The Latest from Iran (26 September): Striking News

1835 GMT: Family Matters. A group of 40 women's rights activists has delivered a petition with 5000 signatures to the Parliament urging legislators to halt all efforts in "promoting temporary marriages and polygamy."

1825 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rozita Vaseghi has been moved out of solitary detention after five months. 

Vaseghi, a Baha’i follower, was arrested in 2005 and summoned in January 2010 for sentencing. She received a five-year prison term and wasbanned from leaving Iran for then years. She was taken into custory in March.

Rah-e-Sabz does the maths and concludes that 1100 years in prison sentences have been handed out to 145 detainees in Evin Prisoner. The youngest political prisoner is 19, the oldest 73.

1620 GMT: The US Line. Yesterday we posted the Persian-language video of Barack Obama's interview with BBC Persian. The English-language version is on the BBC website.

The White House has now provided a transcript of the discussion.

1440 GMT: So Who's Running This Show Anyway? Briefing reporters on Friday about President Obama's interview with BBC Persian, a "senior official" told reporters, "It’s a complex political situation in Iran right now. The Supreme Leader, not Ahmadinejad, frankly, is the ultimate decision maker."

That has been the standard Administration line since January 2009. Indeed it is why Obama has addressed his letters on discussions with Iran to Ayatollah Khamenei and not Ahmadinejad, a point that the President noted with some irritation in his interview with the US Public Broadcasting Service last week.

However, the White House may want to glance at a further Ahmadinejad declaration, made at a reception with invited American journalists and academics on Wednesday, ""I have said over and over that I am responsible for nuclear policy."

1415 GMT: Film Corner. Renowned Iranian director Asqar Farhadi has been barred from continuing production of his latest movie, Separation of Nader and Simin, because he allegedly criticised the government.

Farhadi's About Elly won several national and international awards, including the best director award at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival. 

Deputy Mnister of Culture Javad Shamqadri said that Farhadi had made "unsuitable" remarks in a ceremony at the Cinema House in Tehran and later refused to retract them. 

Farhadi had reportedly expressed hope in that ceremony that several Iranian directors and actors currently in exile because of political differences could return to and Iran and work again.

In March, fellow director Jafar Panahi was detained for three months. Filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad is still in prison.

1305 GMT: Opposition Watch. In her latest interview, Zahra Rahnavard has denounced censorship from any quarter, be it the State or an "opposition" group: " I personally believe that comments should never be censored, unless our objective is to glorify, idolize and worship --- a tendency that has unfortunately existed throughout our country's long history. Criticism and guidance are both necessary and needed."

An English translation has been posted. 

1255 GMT: I'm Tougher on the US Than You Are. Iranian state media are going wall-to-wall with the theme from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's UN speech that the US might be responsible for the attacks on its own citizens on 11 September 2001. 

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission endorses Ahmadinejad's call for a UN enquiry. "The performance of the US and the Zionist lobby will be put under question if Washington seeks to prevent the establishment of a fact-finding committee to investigate the (September 11) event through exerting pressure on the United Nations."

The Supreme Leader's military advisor Yahya Rahim-Safavi pronounces, "The US and the Zionists developed the strategy of the September 11 attacks in an effort to counter the Islamic vigilance and to control energy resources in the Middle East." 

However, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani is not going to let himself be "out-toughed" by the President or anyone else: 

How dare Obama say these words that he seeks to help the Iranian nation? He should know that he is an international villain who has never supported the Iranian nation.The US is currently standing against the Iranian nation. Obama should know that we do not need a message, what we need is to be able to trust his words. The Americans are displaying an attitude that deserves an international evilness medal.

1245 GMT: Preparing for a Coup? Rah-e-Sabz, continuing a spate of recent articles on the plans of the security forces and the Government to deal with the opposition before after the 2009 Presidential elections, published a three-point claim about a reorganisation before the vote:

1. The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and Basij militia merged forces.

2. The Revolutionary Guard established a special intelligence organisation.

3. The Revolutionary Guard's intelligence forces were connected to national intelligence units.

1230 GMT: Rumour of Day. Jahan News, in what appears to be a bit of mischief-making, is claiming that Mir Hossein Mousavi has been invited to meetings of the Expediency Council.

Jahan is not exactly a Mousavi fan, so immediate speculation is that the "news" is meant to tarnish former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Council, for supposedly bringing in the opposition figure.

0555 GMT: Execution (Sakineh) Watch. Masih Alinejad, whose open letter to the US media on their coverage of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was featured on EA on Friday, follows up with thoughts on the media, human rights, and the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian women sentenced to death for adultery.

0545 GMT: Patrolling the Net. An activist reports that the websites of The Feminist School, whose editor was arrested this week, and Human Rights Activists have been filtered again in Iran.

0535 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and Mehdi Karroubi supporter Ali Anjom-Rooz will go on trial Monday in Rasht.  

Ahvaz city council member Daroush Mombini has been arrested, just before a scheduled news conference.

0515 GMT: So Iran's bazaars have once again gone on strike. After this summer's shutdown for weeks over a proposed rise in the business tax, the gold sellers in Tehran's main bazaar stopped trade on Saturday in a dispute over value-added tax.

This is not just an economic development. Many see political influence in moves by the bazaaris, especially given historic links with key conservative parties. So are possible challengers within the establishment involved in, or at least supportive of, the latest move?

And it wasn't just Tehran: opposition website Kalemeh claimed that the gold bazaars at Mashhad, Neyshabur, Torbat Heydariye and Sabzevar also halted selling.