Iran Live Coverage: The Supreme Leader Admits A Crisis

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Monday's Iran Live Coverage: All-Is-Well Oil Alerts

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2040 GMT: Labour Front. More than 500 workers at the Safa Pipe factory have begun a fourth round of protests over conditions and the delayed payment of wages.

A worker said the demonstration began Saturday after employees were not paid in more than six months.

1940 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Popular singer and activist Arya Aramnejad was summoned today to serve his 91-day sentence.

Aramnejad has been detained on several occasions, including a five-month stay in prison from November 2011 to April 2012.

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The Latest from Iran (11 April): Targeting Ahmadinejad

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1925 GMT: Human Rights Watch. According to MP Fatemeh Alia, Parliament has approved a bill to spend 20 billion Toman (about $16.5 million at official rate; about $10.5 million at open market rate) to supervise human rights violations in the US and Britain.

1835 GMT: Posture Watch. In the category of Statements With Very Little Significance....

Saeed Jalili, Iran's lead negotiator in the nuclear talks that begin Saturday in Istanbul, has said:

Iran's representatives will participate in the negotiations with new initiatives and we hope that the P5+1 countries (US, UK, Germany, France, China, Russia) will also enter talks with constructive approaches. The language of threat and pressure against the Iranian nation has never yielded results but will lead to more seriousness in the attitude of the Iranian nation. We are ready to hold progressive and successful talks on cooperation.

Jalili gave no details of the "new initiatives".

Continuing his provincial tour in southern Iran, President Ahmadinejad declared, “Hereby, on behalf of the Iranian people, I tell them (Western nations), the approach you have adopted will fail, and you must correct your literature in addressing the Iranian nation and must speak respectfully."

Ahmadinejad gave no further details about relationship between the Western "bullying", "literature", and the nuclear talks.

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The Latest from Iran (23 December): The Ahmadinejad All-Is-Well Show

1540 GMT: Tehran's Israeli Friend. Bloomberg has published a report asserting that the Israeli communications company Allot Communications Ltd has shipped cyber-surveillance equipment to Tehran through a Denmark-based distributor.

Allot's Chief Executive Officer Ramy Hadar denied the report, "Allot's equipment was sold to a Denmark-based distributor, the same way it is sold to thousands of distributors and tens of thousands of clients worldwide. We have no way of knowing where our equipment ends up. We have no ties with Iran. You can get our equipment online --- like on eBay."

Israeli officials denied any knowledge of the shipments. The Defense Ministry said it is investigating the report.

1534 GMT: Economy Watch. Alef, the site linked to MP Ahmad Tavakoli, continues its attack on the Government's economic policies. It carries an analysis tying the fall of the Iranian currency to President Ahmadinejad's subsidy cuts.

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The Latest from Iran (14 November): Playing the Foreign Card

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The Latest from Iran (13 November): An Explosion at a Military Base

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1645 GMT: The Bahrain Plot. Tehran has denied any link to an alleged plot to stage attacks in Bahrain, as a lawyer for two of the five suspects said reports of their confessions were not true.

Bahraini authorities said this weekend that Qatar had handed over four men who planning to attack the Interior Ministry, the Saudi Embassy, and a causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. A fifth man was arrested in Bahrain.

On Sunday, the public prosecution's spokesman said the plot was coordinated with the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia as well as two Bahraini opposition figures in London.

1630 GMT: The Explosion. The reaction of Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak to the news of Saturday's blast at a Revolutionary Guards base, reportedly killing 17 people?

"May there be more like it."

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The Latest from Iran (12 November): The Rise of the "Cotton Hero"

The Revolutionary Guard base, west of Tehran, struck by an explosion today (see 1515 GMT)

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The Latest from Iran (11 November): Chest-Thumping

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2135 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Influential MP Ahmad Tavakoli, a prominent critic of the President, has denied that he asked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stand for election in 2005. He says instead that he stepped aside in favour of a candidacy by Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, now Mayor of Tehran.

Ahmadinejad claimed in a speech last week that a number of important conservative and principlist figures implored him to run for President.

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