Reuters: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Russia on Wednesday to insist world powers set tough terms for Iran in any deal reached in the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Israeli leader lobbies in Russia against Iran deal
Senate puts off Iran sanctions vote as nuclear talks start
UPI: The U.S. Senate will put off a vote on new Iranian sanctions that could derail nuclear talks, senators said, as a crucial round of talks was to begin Wednesday. The administration estimates the proposed sanctions relief would be worth $5 billion to $10 billion to Iran.
Top U.S. lawmakers urge Obama to take tougher line on Iran
Reuters: Senior U.S. lawmakers urged the Obama administration on Tuesday to take a tougher line in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear ambitions, saying Tehran should roll back its nuclear program before economic sanctions are eased.
Iran follows in North Korea’s nuclear shoes
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry emerged from the latest round of Iran nuclear talks in Geneva earlier this month to say that negotiators are “clearly further down the road in understanding what the remaining challenges are.”
Rouhani’s first 100 days see no progress on freedom of information
Reporters Without Borders: At least 10 more journalists and bloggers have been arrested since his election victory, 10 others have been sentenced to a combined total of 72 years in prison and three newspapers have been closed or forced to suspend publishing under pressure from the authorities.
U.N. committee slaps Syria, Iran, North Korea, Myanmar for rights abuses
Reuters: A U.N. General Assembly committee on Tuesday condemned Syria for widespread human rights abuses and expressed concern about such violations in Iran, North Korea and Myanmar, but also welcomed pledges by Iran and Myanmar’s presidents to improve some areas.
AI: Abducted Iranian exiles in Iraqi custody
Amnesty International: The seven Iranian exiles abducted on 1 September are now known to be held by the Iraqi security forces at an unofficial detention facility in central Baghdad. They are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment and could be forcibly returned to Iran.
UNHCR urges governments to offer Iranian exiles haven
AFP: The UN refugee agency Tuesday urged the international community to give a haven to several thousand Iranian opposition members whose camps in Iraq have come under repeated attack.
Cameron makes first UK call to Iranian president in over a decade
AFP: Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned President Hassan Rouhani Tuesday on the eve of nuclear talks in Geneva, becoming the first British premier to call an Iranian leader in over a decade, Downing Street said.
For Iranian negotiators ‘Time is on My Side’
UPI: What a difference half a century makes! Nuclear war was avoided 51 years ago as a young, inexperienced U.S. President, John F. Kennedy, whose foreign policy naivete led to the Bay of Pigs fiasco, came of age, confronting the Soviets “eyeball-to-eyeball until they blinked.”
