Iran Live Coverage: Crisis at the Central Bank?

Central Bank head Bahmani & President Ahmadinejad2055 GMT: Defiance of the Day. After recent admissions that US-led sanctions are having an effect on Iran's economy, President Ahmadinejad has returned to his tough posture. Speaking to a crowd in the western city of Hamedan, he sent the message:

Don't buy our oil? To hell with you.

It's better if you don't buy...Ten times more money will head to people's pockets through the inventions of our scientists.

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Iran Live Coverage: Supreme Leader's Top Advisor Draws A "Red Line" on Syria

See also Sunday's Iran Live Coverage: Regime Explains --- Talk of "Free Elections" Is "Sedition"

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Supreme Leader Aide Ali Akbar Velayati2147 GMT: Bank Watch. The Supreme Audit Court has given Central Bank head Mahmoud Bahmani 20 days to appeal the order for his dismissal because of illegal financial transactions.

2037 GMT: Bank Watch. Najmeh Bozorgmehr of the Financial Times summarises a day's turmoil over the Central Bank and the Iranian currency, with reports of the resignation or dismissal of Bank head Mahmoud Bahmani.

Bozorgmehr puts the fall of the Rial today at 8%, from 32800:1 to 35300:1.

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Iran Live Coverage: Let's Make a Nuclear Deal?

Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, released on a 3-day prison furlough on Thursday, with her children Nima and Behraveh

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- A Health Care Crisis, Economic Rumblings, and Election Grumblings
Friday's Iran Live Coverage: Regime --- Detained Opposition Leaders Mousavi & Karroubi Committed "Atrocities"

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2205 GMT: Fighting over the House Arrests. An interesting twist in the politics around the detentions of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi....

The story begins with leading conservative politician Habibollah Asgarouladi, who said earlier this month that Mousavi and Karroubi --- both candidates for President in 2009 and both under strict house arrest since February 2011 --- had been honourable men who served the Islamic Republic and were not "seditionists".

Other politicians and clerics, continuing to condemn Mousavi and Karroubi, have pressed Asgarouladi to retract the remarks. Yesterday, the politician responded by saying he would leave his Motalefeh Party if they did not give him support.

Now Ayatollah Hassan Mamdouhi, of the conservative Scholars of Qom, has warned: if Motalefe does not reject Asgarouladi's comments, the clerics will stop co-operation.

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Iran Live Coverage: Regime --- Detained Opposition Leaders Mousavi & Karroubi Committed "Atrocities"

See also Iran Live Coverage: Supreme Leader "We Will Not Surrender"

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1714 GMT: Picture of the Day. Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, freed on a three-day furlough from a six-year prison sentence, with one of her children:

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Iran Live Coverage: Supreme Leader "We Will Not Surrender"

2100 GMT: Nuclear Watch. The two days of talks between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iranian officials have ended with no news of progress on a protocol for inspections, but with an agreement to resume discussions next month.

Iranian media said the next meeting would be in Tehran on 12 February. The IAEA has made no comment.

2000 GMT: The House Arrests. The children of detained opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife, activist Zahra Rahnavard, report again that they have been blocked from seeing or calling their parents.

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Iran Feature: Spotlight Returns to Detained Opposition Leaders Mousavi and Karroubi

Before the Detentions: Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi KarroubiTwo of Iran's main opposition leaders are in their 70s and in poor health but 23 months of house arrest have failed to crush their "unshakeable spirit", their families said last week.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are standing by their "righteous and principled position", they added in a statement that demanded their immediate release. That position is primarily a call for the "ruling apparatus" to recognise "the people's right to self-determination".

Cut off from the outside world, the two men --- along with Mr Mousavi's charismatic wife, Zahra Rahnavard - have been denied free access to newspapers, television, the internet and regular family visits.

But all three are now back in the Iranian spotlight ahead of polls in June to elect a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Political Prisoners, Freedom of Expression, and Killer Smog (Arseh Sevom)

Hila Sedighi, threatened with imprisonment, recites her poetry

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We have letters for you this week. The most heartbreaking comes from 21-year-old Zanyar Moradi, who begs the world to take notice as he and his cousin face imminent execution. Nobel Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi calls on UNICEF to visit children living in prison with incarcerated mothers. The children of former Presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi have called for an end to their house arrest. The Supreme Leader has been deluged with letters demanding free and fair elections.

Meanwhile, Tehran's polluted skies literally take your breath away, claiming more than 4000 lives over one year. Three Iranian writers are honoured with Hellman-Hammett grants for their commitment to free expression, and a group of Iranians in London form an organisation to encourage reading. Iran is said to be working on controls for social networking sites as it steps up its harassment of the families of journalists.

Finally, after her release from prison, Hengameh Shahidi, a former advisor to Mehdi Karroubi, has turned her attention to art.

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Iran Live Coverage: Please Vote (P.S. --- We Did Not Rig the Last Election)

See also Syria and Iran Feature: 2130 Civilian Prisoners To Be Released in Exchange for 48 Iranian "Pilgrims"
Iran Audio Feature: How Serious is the Oil Crisis? --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
Tuesday's Iran Live Coverage: The Regime Admits the Oil Squeeze

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2055 GMT: Engineering Elections Watch. Back to our opening story....

The Supreme Leader's representative, Ali Saeedi, may have set off a political storm with his remark that it is the duty of the Revolutionary Guards to "engineer" the elections --- even if the Guards tried to soften that comment by saying it referred only to ensuring security for the vote.

That's because President Ahmadinejad chose to run with the possibility of inappropriate intervention by the Guards: "Whoever wants to manage people's votes will be managed by the people."

A Guards spokesman responded that the President's remark was "astonishing".

1955 GMT: The House Arrests. Leading conservative politician Habibollah Asgarouladi has pulled back on his recent statements that detained opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are not "seditionists".

Asgarouladi had said that the problem was that Mousavi and Karroubi were surrounded by seditious elements, but he told Mehr, in an interview published today, "I never said [they] are not seditionists, I said they are not at the top of the sedition."

Asgarouladi continued, "I've said clearly that they stood against the establishment and the people, and they have to be held responsible."

The politician's initial comments raised speculation that the regime might lift the 23-month house arrests of Mousavi and Karroubi, both candidates in the disputed 2009 Presidential election.

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Iran Live Coverage: Threatening the Reformists

See also Iran Special: 5 Steps for a Breakthrough in the Nuclear Talks
Sunday's Iran Live Coverage: The Smog Shuts Down Tehran

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2131 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Labour activist Reza Shehabi has been released from prison on furlough after 23 days on hunger strike.

2108 GMT: Religious Prisoner Watch. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, the Christian convert re-arrested on Christmas Day after serving nearly three years in prison, was freed today, according to individuals close to the pastor and his family.

Nadarkhani was initially released in November. He had been charged with apostasy and sentenced to death before a higher court commuted the sentence.

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Iran Live Coverage: Nuclear Talks to Resume?

See also Iran Feature: How a Political Prisoner Found Art for Her Activism
Friday's Iran Live Coverage: The Supreme Leader Tries to Bolster His Popularity

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2025 GMT: Smog Watch. An official with the Environmental Protection Agency says 150 industrial units in Tehran Province have been shut because of the high levels of air pollution.

1855 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Detained senior reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh, who was taken to hospital earlier today because of a heart condition (see 1535 GMT), has now returned to prison.

1605 GMT: Smog Watch. An image of air pollution in Tehran --- the smog has forced the closure of schools and Government buildings today and tomorrow:

Jason Rezaian, the Tehran correspondent of The Washington Post, writes:

Level of #pollution in #Tehran today is truly shocking. Local radio got it right, saying going outside in the current conditions is suicide.

— Jason Rezaian (@jrezaian) January 5, 2013

@greenshivz Whatever the cause, no one deserves to have to breathe this.

— Jason Rezaian (@jrezaian) January 5, 2013

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