AAP: Australia, Japan and the European Union are likely to join the United States in slapping sanctions on Iran if it fails to suspend its nuclear enrichment program soon, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says.
Australia ‘may put sanctions on Iran’
Ban “worried” on Iran’s nuclear progress
Reuters: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is worried about Iran’s nuclear programme but hopes a stand-off with the international community can be resolved through dialogue, he said in comments published in Italy on Friday.
Rice defends additional U.S. sanctions on Iran
Reuters: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday defended expanded U.S. sanctions on Iran and downplayed any rift with Russia over the policy.
Europeans mull sanctions against Iran
AP: Britain and France are leading a push for new EU sanctions to punish Iran over its nuclear program. But while European nations increasingly fear a war in their backyard, the continent is divided over how to deal with the crisis.
Sanction-hit Iranian banks expected to face City boycott
The Times: Iranian banks will be given the cold shoulder in the City after Americas imposition of new economic sanctions on Iran, a leading Anglo-Iranian business group predicted yesterday.
Iranians dismiss new U.S. sanctions
New York Times: Irans chief nuclear negotiator on Friday dismissed the sweeping new sanctions announced by the Bush administration against an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran as insignificant and said they would have no effect on the countrys nuclear policies, the student news agency ISNA reported.
On notice
The Times – Leading Article: There is a hubris about Iranian behaviour that can be breathtaking. Far from expressing mock horror at Western accusations that Iran is funding Sunni as well as Shia extremists in Iraq, senior Iranian advisers nowadays go out of their way to make explicit their determination to harass and confront the Americans throughout the Middle East.
Sanctions could harm Iran ties with U.N. nuclear body
Reuters: New U.S. sanctions could push Tehran to rethink its cooperation with the United Nations atomic watchdog, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator said on Friday.
Oil rises to record over $92 after U.S. says Iran backs terror
Bloomberg: Oil rose above $92 a barrel for the first time in New York after the U.S. accused Iran’s military of supporting terrorism and stepped up pressure on foreign companies to cut ties with the Middle East oil producer.
Iran closer to nuclear bomb, emigre opposition says
Reuters: Iran may be closer to developing nuclear weapons than three to eight years believed by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the country’s emigre opposition said on Friday.
