AFP: Afghan Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim said on Sunday that Iran has agreed to lift a ban on fuel tankers crossing into Afghanistan that has left hundreds of trucks stranded at the border.
Iran agrees to release fuel tankers: Afghan VP
Iran opposition leaders barred from travel abroad
AP: Iran’s opposition leaders are barred from leaving the country, a prominent conservative lawmaker said Saturday, hiking up the pressure on the reform movement.
Amnesty appeals for life of Kurd student in Iran
AFP: Amnesty International has appealed to Iran to commute the death sentence of a Kurdish law student who it said is set to be executed on Sunday.
Let jailed reporters see family, Germany urges Iran
AFP: Germany’s foreign minister called on Iran to allow two jailed journalists to see their families, who have travelled to Tehran in the hope of a Christmas visit, in an interview published Sunday.
Iran to launch ‘reconnaissance’ satellite
AFP: Iran will launch a reconnaissance satellite dubbed the “Fajr” in the next few months, Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a report Saturday by the official IRNA news agency.
Resentment builds in Iran over price hikes, subsidy overhauls
Washington Post: Nearly a week after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched a plan to overhaul a long-standing system of state subsidies, Iranians are reeling from drastic government-ordered price increases for staples such as fuel and bread amid signs of growing frustration and anger.
Forces in Afghanistan face new threat from Iran
Fox News: Coalition forces face a new threat as Iran steps up covert support for terrorist operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, The Times of London reported Friday.
The Iranian hostage crisis
Wall Street Journal – REVIEW & OUTLOOK: Thirty years ago, the national ordeal that was the Iranian hostage crisis lasted 444 days. With far less fanfare, today’s version—the ordeal of two young Americans jailed in Tehran’s Evin prison—has passed its 500-day mark.
Iranian president: ‘Sanctions have always failed’
CNN: After meeting Thursday with Turkey’s president in advance of multinational discussions on Iran’s controversial nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he hopes the talks will be productive but stressed that international sanctions “have no impact on Iran’s decision-making process” and “have always failed.”
U.S. approved business with blacklisted nations
New York Times: Despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has allowed American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism, an examination by The New York Times has found.
