Reuters: Oil prices surged more than $3 a barrel on Friday after a U.S. contracted cargo ship fired warning shots at boats suspected to be Iranian, driving down U.S. stocks along with a survey showing U.S. consumer confidence fell to a 26-year low in April. Oil surges on Iran reports; U.S. stocks fall
Reuters: Oil prices surged more than $3 a barrel on Friday after a U.S. contracted cargo ship fired warning shots at boats suspected to be Iranian, driving down U.S. stocks along with a survey showing U.S. consumer confidence fell to a 26-year low in April. Mullen says Iran still arming Iraqi Shiite militias
Bloomberg: Iran is continuing to supply arms to Iraqi Shiite militias that attack U.S. forces in Iraq, violating a commitment from Iranian leaders to halt such shipments, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. Rice to make trip to Britain, Israel, West Bank
AFP: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to Britain, Israel and the West Bank for talks on Iran's nuclear program, Kosovo and Middle East peace efforts, the State Department said Friday. US contracted ship fires warning shots at boats in Gulf
AP: A civilian ship contracted by the U.S. military fired warning shots at two small boats that approached it in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said Friday, the latest in a string of similar incidents to trigger concern in Washington. One in four Iranian students sees no problem with alcohol
AFP: A new survey in Iran shows that 25 percent of university students see no problem in drinking alcohol, which has been strictly forbidden since the Islamic revolution, Mehr news agency reported on Friday. Iran agrees to raise Turkmen gas price
Reuters: Iran has accepted to raise the price of natural gas it imports from neighbouring Turkmenistan, a senior Iranian official told the semi-official Mehr news agency on Friday. A roadmap for the foreign terrorist organizations list
WINEP – By Patrick Clawson: Although the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list has a set of criteria for designating groups, there is little clarity in practice about the process for revocation. Even after organizations have renounced terrorism for many years, their designations persist without a clear explanation, and are based on the assumption that historical violence indicates future potential.
Swiss franc trades at a session high on Iran news
Reuters: The Swiss franc extended gains and traded at a session high against the dollar on Friday after news a ship contracted by the U.S. military fired on an Iranian boat. Top IAEA official returning to Iran: report
AFP: The deputy chief of the UN nuclear watchdog is due to return to Tehran next week for more talks about claims Iran has been studying how to make an atomic weapon, the student news agency ISNA reported on Friday. U.S. says new find shows Iran still sends arms to Iraq
Wall Street Journal: The U.S. military says it has found caches of newly made Iranian weapons in Iraq, leading senior officials to conclude Tehran is continuing to funnel armaments into Iraq despite its pledges to the contrary.
