Iran Live Coverage: Chest-Beating for the Next Nuclear Talks

See also Iran Analysis: Tehran's Signals on Nuclear Talks --- We Will Negotiate, But We Can Be Tough Just Like the US
Thursday's Iran Live Coverage: "Our Enemies Are Within Our Houses, Mosques, Seminaries, and Schools"

---

1530 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Scott Lucas returns from an academic break....

Ayatollah Movahedi Kermani takes the podium today to give the crowd an economic message from the Supreme Leader: "Temporary hardships can be overcome with faith in Islam....The enemy scorns us because of our progress."

The cleric said sanctions had aimed at "opposing the people to the rulers, but they had failed, as seen by the turnout of the Iranian people at rallies in February for the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

In other words, "unlike the West, we have solutions for economic problems".

Click to read more ...

Iran Live Coverage: The Engineering of the Elections Turns Nasty

See also Iran Feature: Are Revolutionary Guards Among the 48 "Pilgrims" Freed in Syria?
Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Political Prisoners, Freedom of Expression, and Killer Smog
Friday's Iran Live Coverage: How to "Engineer" an Election

---

1820 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Marcus George of Reuters profiles the "informal currency dealers of Dubai, [who] have emerged as an important link between Iran's economy and the rest of the world" amid international sanctions:

Since businessmen trading with Iran could no longer transfer their money through normal banking channels, they turned to the dealers. Iranian savers moving their wealth out of the country were another source of business.

"Trading went crazy after those sanctions," the dealer in the Deira office said in a snatched conversation between endless calls and cups of tea. On one day, he recalled, he handled about 1 billion United Arab Emirates dirhams ($270 million).

What is most interesting about George's piece, however, is the indication that --- with foreign reserves dwinding --- Iran may have to limit even this informal trade:

last October, as the rial plunged in value, the government in Tehran clamped down on the supply of hard currency. That hit the Dubai dealers hard - both by restricting the amount of funds they handled and making it harder to gauge prices acceptable to both them and their customers.

"Now it's different. The government is fixing rates. Everything is grinding to a halt," said the Deira dealer....

On some days, the dealer said, he doesn't trade at all. On others, he handles around 10 to 15 million dirhams worth of businesss - and only with trusted clients.

Click to read more ...