The Latest from Iran (13 October): Ahmadinejad's Trip for Legitimacy

2215 GMT: Apologies for our limited service this afternoon and evening --- EA staff have been at a seminar on Israeli Policy Towards the Middle East and Iran. We'll catch up with all the news from early Thursday morning.

1305 GMT: Mystery of the Day Solved! Wow, the power of the Internet....

Ten minutes ago, we asked what could possibly be the gift --- a "state of the art device owned by only six countries across the globe" --- that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave to Lebanon's President Suleiman?

Angie Nassar, who writes for Now Lebanon, points us to the answer. Flashback to 1981 and then come Back to the Future:

1300 GMT: Meanwhile in Parliament. IRNA claims that MP Ali Motahari, a prominent critic of the Government, has given up his campaign to summon Ahmadinejad to Parliament to answer questions when he could not get sufficient support from fellow legislators.

1255 GMT: Mystery of the Day. It is reported that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave Lebanese President Michel Suleiman a "state of the art device owned by only six countries across the globe", useful for scientific research.

Any guesses?

(Before you panic, nine countries have nuclear weapons.)

1235 GMT: Trip Alert. President Ahmadinejad's latest insights: Lebanon is a "land of culture,literature, ideas, and friendship", and it is a site of heroic resistance against Israel.

1210 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front has issued a statement on the arrest of senior member Ali Shakouri-Rad (see 0715 GMT) for "speaking out and posting on his personal blog".

Detained reformist leader Mostafa Tajzadeh has put out a declaration that, even if the IIPF and Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution have been banned by Iranian authorities, they should continue their activities. Tajzadeh added that, if he were out of prison, he would recruit for the organisations.

1110 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student and human rights activist Mehdi Khodaie has been sentenced to three additional years in prison.

In February 2009, Khodaei was sentenced to four years in prison for acting against national security by organising gatherings and for anti- regime propaganda. He was detained again in March 2010.

1105 GMT: Assessing the Trip. A hat tip to Alistair Lyon at Reuters, who meets my challenge (see 0600 GMT) of "how many observers will get to the real importance of this show" in Beirut: "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad basked in a rock-star welcome from Hezbollah's Shi'ite loyalists on Wednesday, but his trip to Lebanon may offer only a brief respite from daunting challenges at home."

1055 GMT: Mahmoud's Trip. The Islamic Republic News Agency take-away from the formal press conference of President Ahmadinejad and his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Suleiman, is their emphasis on "the need to strengthen resistance in the region".

Suleiman reportedly added his appreciation for Iran's "support for the Lebanese people and government during the 33-day war" with Israel in December 2008/January 2009 and for Tehran's aid for reconstruction of areas destroyed by the conflict.

1045 GMT: The Blast at the Military Base. Iranian state media reports that 18 Revolutionary Guard troops were killed and 14 wounded in Tuesday's "accidental" explosion at a base in Khorramabad in western Iran.

Islamic Republic News Agency has published the names of 12 of the dead.

1000 GMT: In Beirut. President Ahmadinejad has paid his formal visit to his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Suleiman. The two men signed 17 documents of cooperation in areas such as energy, housing, commerce, construction,scientific activities, communications and technology, higher education, oil and gas, commerce, physical education, environment, agriculture, health, handicrafts, tourism, media activities, and joint investment.

0830 GMT: The University Affair. Michael Purcell, writing in The Scotsman, keeps the focus on Iran's internal developments, writing up the Supreme Leader's directive on control of Islamic Azad University as a "potent victory for Iran's President" and, quoting an analyst, "a big slap in the face for [former President Hashemi] Rafsanjani".

0820 GMT: The Trip So Far. Patrick Daley of Beirut's Daily Star offers a series of snippets....

Daley estimates that about 10,000 people greeted Ahmadinejad at Beirut Airport. He was met by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and delegates from the Hezbollah and Amal parties.

Ahmadinejad traveled from the airport to Beirut's Presidential Palace in a 16-car motorcade, with thousands of children, women, and Hezbollah and Amal scouts lining the route and waving Iranian flags.

0815 GMT: Mahmoud Speaks. The first declaration from Ahmadinejad in Beirut, at a press conference after his arrival: "The enemies of Iran and Lebanon are living in fear."

0755 GMT: MediaWatch. Jomhouriya Eslami claims that a reporter of an unidentified Iranian official news agency has fled to Turkey and applied for asylum in the US or a European country. The report also says another journalist, identified in other stories as a Fars News employee, was granted asylum in a European country several months ago.

0720 GMT: A Budget Compromise? Alef reports that an arbitration committee on the 5th Budget plan has recommended that the Government should free to reject laws of the Majlis due to a lack of funds.

Alef adds that, under the compromise, all state schools could be privatised.

0715 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ali Shakouri-Rad, a leading member of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front party, has been arrested.

Two weeks ago, Shakouri-Rad gave an interview to BBC Persian in which he claimed that officials of the Iranian judiciary, including Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei were lying when they claimed that courts had formally banned the IIPF.

0655 GMT: Un-Free Press. Away from Lebanon, one Iran story may get traction today in the Western media. The Associated Press has picked up on the detention of two German journalists who were seized in a raid as they were interviewing the son and lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death for adultery.

The AP story leads with Iran state media's claim that the two Germans are linked to "Iranian exile groups" --- actually, state media are labelling the groups as "terrorist" or seeking "sedition". It is more cautious about the probable detention of Ashtiani's son Sajad Ghaderzadeh and lawyer Houton Kian:

The whereabouts of Qaderzadeh and his mother's lawyer, Houtan Kian, were not immediately known and their cell phones have been switched off since the Germans' arrest, possible indications that they too are in custody.

0645 GMT: Medicine Cabinet. Emrooz claims that state insurance owes $70 million to Tehran University hospitals. 

0605 GMT: Trip for Legitimacy. Ahh, here it is, the first Twitter alert about Mahmoud in Lebanon, coming from a CNN reporter:"Plane landed, waiting for him to leave the aircraft...just did, clapping & cheers...media scrambling".

Security is reportedly being supervised by Hezbollah.

0600 GMT: I am betting the dominant story today about "Iran" will actually be about Lebanon, namely the visit of President Ahmadinejad to Beirut.

The content of the trip will be secondary, with Ahmadinejad going through the formalities of discussionswith President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri, and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri. And, as always, there will be signature of "a number of economic and trade contracts". 

More dramatic images are likely to come from south Beirut, when the Iranian President is counting on an enthusiastic welcome from locals, many of whom support the Lebanese Shi'a Muslim party Hezbollah.

But the significance of this visit does not lie in any concrete measure. Contrary to what is likely to be the main theme in "Western" press, it will not come from any re-alignment of regional power. It certainly won't be a Tehran-Hezbollah axis coming after the US and its allies (for me, a more interesting question how Hezbollah will use this visit for its political ambitions inside Lebanon; does it embrace Ahmadinejad as a sign of its own importance or play the visit more cautiously, given divisions amongst Lebanese --- including Shi'a Muslims --- about the Iranian leadership?).

No, what intrigues me is how many observers will get to the real importance of this show, as noted by The National in the United Arab Emirates. Uncertain of an enthusiastic welcome amongst his own constituents, Ahmadinejad is using this trip to play up his legitimacy as a regional and international leader. (That is why a key aide to Mir Hossein Mousavi, as we noted in yesterday's updates, tried to savage the President's foreign policy, to the point of saying it benefited Israel.) 

Press TV does not even pause for subtlety in its promotion of the quest: "The Iranian president is so popular among the Lebanese nation and is seen as the sympbol of resistance against Israel as he has been outspoken, criticizing Israel's atrocities against Lebanese and Palestinians."

For the moment, I'll avoid the invocation of "a prophet is not without honour, but in his own country and among his own kin, and in his own house".

So far Iranian state media are carrying the images of Ahmadinejad waving good-bye to his country at the airport.