Dow Jones: Senior Iranian politician Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Friday blamed foreign companies and suppliers for shortages in natural gas used for heating that have hit the country during an unusually cold winter.
Iran’s Rafsanjani blames foreign cos over gas shortages
Detained French-Iranian journalism student leaves Iran
AFP: An Iranian-French journalism student who had been prevented from leaving Iran for nearly a year was en route to Paris on Friday, the French foreign ministry said.
Sunni sheik offers guns and gets rewards
AP: They know him as the sheik. But what that really means in this Sunni town is a bit of everything: community leader, public works supervisor, agricultural planner, militia captain.
Bush fills Iran policy job
AP: President Bush moved quickly Friday to fill a key diplomatic post with responsibility for Iran policy, nominating the American ambassador to Russia for the job immediately after his predecessor’s resignation.
Iraq seeing rise in Iran-linked bomb blasts – US
Reuters: The U.S. military in Iraq is seeing an upswing in the number of roadside bomb attacks using deadly armor-piercing munitions linked to Iran, top defense officials said on Friday.
H5N1 bird flu virus hits ducks, geese in N. Iran
Reuters: The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in ducks and geese in northern Iran after affecting swans there, but no human cases have been reported, an official was quoted on Friday as saying.
US: number of Iran bombs in Iraq already equals December
AFP: US soldiers have already been targeted in the first two weeks of January by as many suspected Iranian explosives as in all of December, the US defense chief said Friday.
U.S. plays down chance of Iran resolution soon
Reuters: The United States on Friday played down the chance of major powers agreeing on new U.N. sanctions against Iran when ministers meet in Berlin next week, underlining discord over how to proceed with Tehran.
New delivery of Russian nuclear fuel to Iran: official
AFP: Russia Friday delivered a third consignment of fuel for Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power station, the official news agency IRNA reported.
China urges Iran, Europe to resume nuclear talks
AFP: China has urged Iran to resume negotiations with the international community in a fresh attempt to end their long-running standoff over its nuclear programme, state press reported Friday.
