The Latest from Iran (16 October): Prisoners and the Economy

1905 GMT: Currency Watch. Green Correspondents is claiming that Iranian banks are offering European financial institutions a 16% brokerage fee, four times the typical rate, for wire transfers of currency.

1845 GMT: Iranian-American National Freed. A family spokesman says Iranian-American dual national Reza Taghavi, detained in Iran since 2008, has been freed from Evin Prison and will be leaving the country soon.

Tehran accused Taghavi, 71, of passing $200 in cash to an Iranian man linked to the monarchist group Tondar. There was no reason given for his sudden release.

Taghavi's lawyer had asked for the businessman's freedom on humanitarian grounds. His family claim Taghavi has diabetes and was in poor health.

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Iran Breaking: Nuke Talks to Resume?

This was the first clue we had that there might be a resumption of talks between Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, Germany, France, China, and Russia) on Tehran's uranium enrichment programme. From Press TV:

Iran's Foreign Minster Manouchehr Mottaki has flown to the Belgian capital, Brussels, to attend a key gathering of 26 countries meant to look at the impact of recent flooding on Pakistan.

Mottaki will join foreign ministers and dignitaries from the "Friends of Democratic Pakistan" on Friday to urge Pakistan to pledge far-reaching political reforms. 

Co-hosts EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, will also attend the gathering. 

While nothing there said "nukes", it was notable that Mottaki and Ashton, who has been making noises about a return to the negotiating table, are in the same place, as is Holbrooke, who has been a keen supporter of engagement with Iran on regional issues.

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The Latest from Iran (9 October): Threats and Two Responses

1725 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Several students at Amir Kabir University have received a total of 20 years of prison sentences.

Parvin Javadzadeh, arrested after an Ashura procession in December, has been released on $300,000 bail. 

Blogger Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki (Babak Khorammdin), sentenced this week to 15 years in prison, is reportedly in poor health because of a hunger strike. 

1720 GMT: Economy Warning. In advanced of planned subsidy cuts, Mehr warns that prices will rise in Aban (October/November) for seven energy items: gasoline, gasoil, white oil, blast-furnace gas, liquid gas, natural gas, and electricity.

On another front, Mohammad Atarodian, secretary general of employer's association, has said the official figure on unemployment of 14.6% is surely too low, because it counts people as "employed" if they work one hour per week.

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The Latest from Iran (25 September): A Squeeze, a Meeting, and a Nuclear Signal

1115 GMT: Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Activists News Agency reports 1952 cases of rights violations in the last month, including firings, intimidation, and detentions.

1100 GMT: Economy Watch. The Iranian Labor News Agency offers the frank observation, "Some Iranian officials recently confirmed the existence of Mafia [organised crime] in the country’s import market. However the [extent of the] economic monopoly...still remains unknown."

Iranian officials have not announced the names of the "monopolists" but the report says "political activists" presume they are "connected with high powers". 

0650 GMT: And in Tehran. But will the Iranian political establishment back Ahmadinejad as he presses for the renewed talks on uranium enrichment?

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The Latest from Iran (14 September): Presidential Aide Mortazavi to Stand Trial

2005 GMT: Economy Watch. MP Ahmad Hamidi says wheat growers in Isfahan province, who distributed their harvest 1 1/2 months ago, still have not been paid by the government. 

2000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Lecturer Ahmad Ghabel has been re-arrested after his recent claims about mass executions in Mashhad Prison.

1955 GMT: To Lose One Diplomat is Unfortunate, To Lose Four.... Hossein Sobhaninia, a pro-Government member of Parliament's National Security Council, has delcared that more caution is needed in the choice of Iran's diplomats as they will most likely be subject to manipulation by foreign intelligence services.

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The Latest from Iran (13 September): The Revolving Door of Freedom?

2020 GMT: Latest on US Detainee Sarah Shourd. Masoud Shafiee, the lawyer for detained US citizen Sarah Shourd, says that her family is appealing to Iran's authorities to drop or reduce. the $500,000 bail demanded for her release because of difficulties raising the money.

Shafiee said authorities had given no response to the bail request.

Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley said, "The United States government does not fund prisoner bail."

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the Obama Administration is in close contact with the families of the three detained US hikers --- Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal --- and the Swiss Embassy, which represents American interests in Iran.

"The situation is continuing to develop," Vietor said. "We remain hopeful for a positive outcome."

Shafiee said authorities had given no response to the bail request.

2000 GMT: Diplomat Number Four. The Norwegian paper Dagblodet reports that Farzad Farhangian, the Iranian Press Attache in Belgium, has resigned his post and is now in Oslo seeking asylum.

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