The Latest from Iran (30 September): "The West Is In Economic Crisis"

See also Iran Follow-Up: Fars News Apologises for Running Story from The Onion
The Latest from Iran (29 September): The Economy and the Divisions Within the Regime

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1422 GMT: Press Watch. One of the cameramen with President Ahmadinejad's entourage in New York has defected and has been granted asylum, according to Baztab.

1347 GMT: Press Watch. ISNA reports that a court has convicted Reuters and its Tehran Bureau Chief, Parisa Hafezi, of "publishing lies against the regime" and "disturbing public opinion".

Reuters was charged after a story in March briefly carried a headline characterising women training in ninjutsu as "assassins". The bureau was closed, as the press cards of staff were confiscated. Some observers saw a pretext for the authorities to shut down one of the few international agencies reporting from inside Iran.

Sentencing is expected within a week.

1201 GMT: Currency Watch. MP Elyas Naderan has "regretted the hourly decline" of the Rial, claiming the crisis is intentional and calling on the President to declare his plans.

1156 GMT: The Battle Within. Iran newspaper has reacted fiercely to the imprisonment of its managing editor, Presidential aide Ali Akbar Javanfekr.

The paper jabbed at the judiciary and its head, Sadegh Larijani, asking why senior judiciary official and Larijani's brother Mohammad Javad was not facing investigation over allegations of fraud. Iran also declared that arrest of Javanfekr was an "injustice" to the Supreme Leader.

1141 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front). Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has declared that Baghdad will conduct random inspections of Syria-bound Iranian planes passing through its airspace.

Zebari's statement, in an interview to the Al-Hayat newspaper follows criticism from the US that Iraq was allowing the Iranians to move arms and personnel to Syria.

Zebari said the Americans had again raised their concerns last week on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York: "We have informed [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton and US officials that the government plans to bring planes down and conduct random inspections."

1059 GMT: Currency Watch. ILNA is reporting that the Rial has broken the 30000:1 level against the US dollar, sinking to an all-time low of 30500:1 on the open market.

The site also reports the soaring gold price, with a rise of more than 20% in a week to more than 12 million Rials (almost $1000 at official rate) for old gold coin.

1053 GMT: Cartoon Watch. The sentence of 25 lashes on Mahmoud Shokraye, imposed this spring over a cartoon of MP Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani, has been overturned.

In May, Ashtiani withdrew his complaint over the caricture, in which he was depicted as an aging, overweight football player, after widespread condemnation inside and outside Iran of the punishment on Shokraye.

0939 GMT: Currency Watch. The Iranian Rial continues its plummet, nearing the psychological 30000:1 mark vs. the US dollar.

Mesghal puts the Rial at 29600:1, a fall of almost 4% today and more than 20% this week. A photo of an exchange office on Khabar Online shows a rate of 29800:1.

0935 GMT: Oil Watch. The Ministry of Oil has cut off business with its largest oilfield contractor, claiming it has not paid the Ministry for the purchase of oil equipment.

0925 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front). In an interview with Al-Monitor, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem has denied any involvement by the Iranian military in the country's affairs:

if you meant by this question that Iran is interfering on the ground, I assure you no Iranian whatsoever is playing a role on the ground. The only thing Iran is trying to help by initiatives [unintelligible] to solve the crisis. They have received some of the opposition in Tehran and they are trying to convince them to resolve through dialogue with the government.

Al-Monitor pressed, referring to a recent statement by Revolutionary Guards Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari that the elite Quds Force is providing "counsel" to the Assad regime, "I thought they've talked about having advisors [and] playing an advisory role, not on the ground fighting but...."

Moallem cut off the interviewer, "Absolutely not."

0704 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalists Masoud Bastani and Mehdi Mahmoudian, serving long prison sentences, have written President Ahmadinejad's aide Ali Akbar Javanfekr, who began a six-month term this week: "We are happy that you did not have to go to Kahrizak."

Kahrizak was the detention centre in which protesters were abused after the disputed 2009 Presidential election. At least three men were killed.

Javanfekr, the managing editor of the Iran newspaper, was convicted of an insult to Islam over a special issue which investigated the history of the chador, the full-length black covering for women.

0659 GMT: Press Watch. Mehdi Rahmanian, the managing editor of the Shargh newspaper, will be released today after payment of bail of 50 million Toman (about $41,000).

Shargh was banned and Rahmanian was imprisoned last week after publication of a cartoon which authorities claimed was an insult to veterans of the Iran-Iraq War.

0655 GMT: Reformist Watch. Former President Mohammad Khatami, in a meeting with reformists in Mazanderan Province, has asked, "How can we expect dynamic elections with so many political prisoners and house arrests?"

Before the 2012 Parliamentary elections, Khatami set the condition of freedom for political prisoners for participation, but he relented and voted in the March ballot.

0645 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Hossein Shariatmadari, noting President Ahmadinejad's promotion of renewed talks with the US during his trip to New York last week, gives a blunt answer to the question, "Why was this not taken seriously?": "The answer is not difficulty. Mr Ahmadinejad has no backing."

On Saturday, the Supreme Leader's senior advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, without specifically referring to Ahmadinejad, implied that the President was speaking for himself rather than the regime: "“Iran is committed to its past policies founded by Imam Khomeini and approved by the [Supreme] Leader."

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Parliament's National Security Commission, drove home the point: "The world knows that it is Ayatollah Khamenei who decides on relationship with the US, not Ahmadinejad."

0625 GMT: If you are a regular reader of EA's Live Coverage, you might think that the Islamic Republic is facing a siege of economic problems --- from inflation which is officially 27% but which is far higher in reality, to a spiral of unemployment and industries in businesses in trouble, to escalating and more costly imports as domestic production declines, to a currency which has lost more than 60% of its value in a year. 

If so, you are very, very wrong.

Minister of Economy Shamseddin Hosseini set the record straight on Saturday, as he told a ceremony in Mazandaran Province, "The economic sanctions against Iran have engulfed enemies in economic crisis....Enemies are plotting against Iran every day but to no avail."

Hosseini's deputy added the claim that foreign investment in Iran is at a record high despite the US-led sanctions, rising 83% compared to a year ago.

Mesghal has not updated Saturday's figure of 28500 Rials to the US dollar, an all-time low for the Iranian currency and a drop of almost 20% in value in six days. ILNA reports that the Rial weakened to 28800:1 at one point during the day.