The Latest from Iran (29 September): Decline and Punishment

1800 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The US Government has asked Japan to completely withdraw from the Azadegan oil development field in southwest Iran, according to Yomiuri Shinbun. 

Japanese officials as saying that Washington wants the Inpex Corporation, which has a 10% stake in the field, to leave Iran. If it does not, it could be targeted for unilateral US sanctions.

Toyota Motors withdrew from Iran in June to avoid US sanctions.

1750 GMT: The Battle Within. And another analyst joins in (see 1235 GMT): Reza Aslan says, "[Ahmadinejad] is going home to a country in political turmoil, an economy on the verge of utter collapse, and a government in total deadlock."

1740 GMT: Yes, I Guess Social Media Really is Unimportant. In the context of this week's discussion on EA on social media and activism, I found that interesting....

Iranian state-controlled television is calling Facebook and Twitter the "hidden enemies" of Iran, used by Western intelligence agencies to recruit new members and gather data on individuals. Mardomak has posted a video.

1625 GMT: A Message in the Denial? Iran’s Chief of Security Forces, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, has announced that the recent murder of a physician in Tehran is in no way connected with the Kahrizak Detention Centre.

Ahmadi Moghaddam said Doctor Abdolreza Soudbakhsh had no political background and there are no indications that his murder is linked to political matters. He added that the police are still investigating the murder.

Opposition websites have claimed that Soudbakhsh, assassinated by an attacker on a motorcycle last week, had been pressured by officials to alter the causes of death of detainees killed in Kahrizak.

Ahmadi Moghaddam also claimed that Iran's police had been ordered not to "physically extract confessions".

1615 GMT: The Kahrizak Fallout. A significant message from the families of the three Iranian detainees officially acknowledged to have been killed by post-election torture in the Kahrizak detention centre: they have called for the prosecution of the true perpetrators of the events, rather than the execution of the two guards sentenced to death in the cases.

The announcement was issued by the families of Mohsen Ruholamini, Mohammad Kamrani,and Amir Javadifar, who said that “a significant section of the officials” had been very “supportive” of their efforts but “a small but powerful group has been after covering up this horrendous crime and relieving the true perpetrators from the talons of justice." The families are "calling for the prosecution of the true perpetrators of the crime whose official and unofficial immunities are tumbling down".

The message is important for two reasons on the political front. First, it indicates the frustration of families that no further action has been taken against three officials, including Presidential aide and former Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi, suspended from their duties over the affair. Second, the announcement underpins continued division within the Iranian establishment: the father of Mohsen Ruholamini is a close advisor to former Presidential candidate and Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei.

1535 GMT: Currency Watch (It's All Going to Be OK). On the heels of the news that Iran's Central Bank is going to deal with the value of the toman by putting unlimited amounts of gold and foreign currency on the market, the head of the bank, via Fars, reassures that Iran's gold reserves are at their highest point in 50 years.

1530 GMT: Currency Watch. Mehr, in another indication of pressure on Iranian currency, reports that Iran's Central Bank will inject unlimited amounts of gold and foreign currency into the market.

1245 GMT: Currency Watch. Peyke Iran reports that Iran's toman is trading at 1220:1 against the dollar today --- it was high as 1300:1 on Tuesday, with Iran's Central Bank injecting funds in search of stability --- and 1600:1 against the euro. The website claims the Central Bank is no longer issuing dollars.

1235 GMT: The Battle Within. Two more analysts catch up with EA's months-long coverage of the developing political tensions within Iran. Cliff Kupchan and Jonathan Tepperman write at Foreign Policy:

The president's performance distracted attention from where the really interesting action was taking place: in Tehran, where a possibly game-changing battle within the conservative elite has intensified in recent weeks. The tensions between clerics and pragmatic conservatives on the one hand and Ahmadinejad and his allies on the other has been brewing for some months, but recently reached a fever pitch.

It's a shrewd piece, albeit one which is locked into a nuclear-first and Washington-first view of what happens in Tehran:

In the short term...the chaos will complicate relations between Washington and Tehran. For all his anti-Western rhetoric, Ahmadinejad has actually been one of the Iranian politicians to call most loudly for talks with the United States on Iran's nuclear program. But pragmatic conservatives will now do all they can to torpedo any outreach to the Great Satan, lest the president claim credit for a breakthrough. That means the chances of negotiation over Iran's advancing weapons program --- never high at the best of times --- have just gotten a little bit worse.

1150 GMT: Spreading the Word on Sedition. Press TV English is now posting Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi's claim of $17 billion spent by "the enemy" in an attempt for regime change.

1140 GMT: Parliament v. Government. Almost 30 members of Parliament have filed a demand for the impeachment of Minister of  Education Haji Babaie.

1135 GMT: The Attack on Karroubi. Mehdi Karroubi's website Saham News claims it has identified another attacker in the five-night siege of the Karroubi house at the start of September. The assailant is Hassan Aminian, an employee in the offices of Shemiranat County in Tehran Province.

1130 GMT: Strike Update. Reports indicate the gold bazaars of Tehran, Zanjan, Urumiyeh, and Shiraz are still closed.

1110 GMT: School's Back (Unless You're in Prison). A list has been posted of more than 70 students who are in jail at the start of the new academic year. 

1100 GMT: Sedition Update: Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi plucks the latest figure from the air for alleged efforts at a velvet coup: the enemy spent $17 billion, and he has a document to prove it. 

0845 GMT: Punishment. William Yong of The New York Times parallels our coverage of the regime's escalation of prison sentences, noting the three years for journalist Isa Saharkhiz and 19 1/2 years for blogger Hossein Derakhshan.

0740 GMT: Must Watch More Carefully. Rah-e-Sabz adds another article on its story of how the Revolutionary Guard is re-structuring its Intelligence Bureau.

0730 GMT: We begin this morning with an analysis by Scott Lucas linking two developments, the escalating economic crisis and the regime's escalating punishments of reformists and dissidents.

And, as we write, we get further information backing up that assessment. The gold market in the Qom Bazaar closed for the third day in a row on Tuesday. And iron sellers in the Tehran and Zanjan Bazaars have reported joined the latest strike, sparked by a dispute over value-added tax. 

However, if you want a diversion from this economic news, the regime is happy to serve. On Tuesday, Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi was declaring that three squadrons of "flying boats" --- single-pilot seaplanes made in Iran --- had been delivered to the navy of the Republican Guards.

With apologies to Mr Vahidi, we prefer to spend a moment following up the news from an EA reader of a Persian rap song linking music, politics, and protest.