Glistener: The Latest from Iran (27 September): A Newspaper is Banned, An Editor is Imprisoned

Protesters chase, heckle, and harass Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, iin New York

1155 GMT: Currency Watch. Khabar Online reports that the Rial plunged to 27190:1 vs. the US dollar, before settling at its new low of 26950:1, a fall of more than 2% today.

Mesghal puts the rate at 26790:1.

1150 GMT: School Watch. HRANA reports that 17 Kurdish and Sunni teachers have been banned from the classroom by Intelligence officials in the Ministry of Education.

1145 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi has criticised the Government for the doubling of prices for goods as the value of the Rial is halved on international currency markets.

1000 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Days after two of his children were imprisoned, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has made an indirect intervention. Without referring to the specific cases of his daughter Faezeh Hashemi and son Mehdi Hashemi, Rafsanjani has called for an "open political sphere", accepting people's demands and relieving tensions.

0925 GMT: Tough Talk Alert. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the top commander of the Revolutionary Guards, has said 450 "Imam Hussein" battalions are ready to defend Iran from its enemies.

0905 GMT: Currency Watch. The Iranian Rial has fallen another 2% in its all-time low vs. the US dollar, reaching 26800:1 on the open market.

Meanwhile, Rah-e Sabz is reporting that foreign currency accounts in Iranian banks for individuals have been blocked, Customers are receiving only Rials, and at the official exchange rate --- that effectively halves their money, given the more than 100% gap between the official and open-market rates.

The price of gold has also reached a new high, standing at just over 10.7 million Rials for old gold coin.

0705 GMT: We have not forgotten President Ahmadinejad's show in New York --- we offer an analysis of his United Nations speech in a separate entry, "Ahmadinejad, Exit Stage Left", and we head Live Coverage with a video of Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast pursued and harassed by a group of protesters.

We begin, however, with a different story of significance. Iranian authorities have shut the leading reformist newspaper Shargh and arrested and imprisoned its managing director, Mehdi Rahmanian.

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance claimed that a cartoon published by Shargh yesterday was an insult to those who served in the Iran-Iraq War. The cartoon, which showed a column of men blindfolded in bright light, quickly led to a ban on publication of the newspaper. Rahmanian was detained hours later.

Shargh was also suspended for a lengthy period in 2011 amidst ongoing political conflict.