The Latest from Iran (2 February): Mousavi and Karroubi Make a Statement

1955 GMT: The Mayor Who Won't Be Curbed? More than half of the Majlis --- 166 of 290 MPs --- have congratulated Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf for the third-place award given to the capital in the International Transport System competition.

Qalibaf was prevented by the Foreign Ministry from going to Washington for the ceremony, held by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

Shayesteh Asadi has more on the case, including Qalibaf's comment:

Don't focus on me going or not, or whether my trip is approved or not. But focus on this, and inform the citizens about it, that what transformation in the public transportation system has occurred that we have achieved this rank. I beg you to have a different look and do not view it from a political vantage point.

1945 GMT: Shutting Down the Lawyers. Prominent human rights attorney Khalil Bahramian has been sentenced to six months in prison.

Bahramian was the lawyer for Kurdish political prisoner Farhad Kamangar, executed last May.

1615 GMT: Hiding the News. State broadcaster IRIB relegated the Parliament's dismissal of Minister of Transport Hamid Behbahani to fifth place in its evening broadcast, with no live report from the Majlis.

1610 GMT: A Letter for Women. Zahra Rahnavard, activist and wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has echoed her husband's invocation of events in Tunisia and Egypt. She writes praised the struggle of women in those countries against dictatorship: "Today, Iranian women fight alongside in the battle against tyranny....We are lined up to see everyone soon realise freedom and democracy."

1600 GMT: Parliamentary Restraint. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has been asked about his silence on President Ahmadinejad's open letter criticising legislators, the judiciary, and the Expediency Council for interfering with his plans. He replied that, according to the Supreme Leader, talking about the heads of the three Government branches in public is against Sharia law.

1433 GMT: Turkish activist and member of the United Front Delir Eskandari was released on Tuesday after submitting a 70 million toman bail. He's facing charges of 'propaganda against regime' and 'acts against national security. 

1420 GMT: The Iranian Embassy in London slammed the British government over its remarks on Zahra Bahrami's execution. A report published on PressTV calls her a drug trafficker and quotes British Foreign Secretary William Hague's remarks on Bahrami, which were critical of the Iranian government. 

1130 GMT: Writing for The National, Michael Theodoulou notes, "Iran Hails Egyptian Protests but Ignores Inconvenient Truths":

The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and its supporters are gleefully portraying the momentous protests convulsing parts of the Arab world as a defining, revolutionary struggle against "despotic", secular western "puppets". It also claims the demonstrators are inspired by Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah.

These assertions, made repeatedly in the state-run media, overlook inconvenient truths.

One is that most of those protesting in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and Yemen were not born when Iran's revolution sent shock waves across the region and beyond. Another is that many are demanding the same rights and liberties that the Iranian regime denies its own people....

An analyst in Tehran, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Obviously, the regime doesn't want people to be inspired by the protests in the way that Egyptians were inspired by Tunisians. Batons hitting heads evoke certain memories," he added dryly.

0930 GMT: International Front. I am not sure whether Press TV, reporting on a statement of support for the Egyptian uprising by 214 Iran MPs, realised this statement can be read in more than one way: "The disloyal leaders of the state used the country's potential and capabilities to serve the interests of those who 'usurped Muslims' rights'."

0850 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activists Majid Tavakoli, Bahareh Hedayat & Mahdiyeh Golroo were taken to court on Tuesday on additional charges.

Hedayat is sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison. Golroo is serving 28 months and Tavakoli 8 years.

0845 GMT: Nuke Watch. Rah-e-Sabz reports that the interim head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Ahmadian, has refused the job on a permanent basis.

The previous head of the organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, is now Foreign Minister.

0840 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Elam Ministries, which works closely with churches in Iran, reports that Tehran has released on bail seven of the Christians detained in mass arrests on 26 December.

Elam says at least 26 Christians remain in prison.

0830 GMT: We are looking this morning for reactions to Tuesday's statement by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, issued after the two men met in Karroubi's home with Grand Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani. (Interestingly, security forces withdrew, releasing their effective blockade to allow Bayat Zanjani into the residential complex.)

Mousavi and Karroubi gave an implicit response to the regime's celebration of the 1979 Revolution --- the "10 Days of Fajr (Dawn)", followed by the major commemoration on 22 Bahman (11 February) --- with their claim that the Revolution's achievement of an Islamic Republic had been betrayed by those who had stayed in power too long, abusing the Constitution and people's rights in the process.

There was also the new theme, brought out a Mousavi letter last week, that the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings signalled the end of dictators. Beyond that, however, the arguments were familiar, condemning executions and the economic mismanagement of the Government.