The story: The chairman of Iran's National Development Fund (NDF) has sparked controversy after saying that frequent withdrawals have diminished accessible fund assets. In response, a former top government official has insisted that withdrawals were always sanctioned by Iran’s supreme leader.

Allocated a sizeable portion of Iran’s oil revenues, the NDF has long been used as a piggy bank by successive governments to address financial problems rather than investment.

The coverage: Mehdi Ghazanfari, the chairman of the NDF, suggested on May 11 that only 10B USD of the fund’s assets are available due to frequent withdrawals over the years.

• Ghazanfari said "past governments" had withdrawn 100B USD from the 150B USD reserve and also allocated around...