The Latest from Iran (25 December): Awaiting a Hanging

2250 GMT: All-is-Well Alert (Overseas Edition). Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has assured a conference, "All Iranians who live outside of the country are not in the opposition. The number of Iranian expatriates who are opponents of the system is limited."

Moslehi said, however, that there is still work to be done: "Foreign intelligence agencies have provided facilities and equipment to [the opponents] to help them make their voices widely heard."

2240 GMT: Execution Watch. Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani has commented on the imminent hanging of Kurdish prisoner Habibollah Latifi: "Even illicit Arabs stopped war and killing in [the religious month of] Moharram."

2225 GMT: All-is-Well Alert. The Deputy Minister of Commerce, Mohammad-Hossein Nekoui-Mehr, has said that the Government has taken special measures for decreasing food prices amidst subsidy cuts.

Nekoui-Mehr added that about 7,000 products are currently being monitored by the Ministry to stop any increase in the prices of general commodities.

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The Latest from Iran (23 December): All is Well. Really.

2150 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Doctoral student Ali Arshadi, arrested last December during the Ashura demonstrations, has been freed from Evin Prison.

1440 GMT: An All-is-Well Break. EA staff will be at a party with friends and family today, so updates will be limited. As always, we invite readers to keep us on top of the situation with latest news and analysis.

1335 GMT: All-is-Well Alert (Scientific Edition). The Chancellor of Tehran University, Farhad Rahbar, says that "the growth rate in Iran's scientific research has been 11 times more than the world's average growth rate".

1330 GMT: It's All About Us. Press TV has a distinctive take on the US Congress' passage of the New START treaty with Russia. Ostensibly, the agreement is to reduce stockpiles of nuclear weapons, but the Iranian state outlet sees a different objective: "to put pressure on Iran over Tehran's nuclear program".

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The Latest from Iran (20 December): Gasoline, Bread, and Diplomacy

1754 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Detained attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh has ended her hunger strike.

Sotoudeh's refusal of food and water was her third since she was detained in early September.

1750 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Fars reports that the "real" price of bread will be posted tomorrow.

1745 GMT: Policing Cyber-Knowledge. Peyke reports that Iranian authorities have blocked the websites of Google Books, 4Shared, and Dehkhoda Encyclopedia.

1615 GMT: Corruption Watch. Iran Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has said that 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi will have to stand trial on corruption charges.

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The Latest from Iran (18 December): A Big Event?

1945 GMT: Two Steps Ahead? Meanwhile, on the nuclear front, President Ahmadinejad is racing ahead with his "engagement" of the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China) in discussions on Iran's uranium enrichment.

Iran and the 5+1 agreed last week to further talks in Turkey in January but Ahmadinejad went further in his speech: "“I hope in talks in Istanbul, then in Brazil and then Tehran we could reach a framework of cooperation… this is to everyone's benefit. There were positive points in [Geneva] talks… I think it is time that their [the P5+1] confrontational policy turns into interactional policy."

1935 GMT: Sedition Watch (cont.). Rah-e-Sabz puts its gloss on the resistance of the head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, to the arrest of opposition figures (see 1650 GMT). According to the Green website, Larijani responded to those calling for the detention of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi: "You have blamed the Supreme Leader indirectly by taking the judiciary as a shield (for your demands)."

1920 GMT: Subsidy Cuts? Yes. Ahh, here we go. Just catching up with Mardomak's LiveBlog....

IRNA's headline covered only the first couple of minutes of the speech. Almost all the statement, with declarations of Iran's potential to become a world-leading economy, was a presentation of the subsidy cuts. Ahmadinejad confirmed the chatter that implementation will begin tomorrow. He gave assurances such as the deposit of 4000 tomans (about $4) in people's bank accounts to cover the reduction in subsidies for bread. Each individual would receive a total of 81,000 tomans ($81) over the next two months.

Fars beats other websites to the punch with an article on Ahmadinejad's presentation of the "largest project in the economic history of Iran". Indeed, Fars has no less than five items playing up the subsidy cuts, with assurances that support payments for the poorest Iranians are fully-funded.

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The Latest from Iran (17 December): Did We Miss the Regime's Show of Support?

1645 GMT: Division over the Foreign Minister. Deputy Speaker Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi-Fard has supported President Ahmadinejad's dismissal of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, but MP Mohsen Kouhkan, who said he heard of Mottaki's firing by SMS text, said the move was not wise at this moment.

Koukhan also claimed that MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a key member of the National Security Commission, is favoured as the new Foreign Minister by the Parliament.

1640 GMT: Ashura Moment. Aftab News publishes a photograph of President Ahmadinejad greeting supporters at a mourning ceremony.

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The Latest from Iran (15 December): Attack In Southeastern City Kills Dozens

2145 GMT: This Morning's Bombing. Iranian officials have released the names of 32 of the 39 people killed in the suicide bombing in Chabahar in southeastern Iran.

2140 GMT: CyberWars. The hard-line Mashregh News is still down (see 1210 GMT).

2130 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Hashem Sabaghian, senior member of the Freedom Movement of Iran, has been released after he was detained this morning at a mourning ceremony at his house (see 0950 and 1749 GMT).

1749 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Activist Ahmad Ghabel has been given a 20-month prison sentence for working against the ruling system and insulting the Supreme Leader.

Ghabel was also given three years in exile, with a ban on interviews and lectures during that time.

More also on the raid on a mourning ceremony in which Hashem Sabaghian, former Minister of Interior Minister and leading member of Freedom Movement of Iran, was detained. Reformist cleric Hojatoleslam Soleimani, who was speaking at the ceremony at Sabbaghian's house in Tehran, was also seized.

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The Latest from Iran (14 December): Power Plays

2030 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Lawyers Sara Sabaghian and Maryam Kianarsi have been released on bail.

Sebaghian, Kianarsi, and fellow attorney Maryam Karbasi were seized at Imam Khomeini Airport in mid-November as they returned from Turkey.

2025 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. More from the statement of Reza Khandan (see 1154 GMT), the husband of detained attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh, about his wife's situation....

Khandan explained the new charge in Sotoudeh's file of “failing to adhere to the Islamic code of dressing (hijab)”: “Two years ago Sotoudeh had been awarded a prize by the Italian Human Rights Committee and to express her gratitude, she had recorded a video message in Iran without covering her hair. The message was not shown in Iran.”

Khandan also denied the most recent claim of judiciary official Mohammad Javad Larijani that Sotoudeh had met with terrorist groups: "[She] has at no time been linked to terrorist groups and no such charge is in her file.”

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The Latest from Iran (5 December): Hope and Resistance

2105 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Isa Saharkhiz has reportedly undergone an operation for international bleeding in Rajai Shahr Prison's infirmary.

Leyla Tavassoli has been transferred to Evin Prison to begin a two-year prison sentence.

Tavassoli is the daughter of Mohammad Tavassoli, a senior member of the Freedom Movement of Iran.

2058 GMT: Labour Front. Workers of Kashan spinning factory have gathered in front of the governor's office to protest over being paid half-wages for 27 months.

2055 GMT: All-is-Well Alert. The Deputy Minister of Trade has said that bread prices will rise "a bit" after subsidy cuts but added that quality will rise as well.

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The Latest from Iran (2 December): Choking

1855 GMT: Khatami Speaks. Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has urged authorities to let the Islamic Republic pass through “threats and restrictions” into an atmosphere of “safety and freedom".

Speaking to families of political prisoners on Tuesday, Khatami emphasized that the constitution "should be the basis of everyone’s actions especially the government". He asked authorities to ensure free and healthy elections and inclusive policies.

1840 GMT: The Budget Battle. Reformist MP Nasrollah Torabi has declared that the remarks of Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, on a possible compromise over the 5th Budget Plan have no legal binding.

1816 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Prominent historian Abdollah Shahbazi, a supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has been arrested in Shiraz.

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The Latest from Iran (27 November): Breaking News --- Supreme Leader is Fabulous

1335 GMT: Parliament v. President. Someone is getting worried that the effort to summon Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Parliamentary questioning may succeed. Follow this carefully....

The pro-Ahmadinejad Islamic Republic News Agency is claiming that Ali Motahari, the MP leading the campaign for Ahmadinejad's interpellation, has struck a deal with the reformists: if Motahari can deliver 50 signatures on the petition for the President's appearance, the minority faction will give him 25 endorsements. That would make 75, more than the requirement of 1/4 of the 290-member Majlis.

On the surface, the story appears to be a triumph for Motahari, but I suspect it is an un-subtle attempt to tarnish him by claiming that he has resorted to devious scheming with the dubious reformists. Motahari, for his part, has claimed that almost all the signatures on his petition are from the majority principlist faction.

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