The Latest from Iran (13 September): Diversions and Selective Condemnations

Demonstrators burn the US flag outside the Swiss Embassy in Tehran today

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2042 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Thirty-one of the 35 nations of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency have voted for a resolution expressing "serious concern" over Iran's defiance of international demands to curb uranium enrichment and its failure to address concerns about its nuclear research.

All six of the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China) negotiating with Iran voted for the resolution. Only Cuba voted against, while three countries, including Egypt, abstained.

2035 GMT: Selective Condemnation Watch. It isn't just the regime leadership playing the condemnation card against "The Innocence of the Muslims" film. Former President Mohammad Khatami has asked the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to criticise the movie as an excuse for warmongers inciting war tween religions.

1955 GMT: Selective Condemnation Watch. The posturing over the Egypt and Libya demonstrations has reached the top of the regime....

The Supreme Leader has demanded, in a statement on his website, that the US punish the makers of the amateur film denigrating the Prophet Mohammad: "If the American politicians are honest that they had no role, then they must punish those who committed this heinous crime and their financial backers in proportion to this great crime."

The Council for Coordination of Islamic Publicity has set up the next showpiece, calling on all Iranians to march in the streets after Friday Prayers.

The Council declared, "The Iranians will vent their fury on the Zionist elements behind the blasphemous act and convey Prophet Mohammad’s message of peace, friendship, and fraternity to the world."

1611 GMT: Currency Watch. Mehr reports that the Central Bank is going to try once again to limit the open market, giving currency traders 15 days to register for permits to operate.

Mehr puts today's open-market rate at 25000:1, while Meshgal continues to insist that the Rial has strengthened to 23880:1.

The Bank tried early this year to shut down "illegal" traders, as it imposed a rate of 15600 Iranian Rials to the US dollar, but failed.

Radio Zamaneh summarises the current situation: "The Ahmadinejad administration will take no action to control the market; instead it attributes the disarray in the market to unknown disruptors, bolsters the rising prices, and hides its own role as the main player in the foreign currency market."

1553 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Mohammad Safarlafouti has been given a 5-year sentence and a 5-year ban from reporting.

1545 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. The President and his right-hand man, Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai have made an unexpected trip to Taleghan in northern Iran, visiting the family of a casualty of the 1980s Iran-Iraq War.

1245 GMT: Oil Watch. Reuters reports --- from shipping data, industry sources, and officials --- that Iran is using a little-known port off the East Malaysia coast to hide millions of barrels of oil from Western sanctions,

The crude is shipped to the tax-haven port of Labuan. It is loaded onto empty vessels, operating under the Panamanian flag, at night to await potential Asian buyers.

The arrangement means Iran can keep its own fleet active, rather than having to use it for storage, and ensure the flow of oil money amid economic difficulties.

1219 GMT: Currency Watch. After a suspension of almost 48 hours in reports, the currency website Mesghal posts an open market for a significantly stronger Iranian Rial of 23880:1 to the US dollar.

That is a boost of more than 2.5% for the Rial since the last update on Tuesday.

1112 GMT: Selective Condemnation Watch. Press TV reports, "A large group of Iranian students have gathered outside the Swiss Embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran, to protest against the anti-Islam movie made in the US which insults Prophet Muhammad."

The Swiss Embassy represents US interests in Iran.

0722 GMT: Currency Watch. The currency website Mesghal has not updated its open-market rate for the Iranian Rial --- 24520:1 vs. the US dollar --- since Tuesday afternoon.

0712 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Canadian Front). Libya is not the only diversion for State media this morning. IRNA featured the Foreign Ministry's call to the "dire situation of Aboriginal Canada".

Earlier this week Ottawa closed its Embassy in Iran and gave Iranian diplomats five days to leave Canada".

0645 GMT: State media continue to ignore the economic problems in the Islamic Republic. That is not news --- we led Wednesday's Live Coverage noting this, and we could probably do the same tomorrow --- instead, what is significant are the stories chosen to fill the headlines.

Three of Press TV's top six "Iran" stories are condemnations of the US-produced amateur film of the Prophet Mohammad, which fostered demonstrations at the US Embassy in Egypt and deadly violence at and near the US Consulate in Benghazi in Libya. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani said the US Government must be held accountable for "insults to Islamic sanctities": "The US politicians’ claims of supporting and respecting different cultures are … a blatant lie." Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini piled o n with “the Zionists’ insults [to Islam] supported by the leaders of the US capitalist system".

There is the bluster of Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Parliament's National Security Council, "US President Barack Obama must apologise to all Muslims of the world and prevent distribution of this offensive film by issuing an immediate order." There is the more diplomatic tone of the Foreign Ministry: "Apart from its legal obligations, the US government has direct moral responsibility to stop this dangerous trend of spreading the culture of hatred and desecration of Islam’s sanctities."

None of the politicians and officials --- at least in Press TV's summary --- mentioned, let alone condemned, the Benghazi attacks and the deaths of four Americans and a number of Libyans.

State news agency IRNA does mention the killing of the US personnel --- as the outcome of the "anti-Islamic policies of Washington".