Bloomberg: Insurers doing business in California reduced investments in Iran-linked companies by about 97 percent since 2009 under pressure from the state’s industry regulator.
California insurers decrease Iran-linked holdings 97%
Ashton hopes for Iran ‘flexibility’ in nuclear talks
AFP: European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday said she hoped Iran would show some “flexibility” at upcoming talks with world powers on its nuclear program in Kazakhstan.
Iran: Advanced enrichment centrifuges installed
AP: Iran said Wednesday that it has begun installing a new generation of centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment facility, a move that will allow it to vastly increase its pace of uranium enrichment in defiance of U.N. calls to halt such activities.
Iran suggests progress, but no deal, in U.N. atom talks
Reuters: Iran indicated that some progress was made in talks with the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Wednesday, but that the two sides again failed to finalize an elusive framework deal over the Islamic state’s disputed atomic activity.
Iran dissidents say Khamenei ordered attack on Iraq camp
AFP: The Iranian dissident group MEK on Wednesday accused Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of ordering a deadly attack on its camp in Iraq and said the Iraqi government facilitated the assault.
Sanctions cost Iran $40 bn in 2012, says IEA
AFP: Sanctions by the West on Iran succeeded in slashing Iran’s oil export revenue by $40 billion in 2012, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, as production last month hit a three-decade low point.
Netanyahu ally: Diplomacy won’t work with Iran
AP: A powerful partner of Israel’s prime minister says sanctions and negotiations will not stop Iran from pursuing its disputed nuclear program.
IAEA delegation arrives in Iran for new talks
AFP: A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived early Wednesday in Tehran for new talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme, the news agency Isna reported.
Iran’s global business is Murder Inc.
Wall Street Journal: Bombings in capital cities, kidnappings, trade in drugs and guns—Iranian exports, all. Now Tehran wants nukes. Mysteriously marked ammunition kills countless Africans in civil wars. Conspirators plot to blow up a crowded cafe and an embassy in Washington, D.C.
Death toll in Iran exile camp attack rises to seven
AFP: The death toll from a weekend mortar and rocket attack on an Iranian exiles’ camp in Iraq rose Tuesday to seven, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, or the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) said.
