The Latest from Iran (1 October): Problems with Banks and Oil

See also The Latest from Iran (30 September): Where's the President's Right-Hand Man?

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1845 GMT: Cyber-Question of Day. So who is behind the fake BBC Persian website, with the lead story that its editor raped a female employee, but she returned to work?

1835 GMT: Do You Think the Supreme Leader Knows? Hours after Ayatollah Khamenei opened Tehran's International Conference on the Palestinian Intifada by denouncing the Palestinian Authority's leadership, including Mahmoud Abbas, and its approach to the UN for recognition of Palestinian leadership, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal sang a different tune, even in the cautious wording of the Tehran Times....

The article frames Meshaal's position as "the plan presented by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is worth mulling over", but in expressing his criticism that "the United States and the Zionists exposed their true face as they have started efforts to stymie the plan", the site portrays support for his Palestinian rival:

Meshaal said Abbas is resisting pressure exerted by the U.S. and Israel. “In this moment of history that the true face of the Zionists has been revealed, Mahmoud Abbas and our brothers in the Fatah movement as well as other independent figures should make efforts to achieve unity,” the Hamas political leader stated.

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Iran Interview: Azerbaijani Activist Fakhteh Zamani Explains the Lake Urmia Protests

See also Iran Feature: Is Civil Disobedience Taking Off?

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Fakhteh Zamani, director of the Association for the Defence of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran, talks about the protests over the environmental damage to Iran's largest lake, Lake Urmia --- moving from activists in Azerbaijan to football stadiums --- the response by the Iranian authorities, and the possible developments, both for the lake and for Azerbaijani rights:

Iran Feature: Is Civil Disobedience Taking Off? (Tait)

Protest over Lake UrmiaWhen Leon Panetta, the new United States defense secretary, declared on September 6 that it was only "a matter of time" before an Arab Spring-style revolution came to Iran, it seemed to smack of wishful thinking. 

And since this year's outbreak of popular uprisings that have unseated dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, and destabilized authoritarian regimes elsewhere in the Middle-East countries, there have been numerous expressions of desire for a "Persian Spring" to go with the Arab variety. 

Yet now opponents of the Tehran regime feel its nemesis may finally have arrived -- in the form of proliferating acts of civil disobedience.

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The Latest from Iran (14 September): Ahmadinejad's Public Relations Triumph

See also Iran Video: Full Ahmadinejad Interview with NBC News
Iran Interview: Ahmadinejad to Washington Post "If US Gives Us Uranium, We Will Stop Production"

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2110 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Public Relations Triumph? Another warning signal tonight for the President over his mention of the freeing of US hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer....

Press TV features the remarks of MP Parviz Sarvari, a member of Parliament's National Security Commission, "If Iran was to release these two [spies] without receiving anything from the US Government in return, this would be against the spirit of the Islamic Revolution."

The significance lies not so much in the statement of Sarvari, who is known for heated remarks --- this week he called for the execution of Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai (see 0655) --- as in Press TV deciding to give it prominence.

2047 GMT: Omission of the Day. Press TV reports on the President's speech today:

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces government plans to introduce reforms in the banking system and to strengthen the country's currency.

“Reforming the banking system was placed on the government's agenda and, by God's grace, reforms in this system will begin this year,” Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday in a public address in the northwestern city of Ardabil, the official presidential website reported.

He added that the changes would prevent discrimination in the distribution of banking loans to Iranians.

“I am hopeful that, through banking reforms injustice in granting loans will be no more and the means [enabling] of misuse of public funds will be no longer.”

So what is missing from this report? (Hint: the magic number is 2.6 billion --- see 1445 GMT.)

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The Latest from Iran (13 September): The Danger of Half-Naked Men

See also Iran Latest: Ahmadinejad "Unilateral Pardon" for US Hikers Bauer & Fattal in 48 Hours
Iran Feature: A Guide to The Political Battle Within Tehran's Establishment
Iran MediaFail: America's NBC News Proudly Presents "A Day in the Life of Ahmadinejad"

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2110 GMT: Denial of the Day. According to Fars, via Khabar Online, President Ahmadinejad's office continues to deny that 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, suspected of involvement in fraud, has been dismissed.

2000 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Here's a wrinkle in the hard-line blogosphere in Iran: the blogger "Grain of Character" has asked the Supreme Leader to end his support for Presidnet Ahmadinejad and allow his istizah --- an interrogation possibly leading to impeachment -- by Parliament.

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Latest from Iran (10 September): A New Protest in Tabriz?

Claimed footage of a demonstration in Tabriz in northwest Iran last night

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See also Latest from Iran (9 September): Ignoring Ahmadinejad on Syria

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2015 GMT: Health Watch. Monavar Khalaj reports for the Financial Times, "Healthcare Costs Move Beyond Most Iranians":

Unofficial figures say healthcare costs [in Iran] have increased between 20 to 40 per cent in recent months.

Masoud Javanbakht, a member of Iran’s Medical Council, a body that represents doctors, warned last month that only 25 per cent of Iran’s 75m population can afford hospital care. Mr Javanbakht told the semi-official Fars news agency that 30 per cent of households stood to lose not only their incomes but also all their savings if a household member were hospitalised. In theory, more than 32m Iranians are covered by the state’s social security fund, which runs some hospitals directly. A parallel organisation, the medical service insurance organisation, covers a further 23m people living mainly in more rural areas. In addition, state employees, such as members of the armed forces and teachers, have their own dedicated health insurance funds. But state-run hospitals are often of poor quality, and staff are badly paid and under-motivated. Waiting lists for operations run up to six months. As a result, 70 per cent of outpatient services are supplied by the private sector.

Masoud Pezeshkian, a former health minister and now a member of the parliament’s health committee, says an operation involving a stay at an intensive care unit can cost more than IR60m ($5,600). “This fee is very high for those who have [low] salaries or are jobless because their assets are not so much to be able to make up for the fees,” Mr Pezeshkian says.

Anoushiravan Mohseni-Bandepay, deputy head of the parliament’s health committee, says what the patient must pay can account for about 60 per cent of treatment while the share covered by public insurance is only about 40 per cent. When it comes to outpatient services, such as pathological and radiological tests, Mr Mohseni-Bandepay says families have to pay on average 65 per cent of expenses.

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Latest from Iran (8 September): Fearing Persian Spring

2020 GMT: Warnings of the Day (cont.). Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi appears to have put out a caution to the President's office and to MPs: "There are some currents that try to depict the guardian jurist [the Supreme Leader] as not having the final say and distinguish the decrees of the Leader as governmental and non-governmental ones....From the viewpoint of such currents, seizing the Presidential office and the Parliament is the only way of changing the regime, this is why they are trying to attract the people."

And last but certainly not least, the head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has criticised "certain executive offices" which "create obstacles in the path of the fight against economic corruption".

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Latest from Iran (7 September): Revolutions and Dervishes

More video claiming to show the security crackdown against protesters in Urmia on September 3rd

See also Iran Special: Mousavi's Moment Outside House Arrest "The Future is Bright"

Iran Video: Bringing Out the News, Remembering the Victims --- An Interview with Masih Alinejad
The Latest from Iran (6 September): Water Fights, Soggy Papers

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1800 GMT: Justice Watch. Mohammad Esmail Mollazehi, charged with “spying in an attempt to act against Iranian national security”, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Mollazehi was arrested in Zahedan in southeastern Iran in October 2010, charged with delivering information to a foreign embassy in Dubai." The embassy was not named.

The Zahedan prosecutor also said cryptically, “This individual also followed the files of certain detainees in Iran and was trying to release them.”

Because Mollazehi has no previous record, the 10-year sentence was reduced to four years in prison plus five years’ suspended sentence.

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Latest from Iran (4 September): Shrinking Lake, Growing Protests

1710 GMT:Environment Watch. Associated Press' coverage of the Lake Urmia protests is taken entirely from the summary of Mehr, which claims demonstrations have ended with no casualties.

Mehr --- and thus AP --- assert that the protests ended Saturday night.

1410 GMT: Protest Watch. Peyke Iran reports that the strike of cloth merchants in the Tehran Bazaar, complaining about the Government's policies on value-added tax, is continuing despite talks with MPs.

1405 GMT: More claimed footage from Saturday's protests in Tabriz over Lake Urmia:

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