LATEST: Supreme Leader Calls for “Respectful” Press

Using the crisis in Ukraine, the Tehran Friday Prayer leader warned the US not to “meddle” in Iran’s internal affairs.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, said, “The Americans should now understand that actions against nations and revolutions will not always benefit them and that they should not unseat a popular ruler to install their own stooge.”

The cleric, who also used Egypt as a case — “They removed the President (Mohamed Morsi) and many innocent people were killed in the streets” — assured that the US would suffer “adverse consequences” if it persisted.

Supreme Leader Calls for “Respectful” Press

The Supreme Leader has answered criticism of Iran’s suppression of press freedom with a call via Twitter for the media to be responsible:

Several publications, most of them reformist, have been suspended in recent months. The editors of some of them have been detained.

Friday Prayer Leader “Access to Facebook Opens Floodgates to Islam’s Enemies”

Mashhad Friday Prayer Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda denounced Communications Minister Mahmoud Vaezi for comments about making Facebook accessible for Iranians.

“Unfortunately, if what he said is true, this means the floodgates will be opened to the enemies of Islam and their culture,” said Alamolhoda.

Culture Minister Ali Jannati has also spoken about opening up Facebook and other social media to the public, but the Rouhani Government has been pushed back by hardline warnings.

Hardline Opposition Cleric: Western-Educated Politicians Responsible for “Cultural Diversions”

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, the hardline leader of the Endurance Front, has found a new line of attack against the Rouhani Government: politicians who studied at Western universities are dangerous.

Mesbah Yazdi said, “Those who were educated in England, the United States, and France are responsible for the country’s most important cultural diversions, because their intellectual thought process is formed in those countries.”

President Rouhani has a law degree from Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is a graduate of the University of Denver, and other ministers have studied in the US or Europe.

The Endurance Front has stepped up its criticism of the Government, especially on cultural matters, and is expected to challenge for seats in the next Parliamentary elections.

A Sign of Trouble in the Nuclear Talks?

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization, said on Friday that Iran has not accepted the conversion of the Arak heavy-water reactor to a light-water facility.

Iranian officials, including Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi, have been saying that a “re-design” of Arak was possible.

The US and European powers, currently in high-level negotiations with Tehran, have been insisting that Arak — due on-line in late 2014 — be modified to reduce the risk of plutonium by-product. They say the plutonium could be used in a militarized nuclear program.

Iran and the 5+1 Powers resume discussions on May 13 in Vienna, preceded by technical talks in New York.