UPI: It is a sad day when a U.N. ambassador becomes the stooge of a repressive regime but it’s happening. Martin Kobler, the United Nations’ Iraq envoy, has brought shame on the institution by allowing himself to be duped into doing Baghdad’s dirty work.
Whose agenda is the U.N. ambassador pushing in Iraq?
Iran central bank starts sanctions cell: report
AFP: Iran’s central bank has established a special cell to fight back against Western economic sanctions that the institution’s chief described as “no less than military war,” the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.
Egypt’s Presidency sues reporters, foreign agency, over comments
Bloomberg: Egypt’s presidency has initiated legal action against several journalists over alleged insulting and inaccurate reports about President Mohamed Mursi, the state- run Al-Ahram newspaper reported today.
South Africa halts Iran oil imports as U.S. imposes sanctions
Bloomberg: South Africa halted oil imports from Iran last month as the Middle Eastern nation faces sanctions over its nuclear development program.
Seven Iranian aid workers abducted in Libya
Reuters: Seven Iranian aid workers were abducted on Tuesday by an unknown armed group in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, in the biggest operation of its kind against foreigners since the start of a revolt that toppled long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
US imposes new sanctions on Iran oil sector
AFP: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday imposed new economic sanctions on Iran’s oil export sector and on a pair of Chinese and Iraqi banks accused of doing business with Tehran.
Iran, al-Qaida, Taliban told to pay $6B for 9/11
AP: A federal magistrate judge says al-Qaida, the Taliban and Iran should pay $6 billion to relatives of Sept. 11 victims for aiding in the 2001 terror attacks.
US warns Al-Qaeda branches on rise, as Iran stirs terror
AFP: Al-Qaeda affiliates pose a rising threat exploiting poverty and upheavals in the world’s most vulnerable regions even as the core network is on the decline, the US State Department warned Tuesday.
Iraq says will force out Iran dissident group
Reuters: Iraq on Tuesday told an Iranian dissident group that was given a base in Iraq by Saddam Hussein but is now out of favor with a government that is close to Iran that it must move out of the camp immediately or be forced to leave.
Yemen snubs Iranian envoy after uncovering spy ring
Reuters: Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has snubbed a visiting Iranian envoy to signal his “displeasure” with Tehran, a Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday, only weeks after Yemen said it had uncovered an Iranian-led spy ring in the capital Sanaa.
