The Latest from Iran (13 May): Tehran's Falling Oil Exports

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1505 GMT: Economy Watch. Economist Saeed Laylaz has rejected the President's claims that Iran's price rises are due to global inflation, saying the most important factor is the Government.

Laylaz said inflation had fallen from 26-30% in 2008-2009 to 20% in 2011-2012, but he noted that production has sharply declined and is now the biggest threat to the economy.

1025 GMT: Bank Fraud. In today's 10th hearing in the $2.6 billion bank fraud case, the headline allegation so far is that a deputy to the Minister of Industry was bribed with 900 million Toman (about $740,000).

Then there is the claim of a defendant that Amir Mansour Khosravi, the businessman at the centre of the scandal, "controlled Iran's steel market and prices".

1000 GMT: Let Battle Begin. The campaign to become the next Speaker of Parliament is underway. Gholam Ali Haddad Adel --- former Speaker and member of the Supreme Leader's inner circle --- has launched his campaign against the current Speaker, Ali Larijani.

Haddad Adel said, "I do not expect the backing of fitna (sedition) supporters. We must support Ayatollah Khamenei."

Haddad Adel also seemed to keep reformists at arm's lenghth, "Principlists must keep boundaries with non-principlists". And he indicated that his Speakership would bring a cease-fire with the President: "Questioning Ahmadinejad reduced the Majlis' authority and made the enemy happy."

0735 GMT: Economy Watch. Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of the Expediency Council and 2009 Presidential candidate, has warned that the "social and economic dissatisfaction of the people is sharply rising".

Presenting his new book Economic Federalism, Rezaei called for a new plan to achieve economic growth like China and Japan.

0729 GMT: Sports Report. Ali Kafashian, the head of Iran’s Football Federation, has announced that Iranian women can attend the Asian Youth Football Championship games in Tehran.

Kafashian said, “We follow the regulation of the Asian Football Confederation and act along its requirements" that there must be no gender discrimination over attendance.

The Iranian Football Federation has included two Tehran stadiums in its plans to host the matches in September.

The Islamic Republic has prohibited women from attending games, with rights activists trying to overturn the ban. The Asian Football Confederation had warned Tehran that the discrimination would result in Iran's removal from the list of championship hosts.

0720 GMT: Employment Watch. Iran's Statistics Centre has again slapped down President Ahmadinejad's claim that the Government created 2.5 million new jobs last year by stating that only 400,000 of these can be confirmed.

0620 GMT: We begin with further confirmation of the squeeze on Iran's oil trade amid US-led sanctions.

The International Energy Agency has reported that Tehran's exports fell sharply again in April. Shipments could be down this quarter as much as one million barrels a day, about 40% of the country's usual shipments.

Iran's oil production remained steady at 3.3 million barrels a day in April, but it did not sell 15% to 25% of that oil and instead pumped it into floating tanker storage. An IEA specialist said Tehran can only continue this for two months before filling its storage and shutting down fields.

The IEA also said that Iran's fleet of oil tankers have started to play "hide and seek" by disabling their tracking beacons. Out of 38 Iranian oil tankers, only one is currently broadcasting its location, according the tracking service Marine Traffic. 

In official submissions to OPEC, the Iranian authorities claim to have actually increased oil production by 38,000 barrels a day since January, to 3.8 million barrels a day in April. OPEC's analysts, using secondary data sources, estimate that Iran's oil production has fallen by 152,000 barrels a day since January to 3.2 million barrels a day in April.

Preliminary trade figures show the Islamic Republic's crude exports fell by 600,000 barrels a day to 1.6 million barrels a day in April, a shipping source said last week.