The Latest from Iran (19 December): The Subsidy Cuts Begin

2100 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. One price rise that has not been picked up by most of the media....

While the price increase for gasoline is 300% for subsidised rations and 75% for unsubsidised fuel, the rise for diesel is about 2000%, from 16.5 tomans (about $0.15) to 350 tomans (about $3.00) per litre.

1720 GMT: Elections Watch. Legislators have changed the basis for the Parliamentary elections, setting them on the basis of provincial rather than district results. We are not yet sure of the significance of the change and will consult correspondents.

1715 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Kalemeh reports long queues for automatic bank tellers today. The speculation is that, despite President Ahmadinejad's injunction not to touch the money, Iranians are taking out the 81,000 tomans ($81) per person put in their bank accounts as support payments over the next two months.

1710 GMT: Political Prisoner/Subsidy Cuts Video. This is the interview, with BBC Persian, that got economist Fariborz Reisdana arrested today:

1615 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Fars reports that 175 of the 290 members of Parliament have issued a joint statement welcoming the implementation of the subsidy cuts: “Our dear nation is well aware that the previous unjust allocation of government subsidiaries was one of the main problems of our country's economy and the source of corruption as well as many other anomalies."

The statement continued, “The implementation of this law, in the face of efforts by the enemies of the Revolution to paint a troubled picture of the country's finances through economic sanctions, is a sign of economic stability and great management skills as well as the unity between the government and the nation."

1609 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Right-Hand Man (cont.). The reformist newspaper Shargh parallels our coverage of the rise of Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai in Iran's foreign policy: "Rahim-Mashai, Diplomat".

And Kalemeh reports that Ahmadinejad has removed Mehrdad Bazrpash as head of the National Youth Organization as punishment for criticising Rahim-Mashai.

1600 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An activist reports that bail has been set at $500,000 for journalist Abdolreza Tajik.

1510 GMT: Britain-Bashing. Mohammad Karimi-Rad, a member of Parliament's National Security Commission, says it has voted to cut ties with Britain.

Karimi-Rad said the commission "also condemned recent remarks by the British ambassador to Tehran [Simon Gass] and reviewed other British government's hostile acts throughout history against our country."

1440 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Emad Bahavar, recently sentenced to 10 years in prison, has written that authorities offered him his freedom if he would speak in an interview against Mir Hossein Mousavi.

RAHANA reports that Abolfazl Tabarzadi, a close relative of activist Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, has been arrested at his home in Ahvaz.

In October, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, a leading member of Iran's Democratic Party, was sentenced to nine years in prison and 74 lashes.

Activists Hadi Haydari, Fatemeh Arabsorkhi, Mohamad Shafiei, and Alireza Taheri have been summoned to court and arrested.

1315 GMT: Subsidy Cut Watch (Transport Edition). Saham News claims that the cost of travel by car between cities will rise by 20%. Travel by buses will be 125% more expensive.

ILNA says electricity prices will rise 270%; home gas price will increase 500%, and the cost of water price will rise by 100% to 300%.

1200 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Fariborz Reisdana, an economistin Tehran, has been arrested at his home by at least eight security officers.

Reisdana had given an interview to BBC Persian just before he was detained. Observers see the arrest as a warning to others not to speak out about the subsidy cuts.

1130 GMT: Subsidy Cut Watch. Lots of short stories in "Western" media on Ahmadinejad's announcement, with most repeating the claim --- with no additional information --- of riot police stationed throughout Tehran.

Bloomberg has a longer piece on the "economic revolution" and the politics around it, with EA WorldView making a guest appearance.

1115 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Right-Hand Man. Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, the President's Chief of Staff, has returned to his theme of an "Iranian" system as a model for other countries, saying that the school of the martyred Imam Hossein is a guide characteristic for "Iranian concepts and thinking".

Rahim-Mashai's remark, coming just after the Ashura commemoration of Imam Hossein's death, risks renewal of political conflict. Earlier this year, the aide --- who is rumoured to be Ahmadinejad's choice to run for President in 2013 --- angered many when he held the "Iranian" rather than the "Islamic" system as the guide for others to follow.

0929 GMT: Claim of the Day. The hard-line newspaper Kayhan alleges that political prisoners on hunger strike have been "eating stealthily".

0925 GMT: Diplomatic Front (cont.). Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has praised the former Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, and said he should have been dismissed "honourably".

0915 GMT: Diplomatic Front. Manouchehr Mottaki, fired as Foreign Minister by President Ahmadinejad on Monday, has hit back at the Government statements justifying the dismissal.

On Saturday, 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Mottaki knew days before his state trip to Senegal that he would be dismissed, even though the announcement was not made until Mottaki was in Dakar. Ahmadinejad advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr attacked Mottaki's Foreign Ministry for getting nothing done, with any success due to Ahmadinejad.

Mottaki rejected Rahimi's remarks, saying it was necessary for Iran's officials to be honest when speaking. The former Foreign Minister say he had discussed his trip to Senegal with Ahmadinejad on the day before his departure, and there was no mention of a change in his position. He said the manner of his replacement was un-Islamic, undiplomatic, and insulting.

It is notable that Mottaki's rebuttal has been carried in the state media outlet Press TV.

0820 GMT: Meanwhile, Terrorism. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani maintains the regime's line on Wednesday's suicide bombing in southeastern Iran, saying that it was incited by intelligence services of the US, Israel, and countries in the region. He declared to Parliament, “They withdrew themselves from the situation hypocritically after the bombings, but they should be sure that their situation changes soon and they receive a tough response for their measures. The United States and its friends should have understood these terrorist attacks are the simplest ones and Iranian nation would not tolerate their adventurous behavior."

0745 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Fereshteh Ghazi speaks with activists, including Shirin Ebadi and Shadi Sadr, who are planning a sit-in from tomorrow in support of detained lawyer Nasrine Sotoudeh.

The women declare that their protest, which will take place in front of the United Nations Human Rights Council, will not end until Sotoudeh is freed.

Sotoudeh was detained in early September on charges of acting against national security, speaking to foreign media, and being a member of Ebadi's Center for Defenders of Human Rights. Her supporters claim the real reason for her arrest is that she has dared represent human rights activists, including Ebadi.

Rah-e-Sabz also has information on the sit-in.

(See also Ebadi's video interview on human rights and the campaign against Iran's lawyers.)

0735 GMT: PressWatch. Iranian authorities have lifted the block on the "hard-line" Mashregh News.

In a curious and confusing episode, Mashregh was restricted after it published a letter from the head of the student Basij organisation, even though President Ahmadinejad had apparently praised the author (see yesterday's updates).

0625 GMT: So now another turn of the political kaleidoscope in Iran, with President Ahmadinejad announcing in last night's speech that the introduction of subsidy cuts, delayed for months, would finally begin in some sectors at midnight. We have posted an analysis of the speech and the situation, "Ahmadinejad Walks A Tightrope".

Meanwhile, motorists greeted the news by racing out to gasoline stations to fill up before the price rises of 75% to 300% took effect. Video from Tabriz: