Iran Live Coverage: A Complicated Relationship with Pakistan

A report on the importance for Pakistan of imports of Iranian gas

See also Sunday's Iran Live Coverage: Looking for Energy Deals

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2031 GMT: Press Watch. Abbas Darvish Tavangar, deputy editor of the "hard-line" Tasnim News, has been released after a few hours in detention.

Tavangar was seized because of a Government complaint, the details of which have not been specified.

1815 GMT: Press Watch. The regime's mixed approach of crackdown and prison releases continues....

Journalist Ehsan Mazandarani, one of the 18 journalists seized in late January, has been released from detention.

However, Abbas Darvish Tavangar, deputy editor of the "hard-line" Tasnim News has been arrested after a Government complaint; blogger and student Badri Safiari has been detained at Shiraz University; and the permit for reformist daily Maghreb has been annulled by the Media Supervisory Commission.

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Iran Live Coverage: Tehran Mayor --- Why We Are Engineering the Presidential Election

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Monkey in Space, Journalists in Prison< /br>
Thursday's Iran Live Coverage: Imprisoned Journalists, Elections, & the BBC

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2015 GMT: Free Elections/Sedition Watch. Still 4 1/2 months until the Presidential election, but this was a Friday for many in the regime to throw rhetorical punches at "sedition" --- first, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami:

Be careful for slogans in the next elections. "Free elections" completes the enemy’s puzzle because all elections have been free and competitive. One should not undermine the achievements of the system by using slogans, so be awake and aware because future seditions will begin with such words.”

Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, the Cultural Deputy of the Revolutionary Guards on people's insight countering sedition: "This revolution took place among a people who are insightful and follow the velayat, and with self-awareness and through following the velayat they have familiarized the world with the revolution.”

Hossein Naghavi of Parliament's National Security Committee on the recent arrests of journalists:

American and British intelligence agencies are attempting to identify information sharing agents in the country and use it against the Iranian nation in a security puzzle through their dependent networks such as BBC and Voice of America, but proper vigilance and awareness and the praiseworthy Intelligence Ministry neutralized this conspiracy.

American and British intelligence agencies have been no match for the Unknown Soldiers of the Imam of the Age [Ministry of Intelligence agents].

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Iran Live Coverage: Supreme Leader Declares Muslim Unity Against "Global Arrogance"

Maya Neyestani on the recent detention of 14 journalists by the regime

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1811 GMT: Press Watch. Reformist newspapers have protested the arrests of their journalists since Saturday.

On its front page, Shargh published an empty space where Pouria Alami's column would usually have appeared and explained that "it will not be printed until further notice".

The newspaper Bahar wrote, "Our journalists deserve respect." It said that it is not possible at this point to comment on the charges of "spying and ties with foreign news organizations", but added that it is not clear how 14 journalists without any such backgrounds could suddenly have been detained, since all are fully aware of the red lines that cannot be crossed in the Islamic republic.

"Therefore, it doesn't seem that they could come close to such charges," the paper wrote.

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Iran Live Coverage: Wishing Away The Economic Problems

See also Iran Analysis: 5 Challenges to an "It's Not That Bad" Iranian Economist
Thursday's Iran Live Coverage: The Supreme Leader's Committee Chooses the "Right Man" for the Presidential Election

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Queuing for Subsidised Chicken, July 20121910 GMT: Research Watch. Kalemeh reports that Iranian universities have been cut off from international research databases such as Elsevier because of non-payment of dues.

1655 GMT: Economic Rumour of the Day. An unnamed MP, cited by economist Mehrdad Emami, has reportedly said that China has twice blocked Iran from withdrawing dollars from its $25 billion of reserves in Chinese banks.

Iran is only allowed to spend the money in yuans to purchase Chinese goods.

1655 GMT: Economic Rumour of the Day. An unnamed MP, cited by economist Mehrdad Emami, has reportedly said that China has twice blocked Iran from withdrawing dollars from its $25 billion of reserves in Chinese banks.

Iran is only allowed to spend the money in yuans to purchase Chinese goods:

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Iran Live Coverage: The Supreme Leader's Committee Chooses the "Right Man" for the Presidential Election

See also Iran Feature: A New Crisis for the Currency and the Economy?
Wednesday's Iran Live Coverage: The Supreme Leader's Committee Chooses the "Right Man" for the Presidential Election

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1859 GMT: Justice Watch. The first hearing in the trial of judges accused of involvement in the abuses and killings at the Kahrizak detention centre will be held on 26 February, Iran Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has announced.

At least three post-election protesters were slain at the centre. No senior official has yet been convicted over the incident.

There was no indication by Hossein Ejei that Presidential advisor Saeed Mortazavi, long accused of possible involvement in his then-role as Tehran Prosecutor General, will be brought to court.

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Iran Live Coverage: Regime Explains --- Talk of "Free Elections" Is "Sedition"

See also Saturday's Iran Live Coverage: Let's Make a Nuclear Deal?

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1945 GMT: Obama Billboard in Tehran Watch.

Roland Elliott Brown explains this image of President Obama and a friend, several stories high on a Tehran building by a major highway:

The image is of Barack Obama standing next to Shemr, a villain in Shia Islam, with a BBC-style caption at the bottom attributing to both men, in the years 2013 and 680 respectively, the loaded phrase: "Be with us, be safe."...

The villain Shemr belongs to the narrative of Hussein's martyrdom at the Battle of Karbala in 680, the trauma that split Muslims into Sunni and Shia denominations. The Shia, or "Party of Ali" (Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law) sought hereditary leadership of Islam. After the murder of the Caliph Ali, and the death of Ali's son and successor Hassan, Ali's younger son Hussein clashed for succession with the Umayyad Caliph Yazid, who sent Shemr's army to destroy Hussein and his followers. Shemr offered some of Hussein's supporters a "letter of protection" in exchange for betraying him, but they refused.

In the mural, Shemr extends a similar letter to the viewer, as he and Obama utter the words Ba ma bash – "be with us" – playing on the president's name, and insinuating that anyone who still likes Obama in the wake of tightening sanctions – or who advocates meeting American, EU, or International Atomic Energy Agency demands over Iran's nuclear programme to avoid conflict – is a traitor to the faith. Obama, the state insists, is a "Hussein" unworthy of loyalty.

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- A Health Care Crisis, Economic Rumblings, and Election Grumblings (Arseh Sevom)

Despite efforts to keep life-saving medicine from falling victim to sanctions, there is a shortage in Iran. “Free” elections is a hot topic while the squeeze on purchasing power worries a Revolutionary Guard Commander. Musicians find themselves behind bars and Yahoo! rolls out secure email.

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Iran Live Coverage: Don't Mention the "Free Elections"

See also Iran Feature: Spotlight Returns to Detained Opposition Leaders Mousavi and Karroubi
Sunday's Iran Live Coverage: The Isolation of the Country

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1714 GMT: Scare Story of the Day (cont.). I have now read the 154-page report by 5 US analysts and activists being trumpeted in the media as proof that Iran will have a Bomb by mid-2014.

As I anticipated in an earlier entry (see 1546 GMT), the report sets aside careful analysis for supposition, manipulation of some evidence, and ignorance of other facts. It should be treated as a polemic in its calls for tougher sanctions and threat of military action by the US.

1650 GMT: All the President's Men. A court has cancelled the appointment of senior Presidential aide Saeed Mortazavi as head of Social Funds Organization.

Mortazavi has long been criticised for his alleged role in the abuse and killing of protesters in the Kahrizak detention centre after the disputed 2009 Presidential election. Although he has not been prosecuted, a court ruled that he should not hold a Government post pending investigation.

President Ahmadinejad defied the order, installing Mortazavi as head of the Social Security Fund in early 2012. The Administrative Court ruled against the appointment --- the Government responded with the circumvention of renaming the agency.

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Iran Live Coverage: The Isolation of the Country

See also Saturday's Iran Live Coverage: The Engineering of the Elections Turns Nasty

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2226 GMT: Elections Watch. After another day of tension over "free elections", we will give the final word to Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, who refers to the 2009 Presidential election while looking to the next vote in June:

The "free election" slogan has burned 40 million votes. The leaders of fitna [sedition] should take idea of the victory to their graves.

2220 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Hashemi Rafsanjani --- having made his mark this week with his comment that it is the Iranian people, rather than the Supreme Leader or any politician, who will "pave the way to free elections" --- continues his challenge on the economic front. The former President said today:

People don't live on slogans. The Government must provide them with an average living --- giving people cash is of no help.

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Iran Live Coverage: The Engineering of the Elections Turns Nasty

See also Iran Feature: Are Revolutionary Guards Among the 48 "Pilgrims" Freed in Syria?
Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Political Prisoners, Freedom of Expression, and Killer Smog
Friday's Iran Live Coverage: How to "Engineer" an Election

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1820 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Marcus George of Reuters profiles the "informal currency dealers of Dubai, [who] have emerged as an important link between Iran's economy and the rest of the world" amid international sanctions:

Since businessmen trading with Iran could no longer transfer their money through normal banking channels, they turned to the dealers. Iranian savers moving their wealth out of the country were another source of business.

"Trading went crazy after those sanctions," the dealer in the Deira office said in a snatched conversation between endless calls and cups of tea. On one day, he recalled, he handled about 1 billion United Arab Emirates dirhams ($270 million).

What is most interesting about George's piece, however, is the indication that --- with foreign reserves dwinding --- Iran may have to limit even this informal trade:

last October, as the rial plunged in value, the government in Tehran clamped down on the supply of hard currency. That hit the Dubai dealers hard - both by restricting the amount of funds they handled and making it harder to gauge prices acceptable to both them and their customers.

"Now it's different. The government is fixing rates. Everything is grinding to a halt," said the Deira dealer....

On some days, the dealer said, he doesn't trade at all. On others, he handles around 10 to 15 million dirhams worth of businesss - and only with trusted clients.

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