The Latest from Iran (24 January): Watching Carefully

2200 GMT: And, on the political front, Mehdi Karroubi's Etemade Melli party has issued a statement calling for the holding of a free election and permission to stage demonstrations.

Etemade Melli, via the Saham News website, repeated that Karroubi had the material to back up his accusations of detainee abuse: "It is necessary for you to know that Mr. Karroubi is standing firm and tall and has evidence for all his comments." it added in an address to the country's regime.

2145 GMT: Little hard news tonight, although rumours about Iran's economic situation continue to swirl. There is also nothing to clarify an increasingly complex domestic political contest.

One news item catches the eye, however:

A Russian banking delegation, headed by the deputy governor of the country's Central Bank, is due to visit Tehran on Monday, the Iranian envoy to Moscow announced on Saturday.

NEW Iran and Israel: The Start of a Beautiful Friendship?
Iran Analysis: Should the Greens Be Waiting for Economic Collapse?
Iran Discussion: How Would Ahmadinejad Fall? (And What Would Come Next?)
UPDATED Iran: The Plot Against President Ahmadinejad
The Latest from Iran (23 January): Looking for Clues

"Deputy governor of Russia's Central Bank Melnikov and a number of officials from the other Russian banks will pay a visit to Iran on Monday in a bid to resolve banking issues and facilitate exchange and economic and trade activities between the two countries," Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi told [Fars News Agency].

The Russian delegation is scheduled to meet Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Pourmohammadi and managing directors of a number of Iranian banks to discuss ways to expand banking relations between the two states.

1745 GMT: Your Economic Update. Reuters has a useful English-language summary of President Ahmadinejad's budget presentation to the Iranian Parliament today. Kalemeh reports that the Central Bank has extended the deadline on the validity of banknotes marked with Green slogans, effectively allowing their circulation for the indefinite future. And Persian2English carries claims of difficulties with banks in Isfahan.

1535 GMT: Ayande News keeps up its recent jabbing at the Government and regime, asking why the Supreme Leader has SL dedicated 21 speeches to post-election events if this is not a crisis.

1530 GMT: Rezaei's Latest Manoeuvre. A valued EA correspondent reports on the latest speech by Presidential candidate (and possible Ahmadinejad opponent) Mohsen Rezaei, given to students in Gilan.

Rezaei, as his recent Press TV interview, maintained his distance from the opposition by emphasising that he made his complaints about the Presidential election within the law. At the same time he complained, "We still don’t know how to face the opposition group," and noted, "In some other countries, police keeps the opposition safe rather than attacking them." Rezaei also repeated his criticism of the "very weak" Ahmadinejad Government.

And a curious post-script: news of Rezaei's speech was on Tabnak, the website linked to him, but was removed after a few minutes.

1520 GMT: Head-Spinner. OK, I'm going to have this one to smarter people to interpret. According to Kalemeh, Davoud Ahmadinejad, the brother of the President and former head of the Investigation Office of Presidency, has labeled Presidential aide and ally Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai as an Israeli agent.

1510 GMT: Bank Issues. Peyke Iran supports Internet chatter with the story that shots have been fired at Bank Melli in the city of Ram Hormuz in southwestern Iran.

1340 GMT: The State of the Detainees. Fereshteh Ghazi has published a lengthy and wide-ranging article on those arrested after the election, including the detentions of family members of activists, the lack of information on Ashura and post-Ashura detainees for families and lawyers , and the health of prisoners such as former Foreign Minister Ebrahim Yazdi.

1210 GMT: Monica Luisa Macovei, a Romanian member of the European Parliament, has publicly declared in the Parliament, "I have decided to use most of my time for this intervention to highlight the names of people who, reportedly, are in detention in Iran, some convicted to death, for criticising the political regime or for defending civil rights."

Macovei mentioned the cases of five Ashura detainees charged with "mohareb" (war against God), the 33 Mothers of Mourning and supporters recently detained (almost all have been released), arrested members of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, and other students who have been imprisoned. She asked, "What is the Commission or the Council going to do for the release of those imprisoned for political purposes? What funding does the Commission provide to human rights NGOs working on Iran?"

1150 GMT: The Standard Warning. The head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has again warned of those seeking to create divisions within Iranian society, announcing that the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance will be more vigilant in monitoring and punishing publications over false information.

1140 GMT: Blowing Smoke. Unsurprising, given the political and economic contests around him, that President Ahmadinejad would put out this line today: he will have good news within days about Iran being able to produce enriched uranium of 20 percent (versus current levels of 3-4 percent), and this will make all in the Iranian nation very happy.

1025 GMT: For My Next Trick. It will be interesting to see if President Ahmadinejad can pull this off: amidst fears of inflation, he has proposed a rise of almost 25 percent in the Government budget, from $279 billion to $368 billion.

0910 GMT: We've posted a Sunday Special which we hope brings both news and a smile, "Iran and Israel: The Start of A Beautiful Friendship?".

0840 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Budget. The President has presented his budget proposals to Iran's Parliament, the Majlis. He summarised, "Emphasizing a reduction of dependence on oil revenues and an increase of non-oil revenues, with a focus on industry, agriculture and housing —these are among the main attributes of the bill," before making his pitch, "I hope that the bill will be passed with the cooperation of all lawmakers who solve the problems of the country and pave the way for the development of Islamic Iran."

Now the fun and bargaining begin, as lawmakers have ten days to present comments about the bill to the technical commissions of the Majlis.

0820 GMT: Choose a Side, Rafsanjani? Hashemi Rafsanjani's general statement on Saturday, which we analysed in our updates, has not been enough to satisfy some who want him to "choose sides" in the conflict.

The bigger news, however, however, is that the battle may not be over whether Rafsanjani backs the Supreme Leader --- the former President offered allegiance yesterday, albeit with coded reservations --- but whether he is for or against President Ahmadinejad. And there it appears that Rafsanjani has some potential allies pushing him towards the latter position.

For example, the "hard-line" newspaper Kayhan has renewed its attacks on Rafsanjani with a Sunday editorial. What is just as significant, however, is that the news of those attacks is published in Khabar Online, linked to Ali Larijani, possibly to blunt them.

Khabar, reporting from Mehr News, also features a speech by Javad Larijani, a high-ranking official in the Judiciary and the brother of Ali (Speaker of Parliament) and Sadegh (head of Judiciary), praising Rafsanjani as a "great personality" but noting his three mistakes: 1) founding the Kargozaran party in the mid-1990s; 2) running for elections in 2005; 3) making ambiguous statements about Ahmadinejad during those elections.

Analysis? Come off the fence, Hashemi, and do so in support of others, not at the head of the movement.

0815 GMT: Persian2English has published a set of pictures from the "birthday ceremony" at Neda Agha Soltan's grave yesterday.

0810 GMT: Human Rights Activists in Iran reports that Mehdi Jalil-Khani, a writer, literary critic, and journalist from Zanjan, was arrested last week after a Ministry of Intelligence raid.

0805 GMT: We're be looking for further development on both the political and economic fronts today, separating facts from rumours as the pressure seems to build on President Ahmadinejad.

We have a special analysis which offers some caution, as an EA correspondent asks, "Should The Greens Be Waiting for Economic Collapse?"

Comments

[Catherine]

Arshama,
Re writing in German, I do love your Germanisation of AN to 'Mamutti' - hysterical!! I'm at work and had to refrain from laughing at my PC when I read that in some earlier post of yours.

[Afshin]

@ Arshama

Again it is not a discussion on the age of Noah or how long he lived. It is what he is trying to say and what the message behind someone's words are.

I am not religiuos in any way but with your logic any person who believes in a Major religion weather it be Christianity, Islam or Judisme is a MASHANG. If that is your logic then fair enough. If not then I am very intrested in what else you have on him that makes him a MASHANG !? and also the the translation of the Noah story.

From all that I have read on him so far (which is limited to the times he has been attacked by the conservatives) I have never seen anything that would fit him in the conservative corner. Infact all that I read puts him in the most liberal of the liberal in the Iranian Political scene.

I am very intrested in a word by word translation of this last speech and the refrence to Noah as I am sure there is a message in that remark which has absolutly nothing to do with NOAH or his AGE. And I suspect a liberal thinking message behind this as well and some sort of an attack on the old conservative elite.

Again the intresting point with this man is that what he says contradicts with just about everything the conservative corner stands for and that on it self makes him very intresting. That does not make him a hero or a villain but it does make him intresting as he seems very out of place. Yet the closest ally to A.N

[Catherine]

RE Rahim Mashaei doing and saying things that are just totally unexpected for someone in his past and present postiions, I already posted his Iranians-are- friends-of-Israelis gaffes and defence thereof here:
http://enduringamerica.com/2010/01/24/iran-and-israel-the-start-of-a-beautiful-friendship/comment-page-1/#comment-23957

But that's not the half of it. My fave gaffe of his was when he, as tourism minister, attended a female dance show staged at an Islamic tourist exhibition in Istanbul. In a video of the event, he was seen sitting just a few feet from unveiled female dancers and appeared to applaud several times during the performance. An Iranian news website was closed and two of its senior executives arrested after it displayed the footage.

Read all about it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jan/11/iran.roberttait

On a serious note, I believe targeting Mashaei to get at 'Mamutti' is simply the product of the same general mindset that condones the tactic of arresting family members of opposition leaders, journalists, protesters, and other personae non grata to get the latter to make certain confessions or taking hostages to use as bargaining chips.

[Samuel]

Barry,

"I could say “Who cares???” – but obviously, you do! You and others like you are obsessed with what happened 500, 1000 years ago."

I think you are missing the point. The reason why what happened in the past is relevant to today is because it is of a piece with what the Americans and the British did in Iraq in 2003 and to this day, what the same Americans and Brits did in Afghanistan and the tribal zones of Pakistan YESTERDAY morning, what the Zionists did in Lebanon and Gaza and are still doing TODAY. Is this recent enough for you or is it also the distant past???

It is also the reason why I keep bringing up the history of the IRI. One cannot view Mousavi and company plus Rafsanjani in isolation without understanding their history with the Revolution, their past alliances and positions, and their relationship with the Ayatollah Khomeini.

[Afshin]

@ Catherine

That is exactlty my point. The conduct of this man, his thinking and his look if Islam does not in any way fit the corner he is from. And I for a second do not think that these statements or these acts are done withhout thinking.

And hence my note before why so little is available of a man so liberal within the most conservative corners of the IRI !!?

I will have a looki at that Noah story as well as I think there is more to it then just a MASHANG talking bull.

[Lorena]

The question of Israel is the question of what happens to all minorities in the Middle East. The Arab Muslim Middle East has 300 million people. It has a very hard time treating Coptic Christians with equality, treating Maronites in Lebanon with equality, treating Southern Sudanese in an equal way, treating Kurds in an equal way, and dealing with Jews – not only in their national expression, but even as minorities within their own countries. There was never a golden era for Jews who lived in Arab countries.
...
This is why I’m negative about the intentions of Palestinians. If their goal were statehood, they could have had statehood. Therefore, you have to give serious credence to the idea that their goal is not statehood, that it’s more important to rid the Arab world of Jewish nationalism than it is to have a Palestinian state that would improve the lives of individual Palestinians now.
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2009/07/the-real-quagmi.php

---

See more at:
http://arabism-islamism.webs.com

Arab racism & Islamic Jihad - Arabism & Islamism the - twin fascisms!

Most conflicts today invlove either one of the above or both at the same time. (Example: [radical] Arabs, Muslims on going genocide war on Israel/Jews).

Arabism = racism, Islamism = bigotry!

[Bill]

Samuel,

Thank you for your post and good to hear about your stance regarding the Bahais. However, I think your missing my point. My point was the condition of being "Muslim" vs not being one. You know your theology and we both know Islam clearly treats the non Muslim differently than the believer. The whole concept of Dhimmi law clearly demonstrates this along with the vestiges of it still rife across the Islamic world . The hypocrisy I mention is that "equality" under Islam is only true once one is a Muslim. It is why it is such a pertinent issue in Iran because the regime has been essentially taking upon themselves to call the protestors non Muslims. As your aware a Muslim declared a non Muslim is an apostate which means death.

Regarding Muslim Spain they did have some good times but it also had some genocidal ones as well. Case in point is the Jewish Massacare in 1066 in which 4,000 Jews lost their lives. This massacare started with a rumor spread by a fanatical Muslim poet. If you strike the "poet" and insert "Imam" we can see that today in Egypt, Pakistan, Nigeria, and a few other places. The reality is non Muslims were and always will be Dhimmis under Muslim rule according to Sharia. In my book that is discrimination and never good because it says one group of people are better than the other simply because of faith.

Thx
Bill

[mohsen -medikhani]

salam

kanum Homeli man mohsen hstam dar Gävle omidwarm komakmkoni