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Friday's Iran Live: An Ahmadinejad Election Comeback?
Tehran Mayor Qalibaf1647 GMT: Economy Watch
The opposition site Kalemeh claims that the price of meat has risen up to 60% since Iranian New Year in mid-March.
Images of Thursday's rally --- reportedly backing President Ahmadinejad and his would-be successor --- in Tehran's Azadi Stadium
2115 GMT: Nuclear Watch: No New Dates for IAEA Talks?
An "Iranian source close to Iran's nuclear negotiator" has said that no agreement has been reached between Iran and the IAEA over when the next round of talks will take place, Fars News, close to the Revolutionary Guards, reports.
The source said Iran has discussed the matter with the IAEA but as yet no agreement has been reached over the timing of the next round of discussions.
1749 GMT: Election Watch
Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani, in a veiled attack on President Ahmadinejad, has warned about the misuse of public resources for election purposes: "Unfortunately, some of the actions are carried out either by means of state budgets."
Larijani continued, "It is illegal to use government resources for election purposes," and he called on the Guardian Council to "intensify their supervision".
Critics of President Ahmadinejad have accused him of building up staffs in favourable Government office and using funds to back his chosen candidate in June's Presidential election. They have also condemned an event in Tehran's Azadi Square tomorrow as a campaign rally for Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.
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1957 GMT:Economy Watch The International Monetary Fund reports that Iran's economy contracted by 1.9% in 2012 and predicted it will shrink by 1.3% this year.
The IMF said the Iranian economy will grow in 2014 by 1.1%.
The report declared, "The macroeconomic environment is likely to remain difficult, given the sharp depreciation of the currency and adverse external conditions, which would sustain inflation at relatively high levels."
The Supreme Leader's "2+1 Committee": Ayatollah Khamenei's aide Ali Akbar Velayati, leading MP and Supreme Leader relative Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, and Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf
1035 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Egyptian Edition). Is this a sign of Tehran's disappointment that developments in Cairo have not gone quite as hoped since the fall of President Mubarak in February 2011?
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said today, “If we want the Iran-Egypt ties to officially reach a favorable level, which is expected by the people of both countries, we should have patience."
The spokesman continued, “It has been declared by Iran on numerous occasions that we have no restrictions on establishing ties with Egypt and that we are ready to resume the relations, but the internal situation in this country (Egypt) is not yet prepared."
Soon after Mubarak's downfall, the Supreme Leader declared that Egypt was at the centre of an "Islamic Awakening", following the model of the 1979 revolution in Iran, but political ties have not developed as quickly or as closely as Tehran hoped.
Even the limited step of encouraging tourism has run into trouble this month, with flights of Iranians into Egypt halted almost as soon as they began amid protests by Egyptians.
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Friday's Iran Live: Ex-President Rafsanjani's Camp Makes Its Election Move
1905 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Billionaire businessman Babak Zanjani has shrugged off his sanctions black-listing by the US Treasury on Thursday.
Zanjani, who was also named by the European Union in December for being a "facilitator of oil deals", said, "We haven't had any problems in our business since the EU ban. Actually, business is much better since December. Sanctions have provided publicity for us."
Iran Feature: The Week in Review --- Threats and Arrests Before the Presidential Election
Thursday's Iran Live: Ahmadinejad "Presidential Election Will Be Political Epic"
1407 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Mohammad Hassan Asfari of Parliament's National Security Commission has said that a proposed festival in Azadi Stadium in Tehran is a gathering of Ahmadinejad which is an abuse of public funds and is illegal.
1253 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. In today’s sermon, Ayatollah Movahedi Kermani warned Presidential candidates that loyalty to the Supreme Leader is a vital prerequisite for the position, stating that the Presidency is not a position of personal power but a “trusteeship of the divine”.
He also offered his sympathies for those affected by Wednesday’s earthquake in Bushehr Province that killed at least 37 people and injured hundreds more.
With a Presidential election season on the horizon, speculation begins about likely candidates while officials create an atmosphere of insecurity with rumours and fear-mongering.
Civil society actors in Khuzestan are rounded up. The family of a former framer of the Constitution is told that there can be no public gathering for his funeral.
The Minister of Education has lobbied for segregated university classrooms leaving some asking, “What’s next? Divided hallways?”
Economic woes are nothing new in Iran with inflation at 31.5%, yet the market is flooded with cheap fruit.
The country now has the second-highest rate of traffic fatalities.
1900 GMT: Technology Update. Tabnak, close to presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, slammed Western news reports on Ali Razeghi, the Iranian scientist who claims to have invented a 'Time Machine'.
The Western media did not believe in the invention and "in most cases ridiculed it," Tabnak said.
Tabnak -- which publishes daily reviews of the Western press's reporting on Iran -- took particular issue with the UK's Daily Telegraph, criticizing the paper for publishing just selected quotes from an interview with Razeghi.
The UK's Independent also came under fire, with Tabnak accusing it of questioning Iranian technological advances, including its new Ghaher-313 stealth fighter jet and its sending a monkey into space.
A vision of the nuclear talks, 40 years from now
1745 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Labour activists Khaled Hosseini, Vafa Ghaderi, and Hamed Mahmoudnejad have been released from prison.
1705 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Writers Association members and friends of detained blogger and physician Mehdi Khazali have launched a fast, coinciding with the 100th day of Dr. Khazali’s hunger strike.
Khazali, the son of a famous Ayatollah, has been arrested on several occasions, most recently in October 2012.
Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 6:57