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.
Iran increases underground nuclear capacity sharply: diplomats
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.
Iran’s nuclear quest
New York Times: Iran appears to have installed a few hundred more centrifuges at its deep underground site known as Fordow, thus enhancing its ability to produce uranium enriched to 20 percent, a purity that can be converted relatively quickly to bomb-grade fuel.
Visit by Egypt’s Morsi to Iran reflects foreign policy shift
Washington Post: A decision by Egypt’s new president to travel to Tehran for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement this week reflects a major foreign policy shift for the Arab world’s most populous nation, after decades of subservience to Washington.
