Reuters: Iran has called off a deployment of warships to the Atlantic Ocean, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Sunday, shelving plans for its vessels to approach U.S. maritime borders in response to the U.S. navy’s presence in the Gulf.
Iran scraps plan to send warships to Atlantic: Fars
Iran talking to EU businesses about future investment, Seif says
Bloomberg: Iran, whose economy has been crippled by penalties imposed by the West over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, has maintained a dialog with investors and is confident it could attract investment in the automobile, steel and heavy machinery industries, central bank governor Valiollah Seif said.
Iran’s leaders still touting nuclear progress
Wall Street Journal: A senior cleric delivering a nationally televised sermon urged a crowd that included former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the head of Iran’s nuclear energy organization to observe sexual piety, aid the poor and support Iran’s development of nuclear power.
Former U.S. Marine’s family asks Iran to reconsider prison term
Reuters: The family of an Iranian-American former U.S. Marine held in Iran since 2011 called on Saturday for senior Iranian officials to review his conviction and 10-year prison sentence on charges of collaborating with the U.S. government and to free him.
Iran rejects U.S. ban on pick for U.N. envoy, vows legal action
Reuters: Iran on Saturday rejected a U.S. decision to deny a visa for its newly appointed ambassador to the United Nations, pledging to take up the case directly with the world body in a dispute that has reopened old wounds dating to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Suicide rate among Iranian youth on the rise
Daily Sabah: Every day 11 people committed suicide in Iran, according to country’s official statistics. Around 3,125 people committed suicide in Iran last eight months, among them 982 women and 2,143 men. Statistics show that in Iran suicide among young people aged 18-24 years is growing.
US blocks Iran’s envoy to UN
AP: The Obama administration informed Iran it would not grant a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi, a member of the group responsible for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The announcement was an acknowledgement that efforts to persuade Iran to withdraw Aboutalebi’s name had not been successful.
Iran secretly convicted former marine, lawyer says
New York Times: Amir Hekmati, a former Marine incarcerated in August 2011 and sentenced to death on espionage charges that were overturned, was secretly retried by a revolutionary court in December, convicted of “practical collaboration with the American government” and given a 10-year prison term.
Diplomat who led secret talks with Iran plans to retire
New York Times: William J. Burns, a career diplomat who led the Obama administration’s back-channel negotiations with Iran, plans to step down as the State Department’s second-ranking official in October, administration officials said on Friday.
Iran hammered from Washington to Brussels
Inside Embassy Row: Iran was hammered this week from Washington to Brussels, as the brutal regime in Tehran screamed about “four-legged” infidels blocking its ambassador to the United Nations or denouncing it for human rights abuse.
