AFP: President Barack Obama appears to have prevailed, for now, in a campaign to stop Congress from imposing new sanctions on Iran he fears could derail nuclear diplomacy.
Obama repels new Iran sanctions push… for now
Turkey, Iran eye big trade boost despite strained ties
AFP: Turkey and Iran aim to more than double trade to $30 billion (21.9 billion euros) next year from $13.5 billion in 2013 despite strained relations, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
Iraq, Iran plot to challenge Saudi domination of OPEC
UPI: Hussein Shahristani, Iraq’s energy chief, says Baghdad is working with Iran to boost oil exports, a move by these two Shiite-majority powers that could lead to a major challenge of Sunni Saudi Arabia and its domination of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Iran oil-shipping insurance seen unusable on lack of clarity
Bloomberg: Insurance for tankers to export Iranian crude may be unusable even after the U.S. and the European Union eased sanctions against the Persian Gulf state, a group covering vessel owners said.
UN inspectors in Iran to visit uranium mine
AP: An Iranian official says a group of U.N. inspectors are on the way to visit a key uranium mine as part of a deal to allow expanded monitoring of the country’s nuclear sites.
Iranian lawmakers to visit Britain as diplomatic ties improve
Reuters: Iranian parliamentarians will come to London in the next few months, the first such visit in years, as Iran and Britain try to improve their damaged relations, a group of British lawmakers said on Tuesday.
Obama takes tough line against Iran sanctions to Congress
Reuters: President Barack Obama took his hard line against new sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program directly to U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday by pledging in his annual State of the Union address to veto any legislation that threatens talks with Tehran.
Turkey PM visits Iran for talks on trade and Syria
AFP: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tehran on Tuesday evening on an official visit expected to be dominated by trade ties and the Syrian civil war.
An Iranian ‘moderate’ exposed
New Republic: Everyone thought Iran’s foreign minister was a pragmatist. They were wrong. Zarif’s memoir “A Conversation with Mohammad-Javad Zarif, Iran’s Former Ambassador to the United Nations”, has just been published in Tehran.
How to solve Obama’s Iran dilemma
Politico: President Obama puts the chance of translating this interim agreement into a comprehensive deal to ensure that Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon at less than 50 percent. The Iranian deputy foreign minister believes that may be high.
