The Latest from Iran (28 March): A Visit from Turkey's Erdoğan

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Sanctions, Human Rights, and Israel-Iran Love
Middle East and Iran Videos: 4 Activists on Women's Rights After the "Arab Spring"
Turkey Live Coverage (28 March): Any Outcome from Tehran Talks?
The Latest from Iran (27 March): The Lull Before the Talks

---

Iran Foreign Minister Salehi Greets Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan2030 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Back from a break to find yet more Iranian firms, connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, sanctioned by the US Treasury....

A day after imposing economic restrictions on several Iranian firms and Guards commanders, for alleged sales of arms to Syria and Gambia, the Treasury sanctioned engineering firms and sanctioned individuals and shipping companies with ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL).

The companies sanctioned include Iran Maritime Industrial Company SADRA, which has offices in Iran and Venezuela and is owned by Khatam al-Anbiya, the engineering arms of the Revolutionary Guards. Deep Offshore Technology PJS, which the Treasury said was a subsidiary of SADRA, was also punished.

Malship Shipping Agency Ltd and Modality Limited and two individuals, Seyed Alaeddin Sadat Rasool and Ali Ezati, were sanctioned because of alleged connections with IRISL.

1520 GMT: Energy Watch. Only a few days ago, Iranian State media were headlining the reassurance that the Iran-Pakistan energy pipeline project was fine despite sanctions, so it is striking that two of Press TV's top 3 "Iran" stories are about problems with the project. One of them leads:

There appears to be a visible decline in the Pakistani government’s interest in the IP project due to mounting pressure by the United States,” Pakistan’s financial daily Business Recorder quoted officials privy to the deliberations related to the project as saying on Wednesday.

Pakistan’s Petroleum Ministry has indefinitely postponed a visit to Iran by Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Asim Hussain that was planned for mid March, after the World Bank approved a $1.09 billion loan for Islamabad on March 20.

While a Pakistani official says the project is not deferred he continues that "the official noted that the Pakistani government may postpone the tendering of the project due to increasing US pressure".

Press TV also notes today's statement by Pakistan’s Petroleum Secretary Ijaz Chaudhry that a Pakistani delegation will seek Russia's financial assistance for the project in talks this weekend in Moscow.

1500 GMT: The Erdoğan Visit. Signals around the Turkish Prime Minister's meetings with Iranian officials....

As my colleague Ali Yenidunya predicted in a Snap Analysis on our Turkey Live Coverage, the Islamic Republic has rebuffed Erdoğan's call to distance itself from Syrian President Assad, even before the Prime Minister has his picture snapped with President Ahmadinejad or the Supreme Leader:

Speaking with Faisal Meqdad, the special envoy of the Syrian President and the country’s deputy foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi said on Wednesday that international and regional parties should avoid hasty, interventionist and unilateral measures in Syria.

According to a Foreign Ministry statement, Salehi emphasized Iran's all-out support for Damascus, saying Syria should pass through the existing security situation, push ahead with reforms, and pay attention to popular demands as a prelude to national dialogue.

The Iranian foreign minister voiced readiness to help the Syrian government and nation especially with the reconstruction of areas damaged in the unrest.

Salehi also told reporters, after he greeted Erdogan on the Prime Minister's arrival in Tehran, that United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan will visit the Islamic Republic next week: “We are optimistic about Kofi Annan’s mission in Syria and we think that support from Arabs, Turkey, and the UN for Kofi Annan’s mission will help solving the crisis in Syria,”

Salehi then warned that any hasty unilateral action that would lead to a power vacuum in Syria could have serious consequences for the region.

1345 GMT: Nuclear Watch. It appears, that as we predicted yesterday, Iran's talks with the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, Germany, France, China, and Russia) on its uranium enrichment programme will open in Istanbul on 13 or 14 April.

The path to Turkey has been far from straightforward, however. It appears that some in the US-Europe camp opposed a Turkish site, feeling that Ankara was too close to Iran's point of view. However, when the Iranians put forth Baghdad as an alternative, "Suddenly Istanbul look[ed] very attractive to US and allies."

1045 GMT: Currency Watch. Foreign exchange offices have again posted "open market" rates on their billboards, after they were commanded not to do so during Iran's currency crisis this winter.

After the Iranian Rial almost halved in value in four months on the open market, the Central Bank tried to replace Iran's five exchange rates with an official level of 12260 Rials to the US dollar. This was supported by a ban on open-market trading, with threats of arrest, and even a short-lived block on currency websites.

However, last week the Central Bank effectively admitted that it could not maintain the official rate, given demand for foreign currency and the refusal of authorised exchange offices to sell.

The Rial stands at 19200:1 vs. the US dollar on the open market today.

0958 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Khabar Online has a question for the President, after his high-profile three-day visit to Tajikistan: why did he not go to China to extend trade relations, as Foreign Minister Salehi announced in January?

0955 GMT: Reformist Watch. In a lengthy interview with Khabar Online, reformist politician Qodratollah Alikhani has said, "I'm still angry about Government lawlessness," while praising former President Mohammad Khatami for voting in Parliamentary elections this month despite the call by many reformists for a boycott.

Alikhani lost his Majlis seat in the ballot on 2 March.

0950 GMT: Economy Watch. Hassan Nazari, the head of the Howzeh and University Research Institute has said that "Chinese imports have seriously hurt domestic production".

0940 GMT: Nuclear Watch. We await news on Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan's talks with Iranian leaders. Ankara's officials have primed the leading newspaper Zaman:

Erdoğan is expected to press Tehran to accept that regime change is inevitable in Syria and to reverse its steadfast support of President Bashar al-Assad....The Turkish leader is also expected to air misgivings about the policies of Iraq's Iran-backed Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, which Ankara says are hardly constructive.

Iran, on the other hand, is likely to seek broadened cooperation with Turkey amid Western sanctions imposed as a means to pressure Tehran into halting its nuclear program. Iran, according to Turkish sources close to Wednesday's talks, wants enhanced economic cooperation with Turkey that would pave the way for large-scale investments in Turkey funded by soaring oil and gas revenue.

Meanwhile, Iran Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said that Tehran's nuclear talks with the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia) will open on 13 April.

State news agency IRNA quoted Salehi, as he welcomed Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, that Istabul was the "best place" for the discussions but "the venue will be announced in coming days".

On Tuesday, a "senior European official" said the talks, the first between Iran and Western powers since January 2011, would begin on 14 April in Istanbul.

0700 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Ali Doulatabadi has announced that "important news" in the case of activist Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former President Hashemi, will be announced on Tuesday.

Yesterday an Iranian court upheld the six-month prison sentence of Hashemi, with a five-year ban on political, media, and cultural activity. She is accused of "propaganda against the regime".

0655 GMT: Not So Fast, Mahmoud. The upper house of Afghanistan’s National Assembly has denounced President Ahmadinejad’s speech in Tajikistan this week, with its criticism of policy in Afghanistan.

Nesar Ahmad Hares, a senator from Kabul, said, “Iran now tells us that we should receive war reparations from the US. But was it not Iran & Pakistan which destroyed our country in the civil war? Why do they not pay compensation?”

0645 GMT: All the President's Men. The Government is waging a loud campaign on behalf of Saeed Mortazavi, the controversial Presidential aide who has been named the head of the Social Security Fund.

In front of an audience of nurses, 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi defended Mortazavi and said, "Now the Government will support you even more."

Mortazavi has been criticised because of the abuses and killings at the Kahrizak detainee centre in summer 2009, when he was Tehran Prosecutor General. A file for prosecution had been built against him, but no charges have been filed.

0628 GMT: Economy Watch. Bloomberg offers a snapshot of the economic situation in Tehran:

Mehdi slams a bottle of Heinz ketchup on the counter of his Tehran grocery store and says it's the kind of item Iranians have stopped buying, after the price doubled in two months.

"People are spending their cash with more caution," Mehdi said. He blames Iran's government, as well as international sanctions, for the inflation that is hurting his business. "It's a crisis in policy making, there's not much thought behind it," he said. "It was obvious from the start that this is what we were heading for."

However, if prices are kept artificially low, amid sanctions and an inflation rate estimated at more than 30%, there are other problems:

Shahram, the head of a pharmacy on Vali-Asr Avenue, says he had to stop stocking items including imported razors and nappies....

"The future of foreign products is unclear," said Shahram, who like Meh-di and many others interviewed in Tehran, declined to be identified by his surname.

"Some shops had stocks and stored them away, thinking that in the new year perhaps prices will increase even more."

Shahram said the prices of locally made drugs "hasn't changed a cent" because they are fixed by the government, and that is hurting his business as costs rise. "When there's inflation and the government seeks to control prices, it's not possible to make profits," he said. "We need to be able to go along with inflation."

A fish seller said the cost of white fish, a tradition for New Year, had risen 50%, while nuts and pistachios, also a holiday staple, have doubled in price.

0620 GMT: A Pause from Prison. Journalists Mehdi Mahmoudian and Ahmad Zeidabadi have been granted a furlough of "several days" from prison for the Iranian New Year.

Zeidabadi, who is also a student activist, was seized days after the disputed June 2009 Presidential election and has been given a six-year sentence with a lifetime ban on political activity and journalism. He has had only one previous leave from his imprisonment.

Mahmoudian, detained in August 2009 after he reported on the abuses at the Kahrizak detentio centre, is serving a five-year sentence. He has been denied leave repeatedly, despite his mother's pleas, since then.

0600 GMT: We begin this morning on the international front, with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arriving in Iran for talks with officials, including President Ahmadinejad, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, and 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.

Iranian State media are vague about the discussions:

Senior Iranian and Turkish officials will...exchange views on mutual relations as well as the latest developments in the Middle East. They are also likely to discuss issues relevant to Iran's nuclear energy. 

Erdogan is also scheduled to inaugurate Turkey’s cultural center in Tehran. 

Observers say the visit by the Turkish premier will likely shape future ties between the two neighboring nations and regional powers that have witnessed significant growth in the economic sphere in recent years. 

However, Press TV does give a couple of important tip-offs in the press release. "Issues relevant to Iran's nuclear energy" refers to Tehran's talks with the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, China, France, Russia, Germany), scheduled for 14 April in Istanbul.

And someone at the Iranian agency slips in this provocative note: "Despite their cordial relations, Tehran and Ankara do not share common views on the current situation in Syria. "