Gulf Daily news: Iran has come under fierce attack for backing terrorism in GCC countries and Bahrain in particular. It was accused of using Shi’ites in Gulf nations as a sectarian tool to threaten their regimes and spread terrorism.
Iran ‘promoting terrorism in Gulf’
Imprisoned ex-US Marine seeks Iran retrial
AP: An Iranian news agency is reporting that a former U.S. Marine convicted of working for the CIA has appealed for a new trial. ISNA news agency quotes Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, a lawyer of Amir Hekmati, as saying the retrial request comes over a possible mistake by the judge in the case.
US places sanctions on senior Tehran official
AFP: The United States placed sanctions on Tehran province’s public security chief Morteza Tamaddon Friday, saying he was involved in censorship and intimidation of protesters and opposition leaders.
Report: Iran billionaire executed over $2.6B fraud
AP: A billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam, the largest fraud case since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, was executed Saturday, state television reported. Authorities put Mahafarid Amir Khosravi to death at Evin prison.
Iran cuts nuclear stockpile, engages with bomb probe – IAEA
Reuters: Iran has cut its most sensitive nuclear stockpile by around 80 percent under an interim pact with world powers and has begun engaging with a long-stalled IAEA investigation into suspected weapons research, the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Friday.
Iran’s nuclear deception
Washington Times: The clerics who hold a tyrannical grip over Iran have done it again – hoodwinked the West while buying more time to develop nuclear weapons. The United States must put the Islamic republic back on the front burner before it’s too late.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards train a new group to fight in Syria
Al Arabiya: Hassan Rowhani’s government and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) do not appear to have difficulties in acquiring new approaches and methods when it comes to supporting Tehran’s staunchest ally, the Assad government.
Afghans condemn Iran over recruiting refugees to fight in Syria
Wall Street Journal: Some Afghan lawmakers condemned what they said was Iran’s exploitation of Afghan refugees by sending them to fight for the regime in Syria and called on the government to investigate.
Oil companies returning to Iran face obstacle in form of Revolutionary Guards
Wall Street Journal: Iran is hoping to lure major oil companies back to invest in its all-important energy sector, but any oil firms that return to Iran will find a new force to be reckoned with: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
France’s Iran negotiator switches roles at delicate stage in talks
Reuters: France’s main negotiator in talks between six world powers and Iran is leaving his post at a crucial moment, less than two months before the deadline for a final agreement over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
