The Latest from Iran (6 July): Compromise?

2047 GMT: Today's All-is-Well Alert. Press TV plays up the statement of the head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization that, despite UN sanctions, non-oil exports have grown 27%.

No word in the statement on how oil exports are doing.

Iran & Sanctions: Could Tehran’s Flights Be Grounded?
Iran Analyses: A Rafsanjani-Khamenei Deal on Universities Crisis? (Siavashi and Verde)
The Latest from Iran (5 July): Talks and Conflicts

2045 GMT: Energy News. Iran has finally put out a major oilwell fire which had been raging for 38 days.

2040 GMT: Parliament v. President. Kalemeh has more information on today's attack by legislator Ahmad Tavakoli (see 1230 GMT) on the Government and his claim of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's lack of respect for the law.

1705 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Sasan Aghaei, held from November to April with 40 days in solitary confinement, has been given a one-year prison sentence.

1500 GMT: Parliament v. President. "Conservative" member of Parliament Reza Akrami has issued another denunciation of the recent demonstrations against the Majlis and its bill on control of Islamic Azad University: "Those who insult the Majlis stand apart from hardline principles. What happened was illegal."

1455 GMT: A Minor Strike? Press TV, while referring on today's stoppage by traders at the Tehran Bazaar, says that it was a "minor strike" by "several wholesale cloth traders". The website does note the jewellers' guild has announced it will join the strike on Wednesday (there were reports that some gold traders had closed their doors today).

In what appears to be an immediate reaction to the strike, Mehr News reports that Iran's Ministry of Commerce has reversed its decision to raise business taxes by 70%.

1355 GMT: Defending Iran. An intriguing angle emerging from the Mousavi-Khatami meeting (see 1235 GMT)....

The two men denounced the UN sanctions against Iran, questioning why no similar action had ever been taken against Israel and declaring that the Iranian people will not let any power interfere with their internal affairs". Mousavi and Khatami also criticised "the West" for its support of "terrorist groups".

1235 GMT: Meetings. Former President Mohammad Khatami's website has published a summary of his meeting on Monday with Mir Hossein Mousavi (see 1125 GMT).

1230 GMT: Parliament v. President. Another challenge from key member of Parliament Ahmad Tavakoli, who has said in a speech --- my paraphrase --- "How dare the President say that the law does not apply to him."

1220 GMT: The Bazaar Strike. Peyke Iran claims that this morning's strike in the Tehran Bazaar (see 1120 GMT) over Government taxes was in the gold and textile markets.

1215 GMT: Airlines, Sanctions, and Safety. A new twist in the tale of Iran's possibly-grounded flights: the European Union has banned most of Iran Air's jets from flying to Europe. EU officials denied that the measure was connected to international and US sanctions, with a spokesperson insisting, "We deal purely with safety requirements. Our controls focus entirely on safety, nothing else."

1130 GMT: Press Un-Freedom. One weekly publication in Tehran Province, Madineye Goftogu, has been banned for "slander of officials" and three others have received warnings.

1125 GMT: Discussions. Aftab News reports that Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami have met to discuss the domestic situation and international sanctions.

1120 GMT: Economy Watch. Kalemeh claims, from eyewitnesses, that there was "unrest and strikes" amongst merchants, protesting over Government tax policy, in the Tehran Bazaar this morning.

1115 GMT: The International Front. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has criticised unilateral US sanctions in a news briefing: "China has already noted that the United States and other parties have unilaterally put in place further sanctions against Iran. Not long ago, the U.N. Security Council approved resolution 1929. China believes that the Security Council resolution should fully, seriously and correctly be enforced and cannot be wilfully elaborated on to expand Security Council sanctions measures."

Meanwhile, the head of the Iran-United Arab Emirates Chamber of Commerce says the managers of two companies linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps have had their bank accounts frozen in response to the latest UN sanctions: “Khatam al-Anbiya and their subsidiaries, and companies that they thought were involved in Iran’s atomic work, are on the list.”

0830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Parvin Jamalzadeh, detained on Ashura (27 December) has been sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison for acting against national security by participating in illegal gatherings, disturbing public order, committing blasphemy, and insulting the Supreme Leader.

Journalist Emaduddin Baghi's court appearance has been postponed to mid-August.

Rooz Online publishes an interview with the daughter of Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand, the founder and president of the Kurdistan Human Rights Defense Organization, who is entering the fourth year of a 10-year prison sentence.

Tonia Kaboudvand speaks of worries over her father's health and says, “Human rights activists and defenders have been silent about my father’s situation and have over time forgotten about it.”

0810 GMT: Investment v. Sanctions. Rooz Online summarises this interesting development: Iran is removing barriers to foreign banks operating in the country.

Deutsche Welle, however, notes that sanctions are causing increasing difficulties for European companies such as EON and RWE to invest in Iran's energy sector.

0755 GMT: Attack on the Clerics. Ahmad Montazeri, the son of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, has reiterated that the attack on his family's house last month was carried out in the presence of some government officials.

0745 GMT: The Labour Front. Iranian Labor News Agency reports that 500 workers at the Abadan oil refinery have protested and gone on strike over unpaid wages.

0715 GMT: Halting Democracy? Green Voice of Freedom claims that the recent Parliamentary decision to postponing municipal elections is the first step in a plan, backed by the Supreme Leader, to eliminate all elections.

0705 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. And, amidst the talk of a Khamenei-Rafsanjani deal to avert immediate political crisis, two stories in Rah-e-Sabz that indicate others in the Government are still trying to cut down the former President.

The website claims that Rafsanjani was banned from ceremonies last week marking the "7 Tir" bombing of 1981. And it reports that the head of the office of Yasser Hashemi, Rafsanjani's youngest son, was arrested yesterday.

0700 GMT: Then Again.... Back to our opening story on the supposed resolution of the Islamic Azad University crisis through the Supreme Leader's intervention. A member of the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution has said that the suspension of the SCCR's decision --- which effectively overrules Parliament and backs President Ahmadinejad --- is only temporary.

Press TV is now reporting on Khamenei's letter to Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani "suspending" any decision on the university.

0650 GMT: Parliament v. Government. The Majlis is insisting that it should have the authority, as prescribed by the Constitution, to review treaties with foreign countries or companies.

The declaration should be seen in the specific context of the intervention by Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and other legislators in the international manoeuvres over Iran's uranium enrichment.

0640 GMT: Flashback of Resistance. Green Voice of Freedom recalls Mir Hossein's final appearance on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting: "Death, yes. Retreat, never."

0630 GMT: Sanctions and Iran's Airlines. More follow-up from our story yesterday that US-led sanctions on fuel for Iranian aircraft may be grounding flights....

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has denied this morning that any flights are being affected and insists that supplies are uninterrupted.

The German Government has again said that fuel has been refused. That, however, does not cover the possibility that private companies --- like BP, who said yesterday that it had suspended deliveries --- have cut off supplies.

0530 GMT: We begin this morning with another check on the state of the universities crisis between President, Parliament, and Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Iranian media are taking the line that the Supreme Leader has ordered a suspension of both the Parliament's bill and the intervention of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which in effect backed President Ahmadinejad's control of the university. It is unclear what Khamenei's decision means for the future of the institution; the university's new President was supposed to be appointed yesterday.

It is notable, however, that the suspension effectively recognised the current arrangements: 1) the Supreme Leader's order was announced by the university’s board of trustees; 2) Khamenei's directive went not only to Ahmadinejad and the SCCR but also Rafsanjani as "Board of Trustees Director".

The Latest from Iran (5 July): Talks and Conflicts

1800 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An EA correspondent brings the news that Amir Aboutalebi, an advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, was released today. Aboutalebi was detained on 28 December in the post-Ashura wave of arrests.

1400 GMT: And now the approved set of male haircuts, courtesy of the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Culture:

NEW Iran & Sanctions: Could Tehran’s Flights Be Grounded?
NEW Iran Analyses: A Rafsanjani-Khamenei Deal on Universities Crisis? (Siavashi and Verde)
Iran Special: The Green Movement, the Regime, and “the West” (Nabavi)
Iran Thought: Maybe The Robot Can Be President
The Latest from Iran (4 July): Who’s in Charge?

1350 GMT: Rafsanjani "I Heart Khamenei". Rumour: Supreme Leader and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani meet, strike deal for Ayatollah Khamenei to limit the universities crisis with Rafsanjani praising the Supreme Leader.

Fact: Rafsanjani in Khabar Online --- "Not a day goes by where my regard for Ayatollah Khamenei is less than the previous day".

1345 GMT: Make the Connection. Less than 48 hours after we noted that the brothers Arash and Kamiar Alaei, two doctors prominent in the treatment of HIV/AIDS in Iran, have entered their third year of detention, we find this: "Increase of Sexual Transmission of AIDS in the Country".

1340 GMT: Grounding Iran? We have posted a separate feature with developing news that sanctions may be grounding Iran Air flights.

0935 GMT: Warnings. Peyke Iran claims that 10 daily newspapers have been warned because they published member of Parliament Ali Motahari's critique of the Government's subsidy reduction plans.

And in the academic world, Minister of Science and Higher Education Kamran Daneshjoo has allegedly said that students "opposed to the system" do not have a right to work".

0930 GMT: Revolutionary Guard Takes Power? Rah-e-Sabz has a lengthy article claiming that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps is taking over Iran's energy sector.

0925 GMT: Parliament v. President. The Majlis Research Center has declared that 37% of the laws for Ahmadinejad's 5th Development Plan are "unclear".

0920 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? Remember, President Ahmadinejad is opening the new steel project in northwestern Iran (see 0745 GMT). Here's his dramatic annoucement:

"Sanctions won't hurt Iran."
0910 GMT: Press Un-Freedom. The Guardian of London features an interview with photojournalist Javad Moghimi, who took one of the iconic photographs of the 2009 protest, about the plight of journalists in Iran:

Since the June elections and following the demonstrations in December after the holiday of Ashura, two of his colleagues have been arrested, Moghimi says. His immediate boss, Majid Saidi, is on bail awaiting trial, charged with activities against national security and taking photographs of protesters. He says his close friend Masoud Lavasani, a political correspondent for Fars News, is in prison on hunger strike.

"He is going through hell," says Moghimi. "When I hear his news I get very upset and I get a lump in my throat, because ... I don't know what the future holds for news reporters and my friends in Iran.

"Their crime was to take photographs of the protesters and the demonstrations. If the Islamic Republic of Iran is able to arrest a photojournalist charged with activities against national security or taking photographs of the protesters, it is a joke to say we have freedom of speech, because there is no freedom as long as they arrest people for the crime of taking photos of demonstrations."

0900 GMT: Sanctions Front. Kazem Jalali,  spokesperson for Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, has warned, "Although international circles are not impartial in dealing with lawsuits filed by nations, Iran reserves the right to lodge a complaint against the US for imposing unilateral sanctions.

Jalali and other Iranian officials are specifically mentioning Washington's ban on sales of aircraft fuel to Iran.

0800 GMT: The Battle Within. A series of reports on the conflict within the establishment....

Hojatoleslam Banaei claims that the distributors of flyers against Ali Larijani after Friday Prayers in Qom have been identified: "there is a current in the country, which doesn't want calmness to be established in society".

Ali Asgari, the Parliamentary liaison of the Expediency Council, has belittled the challenge: "The radical current is a handful [of people], you can transport them with a minibus."

And the universities crisis rolls along: key member of Parliament Ali Motahari has warned the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution against intervention, as its main duty is "policy-making, not legislation". Kazem Delkhosh has asserted that the gathering of Basiji in front of the Majlis to demonstrate against the Parliament's bill on Islamic Azad University, was "organised".

In contrast, Jomhouri Eslami notes the reports of a Khamenei intervention, via a meeting with Hashemi Rafsanjani (see our separate analyses), and says the quarrel has been settled and all is business as usual.

Rah-e-Sabz takes a look over the political terrain and declares that "rifts in the hardliner camp are no longer hidden".
0755 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Advar News reports that journalist Masoud Lavasani, detained for more than nine months, has been granted a temporary release.

0745 GMT: Economy Watch. Press TV headlines the opening of a "key steel project" in Bonab in northwestern Iran, presided over by President Ahmadinejad. The website claims more than $170 million of finance with "800 job opportunities".

The ceremony comes a week after the opening of another steel complex in Natanz.

0715 GMT: We begin this morning with two contrasting analyses of yesterday's story of a meeting between the Supreme Leader and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani to resolve the dispute between Parliament and President over control of Islamic Azad University.

Meanwhile....

Iran and Sanctions

Looks like a disruption in the normal Ahmadinejed Government line that sanctions will have no effect on Iran's economy: Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the new speaker of the National Security Council, has said that if sanctions are implemented, the country will enter a period of severe difficulties.

Parliament to Dismiss Minister?

Member of Parliament Mehrdad Lahouti says that the Majlis is preparing steps for the dismissal of Sadegh Khalilian, the Minister of Agriculture

Political Prisoner Watch

Aftab News reports that Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi has met for "several hours" with high-profile detainees, includig Isa Saharkhiz, Ahmad Zeidabadi, Mansour Osanloo, Masoud Moradi, Mehdi Mahmoudian, and Davoud Soleimani.

The Latest from Iran (4 July): Who's in Charge?

1500 GMT: Economy Watch. According to the Central Bank of Iran, the country's  annual inflation rate was 9.4% in the year 22 June, a fall from 9.9% in May.

1350 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. RAHANA writes that women's rights and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has been hospitalised after her recent release from detention.

1345 GMT: The Universities Crisis. One to Watch: Rah-e-Sabz is claiming that the dispute over control of Islamic Azad University has been resolved after a meeting between former President Hashemi Rafsanjani --- whose family are in key leadership positions at the university --- and the Supreme Leader.

The alleged deal is that Khamenei told the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution to stop the fight between Parliament and Government over the university. In return,  Rafsanjani will offer public praise of the Supreme Leader.

NEW Iran Special: The Green Movement, the Regime, and “the West” (Nabavi)
NEW Iran Thought: Maybe The Robot Can Be President
Iran Special: The Escalating Crisis Within (Verde)
The Latest from Iran (3 July): Fussing and Feuding

1245 GMT: Fashion Watch. Rah-e-Sabz claims that more than 60 female students of Azad University in Qom have been summoned for "bad hijab".

1240 GMT: Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have visited Emaduddin Baghi, the journalist and human rights activists recently released after six months' detention.

0920 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Artin Ghazanfari, detained on Ashura (27 December), has been sentenced to one year in prison.

0905 GMT: Remembering. Fereshteh Ghazi interviews the father of Meysam Abedi, one of the first protesters killed after the election.

Abedi's father claims that his son tried to save a girl beaten by Basiji militia but was killed by a bullet in his stomach. He claims that the culprit was seized but then released.

0845 GMT: More on Parliament and Nukes (see 0730 GMT). The head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, has put forth the defiant line over Iran's enrichment programme: "If the five permanent members of the UN Security Council --- Russia, China, France, Britain and the US --- plus Germany tighten the UN Security Council Sanctions Resolution 1929, they should not expect Iran to continue talks."

However, there may have been an opening for a resolution in Boroujerdi's remarks,"If the fuel for the Tehran research reactor is given, Iran will not insist on continuing the production of the fuel domestically."

0835 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rooz Online claims that, in Evin Prison's Ward 350 for political prisoners, a 35 square-metre cell holds 40 detainees.

Kurdish detainee Khalil Mostafa Rajab is reportedly in serious condition from a lung infection.

0730 GMT: We begin today with a special analysis from Ebrahim Nabavi assessing "The Green Movement, the Regime, and the West". And Scott Lucas offers a quick thought, in light of yesterday's developments, "Maybe the Robot Can Be President".

Meanwhile....

Parliament v. President

The current dispute between the Majlis and President Ahmadinejad simmers, with reports that a plan to "supervise" the Parliament is being re-appraised.

On one issue, however, the Majlis is in step with Ahmadinejad. The Speaker, Ali Larijani, continues to hammer away at the manipulations and deceits of the West over sanctions, a position echoed by another leading MP, Esmail Kowsari, in Iranian state media.

Just a bit of speculation, however. Is the apparent side-by-side approach by the Parliament on the nuclear issue also be an attempt by some to re-assert the power of the Majlis, showing that it can be even more vigilant than Ahmadinejad in standing up to Iran's foreign oppressors?

Khomeini's Defence

Hossein Anvari, of the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, has tried to draw a line against regime pressure on the Khomeini family by declaring, "Our people were not present in uprisings."

The Latest from Iran (3 July): Fussing and Feuding

2155 GMT: Taking on the Brides. What better way to close a Saturday night than to pick up on the latest triumph of Iran's morality authorities? Mehr News reports that a bridal exhibition in Shiraz has been shut down.

2145 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A reminder that the brothers Arash and Kamiar Alaei, two doctors prominent in the treatment of HIV/AIDS through the triangular clinic system, have entered their third year of detention.

1940 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Azeri activist Hassan Rahimi Bayat was arrested today at work.

HRANA reports that Peyman Karimi-Azad, detained on Ashura, is in a diabetic coma in Evin Prison after being denied treatment.

NEW Iran Special: The Escalating Crisis Within (Verde)
Iran: Establishing the First “Anti-Censorship Shelter”
Iran Analysis: Assessing Europe’s Sanctions & Tehran’s Oil (Noel)
The Latest from Iran (2 July): Ahmadinejad v. Larijani?

1920 GMT: Economic Front. An interesting revelation about Iran's current economic tensions: while those with higher degrees from universities are 15.1% of the country's workforce, they make up 25.5% of the unemployed.

1910 GMT: Khamenei's "Guidelines" for Filmmakers. The Los Angeles Times picks up on another aspect of the Supreme Leader's statement to those involved in Iranian media (see 1540 GMT), his instructions for suitable movies:

Our film directors should offer products in which positive points eclipse negative and dark points of our society. If you magnify negative points, the society will plunge into disenchantment.

As for censorship, well.... "Sometimes, our artists raise unrealistic concerns about the [restrictions] they face in producing critical films. Some...criticisms against films and television series are correct and they have to respect certain moral, religious and cultural red lines. Transgressing these red lines will be extremely harmful."

So, for example, filmmakers had to keep on their moral toes --- "foreign networks are undertaking incessant efforts to invade chastity and hijab in a bid to destroy the foundation of families in Iran" --- and mind their political manners:

In all products, you should take into consideration the ongoing political events, specifically the animosity of bullying powers against the Iranian nation. Those who claim to be friends of Iran have proven their enmity to our history and culture by their anti-Iranian films. Under such circumstances, any politically motivated show has to be performed carefully not to play into the hands of enemies.

1905 GMT: Which Is More Dangerous: Computers or Guns? The answer of Iran's police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam is that "internet terrorism" menaces the Iranian nezam (system).

To which an EA correspondent replies, " And killing people doesn't?"

1655 GMT: Morality Message of Day. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, often seen as the "spiritual mentor" of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but now a possible critic of the President's recent comments on the "morality police", has said: "If a boy and a girl do something against morals, they should be punished with 100 lashes."

1649 GMT: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Financial Mis-Manager? Peyke Iran publishes a list of "financial irregularities", from the Tehran municipal budget of 2005 (when Ahmadinejad was mayor) to $14 billion not allocated to the national treasury in the 2008 budget.

1645 GMT: The Universities Crisis. Press TV publishes an English version of the Guardian Council's slap-down of Parliament over control (labelled as "funding") of Islamic Azad University: "Aside from religious and constitutional violations, and ambiguities that are evident in the different parts of this legislation, because this bill necessitates entering the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution (SCCR)'s domain of authority, therefore, it is against Sharia law and in violation of articles 57, and 110 of the Constitution."

In other words, Parliament is subordinate to the SCCR, which is largely seen as an enforcement arm of the Government.

1640 GMT: Holland Blackout on IRIB. The planned visit to Dutch networks by an Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting delegation, including its head, Ezatollah Zarghami, has been cancelled after protests by Iranian expatriates and Dutch legislators and media.

1635 GMT: A Clerical Critique. Ayatollah Hashemzadeh-Herissi of Khobregan has asserted that some people are caught up in security and thus act irresponsibly. He added that it is impossible to read some Iranian media because they are "full of lies" and that "values are mistreated in the name of Islam".

1620 GMT: Parliament's Counter-Attack. In the aftermath of the distributing of leaflets by Ahmadinejad supporters denouncing Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, prominent member of Parliament Gholam-Reza Mesbahi-Moghaddam has warned the critics and opponents of Larijani to back off.

Larijani ally Ahmad Tavakoli has pointed to a disruptive current that "tries to blacken all forces within the nezam (Iranian system)".

And Ali Motahari, now prominently leading the fight against the President, has said that Ahmadinejad "cannot stand criticism". He accused the President of "furnishing" the group of protestors that challenged Parliament's attempt to maintain control of Islamic Azad University, and he asserted that government policies "menace the Iranian nezam".

Ahmadinejad supporter Mohammad Khoshchehreh tried to counter by saying that many "hardliners" are not legitimate in their views.

1610 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch (Getting to the Important Part). A striking example of how the difference between viewing Iran "internationally" and watching its internal tensions.

For Agence France Presse, the importance of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's statement at today's Expediency Council lies in the sanctions issues. AFP highlights this passage:

The world arrogance (US) is trying to intimidate countries of the region, so they go along with bullying policies against Iran, but will not succeed in this act. It is an overt, bullying action against Iran when the US president officially announces that they are targeting the heart of Iran's nuclear programme.

EA's German Bureau gets past this diversion to find the importance of the statement, noting the summary of the Iranian Labor News Agency. Rafsanjani said officials should stop battles between different "gangs", as there is a danger that "radical groups" will weaken the three powers [executive, legislative, and judiciary], official institutions, and officials.

1555 GMT: Rahnavard Intervenes. Zahra Rahnavard has issued a statement urging Iranian authorities to end the oppression of political prisoners:

Today the prisons should be proud to have become the residence of the noble and pure individuals who only seek freedom, democracy, justice, and affluence of humanity and have no concern but the prosperity of the nation; today the prisons are hosts of scientific elite, students, professors, journalists, winner of scientific Olympiads, and defenders of human rights.

1540 GMT: Supreme Leader Meets Iran's State Media, Warns Against Lies. That's probably an overdramatic label --- Ayatollah Khamenei, meeting the Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Ezzatollah Zarghami, and producers, writers and artists, was not referring to any lies by IRIB.

Instead Khamenei said, "Those who provided Saddam Hussein with weapons and chemical materials to commit crimes against the Iranian nation have established so-called cultural networks today to pursue the same objectives. This fact should not be overlooked by anyone."

1520 GMT: The Universities Crisis. Rah-e-Sabz reports that the Guardian Council, favouring the Ahmadinejad Government, has rejected the Parliament bill asserting its control over Islamic Azad University.

1330 GMT: Ahmadinejad v. Sanctions. Absolutely no rhetorical overkill in today's declaration by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

[The West knows] that there is a sleeping lion in Iran which is waking up and if she wakes up all the relationships in the world will change. Their pathetic acts show they know what a great human power is hidden in Iran.

They thought that by having meetings and talking to each other and signing papers they could stop a great nation's progress. Iran is much greater than what they can perceive it in their small minds. We know that if this Iranian civilization awakes then there would be no more room for arrogant, corrupt and bullying powers.

1320 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Detained labour activist Mansour Osanloo appeared in a Karaj court on Wednesday for unknown reasons.

Hamzeh Karami, manager of the reformist Jomhouriat website and a senior official at Islamic Azad University, has reportedly been hospitalised in Evin Prison with heart and respiratory problems. Karami was arrested shortly after the June 2009 election.

1315 GMT: The Kahrizak Cover-Up. Human rights activist and former member of Parliament Ali Akbar Mosavi Khoeni has asked for a "proper" enquiry by the Government into the handling of the post-election abuses at Kahrizak Prison.

Two prison employees were sentenced to death this week and nine others were given jail terms after a closed-door trial, but activists believe senior officials responsible for Kahrizak have escaped investigation and punishment.

1300 GMT: (Digital) Economy Watch. Iran has ranked 69th out of 70 countries for strength of "digital economy" in a study conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit and IBM's Institute for Business Value.

Iran was 68th in 2009 but avoided a fall to the absolute bottom this year by edging out Azerbaijan.

1110 GMT: Play It Again, Ali. He might be fighting with the President at home, but Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani is maintaining Iran's common tough-talk line on sanctions. He told reporters Friday that threats will not work against Tehran: "If the US wants to act in the same way as before, this approach would prove costly for them."

0840 GMT: Today's All-is-Well Alert. Edward Yeranian of Voice of America offers a useful summary, "Iranian Officials Scoff at Impact of New US Economic Sanctions".

0820 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Peyke Iran publishes what it claims is a psychologist's report from August about Tehran police chief Ahmad Reza Radan. It includes provocative items such as Radan's alleged promise to detainees in the now-infamous Kahrizak Prisoners that "they should forget Auschwitz and Guantanamo".

Parleman News claims journalist Aazam Veysameh is being held incommunicado in solitary confinement, with no visits from family.

0725 GMT: We open this morning with a special analysis from Mr Verde, "The Escalating Crisis Within".

Meanwhile....

World Cup Funnies

EA has posted a comedy piece (we think it's a comedy piece) by a former speechwriter for George W. Bush who claims, "Soccer is a Socialist Sport", but football humour isn't limited to the US.

Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did a routine on how the World Cup humiliations of France, England, and the US were due to God's smiting of those who oppressed Iran with sanctions (and qualification for the World Cup). The punchline comes from Parleman News, however: the website notes that God seems to have turned against Tehran by taking down its ally on the nuclear issue, Brazil.

EA is waiting for Mottaki's assessment of what God thinks about Holland, Brazil's conquerors in the quarter-finals.

Conflicting Signals

Unfortunately for the Government, the confusion is not only over God and football. While Tehran's Friday Prayer leader, Ayatollah Emami Kashani, was giving the party line that opposition could not be tolerated, warning lawyers that defence of wrongdoers is forbidden, the Friday Prayer leader in Golestan, Ayatollah Nour-Mofidi, said, "Criticism of government does not mean opposition to nezam [the Iranian system]", and media loyal to that system should be free.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Alaeddin Boroujerdi tried to hold everything together by denouncing Iran's enemies --- the US is like the Soviet Union before its decline --- and attacking Mir Hossein Mousavi. Not sure that the attack brought home its intended message, however. Boroujerdi said Iran ad 80% popularity in Muslim countries before elections and this dropped to 27 % afterwards --- but is that shift really due to Mousavi rather than, say, some other politician or regime figure?