Iran Live: An Ahmadinejad Election Comeback?

Images of Thursday's rally --- reportedly backing President Ahmadinejad and his would-be successor --- in Tehran's Azadi Stadium

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2115 GMT: Nuclear Watch: No New Dates for IAEA Talks?

An "Iranian source close to Iran's nuclear negotiator" has said that no agreement has been reached between Iran and the IAEA over when the next round of talks will take place, Fars News, close to the Revolutionary Guards, reports.

The source said Iran has discussed the matter with the IAEA but as yet no agreement has been reached over the timing of the next round of discussions.

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The Latest from Iran (16 September): The Rhetoric, the "Protests", and Now the Threats

See also Iran Interview: Middle Class Suffers, But Regime Will Take "Fair Package Deal" on Nuclear Program --- Iranian Analyst
The Latest from Iran (15 September): The Failure of the Regime's Anti-US Diversion?

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1725 GMT: Currency Watch. Revolutionary Guards Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, in addition to his pointed comments on Libya, Syria, and the US/Israel, intervened in domestic affairs in his news conference: he announced that the Guards will confront "troublemakers" in the currency market at the request of President Ahmadinejad.

The currency website Mesghal is posting a near-unchanged Rial on the open market at 24420:1 vs. the US dollar, but the opposition site Peyke Iran claims the rate is 24700:1 with old gold coin soaring to 955,000 Tomans (about $780 at official rate; $390 at open-market rate).

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The Latest from Iran (13 April): Before the Nuclear Show

President Ahmadinejad greeting an unseen crowd in Hormozgan Province in southern Iran

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1644 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani has the podium today, and he is in a nuclear mood: “As the [Leader of the Islamic Revolution] Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said and other Iranian officials have reiterated, the work done in the field of nuclear energy [in Iran] is not meant for making nuclear weapons."

Just to make sure the US, European powers, China, and Russia got the message before tomorrow's talks, Emami Kashani emphasised, “These activities are for scientific purposes; you must realize and believe this."

However, while the West ponders this reassurance, this passage from Emami Kashani is more interesting to me --- cheerleading for the Supreme Leader's "Year of National Production", worry about the economy, or both?:

Everyone must enjoy their lives. There should be jobs in society, [and] the youth should be able to marry and have good living and housing conditions; therefore, production is important....Honest investors must invest in order to serve the country and benefit from its profits. Jobs must be promoted qualitatively and quantitatively and everyone at any level should [be able to] lead a clean life.

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The Latest from Iran (2 October): Down, Down Goes the Currency

2000 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Another political showcase for the President, as he closed the International Conference on the Palestinian Intifada today....

Ahmadinejad used the occasion for his standard script, declaring the West created Israel to control the Middle East and Western support for the crimes committed by the "Zionist regime".

The President then built on the West-Israel platform for wider points, such as the claim that democracy and the human rights are a "mere show" in the West and that the International Atomic Energy Agency has served the US and Israel by publishing the names of Iranian nuclear scientists so they could be targeted by the "Zionist regime". He added that Zionism symbolizes the essence of the materialistic Western schools of humanism and liberalism.

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Latest from Iran (3 September): Elections and the Revolution

1901 GMT: People protest in Tabriz, but there appear to be snipers on the rooftops.

Yet another video from Tabriz. Some of the people there are carrying objects (it is unclear whether they are looters, or merchants who work in the area) when suddenly gunfire breaks out:

1856 GMT: Video of the protests in Tabriz, in support of the people of Urmia and against government policies that have led to the drying of Urmia lake:

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The Latest from Iran: Back to Political Sniping?

1448 GMT: James Miller is back, and he provides a Cross-post from the Syria liveblog:

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Saleh warned the "outsiders" and called on Damascus to recognise the "legitimate demands" of its people. He said:

The government should answer to the demands of its people, be it Syria, Yemen or other countries.

The people of these nations have legitimate demands and the governments should reply to these demands as soon as possible.

Syria is an important link in the resistance chain [against Israel] and some want to cut off this link in the chain. A vacuum in the Syrian regime would have an unpredictable impact for the region and its neighbours.

1240 GMT: Limited Time Offer. Mansur Arzi, the regime "eulogist" who said last week that he would pay anyone who killed President Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has said the offer is only open until the end of Ramadan.

1125 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Perhaps the most significant show on Friday was the visit of the Cabinet to the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini --- President Ahmadinejad declared that his Government would withstand political pressures.

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Iran Feature: Four Tehran Diaries "We Drink to the Freedom that Will Come One Day" (Spiegel)

Samaneh AhmadianI'm not happy with my classes here at all. Most of the professors have no clue, and yet they make it clear to us students that they consider us to be fools. The only professor I truly admire and respect is leaving the country....

There isn't much going on in the streets. Most people don't look very happy. It's been very hot, and both women and men are wearing lighter clothing. The morality police are harassing them even more than usual....

I would like to publish my thoughts so I could see what others think about them. But we hardly have any publications anymore that print critical ideas....

We are so happy about the hunger strike coming to an end. We drink to the political prisoners, and to the martyrs of our movement, like Neda and Hoda. We drink to the freedom that will most certainly come one day.

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The Latest from Iran (2 November): Honouring an Un-Free Press

2135 GMT: Speak Up. Darioush Ghanbari, the spokesman of the minority in Parliament, has called on reformists to break their silence and express their viewpoints about the issues facing the country: “In the current situation, it is necessary that reformists, especially the reformist parliamentarians, express their criticisms… because in this way people become informed about the issues and our identity as a political group is recognized in the Majlis.”

2130 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Iran's Deputy Minister of Trade has given shopkeepers a 48-hour ultimatum to "adjust" prices so they will be acceptable.

1740 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Fararu claims that the cleric who requested the release of prominent reformist politician Ali Shakouri Rad was Ayatollah Shobeiri Zanjani (see the claim by Iran's Prosecutor General in yesterday's updates).

Another son-in-law Of Molavi Abdul Hamid, Zahedan's Friday Prayer leader, has been arrested.

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The Latest from Iran (28 October): Re-Playing the Election

2040 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The State Bank of India has directed its overseas branches to stop transactions with Iranian entities.

An internal circular issued last month by the bank, India’s largest, establishes that India has tacitly joined United Nations sanctions against Iran.

The directive was issued after Iranian entities attempted to break the bank’s firewall by using shell firms to purchase US dollars to finance their business.

1955 GMT: How Could We Forget? It was the 10th and last day of the Khamenei roadshow in Qom. Mehr said that the people of the city gave him a "huge and passionate" farewell. Fars echoes the story, but there are no pictures.

The Financial Times belatedly notices the trip, "Khamenei Pleads for Clerical Support in Qom".

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