The Latest from Iran (4 February): The Supreme Leader's Big Day?

2305 GMT: A Reply to the Supreme Leader. Looks like Ayatollah Khamenei's Friday Prayer has fallen flat with his target audience....

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has issued this response: "[We] regard the revolution as the Egyptian People's Revolution, not an Islamic Revolution....The Egyptian People's Revolution includes Muslims, Christians, from all sects and political [factions]."

2255 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Mehran Faraji has been released on bail after almost two months in detention.

Faraji had worked with the Presidential campaign of Mehdi Karroubi.

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The Latest from Iran (3 February): Glancing at Cairo

2120 GMT: The "Right" Egyptian Revolution. How much is Tehran playing up Egypt? To the point where almost all the story on Press TV's "Iran" section after actually about Cairo....

The military advisor to the Supreme Leader, Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, suggests that some of the opposition figures are not "right" for Iran: “By introducing several people as [protest] leaders, the US is seeking to pave the way for creating rifts amidst the Egyptian nation and to use the outcome to its own advantage.”

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani is also setting out Good and Bad for the demonstrators, warning anti-regime protesters in Egypt over the dangers of a “secular revolution".

So what is the right path? MP Gholam-Reza Mesbahi-Moghaddam helps out, “Thanks to the Islamic Revolution, Islam and Shiism is cultivating in the world and this revolutionary culture is Islamic.”

The Foreign Ministry says it is monitoring the "wave of Islamic awakening".

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Iran Cartoon of the Day: Tehran's Pharaoh (Kowsar)

Nikahang Kowsar looks from Cairo to Tehran and notices the rulers of Iran:

Iran Snapshot: Tehran's Lesson for Egypt --- The Intimidation Can Never Stop

On a US-based website backing the Iranian Government --- in an item reinforcing Tehran's line that the uprising of Egypt's people as a victory for Iran's leadership in the Middle East --- a comment catches the eye:

A key difference between the current protests in Egypt and the post-election protests in Iran in 2009. In Egypt, the people have not had an opportunity to elect their leaders in a democratic election.

In Iran, they did.

Hmm.... My reaction may have been affected because I saw this after covering the news of the detention of Hossein Karroubi, the son of the prominent opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi, and dealing all day with the execution of the Dutch-Iranian national Zahra Bahrami. However, I think that there may be another explanation for the persistence of the Iranian regime beyond "free elections".

Our German Bureau points us to an explanation, given by the Supreme Leader to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a cartoon:

Mubarak: "How should I get out of this mess?"
Supreme Leader: "Nothing, give them their rights as we do."

The Latest from Iran (24 January): Two More Political Executions

Jafar Kazemi2040 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Prominent reformist Ali Shakouri Rad has been released from detention.

Shakouri Rad was arrested last month after he said in a public debate that the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, had congratulated Mir Hossein Mousavi on his "victory" on Election Day in June 2009.

1945 GMT: Claim of Day. President Ahmadinejad speaking in Gilan Province in northwest Iran: targeted subsidy cuts are the work of the 12th (Hidden) Imam.

1940 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and blogger Siamak Ghaderi has been sentenced to four years in prison for “propaganda against the regime”, “disturbing public opinion”, and “spreading lies”.

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Iran Snapshot: How Do You React to a Country Like Tunisia? (Tehran Bureau)

Earlier this week Tehran Bureau posted a series of first-hand reactions from Iranians to the fall of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia. A selection....

Text message circulating around Iran: "Tunis tunest [did it], Iran natunest [couldn't do it]."

Journalist, 28: "It's okay to celebrate for now. We did the same thing.... I'll tell you in about 20 years what you got yourselves into."

Anonymous on Persian-language website: "We revolted with a leader and an ideology and this is how it turned out for us. I feel sorry for the Tunisians, who brought about a revolution without leadership or an ideology."

Basij member, 37: "Agha [the Supreme Leader] was right about Islamic awakening and the Muslim world learning from the successful example of our revolution. Inshallah, the values of the Revolution will reach every corner of the Muslim world."

Tehrani joke: "Ben Ali, please tell Seyed Ali [Khamenei] to follow you wherever you go!"

Read full article....

The Latest from Iran (19 January): Ahmadinejad v. Khamenei?

2110 GMT: Ahmadinejad v. Khamenei. This may not be entirely accurate reporting, but it does bring us full circle with the updates.

The Twitter account "M_Ahmadinejad" reports, "Ayatollah seems really depressed today: he's been locked in his room playing Carole King records all morning."

1835 GMT: Curtain Down. The Iranian theatre and art community has criticised the shutdown by Iranian authorities of a Tehran production of Hedda Gabler, reported in last week's updates.

The House of Theatre and Association of Drama Actors described the ban as illegal, since the production had an official licence ifrom the Supervision and Evaluation Council.

The play was closed after allegations that it promoted “vulgarity and hedonism". Director Vahid Rahbani and members of the crew were summoned to the Tehran Prosecutor’s office “to provide clarification”.

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Iran Feature: Life Goes On in Tehran (Tehran Bureau)

The major shift in power over the last few years has been the rise of Ahamdinejad's faction and its alliance with [Supreme Leader] Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Sepah (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) to oust the supporters of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and sideline the old clerical conservatives. Having weakened their major competitors --- reformists are almost completely shut out now --= and harboring potentially serious ideological and practical policy differences, many people think that there is a good chance the Khamenei and Ahmadinejad factions will face off in the coming year or two.

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The Latest from Iran (12 January): Challenging the Guardian Council

2120 GMT: On the Border. The Los Angeles Times summarises the fuel dispute between Iran and Afghanistan, with Tehran still holding up to 2500 tankers on the border.

1720 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man. There now appears to be a dedicated campaign amongst some Iranian "hard-liners" to force out Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai. Stay tuned for an EA exclusive on Thursday, but meanwhile this claim from Mashregh News....

Rahim-Mashai supposedly gave $150 vouchers to clerics who came to his speech at a community meeting.

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Iran Feature: Assessing the Threat To Arrest Mousavi and Karroubi (Yeranian)

"On the one hand the regime has consistently said since the last presidential election that the protesters, that the Green movement, are a bunch of street hooligans, they're small in number, they're insignificant, we've crushed them, it's over," said Hashemi. "But, on the other hand, seemingly, every single week, a high member of the Iranian regime is speaking out and condemning and raising new charges against the Green Movement. So, if the Green movement is insignificant, is dead, is crushed, why do you constantly speak about them?"

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