AP: The Iranian president on Thursday slammed the West for its naval presence in the Persian Gulf while the country’s army commanders warned archenemy Israel against any military strikes on Iran.
Iran’s president slams ‘foreign presence’ in Gulf
Kerry resists as lawmakers urge pressuring China on Iran
Bloomberg: Secretary of State John Kerry sought to discourage lawmakers from pressuring China for further cuts in oil imports from Iran as a condition for renewing its waiver from U.S. economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani appears to rule out candidacy for Iranian election
The Guardian: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the embattled former president of Iran, has finally spoken openly about the rift between him and the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
China’s ZTE says it basically dropped Iran business
Reuters: ZTE Corp, China’s second-largest telecoms equipment maker, has essentially stopped doing business in Iran after a U.S. investigation into alleged sales of embargoed equipment, the company’s chairman told Reuters on Thursday.
Kerry blames Iran for attack on Iraq camp
AFP: US Secretary of State John Kerry blamed the Iranian government for a deadly attack on an opposition camp in Iraq, and voiced fears of another assault.
Iraq executes 21 men convicted of terrorism
AP: Iraq has executed 21 prisoners convicted on terrorism charges and links to al-Qaida, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday, setting off fresh criticism from a human rights expert over Baghdad’s insistence on enforcing capital punishment.
US working to free Americans held in Cuba, Iran
AFP: Washington is seeking to free two US citizens held in Cuba and Iran, but has rejected a deal with Havana to swap a jailed American for five Cuban spies, top diplomat John Kerry said Wednesday.
Diplomats: Iran ups nuke technology
AP: Technicians upgrading Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility have tripled their installations of high-tech machines that could be used in a nuclear weapons program to more than 600 in the last three months, diplomats said Wednesday.
Sanctions cause problems, do not halt progress: Ahmadinejad
AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that international sanctions imposed over his country’s nuclear drive had caused “problems”, but insisted they had not stopped progress.
OPEC may cut supply to hold budgets at $99 Oil: Apicorp
Bloomberg: OPEC will probably cut output if Brent prices keep trading below $100 a barrel because that’s less than what many member countries need to balance their budgets, an inter-governmental Arab energy lender said.
