Iran Snapshot: Growing Anger over Rising Energy Prices (Erdbrink/Serjoie)

Iran’s parliament has warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that resentment is building over sharp increases in the price of natural gas, which has risen at least 10-fold on average in recent weeks, and that public protests could follow.

Official media have reported on crowds complaining in the offices of the National Iranian Gas Co. since a two-week national holiday ended April 4. In Tehran, many people are refusing to pay their bills.

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The Latest from Iran (2 January): Sedition, Politics, and Propaganda

2000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish poet Rahim Loughmani, his wife Kolsoum Naghshbandi, and her brother Naseh Naghshbandi have been released from detention.

1820 GMT: Parliament v. President. After a protracted dispute with the Majlis, President Ahmadinejad's supervision of the Central Bank has been re-affirmed.

The Majlis has passed a measure on the Board of the Bank, taking oversight away from Ahmadinejad, but this was rejected by the Guardian Council.

1755 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Labour activist Behnam Ebrahimzadeh has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Afhin Keshtkari, the secretary of Shiraz Sanati University's Islamic Association, has been released on bail.

Student activist Mohammad Hossein Mozafari has been arrested.

Student activist Faoud Khanjani, a Baha'i member, has been sentenced to four years in prison.

1645 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish political activist Ghadrieh Ghaderi has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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The Latest from Iran (13 December): Political Battles and Human Rights

2005 GMT: Signal of the Day. This might be the most telling news item about the future of Iranian diplomacy on the day that Foreign Minister Mottaki was fired.

While Mottaki was in Senegal on his last state trip, another Iranian emissary was leading a delegation to the strategic country of Jordan.

That emissary? President Ahmadinejad’s Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

That's right. The same Rahim-Mashai whose designation as a special envoy this summer prompted Mottaki's threat to resign and the Supreme Leader's chiding of the President for a "parallel" foreign policy, bringing a promise that Rahim-Mashai's position would be downgraded.

2000 GMT: Reaction to the Dismissal. We reported earlier (see 1654 GMT) that Alaeddine Boroujerdi, the chairman of the National Security Commission. learned of Foreign Minister Mottaki's dismissal from a Khabar Online reporter. His reaction is worth repeating in full: "Isn't Mr. Mottaki on a trip? You mean the dismissal decree was issued while he was on a mission?"

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Iran Snapshot: The Subsidy Cuts and the Middle Class (Erdbrink)

Last year, Tehran's writers, doctors and small-business owners formed the backbone of a grass-roots opposition movement against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Now these middle-class urbanites feel they're being singled out by a government plan that will soon cut off state subsidies and boost the prices of a wide array of everyday products.

Members of Iran's middle class are already bearing the brunt of U.S. and European sanctions intended to curtail the country's nuclear weapons program. But in the coming weeks they expect to be hit again, when the cost of gasoline, bread, electricity and other staples are set to increase to market levels, with some prices possibly rising as much as tenfold. While the rural poor will be partly compensated by direct cash handouts from the state, many in Iran's cities will have to fend for themselves.

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Iran Feature: Oil Squeeze May Ground Tehran's Airplanes in Europe

Thomas Erdbrink, writing in The Washington Post, claims that the cut-off of oil exports by four of Europe's five largest companies is having an effect: Iran Air is unable to refuel its planes in most of Europe.

Note also the US Government's public-relations line: the sanctions are going to hurt Iranian people but their anger should be directed at their government, not Washington.

This summer Iran Air planes briefly faced problems with fuelling in Europe. If true, this story indicates that the problem is now far more serious and will be long-term.

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The Latest from Iran (6 October): Through the Looking Glass of "Justice"

1820 GMT: Gasoline Squeeze. Azerbaijani site Trend looks at Iran's energy situation, with experts sceptical that Tehran can achieve its declared goal of self-sufficiency.

1800 GMT: Extra, Extra, Read All About It. The leading reformist newspaper Shargh has resumed on-line publication.

Shargh has suffered a lengthy ban by the Iranian authorities until the print edition reappeared this summer.

The website features a series of articles on sanctions against Iran, including a feature on   Stuart Levey, the Undersecretary for Financial Intelligence in the US Treasury. He is recognised as the official who has been successful in swaying private banks and companies around the globe to support sanctions against Iran. The newspaper claims he has made 80 foreign trips, 8 to Dubai --- a key point for Iran trade and finance --- alone. 

1735 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Hashem Sabaghian, a leading member of the Freedom Movement of Iran, has been released from detention.

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The Latest from Iran (2 October): Adding Up the Punishments

1707 GMT: The Bazaar Strikes. Claimed video of the closing of the gold market today in Ahvaz in southern Iran:

1655 GMT: Syria in Tehran. So how did President Ahmadinejad's showpiece visit from Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad go?

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Iran Analysis: Is Rafsanjani Ready for a Fight?

UPDATE 1725 GMT: Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi says "the file remains open" in the case of Mehdi Hashemi, Hashemi Rafsanjani's son. Iranian authorities have threatened to arrest Mehdi Hashemi, who currently lives in London, if he returns to Iran.

Raffers is back. Possibly.

Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani used the bi-annual meeting of the Assembly of Experts, which he heads, to put out a rather pointed challenge to the Government yesterday.

So President Ahmadinejad thinks he can wave away sanctions as a "used hanky"? Not so fast, said Rafsanjani: "Throughout the revolution, we never had so many sanctions (imposed on Iran) and I am calling on you and all officials to take the sanctions seriously and not as jokes....Over the past 30 years we had a war and military threats, but never have we seen such arrogance to plan a calculated assault against us."

Sure, that's a headline slap at "the West", but it's also the signal of a lack of confidence in both the President's politics and his skills at managing the economy.

So, is Rafsanjani ready to rumble?

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