Reuters: Iran is lobbying to get HSBC to process humanitarian trade transactions that Europe’s biggest bank has frozen because of concerns about potential breaches of international sanctions, sources familiar with the trades told Reuters. Banks such as HSBC are responding to tougher scrutiny over financial dealings with some countries including Iran.
Iran seeks to resolve HSBC freeze on some trade financing – sources
Iran says expects deal soon on Russia building new nuclear reactors
Reuters: Iran said on Tuesday it expected to sign a deal with Russia in late August on the building of two new 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors in the Islamic Republic, potentially boosting its case that it is refining uranium for civilian energy, not atom bombs. Russia is one of six world powers negotiating with Iran on a long-term agreement to end a decade-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Iraq’s Kurds weigh dealing with Baghdad or going it alone
Bloomberg: Iraq’s Kurdish minority may be holding the only winning hand in the nation’s bloody sectarian turmoil. As fighting rages between Sunni militants and Iraq’s majority Shiites, the Kurds are in a position to be deal makers in political talks for a new government or to fulfill a long-held ambition to become an independent nation sustained by oil revenue.
Iran arrests 3 over World Cup video
AP: Iranian police have arrested three people who appeared in an online video of young men and women singing and dancing in support of the country’s World Cup football team. Provincial police chief was quoted as saying the video clip features scenes from outside and inside Iran, including the city of Shahroud, where two 23-year-olds appearing in the film and a 26-year-old photographer were arrested.
Kerry promises ‘intense and sustained’ U.S. support for Iraq
Reuters: Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday promised “intense and sustained” U.S. support for Iraq, but said the divided country would only survive if its leaders took urgent steps to bring it together. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Washington on Sunday of trying to regain control of the country it once occupied – a charge Kerry denied.
U.S. secretary of state arrives in Iraq
AP: Confronting the threat of civil war in Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Baghdad on Monday to personally urge the Shiite-led government to give more power to political opponents before a Sunni insurgency seizes more control across the country and sweeps away hopes for lasting peace.
China’s May Iran crude imports up 36%, 2nd highest on record
Reuters: China’s Iranian crude oil imports expanded 36 percent in May from a year ago to the second highest on record, customs data showed on Monday, and imports in the first five months of 2014 gained nearly 50 percent over the same year-ago period. China, Tehran’s largest oil client, has since late 2013 been stepping up purchases from the OPEC country.
Iran rejects U.S. action in Iraq, ISIL tightens Syria border grip
Reuters: Iran’s supreme leader accused the United States on Sunday of trying to retake control of Iraq by exploiting sectarian rivalries, as Sunni insurgents drove towards Baghdad from new strongholds along the Syrian border. Speaking in Cairo, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States wanted Iraqis to find a leadership that would represent all the country’s communities.
Iran could outsource its nuclear-weapons program to North Korea
Wall Street Journal: As the Iran nuclear talks grind toward a soft July 20 deadline in Vienna, U.S. negotiators and their partners seem oblivious to a loophole that could render any agreement meaningless. Tehran could outsource the completion of a bomb to its longtime ally, North Korea. As a venue for secretly completing and testing a nuclear bomb, North Korea would be ideal.
Embattled Nouri al-Maliki ‘will not go quietly,’ foes and friends say
Washington Post: Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani did not directly mention Maliki, but he called for the creation of a government that has “broad national support,” a clear reference to Maliki’s failure to win the confidence of the country’s Sunnis during his eight years in office. The message was delivered by his representative Ahmed al-Safi in the holy city of Karbala.
