AP: Australia will impose new sanctions against Iran, including restrictions for the first time on business dealings with that country’s oil and gas sector, the country’s foreign minister said Thursday.
Australia adopts new sanctions against Iran
Japan supertanker probe reveals crash impact
Reuters: A Japanese supertanker, which triggered fears of an attack in the sensitive Strait of Hormuz oil shipping route, collided with something, possibly a submarine or mine, UAE port officials inspecting the ship said on Thursday.
Iran ready to stop enrichment if import deal holds
AFP: Iran will suspend uranium enrichment to 20 percent if it acquires nuclear fuel for a research reactor, the country’s atomic chief said on an Iranian television channel on Thursday.
Iran: Plants to use benzene to increase gas production
New York Times: Trying to offset the effect of sanctions on the country’s nuclear program, Iran said Wednesday that it would increase domestic gasoline production by converting two petrochemical plants so they could produce gasoline by processing benzene.
Iran stoning mum’s legal rep missing
Daily Mirror: A lawyer who defended an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning has gone missing, Amnesty International said last night.
US hopes for nuclear talks with Iran, other powers
AFP: The United States said Wednesday it hoped for high-level talks soon with Iran and five other world powers that like Washington are seeking to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Afghan asylum-seekers shot dead in Iran
UPI: Iranian security forces shot dead three asylum seekers trying to cross the border from Afghanistan, Afghan provincial officials said.
FACTBOX-The Strait of Hormuz, key oil shipping route
Reuters: An oil tanker owned and operated by Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd was damaged near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday.
Mattis: Iran is ‘destabilizing force’
UPI: Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, up for appointment as head of U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday Iran is the greatest destabilizing force in that region.
Mysterious blast hits Japan oil tanker near Iran
AFP: A mysterious explosion hit a Japanese oil tanker near Iran in the vital Strait of Hormuz early on Wednesday, spotlighting a potential threat in a chokepoint for global oil supplies.
