AFP: The United States warned Iran on Thursday its window for opening serious talks is limited, after the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had doubled enrichment capacity at its underground facility at Fordo.
US warns Iran after IAEA nuclear report
Egypt leader slams Syrian regime during Iran visit
AP: In a clear rebuke to Syria’s key ally Iran, Egypt’s new president said Thursday that Bashar Assad’s “oppressive” regime has lost its legitimacy and told an international conference in Tehran that the world must stand behind the Syrian rebels.
Iran increases underground nuclear capacity sharply: diplomats
Reuters: A U.N. watchdog report is expected to show that Iran has expanded its potential capacity to refine uranium in an underground site by at least 30 percent since May, diplomats say, adding to Western worries over Tehran’s nuclear aims.
UN chief warns of risk of ‘war’ in Iran nuclear row
AFP: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday urged Iran to comply with UN resolutions demanding it curb its nuclear activities, warning that heightened international rhetoric over the issue risked degenerating into “war.”
Iran starts NAM summit under UN nuclear scrutiny
AFP: Iran on Thursday lifted the curtain on a summit of non-aligned states it presented as a diplomatic triumph, but the event was held under the cloud of intensified UN scrutiny of the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.
UN chief hits host Iran over human rights
AP: The U.N. chief jolted his Iranian hosts for a nonaligned nations meeting Wednesday by pointing out “serious concerns” in Tehran’s human rights record and urging cooperation with the world body to improve freedoms.
UN atomic agency creates ‘Iran Task Force’
AFP: The head of the UN atomic agency has approved the creation of a special “task force” to better monitor Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, an internal IAEA document seen by AFP on Wednesday showed.
Iran’s alarming crackdown on women
New York Post: In “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” Azar Nafisi captured perfectly the conflicts facing the Iranian woman under the post-revolutionary regime as she wrote of mentoring young women studying English literature, including Nabakov’s notorious “Lolita.”
Iran challenges isolation imposed by sanctions at meeting
Bloomberg: Iran is using a summit of non- aligned nations as a platform to challenge U.S. and European attempts to isolate the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, looking to build support among a largely sympathetic bloc of countries as it contends with sanctions.
Saudi Deputy Minister to attend summit in Iran
Bloomberg: Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah will head the kingdom’s delegation to the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement this week in Tehran, Arab News said, citing Alauddin al-Askary, deputy foreign minister for protocol affairs.
