LATEST: Rafsanjani Hits Back In His Battle With Hardliners

Amid uncertainty over the state of the nuclear talks with the 5+1 Powers, Iran’s officials have warned Western counterparts that they should “get ready for tough decisions”.

The discussions for a comprehensive agreement face a November 24 deadline, when interim arrangements expire. Iran and the 5+1 (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia) are still far away on issues such as the number and level of Tehran’s centrifuges for uranium enrichment; the timing of the removal of US-led sanctions; and the duration of an agreement.

Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi, one of Iran’s senior negotiators, said on Tuesday:

If the westerners are really after settling Iran’s nuclear issue, they shouldn’t seek excuses and should try to cope with Iran’s realities.

If they are to take a hard decision, now is the time; this is possible if they really favor talks.

Iran appears to be preparing for a halt to the discussions on November 24 with no extension of the interim agreement. Last week, senior officials — including the Supreme Leader’s top aide Ali Akbar Velayati — indicated that they would welcome the extension, but the Islamic Republic shifted last weekend, saying there would be no continuation of the interim deal from November 2013.

US officials have said all along that they do not want another extension, following one in July to allow for further pursuit of a comprehensive agreement.

The 1st Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri indicated on Tuesday that the Rouhani Government — despite the President’s declaration that an agreement can be found within the next month — is ready for a breakdown:

We frankly announce that the world should not think that we have closed our eyes waiting for the negotiations to bear results.

We have planned and prepared ourselves for more difficult conditions.


Rafsanjani Hits Back In His Battle With Hardliners

Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has hit back in his escalating battle with hardliners, saying he may run for the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a leading hardline cleric, tried to pre-empt Rafsanjani on Monday by saying the former President — who led the Assembly from 2007 to 2011 — would not stand in the election to replace Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani.

Mahdavi Kani died last week after a four-month coma following a heart attack.

Rafsanjani spoke through “a source” on Tuesday, “If certain people, whom I deem incompetent to be a chairman of the Assembly of Experts, intend to get nominated for the post, I will run for the chairmanship of the assembly.”

The Assembly of Experts selects the Supreme Leader and can nominally replace him.

Hardliners are promoting the interim head of the Assembly, Ayatollah Shahroudi, or Tehran Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Movahedi Kermani to prevent Rafsanjani’s return as chairman.

Editor & Columnist of Leading Paper Arrested for Coverage of Acid Attacks on Women

[UPDATE 1545 GMT: The detained ISNA editor and columnist have been released from bail, according to an “informed source” who spoke to IranWire.]

The editor-in-chief of the Iranian Students News Agency in Isfahan, Zahra Mohammadi, has been detained over the paper’s coverage of acid attacks on women.

The head of ISNA’s society columns, Sanam Farsi, was also arrested. Two other staff were released after they were briefly held.

ISNA has been targeted by authorities after its coverage of last Wednesday’s mass protests in Isfahan and Tehran, which demanded the resignation of Isfahan’s Friday Prayer leader and Chief Prosecutor and the repeal of a Parliamentary law protecting those who challenge “un-Islamic” dress and behavior in public.

ISNA photographer Arya Jafari,, who also provided images to AFP, was detained last week.

Iranian authorities have claimed that “foreign influences” have been behind the attacks on several women in Isfahan. They have denied that the assaults had anything to do with vigilante enforcement of proper hijab and other Islamic dress.

MPs Hand Rouhani Another Defeat, Reject His Nominee for Science Minister

MPs have handed President Rouhani another defeat over domestic issues, rejecting his nominee for Science, Research, and Technology Minister.

The Majlis voted 160-79, with 7 abstentions, against Mahmoud Nili Ahmadabadi, who would also have supervised higher education.

Rouhani had appealed to MPs to support Ahmadabadi to let “universities benefit from necessary consistency and long-term planning as soon as possible”.

However, the Parliament continued its dispute with Rouhani over higher education, having dismissed Science Minister Reza Faraji Dana in August.

Hardline MPs have criticized the Rouhani Government for re-employing professors who were dismissed amid the mass protests after the disputed 2009 Presidential election, as well as reinstating students who were expelled.

In the past week, Rouhani made a series of speeches asking for universities to be free from partisan and divisive politics.