The Latest from Iran (25 August): Bigging Up the Non-Aligned Summit

See also Iran Feature: Kafka in the Islamic Republic --- An Interview with Cartoonist Mana Neyestani
The Latest from Iran (24 August): Nuclear Talks Resume With IAEA

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1522 GMT: The House Arrests. Prominent Tehran-based analyst Sadegh Zibakalam has said that the house arrests of opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi are "useless" and that Mousavi's popularity remains unchanged: "Mousavi and Rahnavard cannot be eliminated from people's minds."

1520 GMT: Economy Watch. Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Jafar Assadi has said the Iranian economy is "in the situation of Shaab Abi Taleb", the 7th-century conflict in which Prophet Mohammad and his followers were forced to live under an economic and social blockade for three years.

The Supreme Leader, who has called for a "resistance economy", had dismissed the allusion in January.

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The Latest from Iran (22 August): Kim Jong Un is Coming to Tehran! (Or Not).

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Political Prisoners, Israel Loves Iran, and Looking Too Much Like Ahmadinejad
The Latest from Iran (21 August): All Hail the Supreme Leader

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2027 GMT: Oil Watch. Iran's two biggest oil buyers, China and India, sharply cut imports in July.

Beijing's purchases fell nearly a third in July from an 11-month high in June, while shipments by India, declined more than 40%.

The Indian cutback is probably linked to difficulties in insurance cover for Iranian tankers, following the European Union's imposition of sanctions on 1 July. This month Indian refiners have confirmed the first shipments from Iran, to begin in September, using Iranian cover.

The Chinese drop may be tied to a six-month US waiver from sanctions, issued on 28 June, for Beijing's reduced shipments in early 2012. A continued bounce-back in purchases might have jeopardised renewal of the waiver.

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The Latest from Iran (18 August): So How Big Was Quds Day?

The Quds Day rally in Isfahan

See also Iran Feature: An Introduction to the Currency Problems
Iran Snap Analysis: The Real Danger of "Ahmadinejad and Israel"
Iran Snapshot: 3 "Iranian Citizens" Arrested for Bombing in Afghanistan That Killed 36
The Latest from Iran (17 August): Ahmadinejad Introduces Tehran Friday Prayer

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1920 GMT: Religion Watch. International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, accused of apostasy because of his conversion to Christianity, will face a new trial on 27 August on charges of “banditry and extortion".

An Iranian court has condemned Nadarkhani to death for apostasy but has offered to commute the sentence if he repents. So far he has refused to do so.

1745 GMT: Currency Watch. With the Iranian Rial losing almost half its value since last autumn, The New York Times reports on Iranians crossing the border to get better rates or to trade before the currency slides farther:

Afghan traders have proved more than willing to trade dollars for rials, usable as a currency in many parts of western Afghanistan, at advantageous exchange rates.

Hajji Najeeb Ullah Akhtary, the president of Afghanistan’s Money Exchange Union, an association of traditional money transfer and exchange businesses that are known as hawalas, said he and his members had seen a steady increase in Iranians bringing cash into Afghanistan over the past year. That comes on top of routine transfers made by Afghans living and working in Iran, including more than one million impoverished refugees, and the regular supply of rials that circulates in Afghanistan.

The cash “comes across in trucks,” he said, with transfers arranged by Afghan middlemen who take a 5 to 7 percent commission.

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