Iran Feature: Fars News and The Onion Agree --- "Rural American Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama"

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UPDATE 1745 GMT: Looks like Fars English has realised that its scoop might not be real --- the story has been withdrawn from the website.

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Iran's Fars News Agency has a surprise revelation, "According to the results of a Gallup poll released Monday, the overwhelming majority of rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than US President Barack Obama."

Fars has ventured where no US media outlet seems to have gone in breaking this news. Mitt Romney has not trumpeted this as proof of his ascendancy. Fox News has not yet proclaimed the evidence that the Great Liberal Menace has been defeated.

Indeed, Gallup does not seem to have the poll on its website.

So where did Fars' reporters make this discovery?

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The Latest from Iran (28 September): The Next Fall in the Currency

See also Iran Snapshot: Why Was Top Military Commander Soleimani in Iraqi Kurdistan?
The Latest from Iran (27 September): A Newspaper is Banned, An Editor is Imprisoned

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Ahmadinejad Returns from New York1705 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Ayatollah Emami Kashani is not ready to let go of the issue of the US-produced film denigrating the Prophet Mohammad, as he accused Western governments of trying to "belittle Islam and violate its sanctities": "The repercussions of their plots and conspiracies will backfire on them and they will be further disgraced, but Islam will also surely cut off their evil hand.”

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The Latest from Iran (27 September): A Newspaper is Banned, An Editor is Imprisoned

Protesters chase, heckle, and harass Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, iin New York

See also Iran Analysis: Ahmadinejad Exits Stage Left
The Latest from Iran (26 September): Denials, "Fake Allegations", and Ahmadinejad's Speech

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1545 GMT: Food Watch. State grains agency GTC has bought 1 million metric tonnes (1.1 tons) of milling wheat in the past two weeks, mostly from the European Union, according to traders.

The news is a further marker of Iran's shift from exporter to importer of wheat. "They are buying bigger volumes than what was expected, they have big needs," one trader said.

Iranian wheat imports are usually handled by the private sector but the State has had to step in amid disruptions to trade financing.

"In the most recent buys in the last two weeks they have been taking almost anything that is available," another trader said. "They have been buying EU, Black Sea including Russian, Australian and other origins."

One trade source suggested desperation to feed livestock was one of the reasons for the huge import volume. "They don't have enough feed for animals, which means they are using milling wheat instead."

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Iran Analysis: Ahmadinejad Exits Stage Left

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The prevalent mood in much of the US media after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's last speech to the United Nations General Assembly was disappointment. It was not disappointment over the lack of any new substance on the nuclear issue or a statement on Syria, but extended lower lips that this was not the combative Ahmadinejad who had taken the stage in past years.

"Muted" was the immediate reaction, with The Washington Post reviewing that the speech was "decidedly less provocative", and thus "less notable". The New York Times, which normally embraces Ahmadinejad as its pantomime villain, did not even give him a leading role, let alone a place its headline --- he had been succeeded by other suspects, "At U.N., Egypt and Yemen Urge Curbs on Free Speech". The Wall Street Journal was slightly bemused by Ahmadinejad's emphasis on religion, with his anticipation of the return of the Hidden Imam, but appeared to be disappointed that he had not denied the Holocaust or called for the elimination of Israel or offered one of his denunciations of homosexuality.

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Our 1st EA Video Analysis: The Sound, Fury, and Insignificance of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

As we prepare to launch a new website, EA introduces a new venture, the Video Analysis of the "Window on the World".

We hope through 5-minute analyses of latest events to go behind the headlines --- and to bring in overlooked news --- for an understanding of the important political, economic, and social developments and trends. The intial videos will feature EA staff in straightforward presentations to camera, but we hope to add to the "Window" through footage and studio discussions as EA expands.

In the intial analysis, Scott Lucas previews the sound and fury of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his speech at the United Nations today, predicting that it will all end in insignificance.

The Latest from Iran (26 September): Denials, "Fake Allegations", and Ahmadinejad's Speech

See also Our 1st EA Video Analysis: The Sound, Fury, and Insignificance of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iran Opinion: Ahmadinejad 100, US Media 0
Iran Audio Feature: Predicting Ahmadinejad's Speech (and Does It Really Matter?) --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
The Latest from Iran (25 September): Which is More Important --- The Ahmadinejad Show or an Economy in Crisis?

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1915 GMT: Press Watch. Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance has warned that he may ban the reformist newspaper Shargh because of an insulting cartoon during the "Week of Holy Defence", marking the 32nd anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq War.

The Minister said that Shargh, whose editor was summoned for an explanation, was propagating "Western culture".

Fars reported that 120 of Iran's 290 MPs have signed a letter condemning the cartoon.

1855 GMT: Tough Tslk Alert (Syria Edition). President Ahmadinejad might have taken a cautious line on Syria during his stay in New York this week, but others have not been so reticent. While 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi was declaring, "Syria Will Eventually Conquer Enemies", MP Hamid Rasaei asserted that the remarks of Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Reza Jafari --- confirming that members of the Quds Force were in Damascus advising the Assad regime --- were those of the Supreme Leader. Rasaei continued, "We intervened in the 33 Days War in Lebanon (with Israel in 2006)."

Rejecting rumours that Iran might press President Assad to step down, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, “Today Syria’s presence in the [anti-Israeli] resistance front is stronger than ever."

All of this provides a counter-point to the line, put out by Press TV today, that "Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has called for a political solution to the Syrian crisis, saying Tehran supports dialogue between Damascus and the Syrian opposition.

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Iran Opinion: Ahmadinejad 100, US Media 0

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Piers Morgan on homosexuality: "Who has said that if you like or believe in doing something ugly and others do not accept your behaviour, they are denying your freedom?"

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All the journalists have to get their fifteen minutes of Ahmadinejad. Just so they can prove for the umpteenth time that they might one-up him by asking him the same questions that he has answered umpteenth times before. And, in the process, getting one-upped themselves.

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Iran Audio Feature: Predicting Ahmadinejad's Speech (and Does It Really Matter?) --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24

I spoke last night with Monocle 24's The Daily about what Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will say today at the United Nations General Assembly --- they foresaw more "Israel should not exist" posturing; I am looking more to the Iranian President's emphasis on international "reform" to challenge Western "domination"; don't expect any detailed mention of Syria --- before taking on the bigger question:

Does the speech really matter, given that Ahmadinejad is a lame-duck President of declining significance in an Iran beset by economic and political difficulties?

To listen to the discussion, open The Daily's homepage, click on the programme for 25/9, and go to the 9:00 mark.

The Latest from Iran (25 September): Which is More Important --- The Ahmadinejad Show or an Economy in Crisis?

Full interview of President Ahmadinejad by CNN's Piers Morgan: "How do you feel about being Public Enemy Number One?"

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2049 GMT: Cyber Denial of the Day. Minister of Communications Reza Taghipour has said that Google is not filtered in Iran. Gmail's problems were "because of the rule of the judiciary", and "we had to observe the law".

1727 GMT: Nuclear Confusion. Yesterday we noted that Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, had confirmed --- for the first time in a public statement by an Iranian official --- that Tehran had offered to give up enrichment of 20% uranium in return for an easing of sanctions.

Now Soltanieh has denied the remark, reported by InterPress Service, “Let me tell you! I’ve taken part in no interviews about [the country’s uranium] enrichment and relevant issues with anyone in the past one month. I’ve not said such a thing."

1717 GMT: CyberWatch. Baztab writes that some government offices have installed Virtual Private Networks and filter-breakers because of the need to communicate via Gmail, blocked by authorities on Sunday.

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The Latest from Iran (24 September): Rafsanjani, Nukes, Ahmadinejad in New York

Nikahang Kowsar links last night's shutdown of Google and Gmail in Iran to President Ahmadinejad's trip to the US

See also Iran Opinion: Thoughts on the US De-Listing of the "Terrorist" Mujahideen-e Khalq
Iran Interview and Analysis: Ahmadinejad's Show Begins with Washington Post --- An Easy Ride on Nukes, And Nothing on Human Rights
Iran Analysis: Daughter in Prison, Son Back in Tehran --- What Now for Ex-President Rafsanjani?

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2030 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The US Treasury has officially designated the National Iranian Oil Company as "an agent or affiliate" of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, supporting Washington's pursuit of new sanctions on foreign banks dealing with the NIOC.

The Treasury told Congress that there was not enough information at this time to conclude that the National Iranian Tanker Company is linked to the IRGC.

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