AP: In what U.S. officials called a serious provocation, Iranian boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessels.

Washington Post: President Bush intends to use his first extended tour of the Middle East to rally support for international pressure against Iran, even as a recent U.S. intelligence report playing down Tehran’s nuclear ambitions has left Israeli and Arab leaders rethinking their own approach toward Iran and questioning Washington’s resolve, according to senior U.S. officials, diplomats and regional experts.

Washington Times: President Bush will be following in some unlikely footsteps on his eight-day, seven-stop Mideast tour that starts tomorrow.

Reuters: Some of the heaviest snowfalls in years caused severe transport disruptions in Iran on Sunday, forcing the cancellation of most flights and the closure of many roads, Iranian media said.

AFP: US President George W. Bush said Washington would defend its close ally Israel in the event of an Iranian attack, in remarks broadcast on Israeli army radio on Sunday.

AFP: Iran is to shake up its regime for interest rates to take more account of rising inflation, officials said Sunday, after a government decision to slash bank rates was blamed for raising prices further.

AFP: Iran has expelled a German diplomat, the foreign ministry said on Sunday, after Germany reportedly expelled an Iranian diplomat for seeking to obtain nuclear material.

The Guardian: Last week our Iran correspondent was expelled without explanation. In his last dispatch from Tehran, he talks about the country he grew to love and which he found to be at odds with its image as an austere Islamic