The Latest from Iran (4 October): When You Know A Bank Fraud is Serious....

2030 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Mardomak offers a summary of the President's interview on State TV tonight....

Ahmadinejad tried to make the case that he was the way forward for Iran, especially on economic issues. Saying that his provincial tours were to remedy a "weak" and "Western model" bureaucracy with the display of popular management, he declared that his subsidy cuts plan got an "A" grade and there was no 60% inflation. He insisted that employment was on a good path, with a considerable increase in jobs and investments in the first half of the year.

That is all to be expected, as was Ahmadinejad's assertion that he had out-shone President Obama in last month's statement at the UN --- "Obama's speech was weak, ours was strong and much discussed". What is intriguing is the President's declared persistence in a quest for talks with Washington: he said he was ready for discussions if the US withdraws its ships from the Persian Gulf.

And this may also be notable: there were reportedly "broadcast problems" when Ahmadinejad spoke about his provincial tours and the US.

1855 GMT: Economy Watch. Analyst Fereydoun Khavand takes apart the Government's claims of creating one million jobs between March and September --- no details have been given, and this is "an insult to economists".

1845 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. Khabar Online reports that Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei spent four hours at Evin Prison today, meeting with interrogators of the bank fraud case and questioning some of the 22 accused.

1840 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. The President has hit back at hardliners criticising his leadership and his administration: "The devils accuse us of being deviant; many problems in country are because of them."

1837 GMT: Elections Watch. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the head of the Basij militia, has said his forces will guarantee the security of ballot boxes in next March's Parliamentary elections.

An EA correspondent interprets "guarantee the security": "The election of the 'right' candidates is guaranteed!"

1835 GMT: Reformist Watch. Former President Mohammad Khatami and reformist politician Abdollah Nouri have agreed that the release of all political prisoners, an end of house arrests (such as those imposed on Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi), and free elections are the solution to Iran's political crisis.

1825 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. The hard-line commentator Abbas Salimi-Namin has declared that the Minister of Economy and head of the Central Bank "don't deserve to stay....Our inteligence system failed." He claimed there was "political influence" in the $2.6 billion bank fraud.

1355 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Dr Qasem Shoole Saadi, a former MP, has been sentenced to two additional years in prison, adding to his current 18-month term, for "insulting the leader".

1355 GMT: CyberWatch. A website claims that it can tell if you are "blocked in Iran". A quick check....

The BBC is blocked, but CNN gets through. EA is blocked, but there is no problem reading Race for Iran.

Mehdi Jaafari, the head of intelligence and technology for the Basij student organisation, has claimed 300,000 websites are spreading propaganda against Iran and that 17 million Iranians --- more than 20% of the population --- are on Facebook.

1255 GMT: Elections Watch. Checking in during an academic break to find a note from an EA correspondent: MP Mohammad Reza Tabesh has said the reformist minority in Parliament will decide at the end of the Iranian month of Mehr, in a few weeks, on whether it will participate in next March's Parliamentary elections.

0845 GMT: The Battle Within. Mojtaba Zolnour, the former representative of the Supreme Leader with the Revolutionary Guards, has declared that the President's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai is not the head of the "deviant current". Zolnour said he could not reveal the real head, but he is a "brain tumour in a Government which needs surgery".

Meanwhile, the hardline site Mashregh claims that Rahim-Mashai and 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi have filed complaints against Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, leading MPs Ahmad Tavakoli and Elyas Naderan, and other officials for saying or implying that they are part of the "deviant current".

0840 GMT: Corruption Watch. Iran Inspector General Mostafa Pourmohammadi, caught up in the politics over the $2.6 billion bank fraud, has warned others in the Government: "As there are many corruption and misconduct files remaining, you should keep quiet."

0835 GMT: Academic Watch. Shargh reports that reformist philosopher and journalist Seyed Morteza Mardiha, dismissed from Allameh Tabatabei University, has emigrated to France.

0825 GMT: Currency Watch. Is this an image with a significance? A Tehran exchange office stops posting the rate for gold coins --- the price of gold has soared in recent months, at a rate beyond the global increase, as the Iranian currency has weakened:

0725 GMT: Unity Watch. Seyed Reza Taghavi of the "7+8" committee seeking conservative/principlist unity says that negotiations with the Islamic Constancy Front of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi have been "fruitless" and the ICF will run a separate list of candidates in the 2012 Parliamentary elections.

0715 GMT: Culture and Corruption Watch. Some sharp comments from Nader Karimian Sardashti, the director of research at Iran’s Cultural and Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, as he declares that cultural officials have been sidelined under President Ahmadinejad, appointing people without expertise to head the cultural and heritage offices: "Efforts to preserve and promote the country’s heritage and culture have been severely undermined by Iranian government mismanagement and cronyism."

Both Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai and Vice President Hamid Baghaei have headed the ICHTO.

Sardashti asserted, “The policymakers of this organization have pushed it...toward more...economic activity rather than what it should be." He said it was no longer possible to hold international conferences on iconic Iranian figures like Al-Ghazali or Rumi or to publish papers from gatherings.

0705 GMT: Elections Watch. Leading Iranian political scientist Sadegh Zibakalam offers an overview of the March 2012 Parliamentary elections, predicting a boycott by the reformists and a fight amongst three conservative/principlist factions:

The first group, who Zibakalam called traditional Principlists, is led by [Ayatollah] Mahdavi Kani, the head of Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts, a body made up of leading religious scholars charged with selecting and --- if necessary --- removing the supreme leader.

The second group, he said, would be comprised of supporters of Ahmadinejad and his controversial chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

A third group of politicians, who had previously supported Ahmadinejad would break off from this second camp, forming what Zibakalam called a “resistant front” that would include ministers who were ousted by the president, as well as their supporters in the Parliament. [This probably refers to the "Islamic Constancy Front", led by the President's former spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi.]

0658 GMT: Space Monkey Watch. The latest in our regular series on Iran's attempts to put a monkey into orbit....

Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organisation said on Monday that plans for the blast-off of the monkey have been postponed indefinitely: "One cannot give a set date for this project and as soon as our nation's scientists announce the readiness (of the project) it will be announced."

Fazeli had said in mid-June that a Kavoshgar-5 rocket would be launched "during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogram capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometres (74 miles)". He gave no reason on Monday for the postponement but insisted, "Our scientists are exerting continuous efforts on this project... our colleagues are busy with empirical studies and sub-system testing of this project so it is a success."

In mid-March, Iran's space organisation announced the launch of the Kavoshgar-4 rocket carrying a test capsule designed to house the monkey. The capsule had been unveiled in February by President Ahmadinejad, as Iranian officials said they would put a man into space by 2020.

Iran has successfully sent a rat, turtles and worms above the Earth in a Kavoshgar-3 rocket.

0648 GMT: Listening to the Music. The legendary Iranian singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian has said, during a concert tour in Europe about the authorities, "They will never listen to us, [State broadcaster] IRIB is not the people's voice."

Soon after the disputed 2009 Presidential elections, Shajarian publicly criticised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reference to protesters as "dust and trash". His music was subsequently black-listed by IRIB.

0645 GMT: Corruption Watch. The former mayor and two city councillors of Khorramshahr in southwestern Iran have been arrested because of "financial problems".

0615 GMT: I think this $2.6 billion bank fraud episode just got serious.

OK, a $2.6 billion bank fraud is always serious, but it's really serious when the Supreme Leader has to go on national television --- the Financial Times headlines, "Khamenei pledge on Iranian corruption" --- and say that harsh measures should be taken against those responsible and, at the same time, that the media should not give too much publicity to the scandal.

That is what happened on Tuesday, even as the former head of Bank Melli --- said to be in Canada --- refuses to come back to Iran, as other managing directors of banks are dismissed, as prominent MPs call for an enquiry not only into the financial sector but into any role of the head of the Central Bank, the Minister of Economy and the President, and as the Iranian currency continues to slide.

The Supreme Leader declared, "People should know that such things are investigated thoroughly, God willing ... there should be no mercy on saboteurs and the corrupt,” but many Iranians are reacting with resignation and sarcasm. One invoked Persia's famous king to try and capture the fraud of 30 thousand billion rials, "If Cyrus the Great had saved 1 billion rials every month, he would have owned 30,000bn rials after 2,500 years."

Last night, it was the Iran Prosecutor General, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei appearing on State TV. He asserted that 15 more people will be summoned to court --- 22 are already detained, including businessman Amir Mansour Khosravi, who is reportedly close to the President's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai --- and that the bank fraud was supported by "influential persons".