The Latest from Iran (8 October): Parliament's Message to Ahmadinejad

See also EA Video Analysis: How to Become an Expert on the Iranian Nuclear Programme
The Latest from Iran (7 October): "The Devil Has Disrupted Our Economy"

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2035 GMT: Economy Watch. HRANA reports that the Saipa automobile factory in Kashan has dismissed more than 10,000 employees --- 75% of its workforce --- and only 1 of 3 shifts is assembling now.

The site says Saipa in Tehran is also down to 1 in 3 shifts.

2025 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Mansour Haghighatpour, the deputy head of the National Security Council, has said that interrogation of the President will only be dropped if the Supreme Leader opposes it.

1605 GMT: Press Watch. Wafa news agency has been banned for publishing an open letter by families of war invalids demanding the dismissal of a Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

1555 GMT: President v. Parliament. Fars has published what it claims is a confidential letter from President Ahmadinejad to all Government officials commanding that they not comply with any appointments or dismissals ordered by MPs.

1355 GMT: Currency Watch. Mehr confirms that, with the imposed Central Bank rate of 28500 Rials to 1 US dollar, foreign exchange offices are refusing to trade currency.

Peyke Iran claims that 44 of 629 offices have had their licences revoked, and 99 others are operating without legal approval.

1350 GMT: Economy Watch. The president of an Iranian industrial organisation has said that the price of steel has doubled and that for cement has risen by 20% in the last few weeks.

1344 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rah-e Sabz reported that Mehdi Emami Naseri and three other editors of Maghreb daily are still in Evin Prison.

The newspaper's offices were raided and Naseri summoned for questioning last week. The reason is unclear, with some reports claiming the transgression was a featured photograph of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and others saying it was a picture of former President Mohammad Khatami.

1234 GMT: Khatami Watch. In an interview with Etemaad, Mohammadreza Khatami, brother of former President Mohammad Khatami, has claimed that “[the Reformists] will never enter a subversive phase [to overthrow the regime].”

1213 GMT:Ahmadinejad Watch. Al-Monitor notes that in an interview with Negah-e Panjshanbe, conservative politician Ali Motahhari has “claimed that Ahmadinejad has twice requested that opposition figures, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, be released from house arrest.”

1152 GMT:Distraction of the Day. With a near-moratorium on currency and economic news, Press TV reports the assertion of Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari that “Iranian naval forces are ready to extend their presence to [the international waters of] the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, south of the Indian Ocean and the South Pole.”

Sayyari added that “International waters belong to all countries and we will be present in the international waters in order to protect our interests.”

1010 GMT:Economy Watch. Khabar Online reports that the support payments, covering the higher prices from subsidy cuts that were meant to be paid to Iranian households in September, will probably be delivered tonight.

0935 GMT: Currency Watch. Mehr reports that authorities have carried out a new wave of arrests in an attempt to maintain the imposed market rate of 28500 Rials to the US dollar.

Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi said this weekend that 30 "illegal" currency traders had been detained.

0850 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has ruled himself out of next year’s presidential elections.

In an interview with the Iranian newspaper Arman, Rafsanjani “stated that if a competent person receives a high number of votes and is elected as president next year, he will help him as an advisor.”

Rafsanjani’s declaration comes amid reports that he has been pushing for a “national unity government” either to replace Ahmadinejad now or as a force to participate in the 2013 elections.

In the same interview (see Sunday Live Coverage), Rafsanjani criticised the economic mismanagement of the government and made a call for competent officials to resolve Iran’s financial troubles.

0805 GMT: Oil Watch. Traders says Iranian oil exports rebounded slightly in September, reaching 1.2 million barrels per day.

Tehran's sales had dropped to 1.1 million bpd through the summer, about half of the average in 2011, but Turkey, Japan, and South Korea resumed purchases last month. China, India, and Taiwan were also customers.

Some countries had halted imports after the European Union's sanctions of 1 July cut off insurance cover for Iranian tankers. Japan, India, and South Korea have looked to alternative arrangements, and Tehran has asserted that it will provide its own insurance for the shipments.

0715 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Expediency Council, has jabbed that the President has not kept his promise, made two weeks ago, to deal with the currency crisis.

Rezaei, addressing Iranian students in London, also had some tough talk for overseas foes, “If [the Israelis] attack, Iran’s deterrent power would deal a mortal blow and the Israeli death rate would not be less than 10,000.”

Rezaei, a former long-serving head of the Revolutionary Guards, stood for President in 2009 and is likely to do so in 2013.

0605 GMT: Currency Watch. There is no sign of movement so far this morning on the currency front. The Central Bank's rate of 28500 Rials to the US dollar, imposed on Saturday and available at a few exchanges, is still shown as the official level, with almost all trading in the "open market" reportedly suspended.

The Rial-to-Dollar rate in the Bank's "trade room", available to some importers, is 25550:1 today.

0555 GMT: Labour Front. Afshin Osanloo, a bus driver and labour activist, has appealed from prison to the International Workers' Transport Federation and International Labor Organization:

[I ask you] to support the plight of...suffering colleagues in Iran, ensuring that their voices are heard across the globe. I ask that our case be brought to the attention of international human rights organizations, demanding that they investigate the unacceptable condition of workers in the Iran's transportation sector, including the issuance of unjust and illegal sentences imposed on workers such as myself.

Osanloo, whose brother and fellow activist Mansour is also in prison, was detained in autumn 2009.

0525 GMT: On Sunday, Parliament voted by a 179-17 margin, with 20 abstentions, to suspend the second phase of the Government's subsidy cuts, the centrepiece economic programme of President Ahmadinejad.

The effect of the vote is more symbolic than real. While Government officials had declared as early as December 2011 that the second phase of the cuts, which began a year earlier, were "imminent", implementation was repeatedly delayed amidst political squabbling and a worsening economic situation. 

The first phase of the cuts, as well as the support payments to families to cover higher prices, will continue. However, the programme has been overtaken, politically and economically, by the day-to-day developments of the currency crisis, declining production, unemployment, and inflation beyond that caused by the reduced subsidies.

How far will Parliament take the challenge? On Sunday, reports said 93 of the 290 MPs --- well above the number required --- had signed a petition to interrogate Ahmadinejad over the currency crisis. Whle the President is already a "lame duck", entering the last eight months of his final term, his political foes may want to strip him of any figment of authority before next June, as well as ensuring that one of his allies cannot take the office.