The Latest from Iran (28 November): Supreme Leader Declares, "We're Winning"

1835 GMT: Gaza Watch. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said that, more than a week after he made his request to enter Gaza, he is still awaiting an answer from Egyptian authorities.

Salehi saild he had spoken by phone and in person with Egypt’s Foreign Minister.

1505 GMT: Economy Watch. Kalemeh reports that 2400 workers of the Saveh Pipe Rolling Plant and other factories in northwestern Iran have been on strike since Sunday over six months of unpaid wages.

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The Latest from Iran (8 October): Parliament's Message to Ahmadinejad

See also EA Video Analysis: How to Become an Expert on the Iranian Nuclear Programme
The Latest from Iran (7 October): "The Devil Has Disrupted Our Economy"

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2035 GMT: Economy Watch. HRANA reports that the Saipa automobile factory in Kashan has dismissed more than 10,000 employees --- 75% of its workforce --- and only 1 of 3 shifts is assembling now.

The site says Saipa in Tehran is also down to 1 in 3 shifts.

2025 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Mansour Haghighatpour, the deputy head of the National Security Council, has said that interrogation of the President will only be dropped if the Supreme Leader opposes it.

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The Latest from Iran (30 September): "The West Is In Economic Crisis"

See also Iran Follow-Up: Fars News Apologises for Running Story from The Onion
The Latest from Iran (29 September): The Economy and the Divisions Within the Regime

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1422 GMT: Press Watch. One of the cameramen with President Ahmadinejad's entourage in New York has defected and has been granted asylum, according to Baztab.

1347 GMT: Press Watch. ISNA reports that a court has convicted Reuters and its Tehran Bureau Chief, Parisa Hafezi, of "publishing lies against the regime" and "disturbing public opinion".

Reuters was charged after a story in March briefly carried a headline characterising women training in ninjutsu as "assassins". The bureau was closed, as the press cards of staff were confiscated. Some observers saw a pretext for the authorities to shut down one of the few international agencies reporting from inside Iran.

Sentencing is expected within a week.

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The Latest from Iran (13 September): Diversions and Selective Condemnations

Demonstrators burn the US flag outside the Swiss Embassy in Tehran today

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2042 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Thirty-one of the 35 nations of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency have voted for a resolution expressing "serious concern" over Iran's defiance of international demands to curb uranium enrichment and its failure to address concerns about its nuclear research.

All six of the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China) negotiating with Iran voted for the resolution. Only Cuba voted against, while three countries, including Egypt, abstained.

2035 GMT: Selective Condemnation Watch. It isn't just the regime leadership playing the condemnation card against "The Innocence of the Muslims" film. Former President Mohammad Khatami has asked the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to criticise the movie as an excuse for warmongers inciting war tween religions.

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The Latest from Iran (12 September): Economic Problems? What Economic Problems?

See also Iran Audio Feature: The Gathering Economic Storm --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
The Latest from Iran (11 September): Promoting the "Resistance Economy"

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1653 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Relatives of political prisoners born in the Iranian month of Shahrivar (August/September) gather to celebrate their birthdays:

1648 GMT: Economy Watch. Shabestan News Agency claims that the sale of stationery has been halted because the price for 70-gramme paper has tripled in price in the past two months.

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Iran Analysis: Participate or Boycott? Reformists Debate the 2013 Presidential Election (Kadivar)

The upcoming 2013 presidential election in Iran seems to be activating and deepening the fissures within the Iranian opposition. While parts of the opposition have started deliberating and discussing about participation in the election, other sections oppose participating on principle. A prominent reformist strategist, for example, suggested that election is “an opportunity for organizing and action.” Meanwhile, another famous activist journalist wrote that the only possible election in 2013 is one with the participation of regime “insiders” and no chance for pro-democracy forces to participate. These debates about the opportunities and constraints of the 2013 election reflect a deeper divide in the Iranian opposition about the most effective strategies to transform the polity and build a democratic regime in the future.

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The Latest from Iran (21 July): Support the Syrian Regime, Support Your Leader

1730 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. Reza Taghavi, the head of the Friday Prayer Leaders' Policymaking Council, has declared, "Iran is now capable of enriching uranium at a 20-percent level, but if [other countries] continue their pressure, we will increase enrichment levels to 56 percent."

1718 GMT: Chicken Watch. Etedaal satirises the current tension over the rising price of chicken --- it envisages the Central Bank announcing four- and six-month "pre-sales" of chicken, with prices to be fixed on a weekly basis.

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The Latest from Iran (20 July): Reformists and the Next Election

See also The Latest from Iran (19 July): Nervously Watching Syria

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1342 GMT: Trade Watch. Fars reports that the first load of Indian wheat exchanged in barter for oil has been distributed among Tehran bakeries.

Just as interesting is the jibe by the website that domestic wheat mills are working at 50% capacity.

1253 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi is pleased to tell the audience, "Today the whole world envies us for the Supreme Leader as the defender of religion. In Islamic society, the ruler is like qibla [the direction faced by a Muslim during prayer]."

Seddiqi added, "Those who don't accept the Supreme Leader, don't accept the rule of God."

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The Latest from Iran (19 July): Nervously Watching Syria

See also The Latest from Iran (18 July): Storm Clouds Gather Over The Economy

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2023 GMT: Reformist Watch. Deutsche Welle summarises the reformist manoeuvres over the 2013 Presidential election (see 0929 GMT) --- former President Mohammad Khatami, his brother Mohammed Reza Khatami, and former Minister of Interior Abdollah Nouri are all busy "giving the green light" to participation.

1643 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Iranian Teachers Union is challenging the arrest of a member of its executive board, Mahmoud Bagheri, in a letter to the head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani.

The physics teacher has been sentenced to a total of 9 1/2 years in prison on two charges. He was arrested on Monday to serve out his term.

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The Latest from Iran (18 July): Storm Clouds Gather Over The Economy

See also Iran Feature: Protests and Repression --- The Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan
Iran Analysis: Larijani and the Revolutionary Guards Warn the Government Over the Economy
The Latest from Iran (17 July): "We Will March Past Sanctions" (Or Maybe Not.)

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Fars: An Iranian Faces the Economy1654 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Yemeni Front). Yemeni officials have arrested members of a spy ring allegedly led by a former commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, State news agency SABA reported today.

SABA said the spy cell, made up of Yemenis, had operated in Yemen as well as in the Horn of Africa and that it had kept an operations centre in the Yemeni capital Sana'a.

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said, "We hope that our brothers in Iran won't interfere in Yemen's affairs and that they take into consideration the sensitive situation in Yemen. Leave Yemen alone, enough is enough."

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