Iran’s politics were enlivened on Wednesday night by a showdown between President Rouhani and the head of the State broadcaster IRIB, delaying Rouhani’s live interview by more than an hour.

Rouhani and his staff reportedly objected to a “hard-line” interviewer, pushing back the prime-time broadcast:

Another interviewer was finally selected, and Rouhani was able to proclaim:

Most of Rouhani’s presentation was devoted to his measures for economic recovery, with the President saying that he had not only checked but reduced the inflation rate of more than 40% that he inherited last August. He heralded the prospect of foreign investment with “117 political delegations” visiting Iran.

The President confronted criticism of his attempt to deal with the legacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s subsidy cuts program, which is costing the Government billions rather than bringing in revenues. He said that attempts to amend the cuts are hampered by lack of information — “we have no tax system capable of showing wealth of the wealthy & no social security system capable of making neediness of the needy clear” — and apologized for difficulties in the Government’s short-term attempt to distribute food to cover the effect of the cuts:

On the international front, Rouhani denounced the “Iranophobia” of enemies and said that Tehran is responding with pursuit of an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program: