The Latest from Iran (4 May): Economy Watch

2010 GMT: Cabinet Watch. Back to today's confusing chapter in the crisis over the President and his attempted dismissal of the Minister of Intelligence....

The website 7 AM, close to Presidential aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, offers an explanation for why Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi was reportedly at the Cabinet meeting (see 1225 GMT) but did not appear in the photograph issued by the President's office (see 1610 GMT).

7 AM says "an informed source in the President's office (Rahim-Mashai?) denied" that "the President ordered the Minister of Information out of the Cabinet meeting". The source adds that going in and out of the Cabinet meeting "is not unusual".

1905 GMT: Campus Watch. Daneshjoo News reports a hunger strike by students at Allameh Tabatabaie and Chahbahar Universities protesting unsuitable conditions.

1710 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Sarah Shourd, who was arrested with two US companions in July 2009 but freed on $500,000 bail last September, has said she will not return to stand trial with Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer next week.

The three Americans were detained while hiking along the Iran-Iraq border and charged with espionage.

1700 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Radio Zamaneh offers a useful overview of recent detentions and extension of sentences. Latest news includes the addition of another year to the 11-year prison term of journalist and human rights activist Abolfazl Abedini for "propaganda against the regime".

Three student activists --- Bahareh Hedayat, Majid Tavakoli, and Mahdieh Golroo --- had six months added to their sentences earlier this week.

1650 GMT: Cabinet Confusion. Now Aftab weighs in on today's Cabinet meeting and the continuing political dispute: did President Ahmadinejad ask Minister of Intelligence Moslehi to leave the session?

1610 GMT: A Matter of Intelligence. BBC Persian casts doubt on the earlier report (see 1225 GMT) that Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi was at today's Cabinet meeting. It claims he cannot be seen in the official photograph released by the President's office.

1225 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Fars reports that both the President and the Minister of Intelligence, whose forced resignation --- later rescinded by the Supreme Leader --- sparked the current political crisis, were at today's Cabinet meeting.

This, however, has not stopped the sniping. Ali Motahari, a leading Parliamentary critic of the Government, has claimed that the Ahmadinejad camp, thinking the world is close to the appearance of the Hidden Imam, believes Iran no longer needs the Supreme Leader.

And the head of the judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, says that rebellion against the Supreme Leader is rebellion against religion and the Iranian Constitution.

1125 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Behzad Nabavi, a senior member of the reformist Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, has been recalled to prison.

Nabavi was arrested the day after the 2009 Presidential election and eventually sentenced to five years in prison.

0945 GMT: Where's Ali? The Supreme Leader has used the occasion of National Teacher's Day and an audience of teachers to put out a challenge to the "West".

Ayatollah Khamenei said that "change in education system must be based on an Iranian independent model driven by country needs and Islam". Then he pronounced that the "recent Awakening in North Africa and W Asia will spread to heart of Europe too" and "European nations will rise against politicians that surrendered themselves to America and the Zionists".

0615 GMT: Another story of protest in Iran against the Bahraini regime and its crackdown on protests, but this one has a twist....

For weeks, Iranian officials and state media have waged a loud campaign against Bahrain's suppression of dissent. That theme was taken up yesterday by football fans of Iran's Piroozi, as they played Saudi al-Ittihad in the Asian Champions League.

Clashes with security forces followed, however. An eyewitess said two fans were seriously injured, and Fars reported that several were detained.

Photo: Reza Saiedipour (Fars)

0600 GMT: We open this morning in Washington, where the politics of sanctions has resumed. Several Congessmen are preparing new bills for stricter measures against Tehran.

One bill, the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Promotion Act of 2011, would force the Obama Administration to appoint a special representative on human rights and democracy in Iran and impose sanctions on companies that sell or service products that enable the Iranian regime to oppress its people, such as communications spying equipment.

There is talk of several proposals being combined into one "comprehensive bill that deals with Iran on a variety of levels, including proliferation, human rights, and energy", to be unveiled by the end of May.

Perhaps in response to the pressure, a senior US Treasury official, David Cohen, told senators on Tuesday that measures, implementing U.N.-mandated sanctions and cutting off funds that could support Iran's nuclear programme, would be vigourously enforced.

So far, no banks outside Iran have been punished under the measures, although Cohen maintained that the law has deterred many foreign banks from dealing with blacklisted Iranian institutions: "Our first option is to get them to stop. Our second best option is to apply sanctions. Without getting into the details of any particular investigation, we are getting close to a decision point on several institutions."

Meanwhile, Tehran insists all is well. Minister of Oil Masoud Mirkazemi declared Iran will increase its gasoline production by 22 million litres (5.8 million gallons) per day in the current Iranian calendar year. Deputy Oil Minister Ahmad Qalebani had said on Friday that the country would raise its crude oil production by more than 100,000 barrels per day by March 2012. 

Earlier in April, the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company announced that Iran is set to quadruple its gasoline output from the current 42 million liters (11.09 million gallons) per day to 186 million liters (49.1 million gallons) per day.