Reuters: Iran has postponed by three months a conference to offer multinationals the rights to develop oil deposits, giving time for sanctions on the country’s oil sector to be lifted, a senior official said on Monday. “We want to provide for all the companies to participate and we know they will have difficulties before Nov. 24,” Mehdi Hosseini, the head of the Oil Contracts Revision Committee, told Reuters by telephone on Monday.
Iran delays London oil conference to Feb 2015
Iran says “completing” nuclear steps agreed with IAEA
Reuters: Iran is “in the process” of completing measures on transparency in its nuclear research that were agreed with the U.N. atomic agency, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying, suggesting Tehran had at least partly met a Monday deadline for cooperation. Atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi did not give details in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency.
Hungary to run luxury trains to Tehran
AFP – Railway enthusiasts with a taste for nostalgia will soon be able to indulge their Orient Express fantasies after Hungarian Railways said it was launching a luxury Budapest-Tehran train service. With ticket prices of between 10,000 and 23,000 euros ($13,000-31,000) per person, guests will receive “five-star” treatment including complimentary alcohol right up to the Iranian frontier.
Iran says it downs Israeli drone near nuclear site
AP: Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said Sunday its forces shot down an Israeli drone as it approached an Iranian nuclear site, recovering major parts of what it described as an advanced aircraft. Israeli officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Israel has not ruled out taking military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities if its capability to build an atomic weapon progresses.
Iran-backed Tawhid-Salam network targeted NATO radar base in Turkey
Today’s Zaman: Operatives of a secretive Iran-backed terrorist network in Turkey scouted the area hosting a radar site in Malatya’s Kürecik district that is part of a NATO early warning radar system, an ongoing investigation has revealed. According to an 854-page police investigation on the Tawhid-Salam terror network obtained by Today’s Zaman, suspects tied to Iranian intelligence had collected information about Kürecik.
Iran refuses UN nuclear watchdog access to Parchin base
AFP: Iran will not give UN nuclear inspectors access to a military base outside Tehran that they have been seeking to visit since 2005, Defence Minister Hossein Dehgan said on Saturday. Dehgan’s comments, reported by the ISNA news agency, came just two days before a deadline for Iran to answer historic allegations of a military dimension to its nuclear research.
Iran unveils new short-range missiles, drones
AP: Iran has produced a new generation of short-range marine missiles and aerial drones, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday. The report said the Ghadir missile, with a range of 100 kilometers (62 miles), is designed to destroy marine targets. It did not give a range for the Nasr-e Basir cruise missile, but said it could “operate in silence,” without elaborating.
Baku, Tehran sign energy agreements
UPI: Azerbaijan said it signed a memorandum of understanding to broaden energy ties in the Iranian oil and natural gas sector. The State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic said its delegates have spent the last three days in Iran visiting with ministers and representatives from the energy sector. SOCAR said it reviewed interests expressed by Iran’s Khazar Exploration and Production Co. to work on oil and gas issues.
U.N. nuclear inquiry on Iran seen making slow headway – diplomats
Reuters: The U.N. nuclear watchdog appears to have made only limited progress so far in getting Iran to answer questions about its suspected atomic bomb research. Under an accord reached by the U.N. agency and Iran in November in an attempt to revive the long-stalled investigation, Tehran agreed in May to carry out five specific steps by Aug. 25 to help allay international concerns.
Iran to send aid to Gaza via Egypt: report
AFP: Iran plans to send aid to the beleaguered Gaza Strip after Egypt said it would allow the shipment to enter the Palestinian territory, an Iranian diplomatic source said on Friday. The official IRNA news agency said Cairo had agreed to transfer humanitarian aid bound for the coastal enclave, citing a foreign ministry source in Tehran.
