AFP: Britain and Iran on Monday named non-resident charges d’affaires to each other’s capitals, with London’s envoy to visit Tehran this month to start mending ties severed by the ransacking of the British embassy in 2011.
Britain, Iran name envoys on path to restoring ties
Kerry returns to Washington to defend possible Iran deal
UPI: The White House will make “absolutely certain” Iran “never has a nuclear weapon,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said before returning to Washington Monday. He was to return a day before appearing before skeptical lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
‘Vive la France!’ say US opponents of Iran nuclear deal
AFP: Conservative US leaders, fond of finger-pointing at France in recent years, lavished praise on Paris Sunday for blocking an agreement between Western powers and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Tehran schools ordered shut over air pollution
AFP: Air pollution has forced Iranian authorities to close elementary schools and kindergartens in Tehran province for three days from Sunday, the state broadcaster said.
U.S. lawmakers seek tighter Iran sanctions before any deal
Reuters: U.S. lawmakers said on Sunday they aimed to tighten sanctions on Iran to prevent Washington giving away too much in a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program that diplomats said was still possible despite the failure of high-level weekend talks.
Report: Gunman kills Iranian deputy minister
AP: Iran’s official news agency is reporting that a gunman has shot and killed a deputy industry minister. The report Sunday by IRNA said Safdar Rahmatabadi was shot twice in head and chest that night in an eastern neighborhood of Tehran.
Iran nuclear deal in danger of unravelling
The Guardian: The diplomatic progress that brought six foreign ministers tantalisingly close to a historic agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme is in danger of unravelling before negotiators meet again this month, officials and analysts warned on Sunday.
Iran opposition group warns against rushing into nuclear deal
AFP: Any deal between world powers and Iran that does not demand a complete halt to uranium enrichment will give Tehran the opportunity to acquire nuclear weapons, an exiled opposition group cautioned Sunday.
Failure to reach Iran deal gives opponents time to lobby
Bloomberg: Iran and world powers failed to reach a deal limiting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, creating an opening for opponents from Israel and Saudi Arabia to the U.S. Congress to lobby against the first-step plan before negotiations resume in 10 days.
Iran’s Rouhani says nuclear rights are ‘red lines’: media
Reuters: President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday Iran would not give up what it sees as its right to enrich uranium in nuclear negotiations and said the Islamic Republic would not bow to “threats” from anyone, Iranian media reported.
