The Latest from Iran (8 May): Watching the Cabinet

1920 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. So, after a week of high political crisis, how does a President end his speech at a critical Cabinet meeting?

He congratulates the National Tae Kwon Do Team on its victory in the world championships.

1915 GMT: Cabinet Watch (Bin Laden Conspiracy Edition). So now that Ministre of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has been allowed back into Cabinet meetings by the President, what does he have to say?

Iran’s Minister of Intelligence has accused the U.S. of fabricating its account of Osama Bin Laden’s death, alleging that Bin Laden had died much earlier from health complications....

[Moslehi said] Iran is in possession of “accurate information and reliable and significant documents” regarding Bin Laden’s death. He did not expand on the contents of thesaid documents....

“If the U.S. military and intelligence have truly arrested or killed Bin Laden,” Moslehi said, “why do they not show him to the world? Why do they dispose of his remains at sea?”

“We are of the opinion that the U.S. and its media dictatorship are trying to overshadow the regional uprisings with such news,” Moslehi said. “Furthermore, they are also trying to resolve internal problems such as their economical woes.”

Click to read more ...

Iran Flashback: Ahmadinejad, at Cabinet Meeting, Bows to Authority of Supreme Leader

Amidst the growing political conflict in Iran, the President's office has put out its version of today's Cabinet meeting.

The summary starts with the apparent political concession by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, acknowledging the authority of the Supreme Leader:

We all must follow leadership of the supreme jurisprudent, a reference to Office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei....President considered the Guardianship of Supreme Jurisprudent as a most important pivot of Islamic Republic and referring to Leader of the Islamic Revolution‘s statements made the remarks that we will never let the enemies to abuse some interior issues of the country.

Click to read more ...

Today's Worst Iran Analysis: It's all about (the) US

Esfandiar Rahim-MashaiDavid Ignatius of The Washington Post pronounces on the current crisis between the Supreme Leader and President Ahmadinejad, "When there’s political upheaval in Tehran, it’s often interwoven with the explosive question of possible outreach to the United States."

In other words, the dispute is all because "[Ahmadinejad right-hand man] Esfandiar Rahim] Mashaei is said to have initiated a series of contacts attempting to open a dialogue with the United States".

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (27 April): Where's Mahmoud?

2020 GMT: A senior official of the US Treasury is in Turkey to "urge full and robust implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1929 [for sanctions] against Iran".

David Cohen said the US is concerned by Turkey's growing trade with Iran and has warned Turkish banks against dealing with blacklisted Iranian counterparts.

2015 GMT: Two more videos of Amir Kabir students protesting on Tuesday about poor food and dorm conditions (see 1535 GMT):

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (26 April): The President's Right-Hand Man Launches a Newspaper?

1855 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? Khabar Online reports that President Ahmadinejad and the Cabinet have cancelled a trip to Qom scheduled for this week.

1815 GMT: The Battle Within. Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, a senior advisor to the President, has denied reports of his resignation.

1702 GMT: Budget Watch. Parliament approved the 2011/12 budget by a vote of 149-61 today.

That would appear to be a breakthrough after months of stalemate; however, there were still signs of tension. The 149 "yes" votes were only just over half of the 290-member Majlis, as there were nine abstentions and 71 absences.

Some of those who were absent were pro-Ahmadinejad MPs. The reason for their protest is not yet clear.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (21 April): The Ping-Pong of Power

2015 GMT: Rumours of the Day (President's Right-Hand Man Edition). Mashregh News says Ahemadinejad confidante Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai is in hospital for diabetes. Fars says he is in good health.

Bottom line: Rahim-Mashai was not with the President on Ahmadinejad's trip to Kurdistan yesterday and today. Any significance?

1400 GMT: International Front. Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah has told Al Arabiya that an alleged Iranian spy cell had explosives to bomb "strategic" facilities: "We are talking about a cell whose task was not only to monitor and record the (US) military presence that is in their view hostile --- the American forces presence on Kuwait lands --- but it exceeded that."

The Foreign Minister claimed the cell, revealed last year, "had explosives and the intention to explode vital Kuwaiti facilities. They had names of officers and they had extremely sensitive information. This indicates bad intentions to harm Kuwaiti security."

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (13 April): The Movie, The Hidden Imam, and Ahmadinejad's Right-Hand Man

2040 GMT: In an interview with RASA TV, Nooshabeh Amiri speaks about her interview with Said Tajik, the man accused of verbally assaulting Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh Hashemi in February.

Amiri says Tajik, who was briefly detained over the incident, was released out of fear of his supporters. She said he questioned why he had been interrogated and was "very arrogant towards the judiciary".

Amiri has also written an article in Rooz Online about the encounter.

1945 GMT: Setting the Election Rules. Conservative MP Habibollah Asgaroladi tries to set the ground rules for the 2012 Parliament elections --- those who are against the Iranian system (nezam) and the clerical supremacy of velayat-e faqih cannot run. He continues with the observation that reformists are not yet "off the record", i.e., eliminated"; they are, he says, "serious rivals" in the elections.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (30 March): Life After the Party

1452 GMT: Three Kuwaiti soldiers, two Iranians and one Kuwaiti national, have been sentenced to death for spying for the Iranian regime. The three soldiers, and several other civilians, were arrested in May 2010 and accused of passing information about Kuwaiti and U.S. military operations to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

Two civilians, a Syrian and another Arab, were given life sentences, and two Iranians were aquitted. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehman Parast, has denied any Iranian involvement with a spy network in Kuwait.

1444 GMT: Human Rights - Mohsen Dogmechi, political prisoner incarcerated at Rajai Shahr prison, has died from cancer and "lack of medical care. According to A Street Journalist, Dogmechi was refused medical help despite the urging of several doctors that Dogmechi be transferred to a hospital for chemotherapy. 

1434 GMT: Bahrain's opposition leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, sends a clear message to the Iranian regime today. "We urge Iran not to meddle in Bahraini internal affairs." 

1415 GMT: James Miller reports for duty, and finds many interesting developments in Iran.

GVF is reporting that Mir Esmail Mousavi, father of Presidential Candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, has died after a long illness. He was 97. 

This is a death that will likely have political repercussions. Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rashnavard have been held under house arrest since February 14, without formal charges, and was not at his fathers side during his death. It is also unknown whether or not the Iranian security forces will allow Mousavi or his wife to attend funeral services.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (9 March): More than Political Games

2210 GMT: Clerical Challenge. A different line of criticism from Grand Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani, who has been distancing himself from the regime, today....

Vahid Khorasani said that the Government was "losing Islam" by failing to prevent Iran's youth from being seduced by Christianity.

2150 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ardavan Tarakmeh, student director, writer and film critic, has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Tarakmeh is the son of reputed writer and literary critic Younes Tarakmeh. He was arrested during the Ashura demonstrations of 27 December 2009.

Farnaz Kamali, a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign for women's rights, has been released on $300,000 bail.

Kamali was arrested in Tehran during the protests on 20 February and charged with actions against national security, membership in the Campaign to Free [student activist] Atefeh Nabavi, and participation in protests.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (1 March): In Prison...And On the Streets?

2050 GMT: Deutsche Welle carries this account from a participant in the protest in Tehran (translation by Tehran Bureau):

The number of security forces today in Tehran was higher than February 14 and 20. There were a lot of plainclothesmen. The security forces hit the protesters hard in an attack at Vali Asr Crossroads and closed off the area. They fired a few shots in the air and the crowd dispersed.

We waited for half an hour in one of the side streets of Vali Asr and then exited with a few others. In the dark and cold, we started walking toward Enghelab and Azadi Squares. The entire crowd were walking toward the west on the sidewalks, but there were a lot of plainclothesmen among the people....Every now and then, security forces would politely take someone aside and check their camera, cell phone, bag, or wallet and then take a picture. I could see people on scaffolds, taking people's pictures from a wide angle after a minute's pause.

Right before Navab Avenue, the crowd got denser and security forces moved to disperse them. People quickly turned down side streets. Some said there were clashes on Navab and they don't want people to get there. We went toward Tohid like the other times. Then, we went toward Azadi and saw that people were moving away from the avenue because there were clashes down there. People were being attacked by security forces and plainclothesmen....

Security forces had brutally attacked protesters. Some people told us they had fired shots in the air repeatedly.

I can't say how many people were there. But I can tell you that half the people on the sidewalks were security forces and Basij.

Click to read more ...