AP: Iran dismissed Western criticism of its parliamentary elections, pointing Monday to 60 percent turnout in an election that saw conservatives win a majority, although reformists were largely barred.

Bloomberg: Iran may list a $90 billion energy holding company on the Dubai International Financial Exchange to attract investment to its oil and gas industry, the Middle East Economic Digest reported, without saying where it got the information.

AFP: Iran has banned nine lifestyle and cinema magazines for publishing pictures of “corrupt” foreign film stars and details about their “decadent” private lives, the student ISNA news agency said Sunday.

Iran Focus: London, Mar. 16 – The European Union denounced parliamentary elections held in Iran last week as unfair.

Reuters: Conservatives won a majority in Iran’s parliamentary vote, state television said on Sunday, but the new assembly may still give President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a tougher time ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Reuters: Switzerland’s foreign minister was travelling to Tehran on Sunday to sign a natural gas purchase contract between Iran and a Swiss utility, a deal she said could help ease Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.

AFP: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is to attend this month’s Arab summit hosted by its top regional ally Syria that is expected to be dominated by the political crisis in Lebanon.