Wall Street Journal: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in his campaign to stabilize North Asia and the Middle East, is wrestling to understand the strategic calculations of two obscure and autocratic men.
Kerry focuses on Iran, North Korea leaders
Dubai to curb reliance on Iranian condensate, ENOC’s CEO says
Bloomberg: Dubai’s state refining company, which buys most of its condensate from Iran, is seeking alternative sources of the fuel to curb imports from the Islamic republic and avoid running afoul of international sanctions.
Another reason for U.S. to act on Syria: Sending message to Iran
Los Angeles Times: Former Obama advisor Dennis Ross, added another: U.S. hesitance in Syria, he said, is sending the wrong message to the rulers of Iran, who are backing Assad’s regime.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad visits uranium-producing Niger
Reuters: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on Monday in Niger, the world’s No. 4 uranium producer, where the French nuclear group Areva has seen its grip on the industry loosened by a government looking to diversify its partners.
Ahmadinejad says Iran does not need atomic bomb
AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday defended his country’s controversial nuclear programme while on a tour of west Africa, calling it peaceful and arguing that Tehran has no use for an atomic bomb.
Iran begins registration for municipal elections
AP: Iran’s state radio says candidates can begin to register for municipal council elections scheduled for June. The councils have little power. But unlike in parliamentary and presidential contests, the candidates are not vetted by a clerically dominated constitutional watchdog.
South Korea’s imports of Iranian crude oil fall 17% in March
Bloomberg: South Korea, the world’s fifth- largest oil importer, reduced crude shipments from Iran by about 17 percent in March from a year earlier, customs data show.
Iranian military official warns against unrest in upcoming presidential election
Xinhua: A senior Iranian military official warned Sunday against any attempts to create unrest during the country’s upcoming presidential election, Iran’s Press TV reported.
Hezbollah-backed Lebanese Shiites fight in Syria
AP: Masked men in camouflage toting Kalashnikov rifles fan out through a dusty olive grove, part of a group of Hezbollah-backed fighters from Lebanon who are patrolling both sides of a porous border stretch with Syria.
Ahmadinejad in Benin for first stop on West Africa tour
AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Benin on Sunday on the first stop of a west African tour that will also take him to Niger — the world’s fourth-largest uranium producer — and to Ghana.
