Iran Focus: Informed sources in Tehran Bazaar’s currency exchange reported a sharp drop in the Iranian currency, rial, against the dollar. As close of trading, each dollar was selling for 40,000 rials, compared to 35000 rials a day earlier, marking a 11.4 percent drop in its value.
Value of Iran currency drops sharply
Iraqi president’s absence leaves political hole
AP: Last year, Talabani blocked an attempt to unseat al-Maliki with a no-confidence vote in parliament. Some, portraying Talabani as beholden to Shiite-led Iran, say he averted the vote to save the al-Maliki government, which has close ties to Iran.
Clinton hands Kerry U.S. policy tests from Syria to Iran
Bloomberg: Hillary Clinton said Iran has increased the number and quality of weapons it sends Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, underscoring a top challenge facing John Kerry, her successor as U.S. secretary of state.
Iran increasing Syrian regime aid, Clinton warns
AFP: Iran is stepping up its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Russia is continuing to send money and arms to the regime, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned.
White House condemns Iran for nuclear ‘escalation’
AFP: The White House warned Thursday that Iran’s decision to install more modern equipment at its Natanz nuclear plant was a “further escalation” in the showdown over its atomic program.
Clinton: window for Iran talks can’t stay open “too much longer”
Reuters: The window for negotiations with Iran about its nuclear program cannot stay open for “too much longer,” outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday but she declined to provide a deadline.
John Paul II’s gunman says Iran behind ’81 attempt
AP: The Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II has changed his story once again, saying in a new autobiography that Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini personally told him to kill the pope.
Iranian opposition TV gets record backing
Huffington Post: The Iranian opposition satellite television, Simaye Azadi or Iran National Television (INTV) held a telethon program. Viewers were urged to call and send contributions so the channel could maintain its activities.
US ‘skeptical’ about Iran-Argentina bombing probe
AFP: The United States on Thursday cast doubt on on Argentina and Iran’s decision to set up a commission to probe the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires.
Diplomats: Iran prepared to up nuclear program
AP: Diplomats tell The Associated Press that Iran plans to vastly increase the speed of its uranium enrichment program, which can make both reactor fuel and the core of nuclear warheads.
