The Latest from Iran (15 August): Ahmadinejad in Saudi Arabia

See also Iran Feature: Facebook and the Earthquakes
The Latest from Iran (14 August): Recovering from an Earthquake

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2045 GMT: Earthquake Watch. Radio Zamaneh claims that the regime, wanting all aid money for earthquake victims to go through its organisations, is blocking the bank accounts of volunteers.

1955 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. About 25 political prisoners have reportedly been released today --- those freed include Nazanin Khosravani, Ali Malihi, Qasem Shole Saadi, Hamzeh Karami, Shahab Dehghan, Amir Maghamifar, and Sarang Ettehadi.

1630 GMT: The Earthquakes. The Supreme Leader's office has announced that it will give 1/3 of the donations sent to Ayatollah Khamenei during Ramadan to earthquake victims.

But the opposition website Kalemeh claims there are problems that may not be resolved by this --- it says the Revolutionary Guards have taken over control in the affected area, grabbing aid from teams providing assistance and leaving people angry about unequal distribution.

1150 GMT: Cartoon of the Day. Mana Neyestani, amid Saturday's earthquakes and reports of the flogging of 14 political prisoners, comments on the priorities of Iran's security forces:

1143 GMT: The Battle Within. Leading conservative politician Habibollah Asgarouladi has criticised this week's attack on Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri --- former Minister of Interior, former Speaker of Parliament, and current advisor to the Supreme Leader --- as he spoke at a religious ceremony.

Asgarouladi also objected to attacks on former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, saying that the ideas of reformers or hardliners should be respected.

1052 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Imprisoned journalist Mahsa Amrabadi has been sentenced to an additional year behind bars.

Amrabadi was arrested in June 2009 and was released two months later on bail of $200,000. She was then sentenced to five years in prison, four of which were suspended, on charges of "propagating against the regime through interviews and reports."

The journalist was also detained for a few days amid February 2011 demonstrations in Tehran, and she was summoned in May 2012 to serve her sentence.

1050 GMT: Corruption Watch. The Statistics Center has reported 4500 cases of financial misconduct by the Government to Parliament's Article 90 Commission.

1043 GMT: The Earthquakes. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, confirming a reversal in regime policy, has said the Islamic Republic welcomes international aid to help victims of Saturday's earthquakes in East Azerbaijan Province.

Larijani made the statement after a tour of the affected area with 10 MPs, declaring that temporary housing is essential for those displaced by the quakes.

Earlier in the week, the Iranian Red Crescent and Ministry of Health had said they would not take foreign aid, as Iran was "self-sufficient".

1035 GMT: The Battle Within. The conservative site Baztab has taken aim at the interests of Revolutionary Guards, Basij militia, Army, and NAJA security force --- the site claims that banks controlled by the organisations have extensive holdings, leaving no equal chance for private firms to compete.

Leading politician Morteza Agha-Tehrani has accused former Minister of Interior Sadegh Mahsouli of paying 450 million Toman (about $380,000 at official rate) "khoms", a religious fee, to the Supreme Leader's office. Agha-Tehrani claimed this is 1/5th of Mahsouli's annual income.

0925 GMT: Sanctions Watch. London-based bank Standard Chartered has agreed to pay a $340 million fine to a New York regulator which accused it of working through Iranian institutions to hide billions of pounds' worth of transactions from the US authorities.

The settlement was agreed hours before the bank was due to appear before the New York Department of Financial Services.

The DFS had said that Standard Chartered had left the US financial system "vulnerable to terrorists, weapons dealers, drug kingpins and corrupt regimes, and deprived law enforcement investigators of crucial information used to track all manner of criminal activity".

0645 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front). US officials pressed claims on Tuesday that Iran is trying to form a pro-regime armed force in Syria.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta asserted, "It is obvious that Iran has been playing a larger role in Syria in many ways. There's now an indication that they're trying to develop, trying to train a militia within Syria to be able to fight on behalf of the regime."/p>

Panetta continued, "We are seeing a growing presence by Iran and that is of deep concern to us. We do not think that Iran ought to play that role at this moment in time, that's dangerous....It's adding to the killing that's going on in Syria."

The Secretary of Defense concluded, "Our hope is that Iran thinks better about how much they do want to get involved. The Syrian people ought to determine their future, not Iran."

General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, alleged that Iran was training a militia "made up of Syrians, generally Shia and some Alawite", called "jaish ashaabi" or "army of the people".

0605 GMT: He may be catching a lot of criticism for leaving Iran amidst the tragedy and turmoil of the two earthquakes and the aftershocks in East Azerbaijan Province. He is unlikely to get much of significance out of the extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Mecca.

But Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did get his picture taken with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah --- see top of entry.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry tried to put down a marker, saying it will not agree to any OIC attempto to expel Syria, claiming the proposal arose because "Muslim countries have not been paying attention to Israeli plots in the Middle East". 

On Monday, OIC foreign ministers agreed to suspend Syria from the organisation.