AFP: Divers leap from a helicopter into the Gulf’s choppy waters to destroy a mine, while a US marine fires at a floating target, as forces from 41 countries gathered for naval manoeuvres facing Iran’s shores.

New York Times: Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani headed a family empire that owned the second biggest Iranian airline, Mahan, had a near monopoly on the lucrative pistachio trade and controlled the country’s largest private university, Azad.

AFP: The United States and European nations should take “decisive sanctions” against Iran over its controversial nuclear program, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday.

AP: The head of Iran’s constitutional watchdog says it may disqualify candidates in June presidential elections who seek full relations with the United States.

Reuters: France spelled out on Friday that it would oppose a peace conference for Syria if Bashar al-Assad’s regional ally Iran is invited, clouding the prospect for a U.S.-Russian initiative to end the two-year-old war.

AFP: Iran’s firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will address a forum on water security in Thailand next week, an embassy official said on Friday, just weeks before he stands down from the post.

Los Angeles Times: Iranians must wait until next week to find out who will be on the ballot in next month’s presidential election, a key electoral panel said Thursday, as it continued to mull the fate of two prospective candidates who have shaken up the race.

Fox News: The conservative administration of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has taken a hard-line stance against Iran as the Islamic Republic’s June elections approach, mounting a social media campaign aimed at toppling Iran’s theocratic rulers and leveling unusually harsh rhetoric at Tehran.