AFP: The United States on Sunday offered help and condolences to the people of Iran over a double earthquake that claimed 227 lives and injured more than 1,000 others.

Reuters: Bahrain has reinstated its ambassador in Iran, the country’s foreign minister said, more than a year after the island kingdom withdrew its envoy to protest at Tehran’s criticism against a Gulf-backed crackdown on Shi’ite protesters.

AP: Twin earthquakes in Iran have killed at least 250 people and injured over 2,000, Iranian state television said on Sunday, after thousands spent the night outdoors after their villages were leveled and homes damaged in the country’s northwest.

Reuters: Tanzania said a shipping agent based in Dubai had reflagged 36 Iranian oil tankers with the Tanzanian flag without the country’s knowledge and approval.

San Francisco Chronicle: with growing talk of a pre-emptive attack by Israel to slow Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program, Iran has threatened that it would retaliate across the globe. And Iran’s easy access to the Western Hemisphere has U.S. officials particularly concerned.

AP: An Iranian pilot who guided an Iran Air Boeing passenger plane to a safe emergency landing last year despite broken front landing gear has launched a campaign to lift Western sanctions that restrict the import of civilian plane spare parts.

Reuters: It was in October 2006 that a senior executive at Standard Chartered in New York pressed the alarm bell over the bank’s dealings with Iranian customers.

UPI: At least 180 people were killed and 1,530 injured Saturday by two powerful earthquakes that destroyed villages in northwestern Iran, officials said.

AFP: Two strong quakes in quick succession struck towns and destroyed villages in northwest Iran, killing at least 87 people and injuring 600 on Saturday, officials said.