Iran Live Coverage: "600 Journalists Work With the Enemy"

See also Iran Caption Competition: The Supreme Leader Plants A Tree

---

1809 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Gholam Hossein Elham, a former spokesman for the Government, has complained about the "unfair" interpretation that a State TV documentary about Abolhassan Bani Sadr --- the President who was impeached and fled Iran in 1980 --- was a coded jab at President Ahmadinejad.

Elham said there was no resemblance between the two men, including the implication that Bani Sadr's dispute with Ayatollah Khomeini was analogous to Ahmadinejad's relationship with the current Supreme Leader.

1800 GMT: Economy Watch. A small bit of good news for the Iranian economy....

Mehr reports the $294 million of cars were exported between April and March --- a sharp increase from the $96 million of the same period in the previous year.

Iraq, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan were the main importers.

1430 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Journalist Edition). A series of developments, with more members of the press in and out of prison.

Saba Azarpeyk, Nasrin Takhayori, and Sasan Aghaei have been released.

Mehdi Emami Naseri and Alireza Aghaee-Rad, the editor-in-chief and the political editor of the reformist daily Maghreb. The newspaper had only been allowed to resume publication this week.

Meanwhile, the reformist weekly Aseman and reformist monthlies Tajrobeh and Mehrnameh have been banned.

1400 GMT: Currency Watch. Minister of Economy Shamseddin Hosseini has said the rise in the value of the Iranian Rial over the past week is in part because of "reduced turmoil over sanctions".

More interestingly, Hosseini said the rise was also due to a "vast injection of foreign currency into the market".

The Rial has moved from 38000:1 vs the US dollar last week to about 32500:1.

1240 GMT: Nuclear Watch . US and European representatives at the International Atomic Energy Agency have taken a hard line with Iran in statements today.

Addressing the IAEA Board in a closed meeting, US envoy Joseph Macmanus accused Iran of failing to comply fully with the IAEA: "Iran is inviting further isolation, pressure and censure from the international community, including possible additional Board of Governors action, until it meets its obligations and addresses the Board's concerns."

In a joint statement, representatives of European Union countries had taken a similar line; however, the Swedish delegate has held up agreement on the declaration.

0854 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center interviews journalist Saeed Pourheydar, detained on two occasions covering almost three months in 2010.

0743 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Iranian State media gets a boost from an unlikely source this morning --- General James Mattis, the head of the US Central Command, responsible for Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.

Addressing a Senate committee on Tuesday, Mattis put out the sweeping, unsupported statement that sanctions are not affecting Iran's position on the nuclear issue.

Press TV treats the statement as a testament to the Islamic Republic's strength "Sanctions Against Iran Are Not Working, US Commander Says".

Press TV does not mention Mattis's subsequent statement that, with sanctions failing to have an impact, the US had to keep military options ready. That's the featured line in Israeli coverage: "Only military action will decide the campaign against Iran."

Nor does Press TV pick up these words, which are the headline in the Indian press:

Iran remains the single most significant, regional threat to stability and prosperity. It's reckless behaviour and bellicose rhetoric, characterise a leadership that cannot win the affection of its own people or respect of any responsible nation in the region...

In Washington DC it attempted to kill the Saudi ambassador and elsewhere in the world, as well as in the cyber-domain, raise the risk of Iranian miscalculation that could spark a disastrous conflict.

0621 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Venezuelan Front). Amid the headlines of the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, after a two-year battle with cancer, Iranian State outlet Press TV has a stunning revelation, "Chavez: Another CIA Assassination Victim".

Regular Press TV contributor Kevin Barrett presents the shock findings:

Am I 100% certain that the CIA killed Hugo Chavez? Absolutely not.

It could have been non-governmental assassins working for the bankers.

But any way you slice it, the masters of the US empire are undoubtedly responsible for giving Chavez and other Latin American leaders cancer. How do we know that? Just examine the Empire’s track record.

President Ahmadinejad has sent a message of condolence, looking forward to Chavez's return with Jesus and the Hidden Imam, while ISNA says the Government will declare a day of mourning.

0535 GMT: Press Watch. Only five of the 19 journalists detained since late January are still behind bars, but Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has a warning for the media --- including the dozens of reporters and editors who are in prison, most on lengthy sentences; all those on bail who can be returned at any moment; and those who have not yet been summoned.

Moslehi used a press conference in Isfahan to discuss the recent crackdown, saying his Ministry had identified a group of 600 journalists and “dealt [them] a blow".  He declared that 150 of the suspects are within Iran: “Due to the relations some internal media have with anti-revolutionary networks, identifying them has allowed us to once again break the plans of the enemy".

The Minister was also clear about the immediate reason for his concern --- the plan is to “prevent the sedition before the elections2 for President in June.