Iran Uprising Blogging (Tuesday July 7)
I'm liveblogging the latest Iran election fallout. Email me with any news or thoughts, or follow me on Twitter. Send me instant messages at nico.pitney@gmail.com or njpitney on AIM. Scroll down for news related to the front-page headlines. Local Iran time is 8 1/2 hours ahead of Eastern time.
Wednesday's updates are here.
Top story -- Ahmadinejad slams rivals over post-election stance. Iran state media's report on Ahmadinejad's remarks on television tonight.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized the stance adopted by certain political figures following the June 12 presidential election.
In a speech broadcast on IRIB channel one, President Ahmadinejad slammed 'foreign meddling' in Iran's internal affairs following the presidential election, saying the massive turnout of the Iranian nation had upset 'arrogant powers'. [...]Tehran has accused certain Western countries and their media of fueling post-election unrest in Iran.
"Unfortunately, some people inside Iran collaborated with them. They repeated the comments made by certain Western countries," Ahmadinejad said.
He added that the defeated candidates rejected the election results without offering any proof of irregularities in the electoral process.
President Ahmadinejad invited the nation to 'unity and solidarity' now that the file on the election has been closed and the electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council, has confirmed his re-election.
3:49 PM ET -- Obama: "Absolutely not" giving Israel green light for attack. From a new interview with CNN:
The United States is "absolutely not" giving Israel a green light to attack Iran, U.S. President Barack Obama told CNN Tuesday.
"We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East," Obama said, referring to Iran's nuclear ambitions."I think Vice President Biden stated a categorical fact, which is we can't dictate to other countries what their security interests are. What is also true is that it is the policy of the United States to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capabilities in a peaceful way through diplomatic channels," he said.
3:46 PM ET -- Berlusconi: G8 divided on Iran.
The leaders of Group of Eight countries have yet to forge a common position on Iran's violent crackdown on post-electoral protests, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday on the eve of the summit.
Berlusconi, who chairs the gathering of world leaders opening Wednesday, noted that some countries, such as France, were calling for tougher action against Tehran, while others, such as Russia, favored a softer stance to keep dialogue open."It still has to be decided what the statement on Iran will be," Berlusconi said at a news conference in Rome to present the summit. He said the leaders would likely opt for dialogue.
3:17 PM ET -- Iran will never be the same again.
1:51 PM ET -- Major D.C. demonstration on Thursday. Facebook page is here.
1:43 PM ET -- Tehran University dorms closed. "According to Amir Kabir Newsletter, the authorities are closing down the dorms at Tehran University for two weeks. Every year, the dorms are closed for a few days during the anniversary of the 1999 dorm incidents to prevent protests. This year, the time was extended to two weeks. The university authorities claim 'this decision is not related to recent events and was made before that.'"
1:31 PM ET -- State media: SMS failure not due to dust pollution. A strange report from Iran's Press TV: "The new disruption in text messaging services in Iran, is unrelated to the dust pollution overwhelming the country, a report says. After text messaging came to a stop on Monday, an informed source told ILNA that the problem had nothing to do with air pollution."
So what is it related to? One can only wonder...
1:15 PM ET -- A message from NIAC. The National Iranian American Council has been a crucial source for news and thoughtful analysis on the uprising. They've got a requestion for readers:
NIAC is surveying Iranian Americans as well as the broader American public to get a better understanding on where people stand on the Iran issue in the aftermath of the elections.
We are encouraging non-NIAC members to participate as well, with the understanding that membership views will naturally take precedent in influencing how the organization moves forward. We highly encourage non-members to join and become part of the dialogue by visiting this site.
11:06 AM ET -- Ahmadinejad relative speaks out. In an interview forwarded by a reader, the father of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's son-in-law says Ahmadinejad has manipulated his son, and stresses that he has not voted for Ahmadinejad and will never do so.
11:05 AM ET -- Ahmadinejad to speak tonight. Ahmadinejad will appear on Iranian television tonight to discuss domestic and foreign policy issues.
9:49 AM ET -- Haystack. As I mentioned the other day, tech guru Austin Heap has developed a new tool to bust through Iran's Internet censorship wall. Now, he needs our support.
"A lot of people have written asking how they can help without being a tech wizard," he writes. "Well, here's the answer: donate. In the past four weeks (three of which I took off of work) a lot has happened. First a tiny proxy list on Twitter, then a more organized effort called Proxyheap, and now Haystack, a completely custom protocol for beating the Iran governments filters."
He explains exactly what he needs to fund here.
9:47 AM ET -- Sarkozy demands release of French academic imprisoned by Iran. Iran's state media reports, "President Nicholas Sarkozy has demanded the immediate release of a French academic detained in Iran on charges of espionage."
"Let me say in the clearest and simplest way possible: we demand the release of our compatriot. These accusations of espionage are pure fantasy and there is no reason for them," Sarkozy said at a Tuesday news conference with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Paris.
"Kidnapping and holding French nationals under the pretext of espionage, no one can accept this."
9:41 AM ET -- Iran opposition: "The wave of arrests should end."
Iranian opposition leaders urged the authorities to release people arrested following a disputed presidential election last month, and criticized the "security state" imposed in Iran, a website said on Tuesday.
"Mehdi Karoubi, Mirhossein Mousavi and (former president Mohammad) Khatami met on Monday and underlined the importance of ending the imposed security state in the country and also demanded the immediate release of detained protesters," defeated candidate Mousavi's website reported. [...]"The continuation of arrests and the imposed security state will lead to a more radicalized political atmosphere," they said, adding that the "wave of arrests should end."
9:40 AM ET -- Freedom vs. Firewalls. The Washington Post calls on the Senate to support Internet freedom.
9:11 AM ET -- Israel declines to ask U.S. for okay to bomb Iran. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top deputies have not formally asked for U.S. aid or permission for possible military strikes on Iran's nuclear program, fearing the White House would not approve, two Israeli officials said. One senior Israeli official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, told The Washington Times that Mr. Netanyahu determined that 'it made no sense' to press the matter after the negative response President Bush gave Mr. Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, when he asked early last year for U.S. aid for possible military strikes on Iran."
8:35 AM ET -- Obama on Iran. President Obama has been doing a series of interviews during his time in Moscow, and he's taken several questions on Iran. No major news it seems, but here's the gist of his comments, from his interview with ABC's Jake Tapper:
Mr. Obama said that Iran's "governing elites...are going through a struggle that has been mirrored painfully and powerfully on the streets." He said that "the fact that we have both said we are willing to work with Iran -- at the same time as we have been very clear about our grave deep concerns with respect to not just the violence, not just the detentions that have taken place -- has created a space where the international community can potentially join and pressure Iran more effectively than they have in the past."
That said, the president said that it was too early to declare the policy successful."Ultimately we're going to have to see whether a country like Russia, for example, is willing to work with us to apply pressure on Iran to take a path toward international respectability as opposed to the path they're on. That's not something we're going to know the results of for several more months as we continue to do the hard diplomatic work of putting this coalition together to tell Iran: 'Make the better choice. '"
Useful Resources
Translations: Google Translate | TehranBroadcast.com | Translate4Iran
Helping Iranians use the web: Haystack | Tor Project (English & Farsi) | IranHelp.org (Farsi)
Demonstrations: Facebook | Sharearchy | WhyWeProtest
Activism: Avaaz.org | National Iranian American Council
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First Posted: 07- 7-09 08:35 AM | Updated: 08- 7-09 05:12 AM