AP: Iran’s official IRNA news agency says the country has canceled a $2.5 billion deal with a Chinese state oil company over what authorities say were delays in fulfilling its contractual obligations.
Iran cancels $2.5 billion Chinese oil contract
BNP Paribas facing $2 billion in fines over sanctions violations
Wall Street Journal: BNP Paribas is facing fines of about $2 billion as well as criminal charges for violating U.S. economic sanctions against several countries including Iran, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, part of an accelerating crackdown by American authorities.
U.S. Announces actions to enforce Iran sanctions
New York Times: The United States government escalated enforcement of its Iran sanctions on Tuesday, adding eight Chinese companies, a Dubai company and two Dubai-based executives to blacklists for evading American restrictions on Iranian weapons, oil and banking transactions.
Iraq holds vote as it slides deeper into strife
AP: A key election for a new Iraqi parliament was underway Wednesday amid a massive security operation as the country continues to slide deeper into sectarian violence, more than two years after U.S. forces left Iraq.
US sets $5mn bounty on Chinese man over Iran dealings
AFP – The United States unveiled a new indictment and slapped a $5 million reward Tuesday on the head of a Chinese man it called a “principal supplier” to Iran’s ballistic missile program. Washington said Li Fangwei, or Karl Lee, has continued to ship equipment and materials to Iran.
Brain drain blights Iran’s economy as investors wait in wings
Bloomberg: “Easily 90 percent of them have gone overseas,” the 29-year-old software developer said, reflecting on a middle-class flight that has seen many of the nation’s best scientists and engineers leave. “Of my 45 university classmates, I guess maybe five are left.”
U.N. nuclear watchdog holds talks in Tehran ahead of May deadline
Reuters: The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday its chief inspector had held “informal” talks in Tehran, ahead of a mid-May deadline for Iran to answer questions about detonators that could be used to help set off an atomic explosive device.
Senior British diplomat in Iran for talks
AFP: The most senior British diplomat to visit Iran since the sacking of Britain’s embassy in 2011 held talks in Tehran on Monday with Iranian officials. Political Director Simon Gass would discuss a “range of bilateral and international issues” with Iranian officials, the Foreign Office in London said.
Iraq attacks kill 57 as security forces vote
AFP: Attacks including a spate of suicide bombings killed 57 people on Monday as soldiers and policemen cast their votes in Iraq’s first parliamentary election since US troops withdrew. The deadliest attack struck in the mostly-Kurdish town of Khanaqin, near Iraq’s border with Iran.
What we left behind
New Yorker: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is seeking a third term. Many Iraqis fear another civil war, and think that Maliki is to blame. In the protests at Ramadi, a member of parliament named Ahmed al-Alwani had inflamed the crowds, accusing Maliki of being in league with the Iranian regime.
