The Latest from Iran (30 April): Restating the Demand on Sanctions

See also The Latest from Iran (29 April): The Ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guards

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2040 GMT: Labour Front. As expected, authorities have refused a permit to Iran's workers to march on May Day. Labourers instead an indoors ceremony in a hall today.

1740 GMT: Defiance of the Day. The pro-Ahmadinejad Iran newspaper declares that Presidential advisor Saeed Mortazavi, despite Parliamentary objections, is still working as head of the Social Security Fund.

MPs had threatened to impeach the Minister of Labor if Mortazavi, under fire for his role in the abuses at the Kahrizak detention centre in 2009, continued in the post. Mortazavi reportedly offered his resignation, but this was rejected by the President.

Baztab claims that Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has been told that the Supreme Leader opposes impeachment of the Minister.

1640 GMT: Supreme Leader Watch. Looks like Ayatollah Khamenei is ramping up the pressure on the Government over the economy --- his representative Ali Saeedi has said the "absence of government" is "one important reason for inflation", chiding that the Government "shouldn't leave the Bazaar to its own devices".

Less than 48 hours after the Supreme Leader said those who took out massive loans were "traitors and looters of national wealth", his website features an entry that says the Supreme Leader "does not oppose financial supervision of organisations under his control".

And Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, acting for scholars in the religious city of Qom, adds to the challenge with a letter to Ahmadinejad --- Yazdi says the Government should stop inflation and consult with experts on the economy.

1630 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. Ripples of another major fraud, as an advisor of Hormozgan Province's Audit Office says a Government bank gave millions of Euros 2 private companies without the necessary securities.

1522 GMT: Book Watch. The prominent publisher Cheshmeh, banned from the Tehran International Book Fair, is planning an exhibit in its bookshop during the festivities.

Writer and translator Khashayar Deyhim reports on the ban of his Nashr-e Kuchak publishing house.

1509 GMT: All the President's Men. A bit of a difficulty for President Ahmadinejad's camp around Sunday's latest hearing in the $2.6 billion bank fraud, as allegations surfaced that Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai had handed over Khuzestan Steel Company to the Aria Group, at the centre of the embezzlement charges, without a bid.

Tabnak reports that Iran newspaper, linked to Ahmadinejad, tried to solve the problem by censoring news of Rahim-Mashai.

Deutsche Welle claims disputes have spread farther, with Ahmadinejad saying that letters from Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani to the Government are illegal.

1505 GMT: Justice Watch. Ali Akbar Heydarifard, the Tehran Deputy Prosecutor General at the time of the abuses and killings in the Kahrizak detention centre in summer 2009, has been arrested.

Saeed Mortazavi, the Tehran Prosecutor General in 2009 and now a Presidential aide, has been under pressure over his alleged role but has so far avoided prosecution.

1458 GMT: Press Watch. ISNA reports that Parisa Hafezi, the head of Reuters' bureau in Tehran, has been summoned to court over the outlet's story on female Iranian ninjas.

Last month, Iranian authorities stepped up pressure on the bureau over a short-lived headline on a Reuters video, "Iran is Training Thousands of Female Ninjas as Assassins". The office was effectively closed, as 11 staff were told to hand in their press cards.

1453 GMT: Shutting Down the Lawyers. Human rights attorney Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a co-founder of the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, has denied reports on Sunday that he was arrested --- as he was defending a client --- to serve a five-year sentence. He said instead that he had been summoned to court on 5 May.

1443 GMT: Economy Watch. Fars reports the rumour that, despite heated Parliamentary opposition, the second phase of the Government's subsidy cuts will be launched at the end of May.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Trade Mohammad Ali Zeighami, has said the Government will provide $24 billion in support for imports of essential goods needed for Iranian production.

Zeighami's assurance came as MP Mehrdad Bazrpash warned, "Useless imported goods have replaced unknown Iranian brands."

1429 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Back from an academic break to pick through the rhetoric of Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the Iranian envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, as he spoke about renewed discussions with the IAEA on 14-15 May, just over a week before the Iran sits down with the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia) in Baghdad:

We hope that this will be a very constructive and successful meeting. The main purpose is to negotiate on a modality and framework to resolve outstanding issues and remove ambiguities....Every action will be implemented based on this framework, afterward.

That is too vague to have any significance. However, Soltanieh drew a clear line, "We (will) never stop enrichment activities in Iran."

What is left unclear is whether Tehran will accept an apparent US opening for enrichment up to 5% at its plans or whether it will insist that it can enrich to 20%.

0943 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Wladimir van Wilgenburg posts the claim of an Iraqi site, that Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, during a recent visit, called on the Supreme Leader to issue a fatwa against nuclear weapons to ease concerns among Western countries and Israel.

The report matches that, before this month's talks opened in Istanbul, that Turkish leaders emphasised to the US that discussions had potential because of Ayatollah Khamenei's fatwa saying nuclear weapons were a "sin".

0817 GMT: Reassurance of the Day. The Deputy Minister of Industry says that the Government "has not abandoned the market".

Amidst economic difficulties and subsidy cuts, Iranian producers and labourers have become increasingly concerned about Government support for production.

0732 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Interestingly, President Ahmadinejad --- so prominent in the October 2009 initiative for a nuclear settlement and still taking the lead last autumn --- appears to be staying far away this time. This morning, his speech focused instead on the platitude that the "resurrection of nations" should over the "culture of individuals" to "change the status quo".

0715 GMT: The weekend was marked by some negotiation through the media over Iran's nuclear programme, ahead of the next scheduled talks in Baghdad on 23 May. US officials put out the line that Washington might accept Iranian enrichment of uranium to 5%, under strict international supervision and inspection. Tehran responded that the measure was a "good start" but remained cautious --- significantly, the Iranian regime did not say if it would insisted on some capability for enrichment to 20%.

However, what was not said this weekend, at least from the US and European side, was just as significant. There was no indication of the timing for an easing of sanctions, if Iran moved towards the "Western" position on enrichment.

This morning, leading politican Gholam Ali Haddad Adel --- a member of the Supreme Leader's inner circle and possibly the next Speaker of Parliament --- restated the regime's line: "The ineffectiveness of these sanctions has been proved to the Western leaders, and the other party could take a confidence-building step to prove its good intentions."

At the same time, Haddad Adel indicated that the negotiations would be played "long", with no resolutions in the near-future: "It should not be expected that all issues will be resolved in Baghdad."

And that raises an immediate question: will the US relent on its next round of sweeping sanctions, scheduled for 28 June, and the European Union on its embargo on Iranian oil, to come into effect three days later?