This is a live-blog report on events in Iran, and about Iran. The majority of the information is sourced via social media channels. The videos or links to other sites posted are not produced by Iran News Now, and their posting here does not equate to an endorsement of their content or message. Every update [...]
RFE/RL – Persian Letters: Khamenei, Ahmadinejad: It’s Complicated
Khamenei: “…when the Supreme Leader says something, the president accepts it and acts accordingly”
Enduring America: Iran Special: The Escalating Crisis Within
Enduring America | July 3, 2010 By Mr. Verde Weeks into the Parliament v. President v. Rafsanjani crisis over control of Islamic Azad University, there is no resolution. There have been efforts to play down the immediate conflict, for example, with the denial of Yasr Rafsanjani, the son of Hashemi Rafsanjani, that the university’s office [...]
Tehran Bureau: Who’s in Charge?
Struggle for power builds between clerics, Revolutionary Guards. An important question that those who follow Iran’s political developments keep asking is, Who is the ultimate power in Iran, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei and the clerics around him, or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps?
Rafsanjani’s Long-term Strategy: Empowering Himself Through Helping the Greens
(The Newest Deal) | March 12, 2010 Masoud Shafaee As the Persian Nowruz New Year fast approaches and Iran’s post-election crisis enters its ninth month, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani remains as mercurial a figure as ever in Iranian politics. True to his nickname of Kooseh, or “The Shark,” Rafsanjani has been paying lip-service to Supreme Leader [...]
The Destination was to Begin the Journey
(The Pedestrian Blog) | March 10, 2010 The Pedestrian is an excellent blog providing insightful pieces on Iranian culture, politics and life. Highly recommended by Iran News Now. Emad Bahavar [1979] is a political activist, writer and the head of “Supporters of Khatami and Mousavi” in the 2009 presidential campaign. He was arrested shortly after [...]
IRAN: Opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi challenges hard-line authorities to a duel of rallies
(Los Angeles Times) | February 22, 2010 In his first major comments since the opposition failed to gather large numbers of supporters for protests coinciding with the Feb. 11 anniversary of Iran’s Islamic revolution, former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi on Monday issued a bold challenge to the hard-line rulers of the Islamic Republic: Give the [...]
Green Report #24 – Fresh News from Iran – July 10
Ayatollah Hashim Hashim-Zadeh Hareesi – a member of the Assembly of Experts – said today that people had started to distrust the system. He explained that whatever had happened after the election had caused people to become suspicious and that the government needed to take strides to restore people’s trust otherwise, distrust could result in further more severe problems.
Green Report #22 – Fresh News from Iran – July 8
International media is reporting that Mojtaba Khamenei – the son of Ayatollah Khamenei – has taken direct control of Iran’s militia group (Basij) in order to suppress the Sea of Green. They also report that officials within other security forces, along with the powerful clergy, are not happy with the situation. However, solid confirmations from our Iranian sources have yet to be confirmed.
Green Report #17 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Friday, July 3
I’m NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar – twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter – and I’ve been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from [...]
Green Report #14 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Tuesday, June 30
Maziar Bahari was forced to confess at a press conference that the protests were pre-planned and organized from abroad. Bahari is an adroit Iranian-Canadian Journalist and filmmaker, who has written for Newsweek and the New Statesman. Meanwhile,the torture of university students continues in the Ministry of Interior. Some Iranians traveling to Iran for the holidays have been taken in for questioning directly at the airport as they tried to leave the country. They were questioned because of updated information on their Facebook accounts.
Green Report #13 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Monday, June 29
Human rights groups claim that so far over 2,000 people are still in detention. Reports have surfaced that there is no more space left for women in Tehran’s official prisons. Human rights’ activists report on unsanitary and inappropriate conditions for imprisoned women protesters in Iran’s overcrowded jails. At least 60 of imprisoned women are in the public wards and have only been given a blanket and are forced to sleep in corridors.
Green Report #11 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Saturday, June 27
Reports have suggested that there is a bitter divide developing between military leaders on what the military’s role should be in the current unrest and whether they should step in. (This could be not confirmed unfortunately through the most reliable sources). Reports of clerics meeting in secret to discuss the current unrest have surfaces from Qom, Tabriz and Mashhad. It is being suggested that even though clerics had participated in the protests a few days ago, they might join in larger numbers if further protests are held.
Green Report #10 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Friday, June 26
Reports indicate that the reason why Khamenei did not attend the prayers was Ayatollah Montazeri’s statements yesterday that denounced the government’s suppression of the protesters’ ‘legitimate demands’. This, according to sources, creates a divide between the powerful clergy which has pressured Khamenei just enough to stop him from giving out another speech of the caliber he gave last week. Whether Montazeri’s current stance will develop into something of a bigger boost to protesters remains to be seen.









