The Latest from Iran (17 November): The Regime Mobilises...for Occupy Wall Street

2118 GMT: Rumour of the Day. The hard-line Raja News claims that the President cancelled his attendance of the meeting of gas-exporting countries in Doha at the last minute because of Qatar's support for the suspension of Syria from the Arab League.

2115 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. According to the "hard-line" Arya News, MP Mahmoud Ahmadi-Bighash has asked the judiciary to publish the names of 10 legislators involved in the $2.6 billion bank fraud.

2105 GMT: Press Watch. Rah-e Sabz reports that Parliament has banned critical journalists from covering its proceedings.

2055 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Speaking at the inauguration of the Shazand refinery (see 0728 GMT), the President declared that 100% of oil income must go into people's pockets and not those of foreigners.

Ahmadinejad's statement comes after MPs accused the Government of misplacing billions of dollars in oil revenue, which never make it to the Treasury.

2045 GMT: Unity Watch. Back from a break to find the fencing between the different conservative/principlist factions today amidst the quest for "unity". The "7+8" Committee, the main front for a unified approach for next March's Parliament elections, met in Tehran, while the Islamic Constancy Front, which has held out against discussions with the "7+8", convened in Hamedan.

However, some lower-level members of the Constancy Front, in what may be a feeler for discussions of a common approach, attended the Tehran gathering.

1445 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Masoud Sepehr, a member of the reformist Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, has been arrested.

1145 GMT: Threat of the Day. The Supreme Leader's representative with the Revolutionary Guards, Ali Saeedi, has told the "Basij and Media" conference that those who protested after the 2009 Presidential election are like the "terrorist" Mujahedin-e-Khalq and are "mahdour-od-dam" --- "their blood can be shed freely".

1045 GMT: Nuke Watch. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the senior Iranian official on a publicity tour of New York, explains to CNN's Piers Morgan that Tehran is not pursuing nuclear weapons:

0940 GMT: In the Classroom. The head of Parliament's Education and Research Commission has said 30,000 retired teachers have received no pensions for eight months.

0930 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? President Ahmadinejad and members of his Cabinet are meeting people this morinng at a rail station in southern Tehran. We await details.

Meanwhile, the "7+8" Committee pursuing conservative/principlist unity has scheduled a large gathering for 1:30 p.m., with Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, the head of the Assembly of Experts, Mashhad Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Alamolhoda, and the Supreme Leader's advisor Ali Akbar Velayati attending.

0750 GMT: All-is-Well Alert. A selection of reassurances from Mohammad Javad Larijani of Iran's judiciary as he gives interviews in New York....

On the situation of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the opposition figures held under strict house arrest for nine months without a public explanation of the charges: "No one is currently under house arrest without trial or judicial order. Everyone is safe....Mousavi and Karroubi called people out on the streets who committed violence. Their crime occurred because democracy comes out of the ballot box rather than bringing people into the streets."

On the situation of imprisoned attorneys like Nasrin Sotoudeh, serving a six-year prison sentence with a 20-year ban on practice of law: "No lawyer is imprisoned in Iran. The person who has been arrested is charged with terrorist activity and support of terrorist groups. It is logical that the country deal with terrorists."

On the report of the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights: "We expected the report to be prepared professionally. But it was just copy and paste. If a human rights report is written this way, I can write a 170-page report for you."

0740 GMT: Cartoon of the Day. Maya Neyestani illustrates the contest between Iran and its international foes:

0728 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? On Wednesday, President Ahmadinejad christened the extension of a large refinery in central Iran as the Ministry of Oil declared that the project would double output.

The ministry's website pronounced, "Today units 12 and 33 of Shazand development projects were inaugurated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad....The gasoline production of this refinery will reach from 4 million litres per day to 8.3 million."

Ahmadinejad proclaimed, "We have almost reached self-sufficiency in designing and engineering of refineries and oil facilities."

In 2010 the European Union banned sales of gasoline to Iran, which had been importing 30 to 40% of its consumption.

0720 GMT: Nuke Watch. Turkey has rebuffed Tehran's move to ease criticism of its atomic programme, rejecting an Iranian offer of co-operation over the construction of nuclear power plants.

Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz told journalists, "Iran is an important neighbouring country. We have oil and gas trade, but cooperation in the area of nuclear power stations is not currently on our agenda."

Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior official in Iran's judiciary, said in New York on Tuesday that Iran was willing to share its nuclear technology with neighbouring countries.

0715 GMT: A Political Prisoner's Challenge. Mostafa Tajzadeh, the prominent reformist sentenced to six years in prison, has declared that the Revolutionary Guards' intervention in politics, economy, and culture is a sign of the "complete deviation" within the Iranian system.

0700 GMT: We start this morning with another propaganda special in the regime's response to "foreign intervention", as well as its claim of an Islamic Awakening sweeping the world. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the head of the Basij militia, has said that 250,000 members will be mobilised across five province to support Occupy Wall Street.

Earlier this month, the Basij launched the website "Wall Street Fall", in Persian and English, to chronicle the collapse of the American system.