The Latest from Iran (6 February): "The Regime Will Demolish Ahmadinejad"

President Ahmadinejad challenges a Cardboard Supreme Leader

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2120 GMT: Sanctions Watch. President Obama has signed an order tightening the restrictions on Iran's banks:

All property and interests in property of any Iranian financial institution, including the Central Bank of Iran, that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person, including any foreign branch, are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in.

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The Latest from Iran (5 February): The Coup Within --- The Sequel

See also Iran Opinion: Why Do Thousands of Women Want to Be Ninjas?
The Latest from Iran (4 February): Missing the Story on the Supreme Leader

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Rezaei, Qalibaf, Larijani2225 GMT: Security Watch. Writer and human rights activist Yousef Azizi Banitaraf has said Iranian security forces have arrested 50 people over the past two weeks in Arab neighbourhoods in the southwestern province of Khuseztan.

Banitaraf claimed two of the detainees, Nasser Alboshokeh Derafshan and Mohammad Kaabi, were killed while in custody. The arrests, which have taken place in Shoosh, Ahwaz, and Hamidieh, were apparently prompted by youth writing slogans on public walls, calling for a boycott of March's Parliamentary elections.

"The security forces are telling elders of the tribes in the region to bring people to the voting booths, and the young people are opposed to this," Banitaraf said.

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The Latest from Iran (2 February): Will There Be Protests on 25 Bahman?

See also Iran Caption Competition: What Would a 6-Foot (Cardboard) Ayatollah Khomeini Say?
The Latest from Iran (1 February): Is the Supreme Leader Fretting About Syria?

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2130 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syrian Front). Yet another sign of Tehran's concern at developments in Damascus (see 1435 GMT)....

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran is “astonished and confused” by the failure of the Arab League mission in Syria, blaming a lack of willingness on the part of Arab states for the breakdown.

“The observers went to Syria, where they worked for over a month, presented a balanced report, and they were supposed to continue their mission," Salehi said. “We are astonished and confused. We do not understand why the Arab League halted the work of observers who agreed to continue with their mission and chose to go to the Security Council instead."

Salehi indicated Tehran's reliance on Beijing and Moscow, saying he believes both will continue to support both Iran and Syria in the face of Western pressure. He tried to minimise any differences with Ankara: "Regarding Syria, our Turkish brothers have their own opinions. They want the reforms to happen quickly, not slowly."

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The Latest from Iran (20 January): Grim Times in Shiraz

1935 GMT: All-Is-Well Alert. Deputy Minister of Industry Mohammad Ali Zeyghami has assured that Iran's warehouses are full of goods, people should not worry, and imports are backed by Central Bank currency.

1925 GMT: Friday Prayer with a Twist. Lots of Ayatollah Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari's Friday Prayer in Tabriz was the standard rhetoric, for example, the President's South American tour and Occupy Wall Street weakening the US, but he had a twist for the crowd: he harshly attacked the Central Bank for the currency turmoil.

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The Latest from Iran (11 January): A Car Bomb in Tehran

State media Press TV's coverage of the bombing this morning in Tehran, killing Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, deputy head of procurement at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility (video via The Guardian)

See also Iran Feature: The Regime Isolates the Rafsanjani Family
Iran 1st-Hand: How the Currency Crisis Began
Ahmadinejad's Men Strike 1st Blow in the Elections
The Latest from Iran (10 January): "A Big Atomic Bomb Will Come Out"

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2108 GMT: The Tehran Bomb. According to Mehr, today's victim in the Tehran bombing, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan --- scientist and deputy head of procurement at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility --- had met officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who are in Iran reviewing the nuclear operations.

Roshan's driver, wounded in the attack, later died from his injuries.

2058 GMT: Elections Watch. Rasa News reports that Soulat Mortazavi, the head of Iran's Election Commission has asked clerics in Qom to tell people that there is no fraud in the elections and that high turnout is important.

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The Latest from Iran (10 January): "A Big Atomic Bomb Will Come Out"

1945 GMT: Elections Watch. Radio Zamaneh offers an overview of the MPs who have been blocked from running in Parliamentary elections in March. It notes that nine of them --- Ali Motahari, Hamidreza Katouzian, Alireza Mahjoub, Ali Abbaspour Tehrani, Fatemeh Ajorloo, Abbasali Noura, Peymon Forouzesh, Ghodratollah Alikhani and Dariush Ghanbari --- "have all been involved in strong criticism of the administration over the past year".

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mohammadreza Bahonar, said disqualifying government critics among the Principlists from running for office is “narrow-minded". However, Tehran Governor Morteza Tamaddon insisted that the disqualifications were carried out according to the law and in the “interests of the sacred Islamic Republic system".

The nominees have four days to appeal the decision, with the final decision to be made by the Guardian Council.

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The Latest from Iran (8 January): Mr Chavez, Can You Spare a Dime?

See also Iran Photo Special: Snapshots of Life and Living
The Latest from Iran (7 January): "We are in an Economic War"

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2140 GMT: Elections All-Is-Well Alert. Press TV goes over the top in its cheerleading, "Iran Political Groups Debate Parliament Vote": "A number of reformist lawmakers said it's business as usual and everyone is taking part because there are assurances that like the previous rounds the next elections will be free, fair and transparent."

An excess from nerves? Possibly, because in the next paragraph the website undermines its confident assurance, "Principalist political organizations and politicians are also preparing themselves for the elections. They express concern over the consequences of absence of reform oriented forces."

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The Latest from Iran (2 January): The Currency is Falling

See also Iran Audio Feature: Scott Lucas with the BBC "The Economy is More Important than the Missile Tests"
Iran Feature: Stumbling and Stalemate over Sanctions
The Latest from Iran (1 January): Let the Campaigning (and In-Fighting) Begin....

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Cartoon: Nikahang Kowsar2045 GMT: Currency Watch. Prominent conservative Habiballah Asgaroladi has warned that Iranian industry "cannot continue to exist" with the rial at today's level above 17000:1 vs. the US dollar.

2040 GMT: Reformist Watch. Rasoul Montajabnia, the deputy head of the Etemade Melli Party, has declared that damaging former Presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami will damage the system and Revolution.

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The Latest from Iran (1 January): Let the Campaigning (and In-Fighting) Begin....

See also The Latest from Iran (31 December): Where are the Reformists for the Elections?

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1925 GMT: Currency Watch. The head of the Central Bank, Mahmoud Bahmani, amidst uncertainty over the sinking Iranian currency, told the annual meeting of the Bank that $17 billion of reserves had been distributed among non-Government banks from March 2010 to March 2011.

1915 GMT: Sedition Watch (House Arrests & Rafsanjani Edition). The Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, Ali Saeedi, has launched a sweeping attack with a telling admission: "We cannot sentence Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi", held under strict house arrest since February, "because they have supporters, especially among clerics".

Saeedi, talking about the "silent supporters" of seditionists, also slapped at former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, referring to him as the "grey man" within the regime. (An EA correspondent notes that this is a reference to "The Red Eminence, The Grey Eminences" by Akbar Ganji, claiming Rafsanjani's involvement in the "Chain Murders" of the 1990s.

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The Latest from Iran (28 December): Look! State-of-the-Art Torpedoes!

See also Iran Feature: Former Detainee Sarah Shourd "The Plight of Iranians and 3 Decades of US Foreign Policy"
The Latest from Iran (27 December): Election Watch

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2110 GMT: The Battle Within (Literally). More on Tuesday's fight on the floor of Parliament, with the manager of President Ahmadinejad's subsidy cuts, Behrouz Moradi, swinging at an MP....

Moradi, who was expelled by Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani after the fight, reportedly called Parliament a "stable". Larijani has called for the prosecution of the official over the incident.

BBC Persian has video.

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