The Latest from Iran (26 April): The President's Right-Hand Man Launches a Newspaper?

1855 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? Khabar Online reports that President Ahmadinejad and the Cabinet have cancelled a trip to Qom scheduled for this week.

1815 GMT: The Battle Within. Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, a senior advisor to the President, has denied reports of his resignation.

1702 GMT: Budget Watch. Parliament approved the 2011/12 budget by a vote of 149-61 today.

That would appear to be a breakthrough after months of stalemate; however, there were still signs of tension. The 149 "yes" votes were only just over half of the 290-member Majlis, as there were nine abstentions and 71 absences.

Some of those who were absent were pro-Ahmadinejad MPs. The reason for their protest is not yet clear.

1700 GMT: Economy Watch. Mehr reports shock amongst Iranians at rises in postal rates of up to 1000%.

1650 GMT: Rumour of Day. The hard-line Jahan News tries out some disinformation....

The website claims that Seyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Ayatollah, is planning to run for President in 2013. Khomeini has allegedly said he has 30 million votes --- President Ahmadinejad supposedly received 23 million in 2009 --- but has been told by former President Mohammad Khatami that he must first run for Parliament in 2012. Khatami added that Khomeini will certainly head the reformist list in that election and then be in position for the Presidential campaign.

The story is more significant for what it says about hard-liners than what it supposedly reveals about the Ayatollah's grandson. It points to the fear that "moderate" conservatives and reformists will ally behind a candidate like Khomeini. At the same time, it lays the groundwork for an assault on him, following Khomeini's humiliation by Government supporters at the ceremony for his late grandfather in June 2010.

1535 GMT: A Matter of Intelligence. Mohammad Nabi Habibi, the leader of the conservative Motalefeh Party, piles pressure on President Ahmadinejad over the resignation/non-resignation of Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi.

Nabi Habibi said the Supreme Leader, during his high-profile visit to Qom last October, was content with Ahmadinejad's behaviour, but is unhappy with the President over the Moslehi affair. He said it was in the President's interest to remain faithful to velayat-e faqih (clerical supremacy).

1355 GMT: Government Watch. Latest rumour from the conservative media --- now it's Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar who is going to be sacked. Aftabdeclares this from an "informed source".

0930 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, still head of the Expediency Council, has declared in a meeting with workers and labour officials that subsidies should be targeted to cause the least harm to workers and farmers.

0915 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? This is the entire account of State news agency IRNA of Sunday's Cabinet meeting: "On Sunday afternoon, the Cabinet, chaired by First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, met. According to IRNA, Minister of Information Hojatoleslam Mehdi Hayder Moslehi was present at the meeting."

0912 GMT: Headline of Day. "Iran Warns of White House Psycho War" (Press TV)

0910 GMT: Foreign Affairs. Bahrain has ordered a senior Iranian diplomat to leave in another escalation of tensions between the two countries.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tehran reserved the right to take retaliatory measures.

0857 GMT: A Warning to the President. On Monday, we reported the warning of Hojatoleslam Jafar Shojouni, the Secretary of the conservative Society of Combatant Clergy, that the fate of Iran's first President, Abolhassan Bani Sadr --- threatened with assassination, forced to flee, impeached, associates executed --- awaits President Ahmadinejad.

Shojouni is now denying he made the remarks. Unfortunately for him, Rooz Online has put the audio on-line.

0855 GMT: The Battle Within (SMS Edition). Someone in the Iranian Government is sending out, via SMS text messages, secret information from the Ministry of Economy. Included are details of the role of Presidential advisor Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai in oil agreements.

0850 GMT: Economy Watch. Authorities have raised bread prices up to 25% in the second increase in four months.

The deputy governor of Tehran province, Nematollah Torki, said the new price will come into effect on Tuesday.

A loaf of Sangak bread has risen in price from 4,000 rials (about 36 cents) to 5,000 rials (about 45 cents).

Bread prices tripled after the subsidy cuts came into effect in December.

0845 GMT: All-is-Well Alert. The Supreme Leader, in a meetng with the Minister of Interior and commanders of security forces has said that media "should not give an impression of division" in Iran.

0825 GMT: Fashion Watch. Jahan News has deleted its Sunday report on the comments of Tehran Friday Prayer leader Ahmad Khatami, ""Cultural education and work are not enough to eradicate bad Hijab --- blood must be spilled."

0815 GMT: The Battle Within. Leading MP Ahmad Tavakoli has declared that government data on unemployment and economic growth are "lies".

0645 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? (Special Edition). A regular feature on the whereabouts of President Ahmadinejad takes an interesting twist this morning....

With Iranian media noting the President's absence from the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Al Arabiya claims that the reason was because Ahmadinejad was seeing the Supreme Leader to discuss recent political differences.

And the "hard-line" Raja News goes further, claiming the President is putting three demands for his return to work: Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai to become 1st Vice President, the dismissal of Saeed Jalili as Secretary of the National Security Council, and the removal of Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi.

0610 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Prominent journalist Emad Baghi, imprisoned for seven years, has spent his 50th birthday in prison without even a family visit.

Student Amir Gul Sharif, arrested in the demonstrations of 14 February, has been released on bail.

0600 GMT: Worst Economic Statement of the Day. On Saturday night, in a TV interview, Minister of Labor Abdulreza Sheikh al-Islam tried to defend President Ahmadinejad's declaration that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be created for Iranians who work from home.

The minister claimed, "In Switzerland, which is famous in the industry of watchmaking, and exports to the whole world, there is not even one watchmaking factory.....All watches in Switzerland, are made at home, and eventually they assemble them in one place, and based on our studies, there is not any Watchmaking factory in Switzerland."

Switzerland has more than 200 watch-making companies.

0540 GMT: We begin Tuesday with the unveiling of 7 A.M., a new Iranian newspaper/website. The distinction is not in the quality --- the site is sparse, both in look and news, so far --- but in the politics behind it: although the site declares that it has started to advance Iran's "reform movement", critics claim it is an outlet for Presidential aide and likely 2013 Presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

There is a cheerleading story for subsidy cuts heading the page and --- perhaps ironically, given the controversy over the 2009 election and Rahim-Mashai's own political ambitions --- an article on "election reform".

Most of the newspaper is devoted, however, to a defense of the journalists --- several of them formerly with reformist publications --- who have decided to work for the project.

The Presidential aide reportedly applied for licences for seven new magazines and newspapers but, in the political conflict within the establishment, was allowed only to proceed with 7 A.M.