The Latest from Iran (17 February): The Political Battle

See also Iran Feature: Saeed Malekpour, A Web Designer Condemned to Die
The Latest from Iran (16 February): Cutting Off the Opposition, A Year Later

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1903 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the European Union's foreign policy representative Catherine Ashton have welcomed Tuesday's letter from Saeed Jalili, of Iran's National Security Council, proposing a renewal of talks about Iran's nuclear programme.

Clinton said the letter was "one we have been waiting for", while Ashton said she was "cautious" but "optimistic" that talks could resume.

Both women said that they were still studying the reply.

1855 GMT: Budget Watch. Moayed Hosseini-Sadr of Parliament's Budget Committee has claimed that the Government has given 600 billion Toman (about $320 million) of its budget to "unknown foundations led by influential people".

1850 GMT: Elections. Reformist MP Rasoul Montajabnia has claimed that dispute among principlists is not because of ideology or beliefs but because of a struggle for power. He said, "Principlists are a minority that wants to attract the majority via show battles."

1610 GMT: Elections Watch. MP Alireza Mahjoub, the head of Workers House, says the new election law prevents workers from getting into Parliament: “Today, with the additional eligibility criterion that Parliamentary nominees must have a graduate degree, only 1% of the population can actually run in elections, and this is completely unfair."

Mahjoub, who resisted calls for a boycott of March's Parliamentary elections to stand for re-election, said Workers House was not able to find even a handful of candidates because of the new eligibility criteria. He suggested that the Guardian Council should challenge the criteria.

Last February, the Islamic Republic Parliament passed a law requiring parliamentary candidates to have a graduate or equivalent degree and five years of experience in a management or research and education capacity.

1450 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), which handles most of the world's cross-border payments, has said it is ready to implement sanctions against Iranian financial institutions.

The organisation put out a statement, "SWIFT stands ready to act and discontinue its services to sanctioned Iranian financial institutions as soon as it has clarity on EU [European Union] legislation currently being drafted," it said in an emailed statement.

SWIFT, which has never cut off a country in its 39 years, said it was closely following the progress of a bill passed by the U.S. Senate's Banking Committee seeking to cut off Iranian financial institutions.

SWIFT moves an average of 18 million payment messages per day between banks and other financial institutions in 210 countries. Nineteen banks and 25 connected institutions from Iran sent and received some 2 million messages in 2010.

1445 GMT: All-Is-Well Alert. Former Minister of Culture Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, part of the Supreme Leader's circle, has said that six to seven polls all point to a 60% participation in the March elections.

1435 GMT: Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Ayatollah Emami-Kashani takes the podium today, and he is worried about "enemy plots" to disrupt the turnout in the Parliamentary elections on 2 March. He said that “remaining united and avoiding dissension” will bring honour for the country:

For 33 years, they (the West) have imposed political and economic sanctions on us, but, as the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and other officials have repeatedly stated, these sanctions have awakened the Iranian nation and in the end will backfire upon those imposing them.

1415 GMT: Cyber-Watch. The Guardian has picked up on the blocking of pro-Ahmadinejad websites --- noted in EA's Live Coverage --- by authorities. Muhammad Sahimi of Tehran Bureau also has a summary:

Raha Press, a fierce advocate of Ahmadinejad, was blocked for at least two days. Raha Press had reported that Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, the Chairman of the Assembly of Experts and the "spiritual leader" of the Principlists opposed to Ahmadinejad, has been unable to prevent fissures from forming among them. It went on to say that it was likely that Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, father-in-law of Khamenei's son and former Majlis Speaker, may be demoted on the list of Principlist candidates from Tehran. Haddad-Adel has emerged as a strong spokesman for Khamenei and has been widely praised by the Principlists. The report from Raha Press had been removed from the website shortly after it was posted....

Two other pro-Ahmadinejad websites, Me'yaar News and Super Enherafi, have been blocked.

1405 GMT: Food Watch. An overview in The Wall Street Journal of the food situation in Iran offers this information:

As Iranians prepare to celebrate the Persian New Year in March, the prices of bread and premium basmati rice have doubled in a month in some stores, according to Tehran residents.

The cost of lamb is up 30% since early January to 260,000 rials or $21 at official rates (about $14 at unofficial rates), for 2.2 pounds (1 kilogramme) --- hardly affordable for the average Iranian wage of $500 a month, residents said.

Experts don't see Iran spiraling into desperation. Its own agricultural output could fill its most basic food needs. But price inflation, already an annual 20% in early January, has been aggravated by shortage fears tied to sanctions and concerns about a possible military conflict.

Among signs of hoarding basic goods, a Tehran resident said she witnessed shoppers pushing trolleys with boxes of 24 olive oil bottles each last week in a Tehran supermarket.

Kianouche Amiri, a 32-year-old translator, said he was stunned to see shoppers at his local supermarket buying four 44-pound bags of rice at a time. "I have never seen anything like this," he said.

1355 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The "Campaign 99" movement of Occupy Wall Street has produced a video of support for Iran's political prisoners, "The Songs of Windows":

1345 GMT: Ex-Reformist Watch. MP Mostafa Kavakebian, who has presented himself as a leading reformist --- even as he defied calls to boycott March's Parliamentary election and filed his candidacy --- has reportedly declared that he is now a principlist "and proud of it".

1320 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Back from an academic break --- many thanks to Fircroft College --- to find reports of the meetings in Islamabad among President Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts, Asif Ali Zardari and Hamid Karzai .

Most of the substantive coverage is on friction between Zardari and Karzai over the role of the Pakistani military in Afghanistan and talks with the Taliban --- at one point, the Pakistani Prime Minister halted a meeting of the two delegations --- while Ahmadiejad scored rhetorical points: "There are countries that are determined to dominate our region. And they have targeted our region for their domination and hegemony. We should deny others the opportunity to interfere in our affairs.”

0835 GMT: Economy Watch. Ali Agha-Mohammadi, the deputy for economy affairs to 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, has resigned, reportedly because of differences over the Government's handling of the currency crisis.

Radio Farda posts an article about a damning report on the low output of Iran's 400 top companies, most of them Government-run and subsidised.

Faramarz Tofighi, a member of Economy Committee in Tehran, has claimed that the price of housing and food has increased by 44.7% the past year. He said that the labour sector was facing more economic problems because of President Ahmadinejad's subsidy cuts.

Mehdi Mir-Abdollahian, a spokesman for the Tehran Industrial Company Possessors Association, has said that 25% of Iran's industrial companies have shut down, 16% are near closure, and 21% are operating at half capacity.

0830 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syrian Front). Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi has said that, although the majority of Syrians support Bashar Assad, he must carry out some reforms.

At the same time, Makarem Shirazi criticised Saudi Arabia for saying there is no democracy in Syria, saying these comments were very strange for a country which is "far away from democracy".

0825 GMT: Sedition Watch. MP Shahaboddin Sadr --- who reportedly has been barred from standing for the Parliamentary elections, despite leading a faction --- has said that former President Mohammad Khatami, reformist Ayatollah Mousavi Khoeiniha, and Mehdi Hashemi, the son of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, have filed a complaint over a report by Parliament's Article 90 Commission.

The report claims that opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, Khatami, Rafsanjani and reformist parties worked for the "velvet revolution" in their challenge to the 2009 Presidential election.

0810 GMT: Dissent Watch. Opposition figure Ataollah Mohajerani has hit back at Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi, who has claimed that Mohajerani received $18 million from Saudi Arabia to spend on the Green Movement.

Mohajerani, who is based in Paris, said:

I do not seek the overthrowing of the Islamic Republic, nor do I agree with people who have such a mentality. I believe in the Islamic Republic's constitution and velayat-e faqih (clerical rule), but I am a critic. I believe that the Supreme Leader, with his destructive mistakes, harmed the credibility of himself and the position of velayat-e faqih and imposed an illegitimate and unworthy government on people.

Heydari criticised Mohajerani for recently attending the Jonadarieh Conference in Saudi Arabia. Mohajerani responded that "the minister of Intelligence is directly under the supervision of the Supreme Leader", who was "responsible for killing of people and whatever that is taking place in the prisons": “To understand such a simple fact, one does not need to get bribe from foreign countries.”

0530 GMT: After a couple of showpieces --- last Friday's anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and Wednesday's dramatic presentation by President Ahmadinejad of not-so-dramatic news on Iran's nuclear programme --- it was back to the political manoeuvring on Thursday. Various factions set up their lists of candidate and threw charges at other parties, all in preparation for the Parliamentary election on 2 March.

There was one notable exception, however. Ahmadinejad, continuing his strategy of using the nuclear issue and international profile to boost his domestic position, is now in Islamabad for meetings with Pakistani and Afghan counterparts.

On the campaign trail, MP Ahmad Tavakoli, a leading foe of President Ahmadinejad, used a speech at Allame Tabatabaei University to analyse events after the 2009 election.

Tavakoli positioned himself by taking a swing at the challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi, now held under strict house arrest for more than a year, "Although Mousavi has accused Ahmadinejad of violating the law, he himself violated the law."

He continued with a mixed message for the President, "Although I had no option to vote for Ahmadinejad, however I never recognised him as a suitable person. Having said that, I believe that some of the Islamic revolution values which had been forgotten during the Hashemi Rafsananji and Mohammad Khatami Governments were revived during Ahmadinejad administration."

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