The Latest from Iran (22 June): Supreme Leader "More Talks, Please"

1335 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. More support for our analysis that the Supreme Leader wants to see continued negotiations on the nuclear issue with the US, Europe, and other powers (see 0530 GMT)....

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami put out some hostile rhetoric at Friday Prayers, claiming that the 5+1 Powers had surrendered to "the Zionist regime" in their discussions with Iran this week in Moscow. The core of his message, however, was the Islamic Republic's commitment to further talks, such as the technical discussion in Istanbul on 3 July, provided its nuclear rights were acknowledged.

1320 GMT: Oil Watch. Japanese trading house Mitsubishi has renewed its annual oil purchase contract with Iran but cut the loading volume to comply with US sanctions, according to trade sources.

Mitsubishi's new contractual volume from April is unclear. The company bought at least 15,000 barrels of crude per day last year.

Mitsubishi loaded some barrels of Iran oil in the period from April to June, the sources said, for Japan's top two buyers, Showa Shell Sekiyu and JX Nippon Oil & Energy. Besides Mitsubishi, another trading house, Toyota Tsusho has been also lifting Iranian crude since April for the top two buyers./p>

Japan nominated loadings of 120,000 bpd for June and July, unchanged from May but down significantly from a year earlier.

1305 GMT: Food Watch. Fars holds up the possibility of India exporting three million tonnes of wheat to Iran as part-payment for Iranian oil.

The Islamic Republic, beset by production problems, complications from subsidy cuts, and payments difficulties, is facing wheat shortages, and the price of bread has risen sharply this spring.

Earlier this year, India and Iran struck an arrangement for Delhi to pay 45% of the cost of Iranian oil in rupees, which are not convertible but can be used to purchase Indian products.

0830 GMT: Oil Watch. James Herron of The Wall Street Journal reports that India's Ministry of Oil has asked state-owned reinsurers to cover Indian ships importing crude oil from Iran.

Earlier this week, the Japanese Government adopted a similar provision covering tankers with Iranian supplies. The measure has been forced by European Union sanctions, coming into effect on 1 July, which will withdraw cover from almost all vessels transporting Tehran's crude.

0600 GMT: Economy Watch. Khabar Online is concerned about a sudden removal of subsidies from gasoline, leading to a sharp increase in prices. Its columnist warns of "history repeating itself", after the first round of subsidy cuts led to long queues of motorists trying to fill up before the cost shot up, and worries, "I cannot tell fact from rumour."

0530 GMT: After two days of near-silence following the nuclear talks in Moscow with the 5+1 Powers, the Supreme Leader's office has put out an important signal.

Ali Akbar Velayati, former Foreign Minister and Ayatollah Khamenei's advisor on international matters, has put out the line, "Tehran is ready for any negotiations if the other sides in the P5+1 group accepts the Islamic Republic of Iran's rights in accordance with international treaties."

Velayati specifically welcomed the one outcome from the stalemate at Moscow, the technical talks between Iran and the 5+1's representatatives in Istanbul on 3 July. 

While the advisor asserted that "Tehran is still defending its principled rights strongly", the message is that the Islamic Republic --- facing the imposition of more sanctions from 1 July --- will not bring down the negotiations.

Meanwhile, President Ahmadinejad, pushed to the side on the nuclear issue, put out some rhetoric in Brazil last night:

The countries that have nuclear arms today, and that at certain moments used those arms, today through threats are telling other countries they cannot have these weapons. We believe that nuclear energy, along with other forms of energy, should be accessible to all nations and is the right of all nations. But nowadays, it is monopolized by a few.