Reuters: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has selected a new ambassador to represent Tehran at the United Nations, Hamid Abutalebi, a veteran diplomat who has held key European postings in the past, Iranian sources said.
Iran plans to replace U.N. ambassador in New York
Iran heads for 5th month of oil exports above sanctions limit
World Bulletin: Iran’s oil exports have stayed above levels allowed under Western sanctions for a fifth month, according to sources who track tanker movements, in a further sign that a deal to ease some restrictions is helping Tehran sell more crude.
U.N. Extends term of human rights monitor, angering Iran
New York Times: The Iran government’s effort to portray a kinder and gentler image was frustrated on Friday by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which voted to extend the term of a monitor scorned by Tehran.
N.Y. Tower in suit tied to Iran is forfeited, judge rules
Bloomberg: A 36-story New York City office tower must be forfeited by its co-owner, Assa Corp., because the company acted as a front for Iran in violation of the U.S. embargo and federal money-laundering laws, a judge said.
Iran-backed terrorist cell infiltrated Turkish gov’t at highest level: leaks
Today’s Zaman: Ali Fuat Yılmazer, former chief of the Istanbul Police Department’s intelligence unit, has claimed that Iran-linked notorious terrorist organization Tawhid-Salam has penetrated deep into the Turkish government.
Iran Freedom Committee: UN Security Council must consider Iran’s rights violations
PoliticsHome: More than 110 members of both Houses of Parliament including former Ministers and religious leaders supported a statement about the Iranian women’s struggle for freedom and gender equality.
Museum items can’t be seized to pay Iran judgment
AP: Survivors of a 1997 terrorist bombing blamed partly on Iran can’t seize thousands of relics from U.S. museums to pay a $412 million judgment against the Iranian government, a federal judge in Chicago ruled Friday.
Obama seeks to reassure Saudi Arabia over Iran, Syria
Reuters: President Barack Obama sought to reassure Saudi King Abdullah that he would support moderate Syrian rebels and reject a bad nuclear deal with Iran, during a visit designed to allay the kingdom’s concerns that its decades-old U.S. alliance had frayed.
Iran launches floating gas export terminal
UPI: Iran in January exported 878,631 tons of gas condensate. Pirouz Mousavi, managing director of the Iranian Oil Terminals Co., said the facility could help Iran get more oil and gas from a southern economic trade zone.
Report: Global executions up 15 percent in 2013
AP: According to Amnesty International the number of officially acknowledged executions in Iran in 2013 was at least 369, but the rights group said “credible sources” reported 335 more. The group said Iraq executed at least 169 people.
