The Latest from Iran (18 December): Ahmadinejad Throws Down Another Challenge

2050 GMT: Spy Watch. State television has displayed an American-Iranian, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, accused of being spies for the US.

Hekmati said that he had served with US military intelligence in Afghanistan and Iraq, working with the Army's "Advanced Research and Information Center", which "took money from the CIA to certain movies and games designed to change public opinion in the Middle East".

Hekmati "confessed", "[The] plan [of US intelligence] was to initially burn some valuable information, to give it free so that (Iran's) Intelligence Ministry would see the good things and then would contact me."

Iranian State TV showed a card with writing in English identifying the bearer as an "army contractor" and several photos claimed to be of Hekmati. In some, he was in military uniform with US army officers.

2040 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syrian Front). Hamid Safdel, the Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade, has said that Iran and Syria have signed a free trade agreement, raising commerce between the two countries to $5 billion per year.

The deal follows the Iranian Parliament approval of a bill last Tuesday for free trade with Damascus within the next five years. Safdei said Iran's main export at the moment is engineering services, worth $2.2 billion in the Iranian year ending 20 March 2011. Trade between the two countries, excluding technical and engineering services exports, was $336 million last year.

1620 GMT: Drone/Tough Talk Watch. Four of the top eight "Iran" stories on Press TV's website feature Iranian officials bragging about the taking of the US drone. Kazaem Jalali of Parliament's National Security Committee says Tehran has shattered the CIA's delusions of grandeur; his colleague Hassan Kamran says the event testifies to Iran's prowess; the unreliable Israeli site DEBKAFile is cited as the source for the claim that Iran penetrated the CIA's command-and-control centre in Virginia; and Thursday's Christian Science Monitor story, from an Iranian engineer, that Tehran took over the drone's GPS system is recycled.

Not enough top talk? Two of the non-drone top stories are "No Oil Will Pass Hormuz if Iran Oil Banned" and "Iran Destroyer Ends First Global Mission".

1510 GMT: Oil Watch. The Associated Press is now running the weekend story from Iran State media of a $1 billion preliminary deal between Russia's Tatneft and the National Iranian Oil Company to develop the Zagheh oil field in southern Iran.

Minister of Oil Rustam Qassemi said the field will produce 7,000 barrels per day of heavy crude in the first phase of its development within two years, adding, "The field has the capacity to increase its crude oil production to 55,000 barrels a day in the second phase within 54 months."

Iranian media claimed a final contract will be signed within three months on a "buyback" basis, meaning the Russians will build the facilities but will not own them, and will receive their costs plus a pre-agreed profit in return. Moscow rejected US-led demands for new sanctions, including a possible cut-off of links with Iran's oil sector.

1500 GMT: Current Watch. Three months after the Iranian rial broke the 13000:1 level vs. the US dollar, which had been the "red line" set by the Central Bank, it has fallen to 14000:1. There is now a gap of almost 30% between the open-market rate and the official rate of under 11000:1.

1108 GMT: The Battle Within. In the guise of a general analysis of the link between financial issues and politics, prominent MP Ahmad Tavakoli has used a speech to take aim at the Ahmadinejad Government, "How does corruption affect national security?"

Tavakoli claimed that the corruption is costing the Iranian economy $34 billion each year.

1100 GMT: Hmm.... The office of former Presidential candidate and Minister of Interior Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri has denied reports that he has resigned from the Expediency Council.

Fair enough, but who within the Iranian system is spreading the rumour against the prominent conservative and why?

1055 GMT: Irony Watch. An article in Fars highlights the revelation that the US National Security Agency monitors more than 1.7 billion e-mails and phone calls.

The report does not give the number of exchanges and conversations monitored by Iranian services.

1050 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. In an interview with Fars, Minister of Energy Majid Namjoo has declared the Government's intention to carry out a second phase of subsidy cuts.

The programme, launched in December 2010, has been beset by criticism that it has led to spiralling prices for oil and electricity for consumers and businesses.

1040 GMT: Press Watch. The Iranian Ambassador to Kuwait has confirmed that Tehran has released two Kuwaiti journalists arrested last month in in the southwestern Iranian city of Abadan.

Adel Al-Yahya and Raed Al-Majid were accused of conducting interviews and media-related activities while on tourist visas.

0830 GMT: The headline does not offer much drama: "Ahmadinejad: All Relevant Agencies Should Coordinate Their Actions with Their Country's Customs".

But this summary of the President's speech on Saturday, offered by the State news agency IRNA that backs him, has a message beyond the words. For in his injunction to "all relevant agencies", Ahmadinejad may have repeating a challenge to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The essential backdrop for Saturday's declaration is a summer statement by Ahmadinejad, in which he accused the Revolutionary Guards --- short of specifically naming the IRGC --- of smuggling goods through unauthorised docks and wharves. The accusation hit at the larger issue of the Guards' expanding influence in the Iranian economy, and thus their political impact. 

IRGC Commanders responded with sharp assurances that their activities were legal and far-from-veiled warnings that they should not be confronted. The President --- perhaps thinking his point had been made, perhaps making a tactical retreat --- moved to other issues.

On Saturday, in an address trying to establish his effective management of the economy --- and his authority to do so --- Ahmadinejad returned to the theme. It was couched in terms that could be read a as a general call for Iran's customs regime to be effective, supporting border security as well as stopping smuggling. Still, that phrase "all relevant agencies" dangles in the headline.