The Latest from Iran (14 December): An Advance in the Nuclear Talks?

The 40th day memorial for blogger Sattar Beheshti, allegedly killed during interrogation in prison on 3 November

See also Iran Video Analysis: "Tehran Is Not Making a Mad Dash for the Bomb"
Thursday's The Latest from Iran (13 December): Nuclear Talks with the IAEA

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1914 GMT: Assurance of the Day. Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, has assured that "there is no possibility of another election intrigue" in the 2013 Presidential campaign, and those responsible in the 2009 disputed Presidential election "do not even have the illusion" that they can puruse this.

Jannati said those "guilty of sedition" will not be able to participate in the election.

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The Latest from Iran (13 December): Nuclear Talks with the IAEA

The European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in absentia to detained lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who is threatened with imprisonment

See also Iran Snap Analysis: Speculating about the Next President
The Latest from Iran (12 December): A 78-Year-Old Academic is Imprisoned for Writing the Supreme Leader

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1602 GMT: A Death in Detention. Human rights activists claim participants in the 40th day memorial for blogger Sattar Beheshti, who died on 3 November under interrogation in Evin Prison, have been beaten, with several arrested.

Security officers reportedly raided the services at the Imam Mohamad Taghi Shrine in Robat Karim,, near Tehran.

Beheshti's mother was said to have sustained leg and knee injuries. Beheshti’s brother was detained for two hours.

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The Latest from Iran (29 November): Regional Interventions

See also Iran Feature: The Regime's Food Problems
Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Hunger Strikes, Hungry Families, and Ending Violence Against Women
The Latest from Iran (28 November): Supreme Leader Declares, "We're Winning"

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2050 GMT: Nuclear Watch. The US has set a March deadline for Iran to fulfil the American vision of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, threatening referral of the matter to the United Nations Security Council.

Speaking to the IAEA board, American diplomat Robert Wood requested that IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano declare in his next quarterly report on Iran, due in late February, whether Tehran has taken "any substantive steps" to address concerns.

Wood continued, "If by March Iran has not begun substantive cooperation with the IAEA, the United States will work with other board members to pursue appropriate board action, and would urge the board to consider reporting this lack of progress to the U.N. Security Council. Iran cannot be allowed to indefinitely ignore its obligations....Iran must act now, in substance."

Amano told the board that there had been no progress in his agency's year-long push to clarify concerns about suspected atom bomb research in Iran, but said he would continue his efforts.

The Director-General had expressed optimism in June, just before the last meeting between Iran and the 5+1 Powers on Tehran's uranium enrichment, over a resolution of the protocol for inspection and supervision of Iran's nuclear facilities. However, the hope receded amid the stalemate in Tehran's talks with the 5+1.

Iranian officials have said discussions will resume with the IAEA on 13 December.

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The Latest from Iran (28 November): Supreme Leader Declares, "We're Winning"

1835 GMT: Gaza Watch. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said that, more than a week after he made his request to enter Gaza, he is still awaiting an answer from Egyptian authorities.

Salehi saild he had spoken by phone and in person with Egypt’s Foreign Minister.

1505 GMT: Economy Watch. Kalemeh reports that 2400 workers of the Saveh Pipe Rolling Plant and other factories in northwestern Iran have been on strike since Sunday over six months of unpaid wages.

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The Latest from Iran (10 October): Economic Fantasy and Reality

Iran Special: The US Nuclear "Experts" at ISIS --- When Propaganda Replaces Analysis
The Latest from Iran (9 October): Triple-Digit Inflation?

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1815 GMT: Currency Watch. It looks like the Central Bank, trying to preserve foreign reserves, is restricting trade in the Iranian Rial. Reports indicate the Bank has declared that foreign currency accounts cannot be opened with Rials, but interest on the accounts will be paid in the local currency.

Meanwhile, an indication of the "real" price of gold, amidst the blackout on information. Khabar Online claims that advance sales of gold coins are trading at 14.44 million Rials (about $1200 at official rate).

That is an increase of about 11% on the "current" price, last posted on Tuesday.

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The Latest from Iran (4 October): Protest Resurfaces --- A Ripple or a Wave?

Footage from Wednesday's closure of the Tehran Bazaar and nearby protests

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2051 GMT: Currency All-is-Well Alert. Mohammad Keshti-Aray, the head of the Gold-Sellers Union, has said that the Rial strengthened to 30000:1 to 31000:1 vs. the US dollar --- Tuesday's rate, the last posted on leading website, was 35500:1 --- and that the price for gold coin is down as well.

Keshti-Aray assured that dollar and gold rates would be "clarified" on Saturday,

2047 GMT: Loyalty Watch. Prominent conservative politician Habiballah Asgarouladi has said that "fitna" (sedition) and the "deviant current" do not accept national unity, which is possible only around the Supreme Leader.

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Iran Analysis: Assessing A Nuclear Warning from Tehran

UPDATE 1510 GMT: Many Western outlets have picked up on an extract from an interview of Abbasi Davani by Al Hayat in which the head of the Atomic Energy Organization that Iran intentionally passed misleading information to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

That declaration inevitably has led to assertions of Iran's deceit over its nuclear programme. However, it needs to be considered in conjunction with Abbasi Davani's asssertion that the IAEA has been penetrated by operatives of foreign intelligence services or has passed data to those agencies. In other words, the Iranian "deception" is a necessary defence to prevent espionage via the IAEA.

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Fereydoun Abbasi DavaniTehran's approach has been over-interpreted by some leading analysts. For example, they assessed a weekend warning by the head of the Atomic Energy Organization --- ignoring his "carrot" about limiting uranium enrichment --- as the prospect that Iran would leave the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

It will not, at least not at least not in the foreseeable future. However, the Islamic Republic is also signalling that it will not concede to the US-European demand that Tehran offers a notable concession before high-level talks resume. And that in turn means that the political stalemate, the sanctions hampering Iran's economy, and the carrot-and-stick rhetoric will continue.

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The Latest from Iran (18 September): Nuclear Manoeuvres

See also Iran Snapshot: "Bad Hijab" Woman Beats Up Cleric
The Latest from Iran (17 September): An Intervention in Syria

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1755 GMT: Currency Watch. Central Bank head Mahmoud Bahmani has announced a Bank portal to retrace moves in the official rate for foreign exchange, indicating there will be a halt to sales on the open market.

1750 GMT: All the President's Men (cont.). MP Mohammad Bayatiani has contested the claim that 164 MPs --- more than half the Majlis --- have supported controversial Presidential aide Saeed Mortazavi in his position as head of the re-formed Social Security Organization (see 1515 GMT) is "an obvious lie". He said the legislators had given thanks to the Organization, not Mortazavi.

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The Latest from Iran (17 September): An Intervention in Syria

See also Iran Analysis: Tehran Hurts Itself With Muddled Messages on Syria
The Latest from Iran (16 September): The Rhetoric, the "Protests", and Now the Threats

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1835 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Lebanese Front). Following the declaration of the head of the Revolutionary Guards that Tehran has sent members of the Quds Force to Syria and Lebanon to provide "counsel", President Michel Sulaiman has challenged the Islamic Republic. “President Sulaiman asked for an official explanation from the relevant Iranian authorities,” his office said.

1825 GMT: Currency Watch. The Iranian Rial is falling again on the open market, dropping 2% vs. the US dollar to 24950:1.

Last week, the Rial broke the 25000:1 level for the first time, less than half its value at the official rate.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank has denied widespread reports that it has halted provision of foreign currency at the official rate to importers since last month, claiming that this is still available for the most important basic goods.

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Iran Interview: Middle Class Suffers, But Regime Will Take "Fair Package Deal" on Nuclear Program --- Iranian Analyst

The middle class feels it more than other sectors. The poor remain poor, and as always, rich people are less affected. It is the middle class --- the sector which protested the most for change in Iran following the 2009 elections, and the people who have the potential to change --- who have been hit the hardest, because they are becoming poor, and their influence diminishes. It follows that the sanctions decrease the likelihood of political change in Iran. People are increasingly dependent on the government, and the likelihood of an uprising while risking their source of income, will be lower.

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