AFP: Iran must prove through actions that it is willing to make key policy changes to mend fences with Gulf Arabs, analysts said ahead of a visit by Kuwait’s emir. The weekend visit of Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah is an opportunity for Tehran to turn over a new leaf in Gulf ties, they said.
Iran must change to improve ties with Gulf: analysts
Iran reports its first death from MERS virus
AP: The IRNA news agency quoted Health Ministry official Mohammad Mahdi Gouya as saying the virus killed a 53-year-old woman in Kerman, a city in southeastern Iran. On Wednesday, the daily newspaper Hamshahri quoted Gouya as saying two sisters in Kerman contracted the virus.
Sudan says it declined Iran air defence offer after attack
Reuters: Sudan turned down an Iranian offer to set up air defences on its Red Sea coast after a 2012 air strike Khartoum blamed on Israel, fearing they would upset Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia, Sudan’s foreign minister was quoted as saying on Thursday.
Report: Justice eyeing $10 billion bank penalty
The Hill: The Justice Department is reportedly seeking more than $10 billion from the French bank BNP Paribas to settle charges it helped nations like Iran evade U.S. sanctions, although the bank is pushing to keep the penalty below $8 billion.
Satellite images show Iran continues construction at Parchin: IAEA
MFS: The UN nuclear watchdog appears no closer to finding out what happened at a military site at the centre of its investigation into suspected atom bomb research by Iran, despite signs Tehran is becoming more cooperative.
Iranian hackers stalked U.S. Officials, report says
Bloomberg: An Iranian hacking network is behind an elaborate three-year campaign to use social networks to strike up friendships with U.S. lawmakers, defense contractors and at least one four-star general, and then extract data from them, according to a new report.
Iran’s nuclear weaponization researchers are still at work
Wall Street Journal: Iran has thus far dismissed as “fabrications” evidence of its weaponization work compiled by the IAEA. We’ve obtained a plausible new report from an Iranian opposition group suggesting that Tehran has kept active and intact its core team of weaponization researchers.
Iran summons Facebook CEO to court
AP: A judge in southern Iran has ordered Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear in court to answer complaints by individuals who say Facebook-owned applications Instagram and Whatsapp violate their privacy, semiofficial news agency ISNA reported Tuesday.
Iran readies plant needed to fulfil nuclear pact with powers
Reuters: After months of delays, Iran appears to be finalising a plant to convert a large amount of low-enriched uranium gas into an oxide form that would be less suitable for processing into nuclear bomb material, a U.N. watchdog report shows.
Iran’s population drive worries women’s rights, health advocates
Reuters: Iran’s supreme leader has called for a population increase, in an edict likely to restrict access to contraception that critics fear could damage women’s rights and public health. In his 14-point decree, Khamenei said increasing population would counter “undesirable aspects of Western lifestyles”.
