The Latest from Iran (8 September): The Threat Is Not Israel --- It's the Economy

See also The Latest from Iran (7 September): Challenges on the International Front

---

1945 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Sierra Leone has removed nine vessels from its shipping register after finding they belonged to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

Iran has been trying to reflag its ships, using countries such as Tuvalu, to bypass Western sanctions aimed at choking off its oil exports.

In mid-August, Tanzania announced it was de-registering 36 Iranian vessels and that it was dropping the Dubai-based shipping agent who flagged them without its knowledge.

1910 GMT: Media Watch. I have been interviewed at length tonight by the radio service of State broadcaster IRIB about sanctions and Iran's nuclear programme.

If anyone hears the broadcast version of the remarks, please let me know.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (3 January): Desperately Seeking Reformists

See also Iran Snap Analysis: Finding a Scapegoat in the Currency Crisis
Iran Audio Feature: Scott Lucas with the BBC "The Economy is More Important than the Missile Tests"
The Latest from Iran (2 January): The Currency is Falling

---

2040 GMT: No Comment. Those conservatives and principlists who have warned of the "deviant current" around President Ahmadinejad may be interested in this from the Tehran Times:

Presidential aide Mojtaba Hashemi-Samareh ruled out the possibility of the manipulation of the March parliamentary elections by administration officials, emphasizing that there is no cause for concern in this regard.

He told the Mehr News Agency that the administration is tasked with holding the elections, but candidates’ representatives and the Guardian Council will oversee the running of the elections, so there is no cause for concern.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (31 December): Where are the Reformists for the Elections?

Mohammad Ali Kouzegar1330 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch (Elections Edition). Tabnak reports that President Ahmadinejad has begun campaign meetings with his team including senior advisors Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi,and Abbas Amirifar; son-in-law Mehdi Khorshidi, and son Alireza Ahmadinejad. A new oraganisation, Supporters of Government Front, has been created.

Speaking to supporters yesterday, Ahmadinejad reportedly said, "Even if the pressures on the Government increase, the Government will not resign and back down. I have many things about the next election that I will say in the next few weeks.”

Meanwhile, others have started mobilising against Ahmadinejad. The Supreme Leader's advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, in his speech to supporters (see 0735 GMT), advised principlists, “Based on the importance of election and the international pressures on Iran, unity among the people in charge and the principlists is necessary." He said those who were silent toward the deviant and seditious currents --- read Ahmadinejad's camp and unrepentant reformists --- "are not part of our list".

Alireza Zakani, another senior figure in the Unity Front, claimed that Ahmadinejad's team was already putting out lots of money: "The deviant current for the victory of each of its candidates has spend 1-3 billion Tomans (about $650,000 to $2 million).”

Seyed Solat Mortazavi, the head of Iran's Election Organisation, asked Zakani to present his evidence to the Ministry of Interior.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (6 June): A Call for An Investigation

Funeral of Haleh Sahabi

1650 GMT: Fars News is reporting that Manouchehr Gharavi, the former CEO of the Iranian car maker, Iran-Khodro, and a few others were arrested last Monday.

1640 GMT: On Saturday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei called for a political cease-fire between Ahmadinejad and his most vocal critics inside the conservative party. Those calls, apparently, have gone unheaded.

Mehr News reports that Khamenei's representative to the Republican Guard Corps, Hojatoleslam Mojtaba Zolnour, insinuated today that Ahmadinejad is a threat to the core of the Islamic Republic:

"The current of deviation seeks to weaken the foundations of the Islamic establishment... I believe this movement is the gravest danger in the history of Shiite Islam.

"The head of this new sedition should be removed if the government wants to be clean... We hope this problem will be resolved, but it seems very unlikely such a thing will happen in the near future."

The insinuation is that Ahmadinejad, and his presumed choice for a successor, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, are behind the "current of deviation," a phrase used before to criticise the current president. Zolnour's disregard for political calm, and his association with the IRGC, is a notable event.

1200 GMT: Ali Larijani has warned Ahmadinejad that delegating decisions on oil matters special representatives appointed by the president is illegal.

Click to read more ...

Iran Snap Analysis: Ahmadinejad's Future? Follow the Oil....

Ahmadinejad at Abadan, 24 May 2011Ahmadinejad, unsurprisingly but perhaps ironically in light of the fire nearby, declared on national television that Iran would lead the world in the production and distribution of oil, marking its technological and economic advance. 

He gave that statement as President. But he also was preaching as the Minister of Oil --- the one who wants to be the personal representative of Iran's leadership at the OPEC meeting in two weeks' time.

And, even if those flames behind him were accidental, they were a vivid marker that some other people in Iran do not want him in that position.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (24 May): Ahmadinejad's Son-in-Law v. Ahmadinejad's Advisors

2015 GMT: Human Rights Watch. Seyed Mohammad Marandi of Tehran University explains why Iranian officials are declaring that they will imposed sanctions on named US individuals, including former military commanders and Administration officials: "The United States and its allies, including certain EU members, are violating human rights more than any other country in the world."

2005 GMT: Election Watch. Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar has given an assurance that the Government will not interfere in the 2012 Parliamentary elections.

Click to read more ...