Ahmadinejad sworn in as Iran president amid crisis

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in Wednesday for a second term as president nearly two months after a disputed election triggered massive street protests, split Iran’s clerical leadership and brought attacks from within his own conservative camp over mistreatment of detained opposition activists.

In streets near parliament, security forces using batons dispersed hundreds of protesters who chanted “Death to the Dictator,” witnesses said. Some wore black T-shirts in a sign of grief and others wore green — the color of the opposition movement. A middle-aged woman carried a banner warning Iran’s leaders if they do not listen to people’s demands, they will face the same fate as Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran frees British Embassy worker

The last British Embassy worker being held in Iran has been released, it has emerged.

Nine staff were originally arrested after the disputed re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the street protests that followed.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was “very glad” at news of the release of Hossein Rossam.

Police tear-gas Iran protesters during prayer

Tens of thousands of government opponents packed Iran’s main Islamic prayer service Friday, chanting “freedom, freedom” and other slogans as their top clerical backer Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a sermon bluntly criticizing the country’s leadership over the crackdown on election protests.

Outside, police and pro-government Basiji militiamen fired tear gas and charged thousands of protesters who chanted “death to the dictator” and called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to resign. Dozens were arrested, piled in trucks and taken away, witnesses said.

Seven photographers arrested in Iran since start of protests

Reporters Without Borders is very concerned about a crackdown in recent days on photographers and cameramen. At least eight have been arrested including Said Movahedi, a cameraman with French and Iranian dual citizenship.

“The Iranian government fears images and has embarked on a manhunt for photographers and cameramen in an attempt to ensure that no professional photos or video gets out of the country,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Without quality images, the opposition protests and the constant crackdowns will not be reported in Iran or abroad. That would be a failure for all those who defend media freedom.”

What Comes Next For Iran?

The Iranian crisis came like a bolt out of the blue. Neither Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei nor the outside world could have predicted that the presidential election would result in the deepest political and institutional crisis in the history of the Islamic republic.

But although the crisis arose suddenly, it was in fact the result of a protracted internal power struggle and growing popular frustration with more than 30 years of often-brutal repression. Understanding Iran is easier if you keep some facts in mind.

Iran And Honduras; a shameful double standard

The double-standard applied by most of the world’s leaders, including Canada’s and America’s, responding to political unrest in Iran and Honduras respectively over recent weeks, is dismaying.

After an estimated 40 million hand-marked ballots in last month’s Iranian elections purportedly got counted in the first 120 minutes after the polls closed, before a landslide victory was declared for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, puppet mouthpiece for that country’s clerical thuggocracy, most diplomats, government leaders and the mainstream news media proceeded as if those election “results” were believable fact rather than audacious fiction.

Iran opposition leader to attend Friday prayers

Iran’s opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi will attend Friday prayers this week in his first official public appearance since last month’s disputed election, a statement on his website said.

Mousavi’s statement, posted late on Wednesday, confirmed a media report earlier this week that he would attend the prayers at Tehran University to be led by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a rival of re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad to take oath in August

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will take the oath of office before parliament in early August following his hotly-disputed re-election, the ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

The hardline Ahmadinejad will be sworn in as the 10th president of the Islamic republic between August 2 and 6 after being confirmed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and will then unveil his new cabinet, it said.

Iran to offer West ‘new package’

Iran’s government says it is preparing a new package of proposals to put to the West.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said it would concern “political, security and international issues”.

He was speaking in Tehran hours after G8 leaders said they were appalled at Iran’s disputed presidential election.

World leaders delay Iran crunch-time

Iran may have been hauled over the coals by the G8 but world leaders have effectively delayed a full confrontation with Tehran over its disputed election and nuclear programme until September.

In a joint declaration at an ongoing summit in Italy, leaders expressed “serious concern” over the violence which followed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election last month as well as remarks by the controversial president that the Holocaust was a myth.