Iran Focus: London, Aug. 13 – Alexander G. Higgins, who covered the U.S. Embassy siege in Tehran as The Associated Press’ last bureau chief in Iran and served as a longtime AP bureau chief in Geneva, has died, the AP reported on Thursday.
AP’s former bureau chief in Iran dies at 66
Russia says to load fuel in Iran reactor on Aug 21
Reuters: Russia will begin to load fuel into the reactor at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power station on August 21, a spokesman for Russia’s state atomic corporation said on Friday.
Ambassador leaves Iraq with much still unsettled
New York Times: Christopher R. Hill, the ambassador to Iraq charged with reshaping the American role here, on Thursday ended his 16-month tenure in an anxious, unsettled country, with a military withdrawal afoot but a key task not done: the formation of a government that will inherit the country.
Flow of oil from Iraq to Iran raises concerns
NPR: In northern Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan, the long lines of tanker trucks carrying oil into Iran are under scrutiny.
Iraq agrees to Iran-Syria gas pipeline plan
AFP: Iraq will allow an Iranian gas pipeline which plans to take gas to Syria to cross its territory, a spokesman for the oil ministry in Baghdad said on Thursday.
Iran’s pawns
Philadelphia Inquirer – Editorial: Sarah Shourd turned 32 in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison this week. It’s her second birthday in captivity.
US ‘deeply concerned’ with Iran religious persecution
AFP: The United States is “deeply concerned” with Iran’s treatment of religious minorities, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday after seven Bahai leaders were sentenced to 20-year jail terms.
NY-bound tanker may have been diverted from Iran
Reuters: A gasoline tanker, which shipping sources said was forbidden by its owner to carry gasoline from Turkey to Iran, was expected to arrive in New York on Aug. 16, according to sources and Reuters data on Thursday.
AP Interview: US. contractor recounts kidnapping
AP: A U.S. Army contractor kidnapped in Iraq earlier this year described how his captors easily maneuvered past Iraqi checkpoints as he was held bleeding on the floor of their car.
Brazil’s surprise election issue: Iran
Reuters: For sunbathers on Rio’s famed Ipanema Beach last weekend, the sight was about as odd as an oncoming snowstorm.
