AP: Tehran’s chief prosecutor said Friday it was only a matter of time before opposition leaders are put on trial for the unrest following the disputed 2009 presidential election, the latest sign that Iranian authorities may make a potentially explosive escalation of their crackdown.
Iran threatens trial for opposition leaders
Q+A-How markets could react to Iran-India oil row?
Reuters: Officials from Iran and India will meet on Friday for talks on a dispute over how India makes payments for $12 billion worth of crude oil imports a year.
Iran’s Asian crude buyers see flow steady despite finance sanctions
Reuters: Most of Iran’s biggest crude buyers in Asia are finding ways around difficulties in financing oil trade and see little disruption in 2011 flows after cuts this year, even as a dispute over payment methods threatens to stall sales to India.
India hopes for quick solution to Iran payments issue
Reuters: India expects a solution to its dispute with Iran over payments for oil in the next few days, its oil secretary said on Thursday, which would rescue trade worth $12 billion a year to the sanctions-hit Islamic Republic.
Iran reformist editor out on bail: report
AFP: Iran has released on bail one of three editors of the leading reformist newspaper Shargh who had been arrested earlier this month, opposition website Kaleme.com reported Thursday.
Thatcher used Iran embassy rescue to plead for U.S. hostages
Bloomberg: Margaret Thatcher tried to use the political capital gained from the successful ending of a siege of Iran’s embassy in London to persuade Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to release U.S. hostages held in Tehran, secret British files from 1980 show.
FACTBOX – Foreign companies stepping away from Iran
Reuters: Iran’s day-to-day business is being affected by tighter international, U.S. and European Union sanctions imposed in response to Western fears the country’s nuclear activities are aimed at developing bombs. Tehran says it has no such aim.
U.S. praises Reserve Bank of India in Iran dispute
Reuters: The United States on Wednesday praised the Reserve Bank of India for reducing its dealings with Iran’s central bank, saying the Islamic Republic misuses its financial relationships to support its nuclear program.
Iran refuses India oil sales on Delhi’s terms-sources
Reuters: National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) has refused to accept payments for oil supplies to India without the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) guarantee, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
Standard Chartered talking to US sanctions investigators over past Iran dealings
Daily Telegraph: Standard Chartered has launched a review of its compliance with US sanctions, after revealing it is in discussions with American authorities about its “past business” with Iran.
