The Latest from Iran (17 July): "We Will March Past Sanctions" (Or Maybe Not.)

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society
The Latest from Iran (16 July): We Are Here for Your Security

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2009 GMT: Blame Game. Digarban summarises the recent strategy of Government officials to deal with problems --- the "enemy", the US, and imperialism are responsible for high prices, drought, and duststorms.

1942 GMT: Economy Watch. How significant is this critical article from Fars, linked to the Revolutionary Guards?

The site reports that some Iranians cannot afford essential food such as bread and cheese because of inflation and sanctions. Asking MPs to stop price rises, Fars warns of unrest in the Bazaar and the fear and disappointment of people.

And there is another voice admitting difficulties --- Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has said 20% of the country's economic problems are due to sanctions.

1742 GMT: Manufacturing Watch. Le Point summarises the contrasting approaches of two French automobile manufacturers. While Peugeot has suspended operations in Iran, Renault --- which increases sales more than 100% in 2011 --- Renault's Iranian Chief Executive Officer says the company is expanding activity.

1740 GMT: Food Watch. A temporary respite from rising prices for some Iranians --- Government employees will be given 20 kilogrammes of rice and 10 kilogrammes of chicken for Ramadan. Distribution begins on Thursday.

1610 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami has explained that US aircraft carriers are just "scrap metal" for Iran's military forces

1430 GMT: The Battle Within. Amir Hassan Sagha, a conservative critic of Larijani brothers and owner of the Hamseh blog, has been arrested.

More than 100 Basiji students have written an open letter asking Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, to oppose prosecution of critics of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani, and high-ranking judiciary official Mohammad Javad Larijani. Twelve Basiji bloggers have reportedly been summoned to court.

Critics of the Larijani have accused the brothers of making fortunes from "land grabs". On Monday, Iran Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei said an investigation of Mohammad Javad Larijani is ongoing.

0701 GMT: Election Watch. Anticipating he will run for President next year, Time writes a love letter to Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, citing the "admiration" of taxi drivers and continuing:

As the two-term mayor of Tehran, Qalibaf is pushing Iran’s burgeoning capital in startling new directions. He’s overhauled the city’s public-transportation system with a reliable network of buses, accelerated the construction of metro stations, worked toward expanding a much needed citywide sewer system, standardized the city’s garbage-collection system, worked to prop up new highways, tunnels and bridges to ease the flow of traffic, and constructed numerous parks with an aim to expand Tehran’s “green space.”

The Abbas Abad project, for one, is seeing the transformation of a prodigious plot of land in central Tehran into a lush, park-museum-library-recreational-complex crisscrossed by several highways. It is designed to be linked together by a series of Gondola lifts and pedestrian bridges. It is scheduled for completion some time next year.

More building is on the way, with some media reports even suggesting that the city’s detested Evin prison — where most of Tehran’s political prisoners are held — may be on the chopping block to be replaced by another one of Qalibaf’s signature parks at some point in the future. Perhaps as a harbinger, the prison’s entrance is now decorated with a well-tended lawn and concrete terraces planted with flowers.

0623 GMT: Press Watch. The conservative website Alef, linked to prominent MP Ahmad Tavakoli, has announced its filtering by authorities.

Officials blocked the site last Wednesday after it published an editorial by Tavakoli criticising corruption in Government and calling for Parliamentary oversight.

0618 GMT: Supreme Assurance of the Day. The Supreme Leader's office has issued a statement declaring that economic strength will turn the threat of sanctions into opportunities.

0615 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? President Ahmadinejad is opening a locomotive factory in Alborz Province in northern Iran this morning.

0545 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Ritual lines, but few details, from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after a day of meetings in Israel: "Iran is under greater pressure now than ever before. We will use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

0530 GMT: We open with some Monday rhetoric from 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi:

These days, the oppressive powers have joined forces to stop the Islamic Republic with the toughest and most unprecedented sanctions, but the Iranian nation will cast these embargoes and other problems aside.

The oppressive powers are ignorant of the important fact that the driving engine of the Islamic Republic has been ignited with the blood of its martyrs and is now running.

It might be useful to set Rahimi's declaration alongside last weekend's special session of the Expediency Council, this week's special gathering --- the first ad hoc meeting in 33 years --- of the Assembly of Experts, and this comment from Minister of Industry Mehdi Ghazanfari as tried to reassure senior clerics on Sunday:

Right from the beginning of the Revolution, we have experienced various sanctions. But it must be pointed out that the current sanctions are different from those in the past. The past sanctions focused on investment [in Iran by foreign entities], services, and spare parts. The current sanctions, however, are paralyzing because the enemy has put its finger on the vital artery of the national economy [i.e., oil] and has imposed comprehensive sanctions.