Iran Live Coverage: Tehran Continues to Push "Positive" Nuclear Talks

See also Tuesday's Iran Live Coverage: Ahmadinejad Anoints His Right-Hand Man for President

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2021 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has strongly criticised those who have backed President Ahmadinejad and his Government.

Rafsanjani said the Government has destroyed three decades of achievements: "I am surprised that why some people, especially clerics, have supported them. Even more strange is they will not stop supporting this disaster now that they have realised the true identity of this current."

1945 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The US has renewed the waiver from financial penalties for Japan, "based on additional significant reductions in the volume of its crude oil purchases from Iran".

Waivers were also extended for 10 European Union countries. The EU implemented a ban on imports of Iranian oil from 1 July 2012.

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The Latest from Iran (23 July): A Furlough in Repression

1840 GMT: The Slain Scientist --- Confusion Alert. We have been working throughout the day on the initial report that the scientist slain today in Tehran was a 35-year-old "Professor of Physics" named Dariush Rezaei, as initially reported by Iranian media (see 1503 and 1530 GMT).

This led us to Dariush Rezaei, also identified as Dariush Rezaei-Ochbolagh, a faculty member at Mohaghegh Ardabili University (see 1600 GMT). However, there is a curiosity in Rezaei's profile --- he is listed as 46 years old.

(Mehr, however, do seem to have a consistent story, with Rezaei a 45-year-old professor at the University, which is in the city of Ardebil in northwest Iran.)

Now Fars and IRNA that the victim, named Dariush Rezaeinejad, is actually a postgraduate student in electrical engineering at Khaje Nasir University in Tehran. IRNA, from an "informed source", says Rezaeinejad was "cooperating with a number of universities and scientific centers".

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Iran Document: The Women Who are Political Prisoners (Sadr)

Taking a serious and fruitful measure in order to stop violation of human rights, including various forms of sexual torture and violence against political prisoners as the most severe form of violation of human rights, is a necessary step towards releasing some pressure from the popular movement of the Iranian people. We must start now, tomorrow is too late.

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The Latest from Iran (10 April): A Law Professor is Fired

Mohammad Sharif2115 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Activist and blogger Laleh Hassanpour has been sentenced to five years in prison, four of them suspended.

Sarah Mahboubi, a Baha’i student from Sari, has been banned from university and sentenced to 10 months in prison for "membership in an anti-revolutionary Facebook site“.

1855 GMT: Cats and Dogs Watch. Iran's Parliament is discussing a law to prohibit keeping dogs and cats as pets because they are "unclean and dangerous".

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The Latest from Iran (8 April): A Prize for An Imprisoned Journalist

Ahmad Zeidabadi on trial in August 20091800 GMT: Clashes at Camp Ashraf. Representatives of Camp Ashraf, home to 3500 people including many members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), have said that Iraqi security forces killed at least 25 residents and wounded 320 in an attack in Diyala province, about 90 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesman for the Iraqi Government, said five members of the security forces were wounded. He did not give any casualty figures for residen, saying they threw rocks at security forces in a "riot".

A medical source said a hospital in nearby Baquba had received the bodies of three Iranians and that 16 other Iranians, five Iraqi soldiers, and one Iraqi policeman were brought to the hospital with injuries.

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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 (20 January): Running on Empty?

2135 GMT: Economy Watch. Ayande News, blaming subsidy cuts on fuel, says car sales have fallen by 50% with the market in imported cars almost dormant.

Khabar Online, linked to Ali Larijani, continues to push the Government on economic claims. The latest case is a challenge to the claim of 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi that 1.5 million new jobs have been created: Khabar says only 600,000 of these were new jobs and 900,000 replaced other positions.

2115 GMT: Running on Empty? Back to where we started this morning. MP Ali Motahari, pressing his argument that the Government is not only unwilling but unable to provide the funds for expansion of the Tehran Metro, claims that Minister of Economy Shamseddin Hosseini has said the Government does not want to implement laws mandating $2 billion in support of the expansion.

Motahari said the Government must at least allocate part of the $2 billion and asserted that he will President Ahmadinejad in the Majlis about the issue.

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The Latest from Iran (8 January): Confronting the Enemy, Talking to the Enemy

1814 GMT: Sedition Watch. Gholam-Hossein Elham of the Guardian Council gets to the point: opponents and protesters are "mohareb" (enemies of God) and must be eradicated.

1810 GMT: Financial Mismanagement Watch. Another criticism of the Government's handling of energy revenues: the Baran Foundation reports that, although Iran had an $8 billion oil profit, not one toman was transfered to the treasury this year.

1805 GMT: Diplomatic Truths. Mehr reports on the increasing power of the President's "special envoys" and the chaos for Iranian diplomacy after the dismissal of Foreign Minister Mottaki.

1749 GMT: The Espionage Non-Story. Western media continue to take the tale of the "American-spying-through-her-teeth" seriously (see 1215 GMT), amidst these developments from Iranian officials:

She is no longer 55. She is 34.

Sometimes she is American. Sometimes she is Swiss.

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