Reuters: Iran’s vital seaborne trade is buckling under the weight of Western sanctions, deepening hardship for a population deprived of basic imports and heaping intense pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Reuters: Two European insurers have withdrawn cover for tankers involved in the Iranian oil trade, the first such move since tough new sanctions were imposed in July, documents obtained by Reuters show.

AP: Vice President Joe Biden says his administration has the toughest sanctions in history on Iran, even as his Republican rival says the White House has no credibility on the issue.

AFP: The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah boasted Thursday that his Shiite militant group sent a sophisticated unmanned drone over Israel last week, saying the device was built by the Jewish state’s archfoe Iran.

AFP: An ill-advised Israeli attack on Iran would be less likely if Mitt Romney became the next president because he would shore up strained US relations with Israel, an advisor said Thursday.

Wall Street Journal: With his nuclear brinksmanship and inflammatory public rhetoric, Iran’s firebrand president is accustomed to hogging the international spotlight. But recent days have seen him making news for a different reason entirely.

UPI: The International Committee of the Red Cross said it closed an office in Iran used to help with logistical efforts in neighboring Iraq.

AFP: Auto production in sanctions-hit Iran nosedived by more than 42 percent in the past six months, media reports said on Thursday, citing industry ministry figures.

UPI: Yemen authorities have seized Iranian military equipment slated for rebels aboard a cargo ship at the port of Hodeidah, sources told Asharq al-Awsat.