The Latest from Iran (17 March): Economy Watch

2100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and human rights activist Kaveh Kermanshahi has been given a four-year sentence by an appeals court.

Kermanshahi was originally sentenced to five years in prison.

1700 GMT: We're Watching You. Ayatollah Nourollah Tabarasi, a member of the Assembly of Experts, has declared that 53 intelligence networks have been established to spy on 60,000 seminary students.

1645 GMT: Back from an academic break to find that Ali Karroubi, the son of Mehdi Karroubi, has been released from detention.

Ali Karroubi was arrested more than three weeks ago during a raid on his parents' home and their possible move from house arrest to detention.

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The Latest from Iran (14 March): All Hail Intelligence

1955 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The International Committee for Human Rights in Iran describes the case of 80-year-old Ebrahim Yazdi, whose trial has been postponed for the third time.

Yazdi, the Secretary-General of the Iran Freedom Movement, has been in prison since early October, charged with “acting against national security,” “propagating against the regime,” and “establishing the Iran Freedom Movement". He is in poor helath and is now detained in a Ministry of Intelligence house of detention.

1925 GMT: Human Rights Update. The Secretary-General of the UN has just released his interim report to the Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran:

The present report highlights many areas of continuing concern for human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Secretary-General has been deeply troubled by reports of increased executions, amputations, arbitrary arrest and detention, unfair trials, and possible torture and ill-treatment of human rights activists, lawyers, journalists and opposition activists.

The Secretary-General encourages the Government to address the concerns highlighted in the report and the specific calls to action found in previous resolutions of the General Assembly as well as the Universal Periodic Review process. The Secretary-General notes the important and constructive role the human rights lawyers and activists play in protecting human rights and encourages the Government of Iran to fully guarantee freedom of expression and assembly and to open up greater space for human rights lawyers and activists.

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The Latest from Iran (13 March): Troublesome Children?

2140 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Speaking to Iran's governors, President Ahmadinejad has defended his subsidy reduction plan. He said the plan had not yet been fully implements, and people should be careful not to damage it, given the enemy's attempts to undermine the economic initiative.

President said: The law still oriented subsidies are not fully implementing its objectives and should be carefully fully operational in all sections had been careful not to damage it because the enemy into the implementation of this law slapped Chhbsa is looking Ftnhgry

2120 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Abdolreza Tajik has been sentenced to six years in prison for "membership in illegal groups" and "propaganda".

Student activist Arzhang Alipour has been arrested.

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The Latest from Iran (12 March): A Challenge from Prison

Tonight's Headline News: The daughters of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have met their parents for the first time since Mousavi and Rahnavard were put under strict house arrest on 14 February.

Mousavi, who was not informed of the meeting and so was surprised to see his daughters, told them that agents raided the family home on 14 February --- the day of the first significant opposition marches in Tehran for more than a year --- and confiscated books, CDs, and personal items. The security forces even took classified documents from Mousavi's tenure as Prime Minister in the late 1980s.

The daughters claimed the yard of their parents' home was full of agents and a dark van was parked there. They said they were told to keep quiet about the meeting but believed people had a right to know.

2110 GMT: In the Courts. Mohammad Tahir Haeri Shirazi, the son of President Ahmadinejad's mentor Ayatollah Haeri Shirazi, has been sentenced to six years in prison for land theft.

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The Latest from Iran (11 March): In the Balance

2118 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Hashemi Rafsanjani may have lost the contest to retain his leadership of the Assembly of Experts, but he has triumphed elsewhere: in a poll of Khabar Online readers on the political figure of the last year, Rafsanjani gets 59% of the vote vs. 17% for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Conservative MP and Government critic Ali Motahari is third with 9.2%.

2115 GMT: The New Leader. Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani has issued his first statement after the Assembly of Experts election, declaring, "We must preserve unity."

2100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Political activists Mohammad Reza Malekian and Iman Sedighi have been freed on bail.

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The Latest from Iran (10 March): President Rahim-Mashai?

1650 GMT: "Proper" Studies. Iran's Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education has banned Iranian graduate students from pursuing a dissertation on any subject related to Iran while studying abroad.

The ban covers all Iranian students, whether they are financially supported by the Government or paying for their education. Students who violate the directive will face problems with confirmation of their degrees by the Iranian authorities and with applications for jobs.

1615 GMT: Labour Front. Workers at Tabriz Petrochemical Plant have ended an 11-day strike after their demands were met.

1610 GMT: Smoothing the Waters. More on the Supreme Leader's appearance at the Assembly of Experts....

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The Latest from Iran (9 March): More than Political Games

2210 GMT: Clerical Challenge. A different line of criticism from Grand Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani, who has been distancing himself from the regime, today....

Vahid Khorasani said that the Government was "losing Islam" by failing to prevent Iran's youth from being seduced by Christianity.

2150 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ardavan Tarakmeh, student director, writer and film critic, has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Tarakmeh is the son of reputed writer and literary critic Younes Tarakmeh. He was arrested during the Ashura demonstrations of 27 December 2009.

Farnaz Kamali, a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign for women's rights, has been released on $300,000 bail.

Kamali was arrested in Tehran during the protests on 20 February and charged with actions against national security, membership in the Campaign to Free [student activist] Atefeh Nabavi, and participation in protests.

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Iran Special: First-Hand from Tehran "The Government Is Finished"

A well-placed Iranian source in Tehran sends a letter through an EA correspondent:

I hear the same thing being repeated: the regime are terrified, divided and thus making very bad decisions. (Bad for them, and their survival!) People are agreed that the arrests of [Mehdi] Karroubi, [Mir Hossein] Mousavi and their wives will only create more enemies for the regime. People who have consistently supported them are now beginning to turn against the regime, saying ‘enough’. Even my contacts [within the regime] are aware that, with every passing day, more and more hardliners are turning against them. One friend told me, “There are too many bosses, but no one is really in control”.

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Iran First-Hand: Voices in Tehran on Protests and the Opposition

Protest on 14 February, TehranThe Los Angeles Times posts a small but interesting cross-section of opinions from Tehran on the political situation, protests, and the opposition movement.

There is a range of views on whether the opposition protests are building and whether the challenge has gone beyond figures such as Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, with comments such as "we are subversive" and "we need militant groups". But while there is division on those important questions, seven of the nine respondents are united by the perception of discontent --- and thus the likely continuation of some form of resistance --- within Iran.

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The Latest from Iran (6 March): Catching Up with the Regime and Rafsanjani

2000 GMT: A Right Nuclear Mess. Looks like Iran has got itself in a real tangle over its first nuclear plant at Bushehr.

Last week reports emerged that Iran was having to withdraw fuel rods from Bushehr, opened last autumn, because of unspecified technical problems.

Although there was some discussion of whether the difficulty was the Stuxnet computer worm, allegedly introduced by the "West" and/or Israel into software running the plant, the issue might have stopped there. But then Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Tuesday denied reports that any fuel has been removed, saying operations at the facility "are running their normal course."

And now the deputy head of Parliament's Energy Commission, Abdollah Kaabi, has given the nuclear tension another stir with accusations against Moscow, contradicting the Foreign Ministry line that all is well. Kaabi said Saturday, “If Russia continues to delay the inauguration of Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) will definitely table a motion to demand compensation from Moscow.”

Kaabi said the Russians had always been “unreliable partners in the course of history”, causing “unacceptable” delays in the project and imposing heavy costs on Iran.

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