a former spokesman for the Government, has complained about the "unfair" interpretation that a State TV documentary about Abolhassan Bani Sadr --- the President who was impeached and fled Iran in 1980 --- was a coded jab at President Ahmadinejad.

Elham said there was no resemblance between the two men, including the implication that Bani Sadr's dispute with Ayatollah Khomeini was analogous to Ahmadinejad's relationship with the current Supreme Leader.

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Venezuela Feature: President Chavez Elected to 4th Term (Al Jazeera English

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been re-elected to another six-year term after defeating opposition leader Henrique Capriles, the electoral council has said.

The 58-year-old Chavez took 54.42 per cent of the vote, with 90 per cent of the ballots counted, to 44.97 per cent for young opposition candidate Capriles, official results showed on Sunday.

Tibisay Lucena, the National Electoral Council president, said 81 per cent of the nearly 19 million registered voters cast ballots, one of the largest turnouts in years.

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Iran Opinion: The "Left" and the Non-Aligned Movement --- A Guide for the Perplexed (Postel)

How do we say we are against imposing the privations of sanctions, against subjecting the Iranian people to the violence of US/Israeli bombs, but are willing to take no position when those same people are subjected to violence by the Iranian government? This would make us an anti-war movement disconnected from social justice and life on the ground for ordinary Iranians; it would mean we have lost our moral compass.

We argue for the need to free all political prisoners, from Guantanamo to the Iranian prison Evin; to end the death penalty in the US and in Iran and everywhere; in other words, to build solidarity between our movements here and the movements there.

If we don't support Iranians struggling in Iran for the same things we fight for here, such as labor rights, abolition of the death penalty, and freedom for political prisoners, we risk a politically debilitating form of cultural relativism.

It is not only possible, but imperative, to simultaneously stand against all forms of outside intervention in Iran and against all forms of domestic oppression targeting ordinary Iranian people.

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The Latest from Iran (23 June): All-Is-Well Oil News

See also The Latest from Iran (22 June): Supreme Leader "More Talks, Please"

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1915 GMT: Economy Watch (Zionist Edition). Looks like Iran's problems with domestic production and rising prices have opened up unexpected imports --- the head of the Tehran Association of Fruit and Vegetable Sellers says cherries from Israel sre available in Iran for $3 per kilogramme.

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The Latest from Iran (10 January): "A Big Atomic Bomb Will Come Out"

1945 GMT: Elections Watch. Radio Zamaneh offers an overview of the MPs who have been blocked from running in Parliamentary elections in March. It notes that nine of them --- Ali Motahari, Hamidreza Katouzian, Alireza Mahjoub, Ali Abbaspour Tehrani, Fatemeh Ajorloo, Abbasali Noura, Peymon Forouzesh, Ghodratollah Alikhani and Dariush Ghanbari --- "have all been involved in strong criticism of the administration over the past year".

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mohammadreza Bahonar, said disqualifying government critics among the Principlists from running for office is “narrow-minded". However, Tehran Governor Morteza Tamaddon insisted that the disqualifications were carried out according to the law and in the “interests of the sacred Islamic Republic system".

The nominees have four days to appeal the decision, with the final decision to be made by the Guardian Council.

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The Latest from Iran (9 January): A Sideshow in Latin America

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2115 GMT: You Can Never Start 'Em Too Young. Shargh claims that the the authorities are launching "Chastity and Hijab" programmes in kindergartens.

2107 GMT: A Message for the Supreme Leader? Former Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Alaei has spoken about the uprising of 9 January 1978 in Qom, suggesting that others should learn from the Shah's experience.

After the uprising, the Shah's security forces put political opponents under house arrest and shot dissenters, but of course this ultimately failed preserve the monarch's throne.

So who are the "others" whom Alaei thinks should learn from the historical example?

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The Latest from Iran (8 January): Mr Chavez, Can You Spare a Dime?

See also Iran Photo Special: Snapshots of Life and Living
The Latest from Iran (7 January): "We are in an Economic War"

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2140 GMT: Elections All-Is-Well Alert. Press TV goes over the top in its cheerleading, "Iran Political Groups Debate Parliament Vote": "A number of reformist lawmakers said it's business as usual and everyone is taking part because there are assurances that like the previous rounds the next elections will be free, fair and transparent."

An excess from nerves? Possibly, because in the next paragraph the website undermines its confident assurance, "Principalist political organizations and politicians are also preparing themselves for the elections. They express concern over the consequences of absence of reform oriented forces."

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