Iran Snap Analysis: The Real Danger of "Ahmadinejad and Israel"

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Friday PrayersIn context, Ahmadinejad's chest-thumping is not a declaration of war; it is not even primarily about Israel. Instead, it is an attempt to bolster, and perhaps even save, his position. It is also part of a wider context for the Islamic Republic --- facing isolation because of the turns in the "Arab Spring" and the crisis in Syria, it is trying to score points with populations in Middle East countries and offer a way back for links with Arab countries, even supposed foes like Saudi Arabia.

It is the nature of politics and media, however, that context gets stripped away. And when that happens day after day, there is the prospect that those in power forget the original purpose of their rhetoric and convert it into reality. That, rather than any immediate cause for a showdown, is the opening for a conflict which moves from words to airstrikes.

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The Latest from Iran (18 August): So How Big Was Quds Day?

The Quds Day rally in Isfahan

See also Iran Feature: An Introduction to the Currency Problems
Iran Snap Analysis: The Real Danger of "Ahmadinejad and Israel"
Iran Snapshot: 3 "Iranian Citizens" Arrested for Bombing in Afghanistan That Killed 36
The Latest from Iran (17 August): Ahmadinejad Introduces Tehran Friday Prayer

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1920 GMT: Religion Watch. International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, accused of apostasy because of his conversion to Christianity, will face a new trial on 27 August on charges of “banditry and extortion".

An Iranian court has condemned Nadarkhani to death for apostasy but has offered to commute the sentence if he repents. So far he has refused to do so.

1745 GMT: Currency Watch. With the Iranian Rial losing almost half its value since last autumn, The New York Times reports on Iranians crossing the border to get better rates or to trade before the currency slides farther:

Afghan traders have proved more than willing to trade dollars for rials, usable as a currency in many parts of western Afghanistan, at advantageous exchange rates.

Hajji Najeeb Ullah Akhtary, the president of Afghanistan’s Money Exchange Union, an association of traditional money transfer and exchange businesses that are known as hawalas, said he and his members had seen a steady increase in Iranians bringing cash into Afghanistan over the past year. That comes on top of routine transfers made by Afghans living and working in Iran, including more than one million impoverished refugees, and the regular supply of rials that circulates in Afghanistan.

The cash “comes across in trucks,” he said, with transfers arranged by Afghan middlemen who take a 5 to 7 percent commission.

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The Latest from Iran (17 August): Ahmadinejad Introduces Tehran Friday Prayer

One of a set of images by Mehr of Quds Day marches

See also The Latest from Iran (16 August): Hey, Look Over at Palestine!

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1810 GMT: The Earthquakes. One of a set of photos in Mehr, as clean-up efforts continue, of the aftermath of last Saturday's earthquakes in East Azerbaijan:

1340 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish activist Hadi Amini has been freed after five years in prison.

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The Latest from Iran (16 August): Hey, Look Over at Palestine!

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- From Earthquakes to Islamic Law in Outer Space
The Latest from Iran (15 August): Ahmadinejad in Saudi Arabia

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1609 GMT: Campus Watch. We have been reporting recently on the exclusion of women from university programmes (see 1141 GMT) --- well, here's a twist....

The Nursing Association has complained, "The decision to eliminate male applicants for nursing is shocking and against national policies and patients' needs."

1600 GMT: Economy Watch. Ali Pourkaveh of the Ministry of Industry has claimed that the stockpiling of 24 essential goods is nearly finished.

Earlier this month President Ahmadinejad called for a three-month stockpile of rice, sugar, cooking fat, and other commodities.

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The Latest from Iran (26 August): The Show on Quds Day

Past Quds Day rally, undated

2032 GMT: During his Quds day speech, Sadroddin Shariati, head of Allameh Tabatabaei University, said that, "today we have to [follow] the [Supreme Leader] because the scale of our lives and our beliefs has to be matched with the scale which is determined by the leader."

As several readers have pointed out, we're still waiting for some pictures from Tehran that would really show the "scale" of this leadership.

1900 GMT: Khatoon Special - According to Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, current deputy speaker of the Majilis, Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini stated that Bahonar has no power to confront the Khatoon contraversy. Hosseini fired back, denying those claims and cautioning that Bahonar should not talk in Hoseini's place.

1849 GMT: Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, the head of the Audit Office, has confirmed that the Tehran government is guilty of $11 million dollars in fraud, according to the now-blocked-in-Iran Ayande News. Pour-Mohammadi said that much of the misappropriation of funds was committed under previous governments, but insinuated that the fraud is ongoing.

1656 GMT: Ayande News is being filtered in Iran. They are also denying that this news is related to a story about Hossein Ansarian and Mousa Sadr. Preacher Hossein Ansarian had recently apologized to the people for the failed promises of the revolution.

1650 GMT: The Iranian state-run news agency, Press TV, provides this coverage of today's rallies, complete with chants of "death of Israel, death to America," and the claims (disputed by the Associated Press) that millions marched today:

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