The Latest from Iran (23 November): A Wobble Over Gaza

Gaza Prime Minister Haniyeh & President Ahmadinejad1835 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Jordanian Front). Jordanian officials have expressed reservations about remarks by Iran's Ambassador in Amman that Tehran is prepared for a barter deal for oil and energy products for 30 years.

Ambassador Mostafa Mosleh-Zadeh said Iran would provide the oil in return for Jordanian goods and for permission for Shia religious tourism.

Jordanian government spokesman Samih al-Maaytah said Friday that though the government is looking for alternative ways to solve its energy crisis, the Kingdom preferred "relations with the Gulf countries despite the delay in aid".

Officials said that the "political deal...[of] oil for religious tourism and certain political attitudes towards the Syria crisis serve the Iranian position".

Last week a Jordanian Government reduction in fuel subsidies, sparking price rises, fed protests that included calls for the downfall of King Abdullah II.

Jordan's economic situation has been weakened by the loss of financial support from Gulf States. Last year, Saudi Arabia gave Jordan a last-minute $1.4 billion cash handout but has withheld aid this year, officials said.

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The Latest from Iran (9 November): So 2 Iranian Fighters Fired on a US Drone and Then....

See also Iran Special: "Iranian Fighters Fire on US Drone" --- What is the Connection with US-Iran Nuclear Talks?
The Latest from Iran (8 November): Death of a Blogger in Detention?

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1835 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update (Revised). It appears that Press TV does not think Ayatollah Jannati's discussion of the political tensions inside Iran (see 1336) is worth a mention. Instead, this passage is more important:

The recent US presidential election only brought disgrace on the United States due to the low voter turnout....If this scandalous and disgraceful election had been held in a country opposing US policies, they would have created a hype about low voter turnout.

“Ninety percent of eligible [American voters] did not participate in this election and after spending billions [of dollars], which has no justification, they...re-elected a person by force to continue on his deviated path."

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The Latest from Iran (7 November): Posturing on Syria

1810 GMT: Oil Watch. Demonstrating the phrase "cutting off your nose to spite your face"....<,/p>

Parliament's Energy Committee has prepared a bill to decrease crude exports by nearly one third in the current Iranian year --- from March 2012 to March 2013 --- in retaliation for international sanctions.

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Iran's oil exports have already fallen by 60% this year. The Parliamentary committee did not make clear how a further reduction of exports, and thus revenue, would benefit the Islamic Republic.

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The Latest from Iran (6 November): The Battle Begins over Ahmadinejad in Parliament

2027 GMT: Trade Watch. Iranian Consul General Muhammad Hossain Bani Assadi, speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has said Tehran is ready to start barter trade with Pakistan to bypass problems with banking channels amid sanctions.

2017 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. A photograph from Monday of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani with his son Mehdi Hashemi, moved from prison to hospital for an angiography --- Mehdi Hashemi, arrested in September on his return from a three-year exile in Britain, faces charges of financial and electoral manipulation:

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The Latest from Iran (28 August): The Propaganda Display at the Summit

The car in which an Iranian nuclear scientist was killed is displayed atop a platform at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Conference Center (Photo: Barbara Slavin)

See also The Latest from Iran (27 August): Meanwhile, Away from the Non-Aligned Summit....

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2035 GMT: Sedition Watch. Yadollah Javani, the head of the Political Bureau of the Revolutionary Guards, has declared that former President Mohammad Khatami was the head of the 2009 "sedition" and pronounced that the system will not allow him 2 run for office again.

1900 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. General Massoud Jazayeri, the deputy head of armed forces, has said the Islamic Republic will hit back at the blocking of Iran's assets by the US:

If it takes 50 years, we will take back the frozen assets in the US even if by force.

The blocking of the assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran is economic terrorism and financial theft in which, unfortunately, the US is adroit like in other forms of terrorism and physical elimination of human beings.

They should be sure that we will seize back our assets from the Great Satan. It will not take long before the tables are turned to Iran's interests and the evil regime of the US will have to give many times more than Iran's frozen assets back [to the Islamic Republic] and the American people should take note of this issue.

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