Bloomberg: The scarcity of shoppers at the food market near Hafez Street ahead of the March 20 start of the Nowruz holiday was a reminder to President Hassan Rouhani of the scale of Iran’s economic woes.
New Year a dud as nuclear optimism fails to tip scales in Iran
Supporters of a free Iran demand U.S. honor promises
InsideEmbassyRow: American supporters of a free Iran are demanding that President Obama honor U.S. promises to provide political refuge to Iranian dissidents crowded into a relocation camp in Iraq where they face daily threats against their lives.
Fugitive Sunni cleric slams Lebanese army in video message
AFP: A radical Sunni cleric wanted by Lebanese authorities since deadly clashes last year between his supporters and security forces Sunday accused the army of being a “tool” “tool” of Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.
Nuclear Iran: the sanctions delusion
American Thinker: Rather than economic sanctions, it was President Obama’s surrender during the Syrian chemical weapons crisis that moved Iran to negotiate with a president who converted the United States from the world’s only superpower into a paper tiger.
Senators urge Obama to push for strict Iran nuclear curbs deal
Reuters: Twenty-three U.S. senators kept the spotlight on Iran nuclear negotiations on Saturday with a letter to President Barack Obama urging that he stand firm, after a second round of talks wound up in Vienna.
World leaders gather for Hague nuclear summit
AP: Nuclear terrorism is officially the main topic for world leaders at a two-day summit in the Netherlands starting Monday. Notable absentees from the summit are North Korea and Iran, excluded by mutual consent.
The rush to Tehran amidst rise in executions
Iran Focus: Last week the U.N. Special Rapporteur for human rights in Iran told us what we all know too well, despite promises of moderation by President Hassan Rouhani, there has been a ‘sharp rise’ in the number of executions in Iran which is now the world’s leading state executioner per capita.
In Iran, sharp price increases deliver painful blow
Fortune: Massive cuts to Iran’s generous subsidy regime could lead to significant popular unrest in the country in the coming weeks and months. The cuts, which coincide with the first day of the Iranian calendar, are necessary in order for the government to close the huge revenue gap.
We can’t ignore lingering crisis in Iran
Tennessean: In Iran, March 21 marks that nation’s new year. While I have little hope Iran will be experiencing the new beginning it desperately needs, I do have hope at least some of its former citizens will be more fortunate.
Israel: 8 Jews killed leaving Iran in the 1990s
AP: Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency says eight Iranian Jews who disappeared while trying to leave the Islamic Republic in the 1990s were captured and killed.
