The Latest from Iran (22 August): A Death Threat Against Ahmadinejad's Right-Hand Man

1810 GMT: Deviant Current Watch. Hojatoleslam Mehdi Hosseini, the deputy education manager of Qom's religious seminaries, has said that the "deviant current" --- the label for advisors around President Ahmadinejad --- is much more dangerous than the "fitna (sedition) group".

1730 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Has Hashemi Rafsanjani's brother Mohsen Hashemi tipped off the former President's election strategy?

Hashemi said he was not sure if he would run for Parliament; however, he advised that "moderate hardliners" and reformers should unite, as "you cannot run a country with radicals".

Hashemi, who resigned as the chief executive officer of the Tehran Metro earlier this year said that the country needs efficiency and realism "which have been lost". Politically, President Ahmadinejad had topped everything "by libelling his rivals".

1500 GMT: Corruption Watch. In a report that may cause problems for the Governor, Morteza Tamaddon, the National Audit Office has claimed fraud of $1.1 million in Tehran's provincial government.

1450 GMT: Oil Watch. Minister of Oil Rustam Qassemi has insisted that Iran is self-sufficient in gasoline production, rejecting reports that the country is importing 14 million litres of gasoline each day.

1440 GMT: Energy Watch. A leading Turkish MP has said that Iran's natural gas exports to Turkey rose 7% in the first six months of 2011.

Iran's export of natural gas to Turkey is 50% higher than in 2009 and double the rate of 2008.

1350 GMT: Economy Watch. Despite the absence of official figures, more grief for the Government over the economy --- Parliament's Research Group reports on a sharp increase in unemployment during the 4th Budget Plan (2005-2010), and economist Saeed Laylaz says the Government is solely responsible for the high cash liquidity and "real" inflation of 27% to 30%.

1345 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. To mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of Amnesty International, The Irish Times and Amnesty profiling a prisoner each month. This month, the detainee is Iranian journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, recipient of five years in prison and 32 lashes for writing critically about the economic situation and the Government's policies.

1230 GMT: Political Prisoner. Protest against the behaviour of the Iranian judiciary, detained lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has refused to meet with her family for a second consecutive week.

The husband and child of Sotoudeh, imprisoned with an 11-year sentence, were detained for hours during their last visit with the attorney.

0930 GMT: Nuclear Front. Get ready for Western hyper-ventilation over this report from Iranian state media --- Reuters is already circulating it as a "FLASH"....

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Fereydoun Abbasi, has said Iran has started transfer of centrifuges from the Natanz nuclear facility to a site at Fordoo, in the mountains near Qom in central Iran.

Iran notified the International Atomic Energy Agency of Fordoo in September 2009, just before Western countries highlighted it as supposed proof of Iran's drive to a militarised nuclear programme.

Iranian officials say the opening of the second facility is part of an effort to ensure adequate production of 20%-enriched uranium for civilian purposes.

0925 GMT: Mardomak posts footage an interview in which Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini says that, to deal with "soft war", the organisation supervising cinema will be changed.

0840 GMT: Great Moments in Clairvoyancy. Fars reports that, as well as foreseeing the recent unrest in England, the Supreme Leader predicted a series of car burnings in Berlin this week.

0825 GMT: Claim of Day. The opposition site Kalemeh claims that, if the "deviant current" around President Ahmadinejad is eliminated, reformers will win Parliamentary elections in Tehran. The site claims a poll shows 63% support for reformers and only 16% for the conservative/principlist Islamic Constancy Front of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, and 8% for the "unity" front of the 7+8 Committee.

0725 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syria Front). Iran's leading clerics lined up this weekend to back the Assad regime. Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi declared that Syria is the front line in battle against Zionism, while Grand Ayatollah Sobhani said that any change in Syria is harmful to Muslims.

0640 GMT:: We start this morning with a rather striking story from Friday night....

Mansur Arazi is a "praiser", a man who offers public eulogies for the Islamic Republic. Speaking the Ark Mosque in Tabriz in northwest Iran, he turned from praise to criticism of the "deviant current" around President Ahmadinejad: "Whoever kills this Jewish bunch, I'll pay him!"

The comment is interpreted by many as a direct threat against Ahmadinejad's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.