The Latest from Iran (5 March): The Election? So Far, It's a Muddle

See also Iran Opinion: Why Iranians Voted in the 2012 Elections
Iran Elections Snapshot: The #1 Subversive Moment "They're All the Same"
Iran Snap Analysis: Rearranging the Political Chairs --- What Has Changed?
The Latest from Iran (4 March): The Play-Acting of the Election

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1747 GMT: Oil Watch. Industry sources say India's largest customer for Iranian oil plans to cut daily imports by almost 50%.

State-run Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd could reduce imports to as little as 80,000 barrels per day from 1 April, the sources said. MRPL usually buys 150,000 bpd.

The report is further evidence that while New Delhi publicly says it will not comply with US-led, the Indian Government has privately instructed refineries to cut imports.

India, China and Japan buy almost half of Iran's estimated 2.6 million barrels per day of oil exports,

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The Latest from Iran (22 February): Rafsanjani Far from Finished?

1905 GMT: Economy Watch. Iran's Statistics Center has said that the unemployment rate is 11.8%. Among 15- to 29-year-olds, the rate is 23.9%.

Unemployment is higher for women than men and in cities versus rural areas.

1715 GMT: Nuke Watch. More on the tension between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran, after Tehran restricted the movement of inspectors on a two-day visit --- a diplomat in Vienna says that the Islamic Republic asked the IAEA team to sign a document regulating their activists. They refused.

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The Latest from Iran (2 February): Will There Be Protests on 25 Bahman?

See also Iran Caption Competition: What Would a 6-Foot (Cardboard) Ayatollah Khomeini Say?
The Latest from Iran (1 February): Is the Supreme Leader Fretting About Syria?

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2130 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syrian Front). Yet another sign of Tehran's concern at developments in Damascus (see 1435 GMT)....

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran is “astonished and confused” by the failure of the Arab League mission in Syria, blaming a lack of willingness on the part of Arab states for the breakdown.

“The observers went to Syria, where they worked for over a month, presented a balanced report, and they were supposed to continue their mission," Salehi said. “We are astonished and confused. We do not understand why the Arab League halted the work of observers who agreed to continue with their mission and chose to go to the Security Council instead."

Salehi indicated Tehran's reliance on Beijing and Moscow, saying he believes both will continue to support both Iran and Syria in the face of Western pressure. He tried to minimise any differences with Ankara: "Regarding Syria, our Turkish brothers have their own opinions. They want the reforms to happen quickly, not slowly."

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The Latest from Iran (2 January): The Currency is Falling

See also Iran Audio Feature: Scott Lucas with the BBC "The Economy is More Important than the Missile Tests"
Iran Feature: Stumbling and Stalemate over Sanctions
The Latest from Iran (1 January): Let the Campaigning (and In-Fighting) Begin....

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Cartoon: Nikahang Kowsar2045 GMT: Currency Watch. Prominent conservative Habiballah Asgaroladi has warned that Iranian industry "cannot continue to exist" with the rial at today's level above 17000:1 vs. the US dollar.

2040 GMT: Reformist Watch. Rasoul Montajabnia, the deputy head of the Etemade Melli Party, has declared that damaging former Presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami will damage the system and Revolution.

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The Latest from Iran (30 December): We're Tough, All is Well, We're Tough, Repeat

See also Iran Feature: The Bluster That Hides Human Rights
The Latest from Iran (29 December): Ahmadinejad on the Campaign Trail

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A Hovercraft in This Week's Naval Exercises2055 GMT: Sedition Watch. Mohammad Reza Khatami, a prominent reformist and the brother of the former President, has issued a public statement challenging the "false, baseless, and repetitive claims" in the report sent to Parliament, claiming a foreign-backed plot at "velvet revolution" after the 2009 Presidential election.

2045 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Lawyers for Iran’s Central Bank are preparing to file a motion in a New York federal court to release nearly $2 billion of frozen funds at Citigroup Inc.’s Citibank unit.

The assets were frozen in 2008 after a group of 1,000 victims of international terrorism sought the money as partial payment for a $2.7 billion judgement made against Tehran for its alleged role in the 1983 bombing of a Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 people.

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The Latest from Iran (27 December): Election Watch

See also Iran Snap Analysis: How Many Reformists Will Participate in the Elections?
Iran Interview: Detained Mehdi Karroubi on "A Rigged and Forced Election Process"
The Latest from Iran (26 December): The (Dis)Unity of Elections

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1758 GMT: Elections Watch. Prominent reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh, serving a six-year prison sentence, has posted an open letter declaring that he will boycott the forthcoming Parliamentary elections.

Tajzadeh, a former Deputy Minister of Interior, cited the need "to counter lies, corruption, and ineptitude" and "to prevent the establishment of an absolute dictatorship" as well "to control and eradicate poverty, unemployment, and crime". Among reasons not to participate, he mentioned the June 2009 "election coup" putting President Ahmadinejad back in office, the re-appointment of Ayatollah Jannati as head of the Guardian Council supervising the elections, the "illegal involvement of military and security forces", "the illegal house arrest" of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the suspension of reformist parties.

1755 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ebrahim Yazdi, the 81-year-old former Foreign Minister, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Yazdi, the head of the Freedom Movement of Iran, was arrested briefly after the disputed June 2009 Presidential election and again in September 2010 for an "illegal prayer meeting".

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The Latest from Iran (19 December): And Now A Spy Story....

Iranian State TV's presentation of the US "spy", Amir Mirzaei Hekmati

See also Iran Special: The Battle Within --- Ahmadinejad v. Rafsanjani in 5 Scenes
The Latest from Iran (18 December): Ahmadinejad Throws Down Another Challenge

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2125 GMT: Spy Watch. The father of Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, the Iranian-American accused by Tehran of espionage (see 0725 GMT), has said the allegation is "absolutely, positively" wrong: "My son is no spy. He is innocent. He's a good fellow, a good citizen, a good man. These are all unfounded allegations and a bunch of lies."

Ali Hekmati said his son did join the military in 2001 --- as the Iranians claimed --- but served the U.S. Marines, not the Army, and worked in linguistics as an Arabic translator, not in military intelligence. He added that Amir Hekmati never did any intelligence work for the Pentagon or the CIA and that, after the military, he went to work for a private security contractor.

The Hekmati fmaily first reported Amir's arrest in September. Ali Hekmati said that he had not been able to see his son, who was only allowed a couple visits by his Iranian grandmothers and who has not been provided a lawyer. US officials have requested access but have yet to received approval.

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The Latest from Iran (18 December): Ahmadinejad Throws Down Another Challenge

2050 GMT: Spy Watch. State television has displayed an American-Iranian, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, accused of being spies for the US.

Hekmati said that he had served with US military intelligence in Afghanistan and Iraq, working with the Army's "Advanced Research and Information Center", which "took money from the CIA to certain movies and games designed to change public opinion in the Middle East".

Hekmati "confessed", "[The] plan [of US intelligence] was to initially burn some valuable information, to give it free so that (Iran's) Intelligence Ministry would see the good things and then would contact me."

Iranian State TV showed a card with writing in English identifying the bearer as an "army contractor" and several photos claimed to be of Hekmati. In some, he was in military uniform with US army officers.

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