The Latest from Iran (8 June): Preparing for the Fallout

See also Iran Analysis: US Officials on Nuke Talks "We Have A Cunning Plan" (Not Really.)
The Latest from Iran (7 June): Nuclear Talks Fallout

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1705 GMT: Nuclear Watch. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that no progress was made in "disappointing" talks with Iranian officials today at at IAEA headquarters in Vienna.

Herman Nackaerts, the IAEA's global head of inspections, said no further talks had been set.

1642 GMT: Loyalty Watch. Ali Saeedi, Ayatollah Khamenei's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, has said that the Islamic Republic's leadership is exercised on the three levels of prophets, Imams, and velayat-e faqih, the system in which the Supreme Leader's rule is paramount, that are equivalent.

Saeedi continued that obeying velayat-e faqih is required (vajeb) and that religious rule has no value without the Supreme Leader.

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The Latest from Iran (7 June): Nuclear Talks Fallout

See also Iran Letter: An Appeal for the Iranian Journalists and Activists in Turkey
The Latest from Iran (6 June): The Oil Squeeze

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2025 GMT: Book Corner. Bahman Dorri, a deputy in the Ministry of Culture, has said that the prominent publishing house Cheshmeh lost its license because it "insulted religious beliefs".

2011 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. While President Ahmadinejad is in Beijing trying to bolster his domestic position by displaying his international status, his critics are offering a challenge.

Following the disruption of the President's speech last weekend on the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death, Tehran Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, the temporary , has criticised Ahmadinejad for strengthening the sense of Iranian nationalism, rather than an Islam-first approach: "He either does not read the Qur'an or does not understand the Shahnameh [the "Book of Kings" by the poet Ferdowsi].”

Khatami added, “For 33 years, religion has run this country. Those who are in power today should be careful about what they say. Strengthening the sense of nationalism is one of [President] Obama’s priorities."

On another front, Mustafa Pourmohammadi, Iran's Inspector General, has again accused Ahmadinejad of preventing investigations into the $2.6 billion bank fraud: "The Government tried so hard to prevent the outbreak of the fraud news in the first place and then the follow-up investigations with the excuse that this case will harm the economic system.”

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Syria Transcript: Kofi Annan's Speech to the UN General Assembly

President Assad believed the main obstacle was the actions of militants.  Clearly, all parties must cease violence.  But equally clearly, the first responsibility lies with the Government.

Since then, shelling of cities has intensified. Government-backed militia seem to have free rein with appalling consequences.  Yes, some detainees have been released, and agreement has been reached on modalities for humanitarian assistance.  But the hour demands much more.  And President Assad has not indicated a change of course in his recent address to the National Assembly.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 140 Die as US and Russia Talk of "Plan B"

Claimed eyewitness testimony to Wednesday's mass killings in al-Qubair in Syria's Hama Province

See also Syria Transcript: Kofi Annan's Speech to the UN General Assembly
Palestine Feature: The "Lost" Refugees on the Iraq-Syria Border
Yemen Feature: Who are the Competing Factions?
Turkey Live Coverage (7 June): Politics and Pressure over the Kurdistan Talks
Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Spread of the Conflict

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2030 GMT: Syria. Back from an extended academic break to find that UN monitors returned to their base in Hama after being unable to visit the site of Wednesday's mass killing in the village of al-Qubeir.

Meanwhile, State news agency SANA has posted the regime's presentation of the slayings:

Several people from Mazraat al-Qubeir and Marzaf villages in Hama countryside narrated the horror and crimes which were committed by the armed terrorist groups against them, revealing the reality of the horrific crime which took place in their village last night as 9 citizens were killed with cold blood.

In phone calls with the Syrian TV, Abu Hawash, a citizen from Mazraat al-Qubeir village, said that armed terrorists who had RPG launchers and PKC machineguns stormed the area and attacked children and women, calling on the Syrian army and law-enforcement forces to protect them from the terrorists.

Another citizen denounced the bloody satellite channels which are counterfeiting the truth to serve their interests.

For his part, Abu Mohammad said an armed terrorist group infiltrated to Mazraat al-Qubeir and killed 9 citizens, adding that after the crime took place, the residents called the authorities to protect them.

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Turkey Live Coverage (7 June): Politics and Pressure over the Kurdistan Talks

1740 GMT: Following the Global Counter- Terrorism Forum, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said regarding Turkey's fight against PKK: 

With respect to our fight against terrorism, we work very closely together, and in fact, we are learning every week how we can be more closely knit together to cooperate and to support Turkey’s fight against the PKK. I will not discuss potential arms transfers that have not been formally notified to Congress, but I will say that the extensive assistance that we currently provide is going to intensify through closer cooperation and planning, and both the foreign minister and I are committed to making sure both of our governments are as focused and coordinated as we can be going against those that threaten Turkey and Turkish lives.

 I think I’ve said it on every trip to Turkey – the United States stands strongly with Turkey in your fight against the PKK whose long campaign of violence has claimed tens of thousands of lives. 

1535 GMT: Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu criticized the silence of countries who haven’t spoken out against the Assad regime so far and underlined, once again, the significance of an international consensus. He said:

From Turkey’s perspective, there is instability on the border between Turkey and Syria. The Assad regime does not create stability: On the contrary, Assad’s methods destroy the stability in the region. 

The international community should act unanimously to stop the oppression and atrocities.

Turkey will continue its inclusive activities to strengthen the opposition in Syria.

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Palestine Feature: The "Lost" Refugees on the Iraq-Syria Border (Shams)

Forced to flee, denied entry to Arab countries, and unable to return to their homeland, former Palestinian residents of Iraq are on the Iraqi-Syrian border, still waiting for somewhere to go.

The appeal arrived via Facebook. It was like a message in a bottle thrown into the sea with little hope. The sender said he was living in a camp on the Iraqi-Syrian border along with some 200 other Palestinian refugees. They had been left stranded on the dangerous frontier between a country that is facing a combined civil war and foreign onslaught, and another that has been occupied and now persecutes them as “Saddam remnants”.

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Yemen Feature: Who are the Competing Factions? (Ferguson)

Soldiers & Pro-Government Tribesmen, 26 MayAll around the country, the challenges to Yemen's new government's authority are numerous --- and serious.

Yemen's new president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, was sworn into office this February after being the consensus candidate in a national referendum. He is meant to be overseeing a transition to full democracy in the country following a revolution that erupted in January 2011.

That revolution, however, spurred a violent power struggle between loyalists of the old regime --- the family of Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled for over 30 years - and defected factions of the military and tribes opposed to him.

As fighting broke out across the capital city, Sanaa, in 2011, various rebel groups throughout the country that had long been fighting the government, took advantage of the chaos to sweep across new swathes of territory.

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Iran Letter: An Appeal for the Iranian Journalists and Activists in Turkey

Iranian journalists are amongst those who have become victims of human rights abuse, as a result of their work in promoting human rights in Iran, and have been oppressed by Iran's security agents and judiciary. These journalists, with their writing and ideas for peace, have become targets for human rights abusers.

The increasing pressure on journalists by the security agents follows no laws and rules and this has forced many of them to leave their motherland, against their will, to seek refuge in neighboring countries and to ask for asylum from the UN High Commission for Refugees. Many are currently incarcerated, and those seeking asylum face heavy sentences if they return to Iran. Iranian security agents have threatened them on numerous occasions and caused them anxiety.

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The Latest from Iran (6 June): The Oil Squeeze

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- From #SaveMaleki to the "Shoot the Apostate" Video Games
Russia Audio Feature: Moscow's Manoeuvres With Iran --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
The Latest from Iran (5 June): The House Arrests

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2028 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Amir Hossein Alavi, a member of the student alumni group Advar Tahkim Vahdat and a supporter of the Freedom Movement of Iran, has been arrested after being summoned to Zanjan’s Intelligence Bureau.

1913 GMT: Devious West Watch. Sohrab Salehi, the head of the Basij Professors Organization has asserted that, by imposing sanctions, the West wants to present the Supreme Leader as the main cause of inflation in Iran.

Look for more of this in the near-future from higher-level officials. If the nuclear talks collapse --- which I think is probable, given today's signals --- and when the European Union's cut-off of imports of Iranian oil takes effect from 1 July, the Islamic Republic's officials will need someone to break for the escalating economic tensions in Iran. Since that "someone" cannot be Ayatollah Khamenei, the "West" will have the lead role of villain.

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Turkey Live Coverage (6 June): Erdogan Chides Israel; A Meeting on the Kurdish Issue

See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Spread of the Conflict

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1900 GMT: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has landed in Istanbul. Clinton is going to be attending the Global Counter-terrorism Forum on Thursday with the attendance of other 28 foreign ministers.

1830 GMT: BDP's deputy Aysel Tugluk said:

Prime Minister should know that no solution can be developed by denying PKK and Mr. Ocalan and we will not be in such a solution. We are calling on the state to be more reasonable.

1745 GMT: The first reaction from Peace and Democracy Party comes. BDP's deputy Ahmet Tan said that they were ready to negotiate even without the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Tan also added that they received no official demand from other parties to sit on the table. 

1710 GMT: The meeting between Prime Minister Erdogan and CHP's leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu ended. Without explaining the content, CHP Deputy Chairmen Faruk Loğoğlu said the meeting was “positive” and “productive,” adding that officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) underlined that the contribution of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is key to moving forward with establishing a commission composed of all four parties in Parliament.

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