AFP: The UN atomic agency, after a year of false starts, finally expects to sign a long-elusive deal with Iran on January 16, but that will be the easy part, experts say.
Mooted IAEA-Iran ‘deal’ just the beginning: analysts
Argentina slaps $6 mn fine on HSBC subsidiary
AFP: Just last week, officials in the United State found that HSBC’s parent flouted US sanctions on Iran and other countries and laundered Mexican drug money to build its business, and hit it with a massive $1.92 billion in fines.
Iran ex-president son out on bail: prosecutor
AFP: The son of Iran’s former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was released on bail late on Sunday, the office of Tehran’s prosecutor said in a statement.
Iran president cancels Turkey visit amid Syria rift
Reuters: Iran’s president has canceled a trip to Turkey a day after his military chief warned the deployment of NATO missiles along its border with Syria could lead to a “world war”, Turkey’s state-run Anatolian news agency said on Sunday.
Iran urges election as step to halt Syria conflict
AP: Iran is backing presidential elections in Syria as part of a six-point plan outlined Sunday to halt the 21-month civil war in Tehran’s main Middle East ally.
Iran says oil revenues down by half: paper
Reuters: Iran’s oil revenues have been cut in half this year compared with last year, a newspaper quoted Iran’s economic minister as saying, an admission of how deeply Western sanctions are cutting Tehran’s chief source of funds.
Iran army chief warns Turkey over Patriot missiles
AFP: Iran’s armed forces chief of staff on Saturday warned Turkey over its plans to deploy US-made Patriot missiles, saying the move was part of a Western plot to “create a world war”.
South Korea’s imports of Iranian crude climb in November
Bloomberg: South Korea’s imports of oil from Iran increased 2.9 percent in November from October, when it resumed shipments from the Persian Gulf nation.
IAEA confident of nuclear deal with Iran in January
AFP: The UN nuclear agency expressed confidence Friday that it will clinch a deal with Iran next month under which Tehran will at last answer “credible” evidence of atomic weapons research, but analysts and diplomats were sceptical.
Chuck Hagel’s ambiguous stance on dealing with Iran
Washington Post: Hagel, like Obama, has consistently emphasized diplomacy first in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program. But, while Obama has long been clear that he considers military strikes a viable last resort, Hagel’s statements on the matter have been far more ambiguous.
