AFP: US authorities plan to announce a record $1.9 billion settlement with British bank HSBC to end allegations of money laundering, The Wall Street Journal reported on its website.
HSBC to pay $1.9 bn to settle US claims: report
Sanctions push Iran into recession: IIF
Reuters: Crude oil exports have dropped sharply, the Iranian rial has plummeted and inflation has soared in 2012, the Washington-based Institute for International Finance said in its report on the Middle East and North Africa.
U.N. nuclear inspectors to press Iran on military site access
Reuters: U.N. nuclear inspectors will press Iran this week for a long-sought green light to visit a key military site, although suspected clean-up work may make it difficult to find evidence of any illicit atomic bomb research there.
Iran says it decoded data from captured CIA drone
AP: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard aerospace chief, Gen. Ami Ali Hajizadeh, told state-run Press TV that that the RQ-170 Sentinel craft had not carried out missions over nuclear facilities before it went down in December 2011 near the eastern border with Afghanistan.
Standard Chartered to pay $327 mn to settle US sanctions probe
AFP: British bank Standard Chartered will pay the United States $327 million to settle charges it violated US sanctions on Iran as well as on Myanmar, Libya and Sudan, the US Treasury announced Monday.
Iranian nuclear challenge must be tackled in 2013: Israel
Reuters: Iran is getting ever closer to being able to build a nuclear bomb and the problem will have to be confronted in 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
Sanctions hit Iranian manufacturing hard
AP: A conservative Iranian news website says the number of manufacturing companies in the country facing financial crisis has increased four-fold over the past four years to nearly 1,600.
For Iran, unrest in Syria is noise, not brutal war
New York Times: When Syria’s agricultural minister, Subhi Ahmad al-Abdullah, arrived in the Iranian capital for a visit last week, everybody involved stuck to a well-worn script.
Turkish police destroy smuggler’s oil pipeline with Iran
Reuters: Turkish authorities have shut down a small pipeline built by smugglers to carry illegal oil from Iran, officials said on Monday, a new twist as Western sanctions against Tehran bite.
N. Korea extends rocket launch window over Christmas
AFP: In a separate report Monday, the Chosun Ilbo — known for its comprehensive North Korean coverage — said a group of Iranian missile experts was in North Korea offering technical assistance for the planned launch.
