The Latest from Iran (27 September): Foreign Diversions

1935 GMT: Corruption Watch. More on Mohammad Reza Zonouzi, the "crony" of Ahmadinejad whom Ayande claims may be involved with a fraud much bigger than the current $2.6 billion bank embezzlement scandal (see 1810 GMT)....

Zonouzi reportedly has dozens of companies in Azerbaijan, includig Bonab Steel Company, Tabriz Steel Company, and other large trusts.

1925 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Prominent conservative cleric Hojatoleslam Jafar Shojouni, who launched a series of verbal assaults on the President;s camp in April, is at it again --- he has told a Lebanese newspaper that the Iranian system agreed behind the scenes to keep Ahmadinejad in power for the last two years of his Presidential term, even though support for him has diminished.

1845 GMT: Energy Watch. Mehr reports that Tehran will demand compensation from Turkey over "unacceptable" delays in repair of a pipeline carrying Iranian gas.

Last week Iran halted gas flows through the pipeline after a request from Turkey, which said it wanted to check for a possible technical fault. National Iranian Gas Company Managing Director Javad Oji reportedly said Kurdish insurgents had blown up the pipeline, forcing its fourth closure this year. Mehr, quoting “economic experts”, said Turkey was not rushing to re-open the pipeline as it was benefiting from the import of cheaper Russian gas and could avoid paying compensation for the problem.

1840 GMT: Bastion of Peace Watch. No further comment on this remark by Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi, "The US pursues the policy of provoking conflicts among countries and unleashing terror and crises all over the world, while Iran’s foreign policy is based on peace building experience."

1835 GMT: Not-a-Hotline Watch. The naval commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has dismissed the US proposal for the establishment of a direct military hotline between Washington and Tehran.

Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said, “When we go to the Gulf of Mexico, we will establish direct communication with them. In the view of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the illegitimate presence of the U.S. in the Persian Gulf makes no sense. The Americans should make requests which have something to do with realities."

Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, reportedly said the US is considering a direct military hotline with Iran after a series of close encounters between American and Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf.

President Ahmadinejad, while in the US, had told interviewers that the proposal would be considered, but Fadavi said that the US is afraid of the fact that Iran’s deterrence capability has increased. “Their objectives are quite clear to us. They only have one way to alleviate their concerns, which is withdrawing from the region,” he added.

1825 GMT: At the Movies (Political Prisoner Edition). Organizers of the Toronto Film Festival, the largest in North America, have criticised the arrest of six filmmakers in Iran "whose work should be seen and their voices heard".

The organisers expressed "deep concern" over the arrest last week of Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Katayoun Shahabi, Hadi Afarideh, Nasser Saffarian, Shahnama Bazdar and Mohsen Shahrnazdar by Iranian authorities on charges that they worked for BBC Persian.

Mirtahmasb is the co-director with Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, sentenced to six years in prison, of "This Is Not A Film", which was screened earlier this month at the Festival.

1815 GMT: Strike Watch. Cloth merchants in the Tehran Bazaar have promised to continue their strike "until our problems are resolved", saying that officials should give answers rather than threats.

The vendors have been on strike since last month in protest at Government policies on value-added tax.

1810 GMT: Corruption Watch. Ayande News offers the tantalising news that there is a "much bigger fraud" than the $2.6 billion bank embezzlement which has gripped Iran's system. The site claims that Amir Mansoor Khosravi, the main suspect in the embezzlement, "is not even the small finger" of Mohammad Reza Zonouzi, an associate of President Ahmadinejad's.

In Manuary 2010, Zonouzi started Ata Airline, the first airline in the northwest of Iran funded by the private sector, investing more than $25 million in four aircraft with hopes for expansion.

1800 GMT: Where in the World is Esfandiar? Mehr asks that interesting question, noting that the President's controversial Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai was not seen in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's entourage when he returned to Tehran from his trip to the US and Africa.

Could it be that Rahim-Mashai stayed behind for a quiet round of talks in the US?

1750 GMT: Security Watch. Back from an academic break to find, via an EA reader, the claim that the funeral services of Azeri activist Ebrahim Jafarzadeh were disrupted by security forces, with more than 50 people arrested.

1440 GMT: Corruption Watch. Developments in the $2.6 billion bank fraud engulfing the Iranian system....

Some Iranian media reporting that the chief executive officer of Bank Melli, Mahmoud Reza Khavari, has resigned and the manager of Saderat Bank, Mohammad Reza Jahromi, has been dismissed.

Both Bank Melli and Bank Saderat deny the reports.

1410 GMT: Currency Watch. The price of gold coin in Tehran has now broken the 6000 rial barrier, even though the world price for gold is falling. And in an even more pointed sign of the weakness of the Iranian currency, the open-market rate for the rial is now 12930 to the US dollar, 20% above the official rate of 10780:1.

1110 GMT: Foreign Diversions. A follow-up on our opening entry (see 0610 GMT)....

The Bahrain State news agency has now given its version of the meeting in New York between the Bahraini and Iranian Foreign Ministers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it does not present the line of Irnaian media that Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa "has asked for Iran to help [Bahrain] resolve [its] current crisis".

At the same time, it does not appear that Bahrain is going to exploit the opening to proclaim Iranian interference in its internal affairs, instead using the occasion for a pointed reminder that everyone should stay out of Bahrain's political business (and, wittingly or unwittingly, supporting Tehran's message on the same lines):

The discussions touched on the situation in the region and the Kingdom of Bahrain interest regarding issues that would maintain security and stability in the region that must be based on the principles of good neighbourliness, non-interference in the internal affairs of States and the principles of international law and conventions.

0820 GMT: No Forgiveness. Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri has declared that the "repentance of some groups after their prosecution for post-election "crimes" will not be accepted, since the regime's response to the demonstrations in 2009 had been the "largest blow to the prestige of sedition".

Last month the Supreme Leader declared an amnesty for more than 100 prisoners, many of them political detainees, and Iranian media portrayed those freed as repenting for their dissent. Opposition sites denied that there had been any remorse for the protests after the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

0810 GMT: CyberWatch. Gholam Reza Jalali, the head of the Iranian military's efforts at "passive defense", has declared that the organisation's headquarters with communications, security, and intelligence services has been established to deal with the threats of "our enemies...America and Israel".

Jalali said "thousands of Iranian companies" had been blocked by the US and Israel, and his organisation would "examine vulnerable points in more than 500 cyber-exercises" to overcome the weaknesses of the Islamic Republic.

0730 GMT: The US Hikers. Fed by remarks from Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei to State-appointed lawyer Masoud Shafiee, Iran's official and semi-official media is deriding the press conference given on their return to New York by US nationals Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, freed after 26 months in prison in Tehran.

One outlet breaks through, however, to present a full version of Bauer and Fattal's comments on their treatment in prison and the abuse of other detainees --- the reformist newspaper Shargh offers excerpts from the "controversial remarks".

0610 GMT: Before facing the political music, President Ahmadinejad offered one more song from his overseas tour last night. Returning to Tehran from his speech at the United Nations and visits to several African countries, he declared that the position of Iran in the world is now a "far more prominent issue".

There may be more immediate significance, however, in a meeting in New York between Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and his Syrian counterpart Walid Moallem. The official line, as presented by Iran's State news agency IRNA is Salehi's welcoming of reforms by the Assad regime, even though Woallem told the UN yesterday (see Syria and Beyond LiveBlog) that reforms were taking a back seat to Damascus' defence against "foreign intervention".

And the most significant declaration in the short-term may be that of Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa, at least as it is presented by IRNA and Iran's English-language outlet Press TV. The Iranian sites claim Al Khalifa, in a meeting with Salehi at the UN, "has asked for Iran to help [Bahrain] resolve the current crisis".

There is no evidence in the articles that Al Khalifa, whose regime has castigated Tehran for supporting the uprising that began in February , made any such request. To the contrary, look for Bahrain to turn the IRNA/Press TV spin to its advantage, using the articles as proof that Iran is continuing its propaganda and manipulation of the Bahraini opposition.