Washington Post: Iran recently sought to acquire tens of thousands of highly specialized magnets used in centrifuge machines, according to experts and diplomats, a sign that the country may be planning a major expansion of its nuclear program that could shorten the path to an atomic weapons capability.
Iran’s bid to buy banned magnets stokes fears about major expansion of nuclear capacity
Iranian Guards commander killed in Syria
Reuters: An Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander has been killed inside Syria by rebels battling Iran’s close ally President Bashar al-Assad, Iranian officials and a rebel leader said on Thursday.
Iran denies transferring arms to Somali militants
AP: Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council obtained Thursday by The Associated Press that the allegations in a report by experts monitoring sanctions against Somalia and Eritrea were part of a “malicious campaign.”
US lawmakers urge release of Christian in Iran
AFP: US lawmakers on Thursday pressed for the release of an Iranian-American pastor imprisoned in Tehran over his work with underground churches, urging the use of all diplomatic efforts.
Iran sought nuclear parts in China: report
AFP: Iran tried to smuggle thousands of specialized magnets through China for its centrifuges, in an effort to speed its path to reaching nuclear weapons capability, according to a new US report.
U.N. nuclear talks with Iran fail, no new meeting set
Reuters: U.N. inspectors returned on Thursday from talks in Tehran with no deal on reviving a nuclear investigation and no date for a new meeting, failing to produce even a small signal of hope for big power diplomacy aimed at averting a war.
Will this be the final year of the Iranian Regime?
The Independent: On Sunday, the Iranian regime marked the 34th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, yet the regime has little reason to celebrate. Facing growing international isolation, economic depression and social unrest, this year may be the bleakest in the regime’s history.
Iran 34 years after the revolution
UPI: The Iranian people had many hopes after the fall of the shah in February 1979 but that great revolution was hijacked by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the Islamic fundamentalists and a much more ruthless tyranny began.
UN official: No deal on resuming Iran nuke probe
AP: Senior officials of the U.N. atomic agency have returned from Tehran without a hoped-for deal that would have led to the resumption of a probe into allegations that Iran worked secretly on nuclear arms.
Senior Iranian official shot dead in Syria
AFP: Assailants shot dead a senior Iranian official in Syria while he was travelling by road towards the Lebanese capital overnight, the Iranian authorities said on Thursday.
