NewsBlaze: The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom, strongly condemned the attack on political prisoners in Iran’s notorious Evin prison and appealed to the international community to take effective measures against crimes committed by the Iranian regime.
Barbaric attack on Iran’s political prisoners draws condemnation
Iran’s oil exports fall in April, closer to Western limits
Reuters: Iran’s oil exports fell in April for a second month, according to sources who track tanker movements, moving closer to levels allowed by November’s interim deal on curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme.
China ‘resolutely opposes’ U.S. sanctions on missile parts supplier
Reuters: China said on Wednesday it “resolutely opposes” U.S. sanctions that could harm non-proliferation work between the two countries after Washington laid charges against a Chinese businessman accused of allegedly procuring missile parts for Iran.
Iran cancels $2.5 billion Chinese oil contract
AP: Iran’s official IRNA news agency says the country has canceled a $2.5 billion deal with a Chinese state oil company over what authorities say were delays in fulfilling its contractual obligations.
BNP Paribas facing $2 billion in fines over sanctions violations
Wall Street Journal: BNP Paribas is facing fines of about $2 billion as well as criminal charges for violating U.S. economic sanctions against several countries including Iran, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, part of an accelerating crackdown by American authorities.
U.S. Announces actions to enforce Iran sanctions
New York Times: The United States government escalated enforcement of its Iran sanctions on Tuesday, adding eight Chinese companies, a Dubai company and two Dubai-based executives to blacklists for evading American restrictions on Iranian weapons, oil and banking transactions.
Iraq holds vote as it slides deeper into strife
AP: A key election for a new Iraqi parliament was underway Wednesday amid a massive security operation as the country continues to slide deeper into sectarian violence, more than two years after U.S. forces left Iraq.
US sets $5mn bounty on Chinese man over Iran dealings
AFP – The United States unveiled a new indictment and slapped a $5 million reward Tuesday on the head of a Chinese man it called a “principal supplier” to Iran’s ballistic missile program. Washington said Li Fangwei, or Karl Lee, has continued to ship equipment and materials to Iran.
Brain drain blights Iran’s economy as investors wait in wings
Bloomberg: “Easily 90 percent of them have gone overseas,” the 29-year-old software developer said, reflecting on a middle-class flight that has seen many of the nation’s best scientists and engineers leave. “Of my 45 university classmates, I guess maybe five are left.”
U.N. nuclear watchdog holds talks in Tehran ahead of May deadline
Reuters: The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday its chief inspector had held “informal” talks in Tehran, ahead of a mid-May deadline for Iran to answer questions about detonators that could be used to help set off an atomic explosive device.
