Sean Penn visits Tehran's cinema museum. Photograph: Hasan Sarbakhshian/AP
Actor/activist Sean Penn is in Tehran to report on the Iranian election campaign for the San Francisco Chronicle, the blog Iran Scan reports.
According to Reuters, Penn visited Friday prayers, scribbling away in his notebook. Iran Scan's Afshin Molavi writes:
I wonder how Sean Penn will see things. Will he honestly portray what he sees? Or will he be blinded by his hatred of President George W Bush to fall into the trap many a good leftist falls into: defending the Islamic Republic to take a jab at Bush. Progressives in America consistently fail to side with the forces for democracy in Iran because it might just seem too, well, Wolfowitzian or, worse, Rumsfeldian.
The Chronicle has yet to publish any of Penn's reports, as far as I can see. But as Molavi points out, on the one hand, Penn's presence ensures that more Americans will learn about Iran: on the other, it's worth recalling the last Middle East country he visited was Iraq in December 2002. And we all know how that ended up.
Also in Tehran is Iranian blogfather Hossein Derakhshan, who is visiting his home country for the first time in several years. It's a brave act for a blogger who knows all too well the risks of speaking out. It's possible that Penn and Hoder, as Derakhshan is known, could meet via the networking powers of blogging powerhouse Joi Ito, if the comments on this post are anything to go by.
Meanwhile events in Iran have taken a worrying turn. Sunday's bombings have hardly improved the mood of the campaign - now being described as the closest in the country's history - as it enters its final stages ahead of Friday's vote. Blogger Mr Behi says: "Street bombing is rare here in Iran and I can not personally recall one in many years", while S'can-Iranic calls the attacks "ominous".
