The Latest from Iran (10 November): Tag-Team Politics

1646 GMT: Radio Zamaneh is now confirming that opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi has been moved to a "more appropriate location," according to his son.

Karroubi was being held in a small office apartment, and his family had stressed that the cramped conditions were highly detrimental to his health.

Mohammad Taghi Karroubi wrote that the rent for the new apartment is being shared by the Karroubi family and the Ministry of Intelligence, due to the presence of their forces in the apartment. He added that the authorities have been refusing to allow his mother, Fatemeh Karroubi, to stay with her husband.

1325 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kalemeh reports that Mostafa Tajzadeh, prominent reformist and former Deputy Minister of Interior, is being denied visits in prison.

Tajzadeh, detained soon after the 2009 Presidential election, is serving a six-year sentence.

1145 GMT: Nuke Watch. We posted the second part of our analysis of the IAEA report on Iran's nuclear programme, "Not All Sources Are Equal". Meanwhile....

The Supreme Leader has put out the warning, “Our enemies, particularly the Zionist regime, America and its allies, should know that any kind of threat and attack will be firmly responded to. Our nation, the Revolutionary Guards and army will answer attacks with strong slaps and iron fists."

China has joined Russia in rejecting a link between the document and toughened measures against Tehran. Foreign Minister spokesman Hong Lei said, "Sanctions cannot fundamentally solve the Iran issue. Dialogue and negotiation are the right way out for the Iranian nuclear issue."

0920 GMT: Cartoon of the Day. Nikahang Kowsar offers his image of the future of Iran's nuclear programme:

0740 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An Iranian court has added a year to the prison sentence of human rights activist Abolfazl Abedini, who was already serving an 11-year term.

0735 GMT: Clerical Interventions. Moulana Abdulhamid, the Friday Prayer leader of Zahedan, has said that the Supreme Leader should end discrimination against Sunnis.

Ayatollah Dastgheib, a leading critic of the Government, has offered this religious analogy, bringing the question, "Who is the Pharaoh?": "Pharaoh had taken over the lives of his people and turned them into subjects, but many people knew Moses was right."

0725 GMT: Oil Watch. Mehr reports that Iran has halted oil exports to Pakistan after a Pakistani refiner failed to obtain financing for a purchase because of US-led sanctions.

The National Iranian Oil Co. had signed a contract to sell 12,000 barrels of oil a day to state-owned Pakistan Oil Refining Co., but some banks in Pakistan rejected the refinery’s requests for letters of credit.

Meanwhile, Iran has closed airspace to Pakistan International Airlines, as pilgrims return from the Haj to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, because of a delayed outstanding payment of $600,000.

0720 GMT: The Battle Within. An overview in the Financial Times, "Iran’s Leaders, Defiant Abroad, Struggle at Home", offers this nugget of analysis from a "former official": “Mr Ahmadinejad’s differences with the Supreme Leader and other fundamentalists are so deep that international threats can help take the huge pressure off his government only to a limited extent."

0710 GMT: (The Other) Ahmadinejad Watch. A bit more on the attack by the President's brother, Davood Ahmadinejad, on the "deviant current" in Iranian politics....

Having claimed that the head of the deviant current had worked with the British from 1997 to 2005, meeting Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Ahmadinejad added some Biblical touches in an interview on Saturday. The blood of Abel (of Cain and Abel fame) is in the veins of those devoted to the Islamic Republic, while the deviant current are Satan's offspring.

0705 GMT: Budget Watch. Aftab News reports that the Government budget deficit for 2010/11 was 26 thousand billion Toman (about $20 billion).

And linking to our LiveBlog theme today, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has cancelled the 275 billion Toman (about $210 million) Government cultural budget for two Iranian provinces because of lack of financial cover for the expenditure.

0615 GMT: President Ahmadinejad is a tough, determined politician. On occasions since the disputed 2009 Presidential election, he has been counted out, only to get off the mat. But, in the latest dispute within the establishment --- let's call it the "Larijani grudge match" --- the President faces a significant handicap.

There are not one but two Larijanis.

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani have never been huge fans of Ahmadinejad, offering the special situation in Iranian politics that the leaders of two branches of Government would be happy if the leader of the third disappeared. However, the necessity of rule --- initially showing "unity" in the face of the opposition challenge after June 2009 and then the practical issues of putting a political dagger in the President's back --- has produced an uneasy troika.

But maybe not now. In the last 48 hours, Ali Larijani --- who had played the saviour only 10 days ago, intervening to spare Ahmadinejad the impeachment of his Minister of Economy --- has insulted the President as an "indecent rascal". Sadegh Larijani has warned Ahmadinejad to behave himself and stop attacking the judiciary, otherwise the head of judicary will produce files damaging the President's camp, for example, over the $2.6 billion bank fraud.

And let's add this detail: on Tuesday, the Prosecutor General of Sadegh Larijani's judiciary announced the arrest of a relative of the President's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.