AP: A spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the Geneva-based agency was “deeply dismayed” about the hanging of 21-year-old Ali Naderi last week. Naderi was 17 when he was allegedly involved in the murder of a woman.
UN rights office slams Iran for juvenile execution
South Korea’s 2012 Iran crude imports down 35.6 pct
Reuters: South Korea’s imports of crude oil from Iran dropped 35.6 percent last year after sanctions targeting that country’s controversial nuclear programme squeezed imports, data from state-run Korea National Oil Corp showed on Tuesday.
Iran court fires Central Bank Head for withdrawals, IRNA says
Bloomberg: An Iranian court has “dismissed” Central Bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani, citing illegal withdrawals from the banking system, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Syria builds paramilitary force aided by Iran: NGO
AFP: President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has put together a new paramilitary force of men and women, some trained by key ally Iran, to fight what is now becoming a guerrilla war, a watchdog said Monday.
Iran tries US pastor on national security charges: lawyer
AFP: An Iranian-American Christian pastor charged with plotting against state security appeared in a Tehran court on Monday, but will be released on bail, his lawyer told ISNA news agency.
Davos Schwab says Iran, Syria ‘black swans’
Bloomberg: Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, sees political “black swan” events threatening global security even as economic risks subside, with confidence returning to the euro area.
Iran official: West launched ‘currency war’
AP: The director of the ministry’s economy department, who was unnamed in the Monday report from the semiofficial Fars agency, says that expanding domestic production can help counter Western sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.
China imports of Iranian crude rebound to highest in six months
Bloomberg: China’s imports of crude from Iran rebounded to the highest level in six months in December after the U.S. renewed an exemption from penalties on banks that process payments for the Persian Gulf nation’s oil.
Iran’s Obama billboard: what it really means
The Guardian: Tehran’s latest propaganda offensive shows Barack Obama on a huge mural side by side with a seventh-century Shia villain.
Iran resorts to hangings in public to cut crime
New York Times: An eerie silence filled the air as a crowd of around 300 gathered Sunday just before sunrise in a Tehran park. They awaited the arrival of two young men who were about to die.
