The Latest from Iran (1 December): Another Execution

1930 GMT: Economy Watch. From the latest inflation figures, highlights a 123% annual rise in the price of tomatoes. Other increases are 46% for fresh vegetables, 20% for red meat, 30% for oil, 34% for sugar, 15% for fruit, and 12% for tea. In contrast, chicken only rose in price by 5%.

1915 GMT: On Campus. Opposition websites claim that thousands of leaflets for rallies on 16 Azar (7 December) have been distributed at Qazvin University.

1845 GMT: Student activist Ali Gholizadeh has been released from prison.

The 15-year sentence imposed on blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki (Babak Khorramdin) has been confirmed by an appellate court.

Ali Akbar Nazari, a member of the Tehran Bus Workers Union, has been arrested.

1815 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. The Ministry of Economy has denied a story in Kayhan that fuel prices would rise 600% after the removal of subsidies.

Kayhan had quoted Minister of Economy Shamseddin Hosseini that the price per litre for gasoline would rise from a fully-subsidised 1000 rials ($0.10) per litre to 7000 rials (see 1330 GMT).

Meanwhile, Ebtekar asks the basic questions: Where is the people's support money, and when will the subsidy cuts start?

1810 GMT: Parliament v. President. An unusual manifestation of the ongoing feud between legislators and the Government....

At a memorial service for Ali Kordan, the disgraced politician who died just over a year ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his impeachment was a ploy by "imperialism". Leading MP and Government critic Ali Motahari responded that this was not only an insult to Majlis but completely untrue, as Kordan was a victim of Ahmadinejad's stubbornness.

Kordan was impeached and forced out as Minister of Interior in 2008 after lying that he held a doctorate from Oxford University.

1805 GMT: The Assassinations. Iranian media, including the Iranian Student News Agency and Khabar Online, claim that the "terrorist" Mujahedin-e-Khalq has issued a statement that "the resistance exposed" the nuclear physicists targeted in Monday's attacks.

Dr Majid Shahriari was killed and Professor Fereydoun Abbasi was wounded in separate car bombings.

1800 GMT: Culture Corner. Political cartoonist Maya Nayestani is interviewed in the German newspaper Sueddeutsche.

1535 GMT: Press Resurrection. An image is circulating of the latest one-page issue of Etemade Melli, the publication which had been shut down by Iranian authorities in September 2009.

1440 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Tehran University student Mojtaba Hashemi has been sentenced to one year in prison and 74 lashes for acting against national security, disturbing the public order, and insulting the Supreme Leader and the President.

1410 GMT: On Campus. The Islamic Organization of Students of Amir Kabir University has called on all students across the country to attend protests on National Students Day on 16 Azar (7 December), chanting "University is Alive".

Two claimed videos of posters for 16 Azar at Tehran University:

1330 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Minister of Economy Shamseddin Hosseini, quoted in Kayhan, says the price of gasoline in Iran will rise by about 600 percent when subsidies are cut.

Currently,a motorist can buy 60 litres of subsidised fuel per month for 1,000 rials per litre (about $0.10); beyond that they pay a "semi-subsidised" price of 4,000 rials ($0.40). Hosseini said, "The gasoline price will be 7,000 rials (around $0.70) after the implementation of the subsidy reform plan."

1300 GMT: On Campus. Students of Khajeh Nasir University have issued a statement for the anniversary of National Students Day on 16 Azar (7 December), protesting the arrest and 7-year prison sentence of their classmate Milad Asadi, "the pride and dignity of Khajeh Nasir University".

1255 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Blogger Ebrahim Hosseinbor, who covers affairs in Baluchistan, has been detained.

1000 GMT: All-is-Well Alert. Minister of Economy Seyyed Shamseddin Hosseini says foreign investment in Iran has risen by 95%, now topping $3 billion: “Iran's economic appeal and its overall security is a suitable opportunity for a rise in investment. The capacities and capabilities required for investment exist in the country and foreign investors further learn about economic appeals in this sector when they enter [various] provinces."

0955 GMT: We Will Punish All of You. As we noted yesterday, this is part of the President's strategy to talk tough before sitting down for nuclear talks with the "West", but I have to think this is laying it on a bit thick....

Speaking in northern Iran on Tuesday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad highlighted Monday's killing of one nuclear physicist and the wounding of another:

By God, if such an incident takes place one more time, we will bring each permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to trial.

If the terror attack against Iranian scientists is repeated once more, we will pursue all cases before the Islamic Revolution, [in addition to] 160,000 martyrs of the Sacred Defense [the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War] and 40,000 martyrs in different parts of the country.

They think by taking away our nuclear scientists or scientists, our nation's momentum towards progress will stop. This time too, they committed a mistake.

It is obvious that the United Nations is in cahoots with Zionists.

But Ahmadinejad ultimately tipped off the strategy in his rhetoric: "Is this how you want to start off the negotiations? Your conduct shows that your intent (in talks) is enmity."

0909 GMT. Fighting over the Bank. The Government has defied the Parliamentary vote taking control of the Central Bank from President Ahmadinejad. Instead of implementing it, the Government has returned the decision to an arbitration commission.

0905 GMT: Sanctions Watch. On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against 10 businesses linked to Iranian weapons programs, including eight on the Isle of Man, one in Switzerland and one in Malaysia.

0900 GMT: The Budget Dispute. Another sign of stalemate on the 5th Budget Plan, still unadopted more than eight months into the Iranian year....

Hossein Ali Amiri,  a judicial member of the Guardian Council, has rejected the claims of the head of the Council, Ayatollah Jannati, of a compromise between Parliament and Government over the Plan. 

0855 GMT: The Assassinations of the Physicists. Even Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi is fretting about the regime's response to Monday's killing of Dr Majid Shahriari, a nuclear physicist, and the wounding of another scientist.

Referring to January's slaying of physicist Masoud Ali Mohammadi, Doulatabadi said he hoped "new terror cases" would not end up like Professor Alimohammadi's unresolved file and urged police and intelligence forces to act. 

Reformist MP Dariush Ghanbari echoed Doulatabadi, saying security and intel forces had failed to recognise the culprits in Alimohammadi's case.

0845 GMT: Shutting Down the Grand Ayatollah. The new site of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, set up after restrictions on the original site, has been blocked by Iranian authorities.

The 1st anniversary of Montazeri's death, which could be an occasion for protest as well as mourning, is later this month.

0830 GMT: This morning Iranian authorities hung Shahla Jahed, who had spent more than eight years in prison for the murder of the wife of prominent football player Naser Mohammadkhani.

In recent weeks, Iranian and international activists had featured the case of Jahed, who was "temporarily married" --- a practice allowed in Iran --- to Mohammadkhani. In 2008, the head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi, ordered a fresh investigation and did not sanction the execution, but there were no further developments.

Activists in Iran claim that Jahed was forced to confess to the stabbing.