AP: A major earthquake described as the strongest to hit Iran in more than half a century flattened homes and offices Tuesday near Iran’s border with Pakistan, killing at least 40 people in the sparsely populated region and swaying skyscrapers and buildings as far away as New Delhi.
Iran: Quake kills at least 40 near Pakistan border
Israel capable of attacking Iran on own: army chief
AFP: Israel’s army is capable of attacking Iran on its own without foreign support, Chief of Staff Benny Gantz told public radio on the 65th anniversary of the Jewish state’s foundation.
Iran says it test-fires new land-to-sea missile in Gulf
Reuters: Iran test-fired a new land-to-sea ballistic missile in the Gulf, a senior official said on Tuesday, days before an annual ceremony meant to showcase its military muscle at a time of rising tension with the West over its nuclear activity.
Iran’s cartoonists find new lines of expression
CNN: In 2003, former newspaper editor Ali Reza Eshraghi made a mistake that cost him his freedom: he published a cartoon. The sketch in question, a drawing from 1937 depicting U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt’s pressure on the U.S. Supreme Court.
A mysterious Iranian-run factory in Germany
Washington Post: For years, mystery surrounded an Iranian-controlled factory tucked away in this town of 70,000 in Germany’s industrial west. The plant manufactured high-pressure gas tanks, but its managers seemed uninterested in making a profit.
Kerry focuses on Iran, North Korea leaders
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in his campaign to stabilize North Asia and the Middle East, is wrestling to understand the strategic calculations of two obscure and autocratic men.
Dubai to curb reliance on Iranian condensate, ENOC’s CEO says
Bloomberg: Dubai’s state refining company, which buys most of its condensate from Iran, is seeking alternative sources of the fuel to curb imports from the Islamic republic and avoid running afoul of international sanctions.
Another reason for U.S. to act on Syria: Sending message to Iran
Los Angeles Times: Former Obama advisor Dennis Ross, added another: U.S. hesitance in Syria, he said, is sending the wrong message to the rulers of Iran, who are backing Assad’s regime.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad visits uranium-producing Niger
Reuters: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on Monday in Niger, the world’s No. 4 uranium producer, where the French nuclear group Areva has seen its grip on the industry loosened by a government looking to diversify its partners.
Ahmadinejad says Iran does not need atomic bomb
AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday defended his country’s controversial nuclear programme while on a tour of west Africa, calling it peaceful and arguing that Tehran has no use for an atomic bomb.
