Iran Live: Ahmadinejad "Era of Atomic Bombs Over"

See also Monday's Iran Live: Meet the Presidential Hopefuls

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1957 GMT:Economy Watch The International Monetary Fund reports that Iran's economy contracted by 1.9% in 2012 and predicted it will shrink by 1.3% this year.

The IMF said the Iranian economy will grow in 2014 by 1.1%.

The report declared, "The macroeconomic environment is likely to remain difficult, given the sharp depreciation of the currency and adverse external conditions, which would sustain inflation at relatively high levels."

1741 GMT: Earthquake Watch -- Why Did Reports Of The Death Toll Change so Drastically?

The governor of Sistan-Baluchestan has criticized the media for reporting "false news" of deaths in the earthquake that hit the southeastern province today.

Hatam Narouee said that some media outlets had published reports of deaths and damage that were "not true" and that only five people were injured and three were treated.

Narouee added that the low casualties were because the earthquake's epicenter was located in an unpopulated area between Saravan and Iran's border with Pakistan.

Earlier on Tuesday, Fars News reported that 40 people had died in the quake (see 1330 GMT).

Now, Fars has taken down that report and is claiming instead that "only 12 people" had been injured in the quake -- still a different figure than that quoted by the Sistan -Baluchestan governor but far from the 40 killed it reported earlier.

Iran's English-language Press TV also picked up on the discrepancy between the Fars report and that of local officials in Sistan-Baluchestan, noting that Fars had reported 40 deaths.

1553 GMT:Election Watch

The head of State broadcaster IRIB has said that there will be live debates for June's Presidential election.

1543 GMT: Sanctions Watch

Tabnak claims that some Turkish banks have told Iranian citizens to close their accounts by 17 April or risk losing their money.

Iranian financial transactions in Turkey have become increasingly difficult because of US-led sanctions.

1356 GMT: Economy Watch -- Inflation Edition

Economist Masoud Nili told Iran's Peyesh economics programme that Iran ranked first in the world for inflation, followed by Venezuela and Belarus.

Nili -- an expert in inflation with a doctorate from the UK's Manchester University -- discussed the "most important economic issues facing the new government", the top two of which were free market conditions and subsidies.

1330 GMT: 40 Dead in Devastating Earthquake in Southeastern Iran

At least 40 people have died in a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Saravan in the country's southeastern Sistan Baluchestan province.

Bushehr Province's Seismological Center, part of Tehran University's Geophysics Institute of Tehran University registered the quake at 15:14 hours local time (1044 GMT).

IRNA reported that a complex emergency had been declared in the area.

A USGS exposure chart shows the areas and cities affected by the seismic event.

The quake's epicenter was 201 km (125 miles) southeast of the Iranian city of Zahedan and 250 km northwest of Turbat in Pakistan, according to USGS.

Today's quake came after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit Bushehr province last week, killing at least 39 people and injuring 850 others.

While Iranian news outlets put the magnitude of the quake at 7.5, Western outlets reported it had been 7.8. Iran's deadliest quake, in June 1990, measured 7.7 on the Richter scale and killed 37,000 people according to Fars.

0515 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch

President Ahmadinejad, almost completely sidelined from Iran's nuclear policy and its talks with the 5+1 Powers, intervened --- at least with rhetoric --- on Monday. Visiting Benin at the start of his three-nation African tour, the President said:

The era of the atomic bomb is over. Atomic bombs are no longer useful and have no effect on political equations. Atomic bombs belong to the last century, and anyone who thinks he can rule the world by atomic bombs is a political fool.

Ahmadinejad then defended Iran's nuclear programme while denouncing the "imperialism" of countries trying to keep civilian use of the atom out of the hands of others.

Nuclear energy is one thing and an atomic bomb is another. This useful energy must belong to all nations. We are fighting so that all nations could use peaceful nuclear energy.