The Latest from Iran (17 October): How Much Can Regime PR Do?

2025 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish journalist Amin Madani has been arrested in Sanandaj.

2020 GMT: Subsidy Watch. Pro-Government MP Jafar Qaderi has said that in future support payments for subsidy cuts will be paid in goods.

1725 GMT: Rumour of Day. Rah-e-Sabz claims that the Ministry of Intelligence has detained a delegation sent by Hashemi Rafsanjani to Qom in advance of the Supreme Leader's visit.

1710 GMT: Currency Watch. Khabar Online reports that the value of the Iranian toman, after weeks of attempts to stabilise its value, has now dropped on the open market. While the "official" Central Bank rate is 1050 tomans to the US dollar, the market rate has now reached 1090 tomans to the dollar.

1555 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An activist reports that Islamic Iran Participation Front member Davoud Solaimani, who was released on bail on Thursday, returned to Rajai Shahr Prison today when a prosecutor refused to confirm his temporary leave.

Soleimani was detained soon after the June 2009 elections.

1545 GMT: Un-Free Press. According to Kalemeh, a senior official of the Ministry of Culture has declared, "Those publications that publish statements and pictures of the sedition (opposition) leaders will be warned and then closed down if they continue to do so."

Ehsan Ghazizadeh, who oversees domestic media, continued, "Those newspapers that do not cover news related to pro-government events...should not expect getting...subsidies and support."

1535 GMT: Calling for Rights. Zahra Rahnavard, professor and activist, has written an open letter to the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, urging him to release all political prisoners, especially those arrested in the aftermath of the 2009 elections,

Rahnavard suggested that Larijani could begin by freeing attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh, who was detained six weeks ago, and all female political prisoners.

1530 GMT: Subsidy Watch. Back from a break to find that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, preparing for the long-awaited introduction of his subsidy cuts, has said that the first support payments to families will be paid on Tuesday.

Completely coincidentally, Tuesday is the day that the Supreme Leader arrives in Qom for his high-profile visit.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Commerce has confirmed that bread subsidies will soon be removed.

1050 GMT: It's Official --- Ahmadinejad Bigger than Julius Caesar. The wonderfully over-the-top Franklin Lamb seeks the final word on the Iranian President's trip to Lebanon quoting an (unnamed) "Lebanese Christian historian": "This Persian’s glory at the moment is arguably greater than Caesar’s following Rome’s second conquest of Britain."

1030 GMT: The Nuke Talks. OK, here's the inside line on talks over Iran's uranium enrichment talks. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really wants the discussions --- he needs to hold up an agreement as a proof of his international as well as domestic legitimacy --- but he has to do so with the impression that he is not giving way to the "West".

This means that, at all points to and beyond the negotiating table, the President has to paint the picture that he is setting terms for other powers such as the US to meet.

The Iranian Foreign Minister has indicated that Tehran's talks with the 5+1 Powers (US, China, France, Britain, Germany, Russia) may resume on 15 November. So on Sunday Ahmadinejad, speaking in Ardabil in northwestern Iran, said that the 5+1 must meet four conditions. These include discussions based on "justice and respect", a declared goal of "friendship and cooperation", compliance with international law (and thus a withdrawal of sanctions), and attention to Israel's possession of nuclear weapons.

0925 GMT: Today's All-is-Well Alert. Iranian state media continue to trumpet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "historic" visit to Lebanon and to hail the arrival of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Tehran on Monday, but it is another PR effort that catches the eye this morning.

On Saturday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told oil industry officials, "Today we announce that we have reached self-sufficiency in the production of gasoline. It is a big event which displayed the capabilities of our experts both in the oil industry and in the international arena."

Ahmadinejad said Iran had repulsed the threat of sanctions: "Arrogant countries do not know that the world has changed. This is the reason they committed big mistakes in the face of the Iranian nation."

Press TV follows up with the headline "Iran to Beat Gasoline Production Record", with Minister of Oil Masoud Mirkazemi pronouncing on Iran's march to self-sufficiency "Three gasoline production projects will be put into operation by the year end which will subsequently increase the country's current output to another 30 million liters per day."

Mirkazemi claims that Iran had imported no oil in September and that six petrochemical plants had been switched within weeks to gasoline production.

0915 GMT: Iranian-US National Released. I am known as a cynical fellow, but even I am taken aback by the blatant propaganda --- pointing to the deal that was struck --- over this week's release of Iranian-American businessman Reza Taghavi from detention.

Press TV reports that Taghavi, imprisoned since 2008 for allegedly passing $200 to a member of a banned monarchist group, is going to sue the Royalist Association of Iran (Tondar) allegedly based in Los Angeles. Tondar is accused of a 2008 bombing in Shiraz which killed 14 and wounded more than 200.

0700 GMT: Interrupted Lives. Footage has been posted of the Interrupted Lives exhibition at Washington's Georgetown University, highlighting the detention and repression of students in Iran from 1979 to the present.

0650 GMT: The Battle Within. Rah-e-Sabz claims that the Parliament has cancelled its supervisory council on the 5th Budget Plan (2010-2015) due to government pressure.

If true, the news points to more fighting within the establishment. For months, arbitration bodies have been trying to find a settlement between Parliament and the Ahmadinejad Government over revenue and spending proposals. Iran still does not have a national budget almost seven months into its year.

0625 GMT: Currency Watch. But how far and for how long can regime public relations sweep away less favourable news?

Green Correspondents makes a provocative claim from a "reliable source": the Iranian Government has asked the United Arab Emirates for a bank loan of $5 billion over 90 days, paying $100 million in interest over the period. If repayment is not made, the UAE can claim $5 billion in Iranian gold reserves.

The website adds the Ministry of Intelligence has asked Iranian banks to provide a list of clients whose currency accounts exceed $50,000. 

0615 GMT: We begin this morning with pictures from Mehr, an outlet generally supportive of the regime, which point to the scale of the promotion of the Supreme Leader's trip to Qom on Tuesday.