The Latest from Iran (11 April): Checking In

Pictured: Reformist leader Feizollah Arab Sorkhi (pictured) has returned to Evin Prison after his temporary release for Iranian New Year.

1700 GMT: Abuse Watch. A Street Journalist posts Bahareh Maghami's account of her rape in prison.

Iran: A List of 107 Killed in Post-Election Violence
Iran: The Green Movement in Transition (Rafat)
The Latest from Iran (10 April): Look Over There!

1630 GMT: The Inflation Game --- Pick a Number. The Iranian Government's attempt to ease economic worries by declaring a halving of inflation to 10.8% is coming under more pressure. Amidst evidence of Parliament's scepticism (see morning update), the International Monetary Fund has announced that Iran's 2009-2010 inflation rate was 30%.


1620 GMT: Selling State Industries. The great redistribution of state firms continues: reports claim 45% of the Damavand power plant has been given to the controversial "charitable trust" Bonyade Shahid.

1415 GMT: Corruption. MP Elyas Naderan, who is leading the allegations of corruption against First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, is not letting up despite Government pressure on him. He has declared in an interview that Rahimi's deeds are graver than those of Ali Kordan, the Minister of Interior forced to resign over false claims of a doctorate from Oxford University, and of businessman Shahram Jazayeri.

1145 GMT: Press Resurrection. The "moderate" daily newspaper Shargh has reappeared after a three-year ban.

1110 GMT: More Money Questions. Iran Green Voice, drawing from Iranian Labor News Agency, is claiming that Iran's audit commission is enquiring about 631 possible errors in the 2007-2008 budget, with millions of dollars of oil money missing from the Treasury.

Khabar Online and DayPress raises further questions about "aberrations" in the 2008-2009 budget and oil revenues.

1050 GMT: The Post-Election Dead. We have posted, from Muhammad Sahimi of Tehran Bureau, a list of 107 people killed in post-election violence.
1045 GMT: Nuke-Nuke-Nuke. I think this pattern is pretty well set: the US Nuclear Posture Review will be the script for most Iranian political threatre this week. The Supreme Leader has now taken over the lead role, telling senior members of the military:

[Obama] has implicitly threatened Iranians with nuclear weapons. These comments are very strange and the world should not ignore them because in the 21st century... the head of a state is threatening a nuclear attack. The US president's statements are disgraceful. Such comments harm US and they mean that the US government is wicked and unreliable.

1005 GMT: Nuclear Postures. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has strongly criticised Washington's position on Iran's nuclear programe. Attacking the Nuclear Posture Review, released this week by the Obama Administration, Larijani told the Majlis:

The US has announced it will not use nuclear weapons except in extraordinary situations. It has also pledged not to use atomic bombs against NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] members, apart from Iran and North Korea. And they call this a "new" nuclear arms strategy. Just take a look at how many contradictory issues are embedded in this policy. The term "extraordinary situation" can always be used to justify a US nuclear attack.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "We will officially present our complaints to the United Nations about these kinds of threats," with a declaration signed by 255 of 290 members of the Majlis.

1000 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Rah-e-Sabz carries a statement from Ayatollah Dastgheib, who says that the ruling authorities slander and arrest even as they pretend to be pious. Thus, Dastgheib argues, the principle of velayat-e-faqih (ultimate clerical authority) is violated.

0935 GMT: The Subsidy Battle. The dispute between Parliament and President on economic plans continues to dominate political news.

An interesting twist as the Government has asked the Majlis not to publish inflation data. Given that the Central Bank of Iran declared earlier this month that the inflation rate had halved to 10.8%, why would the Government be so shy? Could it be that the official rate is not telling the entire story?

High-profile critic Government Elyas Naderan, who is also the central figure claiming corruption by First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, has debated another Vice President, Mohammad Reza Mirtajoddini, at Imam Sadegh University.

 MP Mohammad Hossein Farhangi has said that the Government should not ask for amendments in the legislation approved by the Parliament.

0845 GMT: Shutting Down Politics. Parleman News claims that reformist visitors to Mir Hossein Moussavi have been threatened that they could be banned in the next elections.

0840 GMT: Closing the Press. Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi announced that the appeal to lift the ban on the reformist publication Etemaad has been declined.

0830 GMT: What Next for Greens? Amidst signs of the reconsideration of the opposition strategy and tactics, Ali Mazrouee asks, "What is the nature of the Green Movement?"

0815 GMT: Economy Watch. Iranian Labor News Agency reports that workers of the Hamid China factory, due for closure, are rallying today to protest that they have not been paid wages and benefits for almost two years.

750 GMT: Thanks to Arshama for passing on yesterday's updates as I was in transit --- Saturday's LiveBlog has now been updated. Now to today.....

It may be a different day, but it's still the old, reliable diversions. Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi, now a daily source for cheap quotes on how Iran will face down and vanquish any Western aggression, has declared that Tehran has begun mass-producing a new medium-range anti-aircraft missile. Mersad "can destroy modern planes in low and medium altitudes".

Far more interesting spin comes on the Qom front.  Reformist cleric and journalist Mohammad Javad Akbarin, claims several top clerics refused to meet President Ahmadinejad. Akbarin asserted that only one top cleric agreed to meet Ahmadinejad, and he "spent most of the meeting criticizing Ahmadinejad".

A formal photographs at the time of the visit showed Ahmadinejad with several clerics, although, as EA's Mr Verde analysed, there was no confirmation of a Presidential meeting with a Grand Ayatollah, only with three senior clerics who are his fervent supporters.