0725 GMT: After Friday's attempt to mobilise protests against the Israeli invasion of Gaza, State outlet Press TV continues the campaign today, to the exclusion of almost all other news. The top five stories in its "Iran" section are all about the conflict hundreds of miles away.
As he did on Friday, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani takes the lead, with a phone call to his Turkish counterpart expressing concern and condemning Israel and "global hegemonic powers". A Parliamentary delegation said it would travel to Gaza and is consulting with Egyptian officials over entry via the Rafah border crossing, although "the exact time of the visit is not set yet".
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called Hamas' political director Khaled Meshaal to criticise the Israeli attack and offer humanitarian aid. He put out a similar message in a statement to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Yet in all this effort to highlight the Gaza issue, there has been an interesting twist. While outlets such as IRNA, Fars, and ISNA devoted space to the photographic gallery of the Friday rally in Tehran, other prominent sites --- Alef and Larijani's Khabar Online among them --- paid little if any headline attention.
So is there any domestic benefit for the regime, amid the economic and political tensions, from continued promotion of the Gaza situation as a priority?
Posted via email from lissping
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