The Latest from Iran (26 January): Tehran Issues an Oil Warning

See also Syria Video Special: Free Syrian Army Captures Iranian Soldiers
Iran Feature: How Do You Cope with Award-Winning Director Farhadi?
An EA Special: Taking Apart Talk of "War With Iran"
Wednesday's Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Year After the Uprising

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2109 GMT: An EA Special --- The Syrian Front. Some context for the claimed footage, posted on EA tonight of five Iranian soldiers who were captured by the Free Syrian Army while operating inside the country.

Hours before the footage was posted, Press TV reported, "A group of armed militants have attacked an Iranian bus on the road connecting the capital, Damascus, to the northwestern city of Aleppo."

Press TV said 11 male "pilgrims" were kidnapped and taken to an unknown destination, leaving behind the women.

The website further says, "The gunmen contacted the relatives of a kidnapped passenger in Tehran, confirming the abduction of the Iranian nationals and demanding a ransom."

No direct connection has subsequently been made to the claimed video.

2105 GMT: An EA Special. EA's Josh Shahryar has provided English subtitles to a video, in Farsi, that reportedly shows Iranian soldiers inside Syria who have been captured by the Free Syrian Army. Shahryar says that he is certain, based on their accents, that these men are Iranian.

See Syria Video Special: Free Syrian Army Captures Iranian Soldiers

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Iran Feature: Stumbling and Stalemate over Sanctions (Mills)b

Nikahang Kowsar on the Supreme Leader, President Obama, and US-led Sanctions

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As the country that gave the world chess, it is only appropriate that Iran's current sanctions standoff with the United States resembles a game between two inept players. Tehran repeatedly makes bad moves; Washington plays better but has no path to checkmate.

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The Latest from Iran (24 December): Watching Some Boats, Watching The Currency

1735 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei has said that four MPs have been summoned and interrogated over the $2.6 billion bank fraud, involving 200 properties of the Aria Group.

Mohseni Ejei did not name the MPs, but one legislator has said that Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of Parliament's National Security Commission, and his sons have been arrested and released on bail.

Mohseni also said five managers of Aria Group companies, including the Chief Executive Officer of Ahwaz Steel, have been arrested.

1715 GMT: The Battle Within. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, one of the leading forces in the Islamic Constancy Front, sets up the group's approach for the Parliamentary elections in March --- total obedience to the Supreme Leader, with a fight against the seditious current and "intrusive elements", but also a tip of support to the President: "After the rule of the reformists, Ahmadinejad was the best choice (in 2005)."

The Constancy Front has been fighting other conservatives and principlists who have been seeking "unity" before the elections.

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The Latest from Iran (26 September): Let the Battles Resume....

US nationals Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, freed after 26 months in an Iranian prison, offer remarks in New York

See also Iran Video Special: Mothers of Victims Sohrab Arabi & Neda Agha Soltan Respond to Ahmadinejad's New York Statements

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1650 GMT: The US Hikers. Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has taken offence at the comments of US national Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, free on $500,000 bail each after 26 months in detention in Tehran, on their return to New York (see top of entry and 0445 GMT).

Fattal and Bauer said they had been held for no more than being Americans at a time of tension between the US and Iran and had described hearing the abuse of other detainees in Evin Prison. Mohseni-Ejei declared, "It's predictable, each time we release [people like] them, saying these words against Iran." He continued, "It is clear that these remarks are contrary to fact, and of course, we expected no more than this."

Mohseni-Ejei dismissed any political issue over the judiciary's delay in releasing Bauer and Fattal for more than a week after President Ahmadinejad told US media they would be freed: "Any individual may call for the arrest and freeing of a prisoner, but ultimately it is up to the judge who issued the warrant."

Fattal and Bauer's State-appointed lawyer Massoud Shafiee also was unhappy with the remarks of the two Americans --- it was "not true" that they had been mistreated in prison. He said, "If my clients contact me, as an Iranian national, I will definitely inform them of my protest at their baseless claims....Why have they made such allegations when their problem has been resolved and they have left the country?"

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The Latest from Iran (17 June): Sometimes Numbers Speak Better than Words

1740 GMT: Oil Watch. Emad Hosseini, the spokesman of Parliament's Oil Committee, has said that Iran's oil industry is "ten years behind our partners, meaning Qatar". He continued, "Contrary to promises made, producing natural gas from the 15th and 18th phases of the South Pars oil and gas field is not possible [until March 2012]. Unstable management of the Oil Ministry and appointment of non-experts have had negative impact on the joint South Pars [oil and gas] field as well."

1735 GMT: Economy Watch. Earlier this week, President Ahmadinejad assured the Iranian community in Kazakhstan, "No one is in need of his daily bread in Iran."

Shafaf News, seen as supportive of the Supreme Leader, has a sharp reply: "Mr. President, have you seen these pictures?"

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