The Latest from Iran (16 April): A Common Understanding?

See also Iran Special: Why Both Sides Shifted in Nuclear Talks --- And What Comes Next
The Latest from Iran (15 April): A Setback for the President

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1755 GMT: Supreme Leader Watch. Former Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham has declared that Ayatollah Khamenei is dealing with "slackers" on the Expediency Council because idle people disturb the Iranian system.

1750 GMT: All the President's Men. Yet more confusion in the case of President Ahmadinejad's advisor Saeed Mortazavi and his appointment as head of the Social Security Fund (see 0830 and 1203 GMT)....

Gholam Ali Haddad Adel --- MP, former Speaker of Parliament, and member of the Supreme Leader's inner circle --- has insisted that Mortazavi is adhering to his promise as head of the Fund amidst criticism from MPs of the appointment.

President Ahmadinejad has reportedly rejected Mortazavi's resignation.

1400 GMT: The Battle Within. Fars, linked to the Revolutionary Guards, has claimed that one of its reporters has been beaten up by bodyguards of 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.

1340 GMT: Currency Watch. Iranian media are claiming a rise of 7% to 10% in the open-market value of the Rial over the weekend. The numbers vary from site to site, but Mesghal puts the Rial at 17810:1 vs. the US dollar.

The cause of the supposed strengthening, after a fall in the Rial's value of almost 50% since September, is unclear, but most Iranian media are claiming it is due to confidence after Saturday's talks on Tehran's nuclear programme.

1334 GMT: CyberWatch. The Islamic Republic has launched a "copycat" BBC Persian website, using the name of the BBC to put out anti-British and anti-Israeli stories. Today's lead story is on attacks in Afghanistan, but the homepage also has claims of denunciations of Israel at the nuclear talks last weekend and of widespread deprivation in Britain.

1212 GMT: Economy Watch. Iran's Statistics Center has reported unemployment of at least 10% in 23 of 30 provinces in the last Iranian year (March 2010-March 2011).

1203 GMT: All the President's Men. The latest in the escalating furour over the appointment of President Ahmadinejad's aide Saeed Mortazavi to head the Social Security Fund (see 0830 GMT)....

The President's media advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr, after reports that Ahmadinejad had rejected Mortazavi's resignation, has said that the former Tehran Prosecutor General will continue as head of the Fund. That declaration intersects with the announcement of MP Ali Motahari that, as Mortazavi's resignation lasted only half a day, the campaign for the istizah (interrogation) of the Minister of Labour will be renewed.

1158 GMT: Water Watch. More on the Caspian Sea water project inaugurated by President Ahmadinejad this morning (see 0745 GMT)....

Ahmadinejad launched the $1-billion first phase of the ambitious project to pump water to a city of Semnan, population 200,000, in the expanding central desert. A desalination plant and pipes will be built over the next two years by Khatam al-Anbia, the industrial arm of the Revolutionary Guards. Two later phases that would pump more water into desert areas from the Caspian Sea and from the Persian Gulf.

0839 GMT: Economy Watch. A Central Bank report for the Iranian year 1389 (March 2010-March 2011) set out that 22.5% of Iranian families had no one in employment. More than half --- 55.4% --- had one employed member, 2.17% had two, and 4.9% had three or more.

Among those figures, these numbers stand out: 800,000 jobs were lost during the year and the employed population of Iran fell by 1,800,000. The figures are in stark contrast to President Ahmadinejad's repeated declarations of a sharp growth in employment in the country, with more jobs to be created by the end of his term in office.

0830 GMT: All the President's Men. It looks like political trouble is brewing over the situation of Presidential aide Saeed Mortazavi, controversially appointed to head the Social Security Fund.

A report in Tabnak indicates that some influential MPs held private negotiations with Mortazavi, under fire over his alleged role in the abuses and killings at the Kahrizak detention centre in summer 2009, for a deal in which Mortazavi would resign and the Minister of Labour --- challenged for his support of the Presidential aide --- would be spared impeachment.

However, President Ahmadinejad has refused to accept the resignation and other legislators are angered that a deal was struck with Mortazavi in closed-door discussions.

0745 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? Inaugurating a Caspian Sea water project, President Ahmadinejad has highlighted the Government's programmes for border control and optimisation of water consumption.

0655 GMT: Economy Watch. Radio Zamaneh posts a report on Sistan and Baluchistan Province in southeast Iran. It claims that while the official unemployment rate is 9.9%, experts say the real figure is about 60%, with Baluchi youths forced to emigrate to the UAE for jobs.

0645 GMT: In one of the most upbeat comments in Iran after Saturday's nuclear talks between Tehran and the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany), Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said in a televised interview that the two sides "have reached a common understanding".

Salehi called for the US and the European countries to recognise that while Iran will continue its enrichment of uranium, this is for peaceful activities: “We are trying to close this false dossier [alleging Tehran's militarisation of the programme], which has been fabricated for the Islamic Republic of Iran. This would benefit both Iran and the West."

We await tangible details of a possible deal to back up Salehi's remarks. Saturday's discussion in Istanbul only established an intent to negotiate, with further talks in Baghdad on 23 May. And our assessment --- posted in Sunday's analysis and in our Live Coverage --- is that Iran will insist on an easing of sanctions before any commitment to limit its enrichment or even send its uranium stock outside the country. Statements by other Iranian officials and media indicated that, to achieve this, they would separate the Europeans, praising their intent for a resolution, from the US.