Iran Live Coverage: Seeking the "Unity" Candidate for the Presidency

1410 GMT: Election Watch. The conservative Jahan News tips off both nerves and in-fighting with its concern over photos of President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, on monitors at Imam Khomeini International airport.

Jahan claimed that the photos, accompanied by short quotes, "reveal a serious intention to enter the elections" by Rahim-Mashai.

Rahim-Mashai, formerly Ahmadineajad's Chief of Staff, has not yet officially announced his candidacy. He may be blocked by the Guardian Council from standing, so the Ahmadinejad camp put up an alternative candidate, Minister of Roads Ali Nikzad, last weekend.

Jahan, linked to the politician Alireza Zakani, is still convinced that the President will pursue Plan A:

some say that Ahmadinejad will never take the risk because [Rahim-Mashai's] candidacy will not be approved by the Guardian Council. But others, who appear to have a more logical point, believe that not making Mashai a candidate puts in question the philosophy of the President in the prices he has paid for [Mashai] in the last several years.

Jahan concludes, “At this moment, the actions of Mashaei and the administration points in the direction of Esfandiar Rahim Mashai’s candidacy.”

1220 GMT: Headline of the Day. Press TV draws from the analysis of Tehran University academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi, "Israel Scares US Like a Mad Dog to Threaten Iran".

1210 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Foreign Minister Ramin Mehmanparast, anticipating Friday's talks in Kazakhstan between Iran and the 5+1 Powers, has said an accord “is easily reachable".

The spokesman declared that, if the 5+1 Powers maintained the approach they took in February discussions in the Kazakh capital Almaty, “we would also get closer to Iran’s desires".

0010 GMT: Election Watch. The attempt of the "2+1 Committee", backed by the Supreme Leader, to find a "unity" candidate for June's Presidential election continued on Tuesday.

One of the members, the Supreme Leader's senior advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, held a press conference during a visit to Mashhad. He said others would soon be joining the committee, which was setting out the principles of the regime in preparation for the ballot.

The commitee, which also including Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf and leading MP Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, is supposed to find a candidate to rally public support and limit in-fighting before the Guardian Council rules on which men can stand in early May.

However, the trio has been unable to establish that candidate, and has been beset by rivalry with President Ahmadinejad, criticism from Presidential challenger Mohsen Rezaei, and the candidacy of other leading politicians such as former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar, and former Minister of Interior Mostafa Pourmohammadi.