Zero for Rafsanjani: It has now been more than one year since former President Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani delivered his last sermon at Tehran Friday prayers on July 17, 2009. He hasn’t resigned as one of the prayer leaders. But the daily Sharq says Rafsanjani himself is reluctant to take part. It might be added that the far right is also more than reluctant to see him take part.

Qomi goes: Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi (photo), is being replaced after 6 1/2 years in Baghdad. Qomi has been the one Iranian official authorized to talk to the Americans in recent years. There is no word on his new posting. He will be replaced by Hassan Danaifar.

Another conspiracy theory: The Iranian media has been filled this past week with anger and tumult over the intention of the United States to deploy troops of the Mojahedin-e Khalq along the Iranian border in the Mount Qandil area of Iraq. That is the area where Iran says Kurdish rebels from the Free Life for Kurdistan group take refuge. Major General Jabbar Yawir, who leads the Iraqi Peshmerga militia, says this report is all nonsense. The news seems to have materialized out of nowhere. But that hasn’t slowed the rhetoric in the Iranian media. It is especially odd that these stories only started up the month after the U.S. Army removed its last troops from Camp Ashraf and turned over everything at the site to the Iraqis.

Man in space: Iran previously announced that Iran would put a man in space by 2024. Now, to respond to the new UN sanctions, President Ahmadi-nejad says he has moved the deadline up to 2019. That should teach everyone! It took the United States 40 months to put a man in space after launching its first satellite. The Islamic Republic is now saying it will put a man in space 10 years after putting its first satellite in orbit. Ahmadi-nejad said the speedup was to spite the UN.

Sturgeon quota down: Last year, the Caspian states could not reach an agreement on caviar export quotas, so there were no (legal) exports. Last week, they reached agreement on exports for the year from March 1, 2010, to February 28, 2011. The quotas are way down from 2008, reflecting the sad state of the sturgeon population. This year’s quotas are 1,500 kilos for Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan combined, 800 for Iran, 700 for Russia and zero for Azerbaijan.

Free at last: The Iranian reporter under house arrest in Italy since April has been freed from house arrest and allowed to resume work, but the charges have not been dropped and he may not leave Italy. Hamid Masumi-nejad (photo) is the long-time reporter in Rome for Iranian state broadcasting. He is charged with being part of a ring that smuggled European weapons into Iran.

Fire on Kharg: A major fire at a factory on Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, has killed four workman. The fire and explosion erupted Saturday evening at the petrochemical complex on the island.

Canada returns the favor: Yet again, the Islamic Republic has lectured Canada on human rights and condemned Canadian police for “brutal and deadly” repression of protesters at the G20 summit earlier this summer. Until now, the Canadians just ignored Iran. But this time, Melissa Lantsman, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, said, “The world watched as Iranians turned out in thousands to protest against the authorities after a deeply flawed election last year. The world watched as Iranian security forces use lethal force against the demonstrators.” The arrested Canadian protesters are now in court. “Canada has a system that affords all citizens due process of law,” Lantsman said., “That is something Zahra Kazemi was never afforded.” Zap!

Prettier panels: Tehran Deputy Mayor Maziyar Hossaini says the city will no longer use those bland concrete sound walls along highways. All future sound walls will have designs on them to make them more appealing.

Detail missing: The daily Kayhan has mentioned disapprovingly that CNN fired a Christian reporter for complimenting the late Lebanese cleric Hossain Fadlallah. It neglected the detail that she was fired by an Iranian-American executive.

Rah, rah, God: Jalal Talebi, who coached the Iranian soccer team that beat the United States in the 1998 World Cup, recently said in an interview: “God helped us beat them.”

One request gets attention: The daily Iran says the fact that US Sen. John Kerry (photo) has sought to meet with Iranian parliamentarians is proof U.S. sanctions have failed and the Americans are desperate. The media have given a great deal of attention to Kerry’s letter to the Iranian Majlis and have treated it like a proposal for official negotiations. But, first of all, senators don’t negotiate; this is just a request for a congressional visit. Secondly, there have been a multitude of letters from senators and congressmen proposing visits. Why is this one suddenly singled out?

Free at last: At the request of the Islamic Republic, the king of Oman has agreed to pardon 102 Iranians languishing in Omani prisons, mainly for illegal entry.

Outflow: Iran has made investments totaling $1.5 billion in dozens of foreign countries, according to Mehdi Rezavi, head of Iran’s Foreign Investment Company. He said they were made in the Middle East, in Latin America and in several EU member states. He did not say in what time period all these investments were made.

Kosovo maybe: The Islamic Republic, which prides itself as the protector of Muslims all around the world, has never recognized Muslim Kosovo’s declaration of independence and has supported Serbia’s claim to Kosovo. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast now says Iran is thinking that over in light of the World’s Court’s ruling that the declaration of independence was legal.