The Latest from Iran (25 October): No Gratitude for CNN

See also Iran Video Interview: Ahmadinejad Puts Out His Standard Lines to CNN's Zakaria
The Latest from Iran (24 October): How To Instantly Become an Iranian Citizen

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1845 GMT: All-Is-Well Alert. In an interview with the Swiss newspaper NZZ, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has said that everyone in Iran has access to the Internet, and there are daily papers from all political camps.

1835 GMT: No Gratitude for CNN. Back to where we began this morning, with Iran State TV's attack on CNN and Fareed Zakaria....

It appears the cause for the assault was not Zakaria's interview of the President but an accompanying piece he did about life in Tehran. Zakaria was positive about many aspects of life in a Tehran of "order" and "cleanliness" (somehow missing Tehran's extraordinary levels of air pollution and minimising the significance of its crowded roads), but State TV claimed he had spoken of a "dark and gloomy" city. Specifically, he "tried to prove U.S. claims that Iran is under pressure because of the sanctions. In order to do so he resorted to lies".

Indeed, Zakaria, while ignoring issues such as unemployment and inflation, did hone in on sanctions. He said Iranians blamed the regime in part for the situation and indicated that the Western measures had strengthened the grip of the Revolutionary Guards on the economy:

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Iran Video Interview: Ahmadinejad Puts Out His Standard Lines to CNN's Zakaria

I found CNN's highly-promoted interview with President Ahmadinejad is of little consequence, apart from some ripples around the President's remarks on Syria calling for reform and condemning killings by all sides.

And there is the cringe-worthy moment when Zakaria reduces the human rights issues in Iran to a request to see opposition figure and 2009 Presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, held under strict house arrest since February. Ahmadinejad flatly repeats the line he has often used, "In Iran we do not have political prisoners. The Government has never arrested and imprisoned these people." Zakaria repeats his request, to be given the irrelevant response, "The judiciary is never under the influence of the Government", and regarding the house arrest, "These are your claims." Stymied, Zakaria drops the topic, (See Comments for further discussion of the possible significance of this exchange.)

Viewers are invited to put forth what they found of interest on the standard run of topics --- the nuclear programme, Iran's standing in the Middle East --- complemented by the hot issues of Libya and the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the US.

The Latest from Iran (22 October): Getting Scared, Getting Spun

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1844 GMT: On the Air. The opposition broadcaster Rasa TV says it will end transmissions on 15 November unless it gets enough donations to cover costs.

1840 GMT: Economy Watch. Ayande News jabs at the official statistics on employment. While the Government centre claims 500,000, Ayande says the true figure is 2 to 4 million.

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The Latest from Iran (21 August): Punishing the US Hikers

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal (see 0650 and 0910 GMT)1910 GMT: Energy Watch. Minister of Energy Majid Namjoo is not a happy man: he says the Government owes $8 billion to banks and companies, and the power producers' union fears bankruptcy. Namjoo says he asked the Supreme Leader for help, but experts do not expect any government payments to the banking system and power plants in the near future.

1525 GMT: Justice Watch. A couple more snippets from the press conference of Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi (see 1400 GMT)....

Doulatabadi said the file of 15 "spies" for Israel would go to court within 10 days. Even more interesting, however, was his claim that four members of the "deviant current" --- often used as a label for the advisors around President Ahmadinejad --- would be tried soon.

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Iran Videos: A Wasted Interview --- Judiciary's Larijani on Sakineh, Nukes, & Israel

In the American tour of Mohammad Javad Larijani, the high-level official Iran's judiciary, this two-part video is a fine example of how not to conduct an interview.

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