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As increasingly punitive sanctions are imposed on transactions involving Iran and western war drums beat louder over its nuclear programme, there are ever decreasing avenues for Tehran to finance trade flows; Iran is likely relying on cash deals, trade diversion and bartering arrangements

The joke doing the rounds goes like this: “A miracle is happening: 80% of Iranians remained home to watch the other 70% go to vote.” The reality of Iran’s parliamentary election on 2 March was more prosaic.

As Riyadh takes a tough line on Syria, GSN reviews Saudi foreign policy as a whole in the wake of the Arab Spring. Despite widespread suggestions of a pattern of counter-revolutionism, many analysts agree that decisions continue to be more reactionary than strategic, and largely driven by the battle with Iran for regional supremacy

Parliamentary elections on 2 March will be the first national poll since a 2009 presidential election, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed 62% of the vote, sparking accusations of rigging and months of protests. With reformists largely sidelined, the March poll is widely viewed as a contest between Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ahmadinejad

Just 5,395 candidates registered for the 2 March poll, 33% less than in 2008. There are around 500 female candidates, in line with previous ballots.

A British consultant has been studying Iranian bank data and concludes that the 20 state and privately owned banks are rather less solvent than their profits and asset reporting might suggest

A tougher US stance on Hormuz may usher in a period of greater risk – especially if mounting economic pressures make Iran feel it has little to lose by picking a fight at sea. The USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the US Navy’s flagship aircraft carriers, left the Gulf on 14 February following a 20-day “freedom of navigation” exercise.

With reformists sidelined, elections for Iran’s parliament look set to be an intra-conservative affair broadly viewed as a jostle between Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Ever-prominent in regional diplomacy, Qatar has also encouraged dialogue with Tehran. State minister for foreign affairs Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Attiyah told the Munich Security Conference on 5 February that tightening sanctions would aggravate the situation.

Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said gave a rare interview to the western media in late January, choosing Fox News to put forward his message that Iran is far from seeking war with Washington. Qaboos has given occasional interviews to Kuwaiti media in the past decade but, according to Fox News, his four-hour discussion with journalist Judith Miller was the first in-depth interview with a US reporter since 1997.

Amid all the talk of war on Iran, it is worth noting that Israeli deputy foreign minister Daniel Ayalon took the time last week to distance his country from any notion of imminent conflict.

The 11 January assassination of nuclear procurement expert Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan is the latest string of killings targeting scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear sector

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad garnered moral backing during his mid-January voyage around five of Latin America’s ‘anti-imperialist’ states, but he seems to have come away with little material support to counter Iran’s growing crisis of international isolation – underlined on 23 January, when European Union foreign ministers agreed on the much-anticipated embargo on Iranian oil imports (effective from 1 July).

Amid all the talk of war on Iran, it is worth noting that Israeli deputy foreign minister Daniel Ayalon took the time last week to distance his country from any notion of imminent conflict.

The Obama administration is cultivating defence ties with GCC states, continuing major arms sales initiated under George W Bush and stepping up military exercises in the region