The Latest from Iran (16 March): The Oil Squeeze

See also Iran Video Interview: Leading Official Larijani on the Nuclear "Grand Bargain"
The Latest from Iran (15 March): OK, Folks, Show's Over....

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2109 GMT: The Battle Within. According to Serat News, the battle over the next Speaker of Parliament has started --- Hamid Rasaei of the Islamic Constancy Front said an effort will be made to force out Ali Larijani as the head of the Majlis.

2100 GMT: Political Personality Watch. It looks like Ali Motahari, the conservative MP who has led criticism of the President, has gotten a boost in recognition from the campaign --- he is second in voting amongst Khabar Online readers for Personality of the Iranian Year.

2050 GMT: Economy Watch. ILNA reports that investors and investment groups withdrew their money from banks after a suspicious SMS about subsidy refunds.

1555 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has assured Danish television:

What is Israel? It is such a small entity …. It is so small that it wouldn't last one week in a real war. Not even one week....If Israel ever makes that mistake [attacking Iran's nuclear sites], it will be the end of Israel....The Israelis are well aware of this.

1415 GMT: Protest Watch. Conservative MP Ali Motahari, continuing his attack on the Government, has declared that "the right to protest should be recognised".

1255 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Activist Kouhyar Goudarzi, a member of the Committee for Human Rights Reporters, has been given a five-year sentence.

Goudarzi was seized last July. His mother was detained a day later.

1145 GMT: Propaganda Watch. Iranian State TV has put out a second documentary setting out the operations to disrupt espionage and subversion linked to BBC Persian:

1130 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Ayatollah Emami Kashani has used the pulpit to send a message to Saudi Arabia --- the people of Bahrain are not against Arabs and Islam, but are just like those who changed regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.

0930 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Government and industry sources have said that Japan, South Korea, and international ship insurers are lobbying European Union officials to relax sanctions against Iran's oil shipments that affect Asian buyers.

From 1 July, European insurers and reinsurers, who provide cover for 95% of the world's global oil tanker fleet, will be barred from indemnifying vessels carrying Iranian crude and oil products anywhere in the world.

China, India, Japan and South Korea are Iran’s top four oil customers, buying more than half of theexports of 2.6 mi llion barrels per day.

A Japanese industry source said that EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss how the bloc’s Iran oil embargo will affect shipping insurance at a meeting in Brussels next Friday.

0440 GMT: We begin with a snapshot from The Financial Times on the economic front, confirming previous reports --- including those from within the Iranian establishment --- of serious issues over the oil industry but offering additional perspective:

Iran’s oil production has fallen to a 10-year low and could drop to levels last seen during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s as sanctions over its nuclear programme disrupt an industry already suffering from years of underinvestment.

The country’s crude production fell by 50,000 barrels a day to 3.38 million barrels per day in February, according to the International Energy Agency. The last time it was that low was in late 2002, IEA statistics show.

Two years ago, Iran's oil production was an estimated 4.2 million barrels per day.