Glistener: The Latest from Iran (3 November): Will the Political Fighting Stop? (Probably Not.)

Sadegh Larijani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ali Larijani0735 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Thomas Erdbrink of The New York Times offers a snapshot of the effects of international sanctions on health care, with shortages and rising prices for essential drugs:

Sitting on one of the many crowded benches in the waiting room of the International Red Crescent’s pharmacy in central Tehran, Ali, 26, was working his phone. After nearly six weeks of chasing down batches of Herceptin, an American-made cancer medicine, Ali, an engineer, was wearing out his welcome with friends and relatives in other Iranian cities, who had done all they could to rustle up the increasingly elusive drug.

At home his mother waited, bald and frail after chemotherapy for her breast cancer, but Herceptin had disappeared from pharmacies and hospitals in the capital.

“So you are telling me that a pharmacy in Qazvin has 20 batches left?” Ali asked, talking about a city two hours’ drive east of Tehran. “Please buy whatever you can get your hands on.”

But five minutes later bad news came: “Gone? O.K., thank you for your troubles. If you do find some please call me by the soonest.”

0645 GMT: Tough Talk Alert. The commander of Iran's navy, Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, has declared that the Islamic Republic now has "full self-sufficiency" on the waters and will "convert threats into opportunities".

0615 GMT: On Friday, the regime went through the ritual of speeches and rallies on the 33rd anniversary of the takeover of the US Embassy. Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi declared in the Tehran Friday Prayer: "The first thing that our revolution did was to crush the prestige of the United States in the world and...nullified all the values...which the United States was propagating."

The head of the Basij, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, told the thousands who had gathered on the grounds of the former Embassy, "We will reward 10 kilograms of gold to any historian who can prove that there is one regime more criminal than the regime of the United States." He then rejected the stories of the regime's secret negotiations with US officials over Iran's nuclear programme with this interpretation of the economic situation in Iran and abroad:

How can one expect that establishing relations with the United States would improve the economic conditions when the economic plight of states which enjoy relations with the United States is deteriorating by the day and the United States itself has many debts? Therefore a question arises: How can economic relations improve by establishing relations with an impoverished state?

All of this, however, is likely to be a sideshow to the main political event of the week. On Wednesday, the Supreme Leader publicly intervened in the bitter fight between President Ahmadinejad and the head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, over Ahmadinejad's request to visit Evin Prison --- he told the leaders of the three branches of Government to stop bickering and tend to their responsibilities.

Sadegh Larijani and his brother, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, each bowed to Ayatollah Khamenei on Thursday. Ahmadinejad waited until Friday, and the statement on his website, while professing loyalty to the Supreme Leader, was far from a promise to stop the fight:

I am convinced that you decisively guard the constitution, particularly the fundamental rights of the people, and safeguard the elevated position of the popularly elected president, the second highest official position in the country, and the institution executing the constitution. And you are opposed to any measure which weakens his sphere of competence and important responsibilities.