Iran reformist Mehdi Karroubi’s car ‘fired on’

Iran opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi’s car has been fired on in the northern city of Qazvin, his website reports.

Mr Karroubi, who was in the city for a religious ceremony, was in the car at the time but was not said to be hurt.

The incident happened shortly after he left a house that had been surrounded by what the site called a well-organised group throwing stones.

Mr Karroubi was a reformist candidate in June’s election, and has protested strongly against alleged voting fraud.

Along with the main opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, he has organised a series of mass protests in the months since.

They have grown into the biggest challenge to the government since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The semi-official Fars news agency, apparently reporting the same incident, said that Mr Karroubi was forced to leave Qazvin on Thursday after a group staged a rally outside the place he was staying. Read more at news.bbc.co.uk

China supplying Iran with riot control vehicles?

Riot control vehicles manufactured by a Chinese company may have been delivered to Iran a few weeks ago. The photo on the right was sent to us by one of our Observers and news of the alleged delivery is spreading fast on the Iranian web. We’re currently trying to verify the information.

The photo’s EFIX data shows that it was taken on Dec. 21 2009 with a Nokia N73 – but this digital data can be modified. Iranians web users say, particularly on the site Balatrian, that the photo was taken in Bandar Abbas, a port in the south of Iran. This cannot be confirmed as there is no geographical indication on the image. The number plate on the car in the photo – clearly a French car of the Peugeot brand – is not readable.

Iranian bloggers claim to have found the same model of truck on the company website of Eagle-Sky Co. It appears to be the DES-516B, a riot control vehicle fitted with water canons.

See more at observers.france24.com

Iran ‘takes significant steps in identifying rioters’

Iran’s Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi says his ministry has undertaken measures to identify elements behind Sunday riots in Tehran.

The Iranian minister noted that the information his ministry had gained through the interrogation of those arrested over the last few days, including the identification of individuals who had a role in the riots, was satisfactory and positive.

“The Intelligence Ministry has obtained good clues in respect to the elements who had a role in the recent riots,” Moslehi said in a televised interview on Thursday.

“This unrest is different from that of the past and is a prearranged counter-revolutionary movement, designed by agents of sedition,” he added.

Moslehi’s remarks come in the wake of anti-government unrest during Ashura ceremonies marking the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH). Seven people were confirmed dead in the Sunday protests. Read more at www.presstv.ir

Iran opposition leaders face threat of prosecution

Iran’s opposition leaders faced new threats Thursday with the state prosecutor warning they could be put on trial if they do not denounce this week’s anti-government protests - the worst unrest since the aftermath of the disputed June election.

The warning came a day after crowds at pro-government rallies chanted calls for the execution of the opposition leaders and a group posted an online threat that suicide squads were ready to assassinate those leaders if the judiciary did not punish them within a week.

For a second straight day, government supporters staged a rally wearing white funeral shrouds to symbolize a willingness to die in defense of Iran’s clerical rulers. Several hundred turned out for Thursday’s demonstration in southern Tehran outside the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, state radio reported.

Ejehei said prosecution of the opposition leaders would not be forgotten. Read more at www.lakewyliepilot.com

Washington, 31 December (WashingtonTV)—Iran’s parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, has blasted what he called US President Barack Obama’s “interference” in Iran’s affairs, the Iran Labor News Agency reported on Thursday.

On Monday, Obama strongly condemned the crackdown by Iranian security forces against protesters and called for the immediate release of those “unjustly detained”.

The president also said that the United States stood with the demonstrators, whose bid for justice had been met with the “iron fist of brutality” of the Iranian government.

Acknowledging that there may be “political infighting” within Iran, Larijani said: “We will not allow Obama to interfere in our internal affairs.”

Larijani, who was speaking in the city of Taybad in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province, said that the principle of the guardianship of the jurisconsult [Persian: velayat-e faqih] was” a factor in the country’s independence and the prevention of dictatorship.” Read more at televisionwashington.com