Die Nachrichtenlage

Die letzten 24 Stunden: Rafsandjani erzählt nichts Interessantes, aber er erzählt es bei einem Treffen mit Angehörigen von Verhafteten, die nächste Klerikervereinigung spricht sich gegen die Wahlen aus, Larijani, der umtriebige Parlamentssprecher, von dem wir in der letzten Woche plötzlich so wenig gehört haben, hat gestern Ahmedinejat in seinem Büro aufgesucht, um ihm doch noch zu gratulieren, die Proteste gehen dezentralisiert, trotz aller Repression weiter! Auch die Mütter der Verhafteten haben sich wieder versammelt.

Enduring America bietet einen guten Überblick:

0600 GMT: The pattern is now woven in Iran: the daily demonstrations continue, scattered and limited in size by the State’s restrictions, but still very present. However, there is unlikely to be high-profile movement until Thursday, with the planned mass march in Tehran.

On Saturday, supporters and mothers of the killed and detained gathered in Laleh Park; at least one prominent women’s rights activist, Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh, was arrested. At Kamran University, a non-violent protest was marred by the reported death of a faculty member shot in the head.

It was a quieter day for opposition leaders, with no significant statements. Support did come from the Assembly of Instructors and Researchers at the seminary in Qom, with their statement calling the Government illegitimate. Meanwhile, a lawyer for jailed reformist leaders said they would be tried on charges of threatening national security leaders.

The regime, including Ahmadinejad also kept a lower profile on Saturday. News continued to be dominated by Friday’s threats to prosecute “enemies” from British Embassy staff to Mir Hossein Mousavi. President Ahmadinejad’s reported national broadcast after the evening news, if it ever took place, has left no ripples. Instead, his rather silly challenge to President Obama — let’s have a debate at the United Nations — filled Iranian media space.

So the most significant intervention came from former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, as he spoke to detainees’ families. This was not a call for open resistance, but a more measured re-assertion that the election process had been corrupted. Rafsanjani’s goal? Continue to avoid a conflict with the Supreme Leader while putting pressure on President Ahmadinejad.