0725 GMT: There have been moments of telling admission this week from leading figures in the regime. We highlighted yesterday how Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, leader of the Principlist faction in Parliament and member of the Supreme Leader's inner circle, had warned an audience about "economic pressure" and "sedition" in the forthcoming Presidential election. Earlier in the week, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, saying that funds for development would have to be cut sharply, declared a "year of economic drought" for the Islamic Republic.
However, in the face of the latest US moves to tighten the vise, State media's headlines are defiant this morning. Press TV has two articles dismissing the American waivers on sanctions for countries which have reduced their purchases of Iranian oil, claiming that they actually show US weakness. MP Avaz Heidarpour provides the quote:
The nine countries to which the US has granted exemptions from oil sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran are among Tehran’s main oil buyers, whose interests are in buying oil from Iran; and on this basis, regardless of Washington’s decisions, they will continue with economic exchanges with Iran.
Meanwhile, President Ahmadinejad tried to put the spotlight elsewhere, proclaiming the Government's support of "heritage". He made the statement at a ceremony for the new head of the Iran Culture, Heritage, and Tourism Organization, a launching pad for the political careers of several of his close allies.
Posted via email from lissping
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