AFP: The United States on Friday steered clear of taking a tough stand on reports that Iran’s electoral watchdog appears to have barred women from running in the June 14 presidential elections.
US takes no stand as women barred from Iran vote
France opposes Syria conference if Iran to attend
Reuters: France spelled out on Friday that it would oppose a peace conference for Syria if Bashar al-Assad’s regional ally Iran is invited, clouding the prospect for a U.S.-Russian initiative to end the two-year-old war.
US removes Iraqi bank from Iran sanctions list
AFP: The United States on Friday removed sanctions on an Iraqi bank that was blacklisted last year for helping Iran skirt international financial controls over its nuclear activities.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad to join Thai ‘water summit’
AFP: Iran’s firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will address a forum on water security in Thailand next week, an embassy official said on Friday, just weeks before he stands down from the post.
Iran delays presidential election lineup
Los Angeles Times: Iranians must wait until next week to find out who will be on the ballot in next month’s presidential election, a key electoral panel said Thursday, as it continued to mull the fate of two prospective candidates who have shaken up the race.
Canada takes hard line against Iranian regime as elections loom
Fox News: The conservative administration of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has taken a hard-line stance against Iran as the Islamic Republic’s June elections approach, mounting a social media campaign aimed at toppling Iran’s theocratic rulers and leveling unusually harsh rhetoric at Tehran.
Obama and Erdogan demand Assad step down
AFP: US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted Thursday that Bashar al-Assad must still quit power despite moves to organize peace talks in Syria’s bloody civil war.
UN: 14 Iranian exiles moved from Iraq to Albania
AP: The first group of exiles from an Iranian opposition group have moved to Albania from a former U.S. military base near Baghdad as part of a relocation process, the United Nations mission to Iraq said Thursday.
Russia says Iran must take part in proposed Syria talks
Reuters: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran must take part in a proposed international conference to end Syria’s civil war, but that Western states wanted to limit the participants and possibly predetermine the outcome of the talks.
Iran’s Jalili says nuclear talks ‘long and useful’
AFP: Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Thursday that nuclear talks with the EU’S foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton were “long and useful” and that both sides have decided to continue the discussions.
