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 president cancels Turkey visit amid Syria rift
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.
Iran, U.N. nuclear agency end talks; no word on site visit
Reuters: Iran said progress was made in Thursday’s talks in Tehran with senior U.N. nuclear inspectors but gave no details other than they would meet again in mid-January.
US slaps more sanctions on Iranian nuclear experts
AFP: The United States Thursday added sanctions on seven Iranian companies and five nuclear experts for their work in support of Tehran’s suspect uranium enrichment program.
Russia positions itself for fall of Syrian regime
AP: Syria’s most powerful ally and protector, Russia, began positioning itself Thursday for the fall of President Bashar Assad, saying for the first time that rebels might overthrow him and preparing to evacuate thousands of Russian citizens from the country.
