The Latest from Iran (9 August): Drawing Different Lessons from Overseas

1920 GMT: Energy Watch. Sniping at the Government over its energy policy --- Seyed Emad Hosseini, speaker for Parliament's Energy Committee, said energy security has sharply decreased in past years and is now unacceptable. Another committee member, Asgar Jalalian, has chided that at the current speed of development of the South Pars project, Qatar --- which shares the giant field with Iran --- will have ensured no gas is left.

1910 GMT: Media Watch. Is Alef, the site owned by leading MP Ahmad Tavakoli, having a go at the press in Iran? The site posts the story of "Pinocchio and our ignorance" to preach that those who listen to domestic media are less informed people.

1905 GMT: Oil Watch. Khabar Online posts a "yellow alert" for Iran's oil exports, noting that the price has fallen below $100 per barrel.

The Iranian Government budget is heavily dependent upon a high oil price. This year's budget was reportedly based on a rate of $81.50 per barrel; however, at the time it was passed, a barrel was selling as high as $125.

1755 GMT: Diplomatic Affairs. President Ahmadinejad has appointed Ali Saeedloo as his "deputy for international affairs".

The move may bring a renewal of conflict over Ahmadinejad's "parallel" approach to diplomacy, rivalling rathering than supporting the Foreign Ministry. The President tempted criticism last year when he appointed four "special envoys", including his right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, for diplomacy, and he raised the stakes in December when he summarily dismissed Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

MP Mohammad Dehghani has already questioned the "parallel action", and Ayande has jabbed that the government's international affairs is now headed by a geologist.

Indeed, Saeedloo has no experience in diplomacy. Instead, he has a Ph.D. in petroleum technology and made his political career as Ahmadinejad's finance deputy at Tehran City Council. He later became the head of Iran's Sports Organization.

1410 GMT: Campus Watch. Allameh Tabatabei University, a leading institution for humanities in Iran, has reversed its decision to suspend 13 humanities disciplines for this academic year.

Journalism, political science, sociology, history, philosophy, communications, pedagogy, accounting, administration, education administration, pedagogy for special needs, early childhood education, and economics had all been removed from the curriculum.

The decision had left only six humanities subjects --- law, Arabic language and literature, Persian language and literature, theology and Islamic studies, insurance. and tourism administration --- on the university's books.

1400 GMT: Irony Watch (cont.). From Press TV:

A senior Iranian lawmaker says Iran's Majlis (Parliament) is ready to send a group of human rights rapporteurs to the UK to investigate human rights violations in the country.

Deputy head of Iran's Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Ebrahimi made the comment in an interview with Fars news agency on Tuesday.

He referred to the large arrests of British protesters angry over the killing of a black man by the police and said, Iran's Majlis urges the British government and the UK embassy in Tehran to facilitate the visit without making false excuses.

(See separate entries, "Britain Feature: So Why is London Burning?" and "Britain Latest: The Third Day of Unrest Spreads Across --- and Outside --- London".)

1345 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has criticised the dismissals of university professors and other teachers by Iranian authorities.

Rafsanjani, who is chairman of Islamic Azad University as well as head of the Expediency Council, said the Iranian system was "not using the capabilities and experience of teachers and administrators".

A number of academics have had to take retirement since the June 2009 elections as the Iranian Government pursues a proper "Islamic" education system.

1330 GMT: Irony Watch (for Journalists Day). Back from a break to find this summary from state news agency IRNA: "A ceremony commemorating Reporter's Day opened in the presence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Tuesday."

Journalist Hannah Allam reacts, "Ahmadinejad opens 'Reporter's Day' in Tehran to commemorate 'media martyrs', presumably not those killed by the regime".

(See EA's special, "The List of the 100+ Journalists Detained Since the 2009 Elections --- Part 1".)

0810 GMT: An Elections Admission. Principlist MP Emad Afrough, formerly a supporter of President Ahmadinejad, has said that "there was no winner" in the 2009 Presidential election as "all have lost" and the "legitimacy of IR has been doubted".

However, Ahmadinejad can count on the support of others, even in battles within the establishment. Author Amir Rezakhani has declared that state broadcaster IRIB "conveys a sense of tyranny to people", inventing the notion of a "deviant current" of Ahmadinejad advisors to excuse the faults of "hardliners" within the Iranian system.

And Hassan Allahverdinejad of the Islamic Welfare Party says his faction supports Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai as the next President, predicting that anti-Ahmadinejad hardliners will not get enough votes to control Parliament.

0800 GMT: Book Corner. The prominent author and poet Javad Mojabi tells Kalemeh that 6000 pages of his works have failed to receive a publishing permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

0750 GMT: Journalists Day (cont.). Kalemeh publishes the statement of 14 imprisoned journalists that the regime is responsible for the lives of opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, held under strict house arrest since February, and of all political prisoners.

0615 GMT: Reformist Watch. Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Khoeini, the Secretary General of the pro-reform Association of Combatant Clerics, that the goal of the reformists is to “keeping the Islamic Republic", rather than working around or outside it. The objective, Khoeini, said was the "continuous reforms" of ineffective institutions and structures within the republic to “maintain the national interest and benefits within fundamental social beliefs”.

0610 GMT: Economy Watch. Kalemeh, with pictures, reports that the strike of cloth merchants in Tehran Bazaar has entered its second week. The vendors are disputing the Government's approach to taxes.

0600 GMT: A striking juxtaposition this morning between the responses of the opposition and the regime to events beyond Iran....

An English translation of the latest message of the opposition movement, Coordinating Council of the Green Path of Hope, has now been posted:

Praise and greeting to the awakened nations of Middle East,

Despite all the obstacles our people have in receiving news of your movement due to the severe censorships enforced, they stand by the side of all of you seekers of freedom and righteousness who strive for a free and just society. Because for a century, they too, have been fighting in this path and have for two years been partaking in a movement that seeks to peacefully achieve their basic rights. Tens of people martyred, hundreds imprisoned and thousands wounded is the price for a just movement protesting to realise the legitimate and humane demands of the Iranian people. The Greens of Iran call on the country’s rulers to respect the people’s right to determine their own destiny; their will and their demands, to put an end to the suppression, violence and totalitarianism, and to allow the worthy elected representatives of the people to run its affairs in place of squandering national and human resources.

The Green Movement of the Iranian people wholeheartedly shares your joy of victory and sympathises with you in your moments of grief and trouble. Our people are delighted about the victories of popular movements in Tunisia and Egypt. They mourn the ruthless and inhumane clampdowns on the people of Bahrain, Syria and Libya; and follow the praise-worthy efforts of the people of Yemen closely. The [Green] Movement stresses the necessity for supporting the rights of all peoples and nations to determine their own destinies, regardless of their nationality, religion, ideology, political leaning. It condemns the double standards that exist in the policies of the authoritarian rulers of Iran with respect to the democratic movements of the region, in particular their support for the suppression of the Syrian people.

The Iranian state outlets IRNA and Press TV are looking elsewhere this morning. They highlight that Iran, in a statement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, "has called on the British police to exercise restraint against people protesting over the killing of a Black man in London".

Press TV explains, "Turmoil is now threatening to sweep across all of Britain as the mayhem and looting has also spread to the central city of Birmingham, the western city of Bristol, the northwestern city of Liverpool, and south London neighborhood of Brixton."