AFP: South Korea will seek an exemption from new US sanctions that will further restrict Iran’s crucial crude oil exports, a senior Seoul official said Friday.

AFP: Iran is to hold fresh military exercises in and around the strategic Strait of Hormuz within weeks, the naval commander of its powerful Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying on Friday.

AFP: The US State Department said Thursday it was mulling a request from US lawmakers to probe whether China’s Huawei Technologies and other telecom firms are violating US sanctions on Iran.

AP: Deep in Tehran’s carpet bazaar, merchants and laborers occupy chambers that have changed little over the centuries. But Iran’s carpet industry now faces some modern pressures.

Washington Post: Worried that U.S. troops could stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014, Iran is mounting an aggressive campaign to fuel anti-American sentiment here and convince Afghan leaders that a robust, long-term security partnership with Washington would be counterproductive, Afghan officials and analysts say.

Reuters: Japan’s biggest refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp is talking with top exporter Saudi Arabia and other oil producers to source crude to replace any disruption to its imports from Iran, the company’s president said on Thursday.

AP: Officials from the 27 countries that make up the European Union are beginning Thursday the process of trying to thrash out an agreement on banning the purchase of Iranian oil in the hope of choking off funding for the country’s nuclear program.

Bloomberg: South Korea’s government is closely monitoring crude imports from Iran amid concern that new U.S. sanctions against the Middle East country may cause a surge in global and local oil prices.

Bloomberg: The U.K. may take military action against Iran if it carries out its threat to block the Strait of Hormuz, Defense Secretary Philip Hammond will warn in a speech in Washington today.