Washington Post: A series of secret weekend meetings in Vienna between Iranian and European diplomats led to a promise from Tehran yesterday to suspend some nuclear activities in exchange for improved trade with Britain, France and Germany, according to U.S and European diplomats.
Iran Negotiates Deal to Curtail Nuclear Work
U.S. Official Skeptical of Reported Iran Deal
Reuters: A U.S. official reacted skeptically Tuesday to reports of another Iranian agreement to halt sensitive nuclear activities, saying “they didn’t adhere to the last one.”
Diplomats in Vienna reported Tehran had agreed in principle to freeze production, testing and assembly of centrifuges in an apparent move to ease pressure ahead of a U.N. watchdog meeting next week.
Iran Nuke Fuel Program Starts at Mine
AP: SAGHAND, Iran – Iran’s campaign to develop nuclear fuel starts deep under this barren patch of desert, in a mine that engineers expect to start yielding uranium ore in less than two years.
Elsewhere in central Iran, the ore will be processed into yellowcake powder and then into uranium hexaflouride gas, and the gas injected into centrifuges to be enriched into fuel.
Iran topped US team at Olympics, official claims
AFP: A number-crunching Iranian sports official claimed Iran did in fact beat its arch-enemy the United States at the Athens Olympics, even if the Americans won 103 medals compared to the Islamic republic’s six.
Iran ready to show off missile
AFP: IRAN said today it was ready to show off a test of its improved Shahab-3 medium range missile, which is capable of hitting Israel, to “observers” in order to prove it is a success.
“The ministry is ready to organise a new test of the Shahab-3 missile in the presence of observers,” Defence Minister Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.
Shell Bids for New Oil Field Development Contracts in Iran
Bloomberg: Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Europe’s second-largest oil company by market value, bid last month to develop new oil fields in Iran as its existing development contracts run out, a Shell spokesman said.
The Iranian National Oil Co., the second-largest state-owned oil company in the Middle East, said last week it was reviewing bids by foreign companies to explore and develop 16 potential oil fields.
Hardline Iranian militia protest French headscarf ban
AFP: Around 200 members of Iran’s hardline Basij militia staged a fresh rally outside the French embassy in Tehran Tuesday in protest at a ban on Muslim girls wearing the headscarf in French state schools.
“France is a prison for women”, “France’s decision is against human rights,” and “French law is a disgrace,” were among the slogans heard being chanted by the crowd, brough to the dowtown diplomatic compound in buses.
Iran can see opportunity across border
USA TODAY: Iran’s increasing support for insurgent Shiites in Iraq is giving the fighting in Najaf the appearance of a proxy war between Iran and the United States, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Tehran steps up campaign against senior Iraqi Shiite clerics
Iran Focus: Irans Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Islamic Propaganda Agency have been waging an extensive campaign in recent days to undermine the position of senior Iraqi Shiite clerics who have been reluctant to tow Tehrans line in Iraq, targeting in particular Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
Daily links Iraq clashes to Irans internal scene
Iran Focus: The editor of the influential state-owned daily, Kayhan, made a clear link between the current turmoil in Iraq and the developments on the internal political scene in Iran, noting that mounting problems facing the U.S. in Iraq have silenced those who were hoping for regime change in Iran.
