AP: Rebels freed 48 Iranians on Wednesday in exchange for more than 2,000 prisoners, including women and children, held by Syrian authorities — a deal struck after rare negotiations involving regional powers Turkey, Qatar and Iran.

AFP: A British businessman was sentenced to 33 months in a US prison Wednesday for trying to smuggle a key missile component to Iran, officials said.

AP: President Barack Obama’s pick for defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, is meeting with senior Pentagon staff to try to set the record straight about his stand on Iran, saying he backs strong international sanctions against Tehran and believes all options, including military action, should be on the table.

AFP: Turkey has for several days been holding a cargo plane en route from the United Arab Emirates to Iran after its crew refused to document its load, a customs ministry official told AFP on Wednesday.

AP: Two years after a hostage video and photographs of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson raised the possibility that the missing American was being held by terrorists, U.S. officials now see the government of Iran behind the images, intelligence officials told The Associated Press.

AFP: Iran has arrested 10 Indians after their vessels strayed into its territorial waters, a provincial official told the Fars news agency on Tuesday.

Reuters: Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned the Iranian public on Tuesday against helping Tehran’s enemies by criticizing the forthcoming presidential election.

AP: A British businessman who pleaded guilty to trying to buy missile parts and resell them to Iran is expected to learn his punishment. Christopher Tappin is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge David Briones in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday.

AP: Iran’s Foreign Ministry says it is hopeful the appointment of former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon would improve relations between Tehran and the U.S.