The Latest from Iran (3 August): Ahmadinejad (Quickly) Presents His New Ministers

1930 GMT: Cartoon of Day. Khodnevis features a conversation between former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, on trial today in Cairo, and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei:

PANEL 1 --- KHAMENEI TO MUBARAK: Everything is quiet here! How lucky I am! How ill-fated you are!
PANEL 2 --- THIEF TO KHAMENEI (inside the sack): What's up, Seyed Ali?

But who's the thief?

1505 GMT: Freedom of the Press Watch. Ayande News reports that its editor Fouad Sadeghi and reporter Mehdi Khorramdel have been freed from detention.

Initial reports said the two were seized last week because of an interview in which former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, proclaiming his approach towards the US was far better than that of the current Government, implicitly criticised the Supreme Leader: however, Ayande says the possible "crime" was an analysis that Israel's Mossad intelligence service may be killing Iranian scientists. (The website has apologised for the offending item but has not deleted it.)

1500 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syria Watch). It is only a three-sentence report but, given Iranian media's reluctance to cover events in Syria, it is still notable....

The website Aftab noted on Monday that at least 136 people had died in Syria, most in Homs, from fire by regime tanks and snipers.

1445 GMT: CyberWatch. Aftab reports that the website of Sadegh Kharrazi, career diplomat and former Deputy Foreign Minister, has been filtered inside Iran.

1440 GMT: Economy Watch. Kalemeh reports cloth merchants in the Tehran Bazaar have been on strike since Monday over the Government policy on value-added tax.

1435 GMT: At the Movies. Ashgar Farhadi's Nader and Simin: A Separation has won more international honours, awarded Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay at the Durban Film Festival in South Africa.

Nader and Simin, the story of the pressures bearing down on a Tehran family, has been seen as a reflection of wider tensions in post-election Iran.

1430 GMT: All the President's Men. Parliament has approved all four of President Ahmadinejad's Ministerial nominations (see 0555 and 0940 GMT) by comfortable margins.

Khabar Online reports harmony breaking out as President Ahmadinejad stood up for each MP who greeted him and as legislators kissed him and the new ministers.

Kalemeh claims that key MP Mohammad Reza Bahonar had helped ensure the outcome, asking hardliners via letter to approve the ministers.

1420 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Back from a break to find another complication for Iran over payments for its oil exports.

South Korean government sources have said Tehran may have nearly $5 billion of cash "trapped" in the country by the end of the year as sanctions stop it repatriating money from oil sales.

South Korean refiners are paying Iran for oil into bank accounts using the local currency, the won. However, Iran cannot convert the won-denominated accounts into another currency such as the dollar or the euro and thus cannot move the funds outside South Korea. Iran can use the won funds to buy goods from South Korea, but it already runs a trade surplus with Asia's fourth-largest economy of $400 million a month,

The accumulated fund has already reached up to 4 trillion won ($3.82 billion), according to one of the sources. This could reach 5 trillion won ($4.76 billion) by the end of the year.

The Korean episode is the latest in difficulties for Iran with its oil exports. Just this week, Indian refiners began paying around $5 billion of oil debts after struggling for seven months to find a way to get money to Tehran, and a recent report said China had been unable to pay for up to $30 billion in shipments.

0940 GMT: All the President's Men. There has been some criticism in Parliament of President Ahmadinejad's nominee for Minister of Oil, Revolutionary Guards commander Rustam Qassemi --- persistent Government critic Ali Motahari said the place of military figures in political positions is not good for Iran.

However, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani praised Qassemi's "successful career", including his leadership of Khatam al-Anbia, the engineering branch of the Revolutionary Guards. Larijani said Khatam al-Anbia never competed with the private sector but encouraged it. He assserted that Parliament must approve Qassemi in a symbolic vote against US-led sanctions.

0850 GMT: Pick a Number Oil Edition). Deputy Minister of Oil Alireza Zeiqami has declared, "At present 1.5 million litres of gasoil is exported to Iraq every day." He said Afghanistan has requested 2 million litres of gasoil "which is being supplied to the country gradually" and added, "Armenia has also announced its readiness to import a daily volume of 1mln litters of gasoil and 1 million litres of gasoline."

All of this is in sharp contrast to Khabar Online's report today that Iran's total export of gasoil is 700,000 litres per day (see 0650 GMT).

0800 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Three Kurdish literary and cultural figures --- poet Jamal Khani, teacher Farhad Vakilinia, and student Naeem Najafi --- have been arrested. The reasons for the detentions are unknown.

0700 GMT: All the President's Men. The "hard-line" faction in Parliament has reportedly approved all four Ministerial nominees presented by President Ahmadinejad today (see 0555 GMT).

0650 GMT: Energy Watch. Khabar Online warns that, following the subsidy cuts of the Ahmadinejad Government, the gasoline situation in Iran is "critical". The website claims that production is slightly exceeding consumption --- 60 million v. 54 million litres; however, if Iran is to maintain its exports, that will not leave enough supply for domestic use.

0610 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Even as the President appeared again before Parliament, some MPs were pressing the campaign to interrogate him. Fazel Mousavi asked, "Is has been 130 days since presentation of accusations against Ahmadinejad --- why doesn't the Majlis deal with them?"

0555 GMT: We begin this morning with a snapshot from Parliament, where President Ahmadinejad introduced four nominees for his Cabinet.

Recent nominations have not been happy occasions for Ahmadinejad --- the last time he appeared before the Majlis, presenting the proposed Minister of Sport, he was heckled by MPs. (The episode led to an extraordinary meeting where the Supreme Leader told legislators to stop the "disgraceful" treatment of Ahmadinejad.)

Perhaps with that in mind, Ahmadinejad was brief in his appearance today, taking only 5-6 minutes to introduce his choices --- Mehdi Ghazanfari (Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Trade), Rustam Qassemi (Oil), Mohammad Abbasi (Sports and Youth), and Abdolreza Sheikholeslami (Labour, Cooperatives and Social Welfare).

The debate and votes on the quartet are scheduled for completion today.