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

0625 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front). There are widely diverging reports on the first meeting in Cairo among the new four-nation "contact group" on the Syrian conflict.

Fars reports that "Iran voiced agreement with the general points stated in the Egyptian initiative", which also includes Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Egyptian officials, however, are leaking news of an effort by President Mohamed Morsi to get the Islamic Republic to end its support for Syria's President Assad:

Morsi offered a package of incentives for Tehran to end its support of Assad, the officials said.

Cairo would agree to restore full diplomatic ties, a significant diplomatic prize for Iran given that Egypt is the most populous Arab nation and a regional powerhouse. Morsi would also mediate to improve relations between Iran and conservative Gulf Arab nations that have long viewed Shiite Iran with suspicion and whose fears of the Persian nation have deepened because of Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Also, Morsi offered a "safe exit" for Assad, his family and members of his inner circle.

And yet another report, from AFP, highlights Iran's strategy to expand the contact group by bringing in Iraq and Venezuela.

0610 GMT: The Iranian economy may be in the middle of rising inflation, widespread unemployment, declining production amid escalating imports, sharply reduced oil revenues, and a falling currency, but there is really no need to mention this --- at least on State media outlets like IRNA and Press TV.

Both sites prefer to feature President Ahmadinejad's meeting with the head of the Chinese Congress on Tuesday, with IRNA putting out Ahmadinejad's rhetoric exalting close relations and Press TV empahsising Wu Bangguo's statement that that the Islamic Republic's “right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy must be respected”.

The only economic story on the homepages of the sites is Press TV's feel-good declaration by the Ministry of Energy, "Iran's Electricity Exports to Neighboring Countries up 46%".

from EA WorldView: EA Iran

Posted via email from lissping