The Latest from Iran (4 April): Admitting the Economic Tensions

See also Iran Snap Analysis: Is Tehran Pulling Back from the Nuclear Talks?
The Latest from Iran (3 April): Protesting Discrimination

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1952 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. The back-and-forth over former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's call for better relations with Saudi Arabia and the US continues. Responding to criticism from conservative politicians (see 1420 GMT), Rafsanjani has insisted, "If Ayatollah Khomeini had problems with relations with US, he addressed them with me."

1942 GMT: Sanctions Watch. King Juan Carlos of Spain has travelled to Kuwait to seek oil exports to cover the shortfall from a Spanish reduction or ban of crude from Iran.

Spain, which takes about 15% of its oil from Tehran, is facing the European Union's edict to cut off Iranian imports from 1 July.

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The Latest from Iran (3 April): Protesting Discrimination

Young Iranian men criticise racism against Afghans, with one of the signs declaring, "I am also an Afghan" (see 0610 GMT)

See also The Latest from Iran (2 April): Talking About Oil

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1840 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Peyman Aref has been released from prison.

Aref, held on six occasions since the disputed 2009 Presidential election, was released in October 2011 after serving a year and receiving 74 lashes, but he was seized again in mid-March.

1805 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. Masoud Jayazeri, the deputy head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has declared, "In the face of any attack, we will have a crushing response. In that case, we will not only act in the boundaries of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, no place in America will be safe from our attacks."

Jayazeri added that Iran would not strike any country first.

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Iran Snap Analysis: Syria and Ahmadinejad --- Sifting Reality from Propaganda over the Erdoğan Visit

In the aftermath of the two-day visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, what is significant is far beyond any "news" that has been printed.

What we may have seen --- or rather not seen, in the prepared Iranian statements --- was the eclipse of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 14 months before his term in office finishes.

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The Latest from Iran (25 March): Expanding the Sanctions

Tehran University academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi presents the regime line against expanded sanctions over Iran's alleged human rights violations

See also Iran Special: The 17 Leading Officials in New EU Sanctions for Human Rights Abuses
The Latest from Iran (24 March): Putting Out the Propaganda

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1925 GMT: After a report this week that it had signed a $130 million contract with Tehran for a surveillance system (see separate feature), ZTE Corp, China's second-largest telecommunications equipment maker, said it will "curtail" its business in Iran.

A spokesman said ZTE had decided "some time ago" to "shrink" its business in Iran, although he said the company had not yet decided on the details: "It's still being discussed."

1815 GMT: CyberWatch. The Next Web offers insight into the state of the Internet in Iran, by summarising how many of the top websites are blocked.

About 27% of the Top 100 sites in various categories, as measured by the Internet directory Alexa, are filtered. More than half of the Arts sites cannot be accessed, and 32% of news sites --- including BBC News, The Guardian, Fox News, The Huffington Post, and The New York Post are blocked, although CNN, Reuters, The New York Times, and Bloomberg can still be reached.

Among "Society" sites, 31% are blocked, as are 27% of those concerned with Shopping.

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The Latest from Iran (20 March): Happy Nowruz

1759 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. The Supreme Leader, following his declaration of the "Year of National Production", has put out this warning, “We do not possess a nuclear weapon and we will not build one, but we will defend ourselves against any aggression, whether by the US or the Zionist regime, with the same level [of force].”

Significantly, Ayatollah Khamenei added a new line to the reasons for US-led aggression: "The real reason behind their enmity against Iran is their thirst for the nation’s oil."

He continued, "Global arrogance chiefs, those in positions of power and wealth, and their agents in our region are trying to intimidate the Iranian nation with all their financial, propaganda and political resources."

1750 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The family of Ehsan Houshmand set up a small "haft sin" (the traditional table for Nowruz) in front of Evin Prison.

Houshmand, a Kurdish journalist, has been detained since January.

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The Latest from Iran (18 March): Relying on India

See also Iran Feature: Pushing Back with "Intelligence" Against the Drumbeats of War
The Latest from Iran (17 March): Ahmadinejad All-is-Well Alert

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1755 GMT: Currency Watch. In an effective admission that it can no longer control the exchange rate, the Central Bank has said it will allow official vendors to buy and sell foreign currency at open-market rates.

In January, after the Iranian rial almost halved in value in four months, the Bank tried to imposed a single rate of 12260:1 for the Iranian Rial vs. the US dollar. Vendors were threatened with suspension and unofficial traders with arrest if they did not observed the official rate, while websites posting currency information were blocked.

The steps were ineffective, however, as vendors simply refused to trade US dollars and other currencies. The street-market rate soon reached 19000:1, around its current level.

“Licensed exchange houses are given permission to buy and sell foreign currencies and answer customers’ needs based on the mechanism of the market’s supply and demand,” the Bank said in a statement posted on its website this weekend.

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Iran Video Interview: Leading Official Larijani on the Nuclear "Grand Bargain"

Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the human rights section of Iran's judiciary, is interviewed by Christiane Amanpour of CNN.

Don't expect anything on human rights, however. Amanpour's attention, reflecting a media emphasis on "war" v. the possible resumption of discussions with Tehran, is almost exclusively on Iran's nuclear programme.

And on that, Larijani's line --- which would not be put out without the backing of the Supreme Leader --- is that Iran is ready for a "grand bargain", provided its right to uranium enrichment is recognised.

Iran Analysis: Who Won Ahmadinejad's Non-Interrogation? The Supreme Leader.

In the end, the "interrogation" of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was no more than a one-act show.

Some in the audience of the Western press put out critical reviews --- "His Jokes Fell Flat" --- but those missed the significance of the production. This was a play designed not to run and run, but to open and close in the same morning.

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Iran Snap Analysis: Walking Back from War?

A Bush-Era Cartoon on Drumbeats of WarA week ago, the media was dominated by the prospect of an Israeli strike and Tehran's reaction. But then President Obama, publicly and privately, let visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu know of Washington's line against this. The Supreme Leader, within his rhetoric of defiance, welcomed Obama's position with Israel, and the European Union accepted Tehran's offer for a resumption of talks about the Iranian nuclear programme.

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The Latest from Iran (9 March): "Legitimacy" --- Home and Abroad

See also Iran Special: Explaining The Supreme Leader's Nuclear Politics
The Latest from Iran (8 March): Let the Political In-Fighting Resume

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1958 GMT: Stoking Up the Temperature. Note the careful comments of Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, when he is asked about the Parchin military site and possible testing of high explosives in the nuclear programme:

"We have information that some activity is ongoing there," Amano...said at agency headquarters.

Asked whether he was concerned that Iran may be trying to whitewash the site, he said: "That possibility is not excluded ... We cannot say for sure because we are not there."

The veteran Japanese diplomat added: "We have to go there."

Now look at how Reuters converts this into a really dramatic, scary story: "UN Nuclear Chief Doesn't Rule Out Iran 'Cleaning' Army Site".

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