Bloomberg: Japan will import fewer than 160,000 barrels a day of oil from Iran next year to avoid sanctions aimed at the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear program, the head of Japan’s oil industry group said.
Japan to extend cuts in Iran oil imports in 2013, JX chief cays
Eight killed in Iran mine collapse: report
AFP: Eight people were killed when a coal mine collapsed a day ago in central Iran, a local official was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday, updating an earlier death toll of four.
Former Iranian diplomat wanted by U.S. arrives in Tehran
Reuters: A former Iranian diplomat arrested in London for trying to export night-vision weapons’ sights to Iran arrived back in Tehran on Tuesday after winning a six-year legal battle in Britain.
Ahmadinejad says Western sanctions won’t stop Iran
AP: Iran’s president said Tuesday that Western sanctions could at the most cause a “quick tap on the brakes” in Tehran’s nuclear program but will not slow it down substantially, state TV reported.
Turkey urges Iran to pressure Syria for end to violence
AFP: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged Tehran on Tuesday to “send a clear message” to Syria’s embattled regime to stop the violence against its own people.
Iran defiant on enrichment ahead of possible nuclear talks
Reuters: Iran will not stop higher-grade uranium enrichment in response to external demands, its top nuclear energy official was quoted as saying on Tuesday, signaling a tough bargaining stance ahead of planned new talks with world powers.
Israel sees new US poise, including military, to curb Iran
Reuters: U.S.-led efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program have resumed since President Barack Obama’s re-election and include preparation for possible military action, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday.
The economic cost of a nuclear Iran
Wall Street Journal: After the looming fiscal cliff, the next major challenge facing the United States will be preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability. Living with a nuclear Iran is strategically untenable. Like the fiscal cliff, this is a matter of both economic and national security.
Obama faces a more volatile Mideast in his second term
Bloomberg: The most persistent challenge may remain Iran, where economic sanctions so far have failed to halt the Islamic republic’s suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. While the U.S. and its allies are preparing a new push for negotiations, pressure is mounting to consider military action against Iran.
Iran cautiously ponders Syria after Assad
AP: It wasn’t exactly a break-up moment between Iran and ally Bashar Assad. But Tehran’s whiplash diplomacy over the weekend suggested its embrace of the Syrian president could be cooling.
