Reuters: The Iranian property developer leant back in his chair, drew hard on a shisha pipe and looked down at photographs of a Tehran apartment block on his tablet computer.
Sanctions help to stoke Iran property boom but bubble feared
Report finds Iran among worst violators of religious freedom
Fox News: Religious freedom is in short supply in the Middle East, according to the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has issued a report finding Iran chief among the nations where spiritual beliefs can bring prison sentences or worse.
Iran faces fresh trade heat as more shipping firms exit
Reuters: Foreign container shipping lines are giving up on Iranian business ahead of new U.S. sanctions in July, dealing a further blow to Tehran’s vital seaborne trade.
Iran diplomat held in solitary at notorious Evin Prison: sources
Reuters: A senior Iranian diplomat linked to Iran’s reformists has been detained for nearly two months and is in solitary confinement at Evin Prison, a facility rights advocates have criticized for prisoner abuse, sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
Five years on, Bahais appeal for release in Iran
AFP: Five years after seven Bahai leaders were arrested in Iran, members of the faith are campaigning to increase attention to their plight in hopes that authorities will release them.
Family shares letters from American held in Iran
AP: An ex-Marine incarcerated in Iran for nearly two years says in the first letters written to family in Michigan that he is praying for his ailing father and that his grieving mother should not come visit him.
Iran FM meets Assad, says time to dissuade Israel
AFP: Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday and said it was time to dissuade Israel from carrying out attacks such as its air strikes on Syria over the past week.
Iran starts registering election candidates
AP: Iran has started registering candidates for next month’s presidential election that will pick a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The hard-line Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog that supervises the elections, will vet the applicants before allowing them to run in the June 14 elections.
Hezbollah steps up in Syria as Israel tries to ease tension
Wall Street Journal: Hezbollah fighters joined Syrian government forces in the siege of a rebel-held town inside the war-torn country on Monday, local residents said, deepening the Iran-backed group’s involvement in Syria’s civil war and raising alarm among U.S. officials.
Kenya court jails Iran pair for life on terror charges
AFP: A Kenyan court sentenced two Iranians to life in prison on Monday for terror-related charges, including possessing explosives allegedly to be used in bomb attacks.
