AFP: Iran’s nuclear chief said Monday that “explosives” were used last month in an attack aimed at cutting the power supply to an underground enrichment facility but that the plant suffered no damage.
Iran nuclear chief alleges explosives attack
Lebanon demands explanation from Iran over troops
AP: Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has asked for official clarifications from Iran over statements by a senior commander that they have military advisers in Lebanon.
EU’s Ashton to meet Iran nuclear negotiator Tuesday
AFP: EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will meet Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Istanbul on Tuesday as tensions mount over Tehran’s disputed atomic programme, her office said.
Iran’s nuke chief to outline Tehran atomic agenda
AP: Iran’s nuclear chief is addressing a 155-nation meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency that will focus on Tehran’s contentious atomic program as well as Mideast tensions over Israel’s nuclear capacities.
Netanyahu says Iran’s nuclear program is in a ‘red zone’
Bloomberg: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran’s effort to develop nuclear weapons is in a “red zone,” and the U.S. must set a clear “red line” that Iran can’t cross without risking a military attack.
U.S. leads biggest Gulf mine exercise in signal to Iran
Bloomberg: The U.S. and 29 other nations have begun the biggest mine-clearing exercise in the Persian Gulf region, a show of force as tensions escalate over a threatened Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Last big group of Iranian exiles moves to Baghdad
AP: The last big batch of a group of controversial Iranian exiles in Iraq reluctantly left their decades-old home in northeast Iraq on Sunday and moved to a refugee camp outside Baghdad, taking what officials say is a necessary step towards resettling them in other nations.
Report: Iran adds to reward for Rushdie’s death
AP: Iranian newspapers are reporting that a religious foundation has increased a reward for killing British author Salman Rushdie to $3.3 million from $2.8 million in response to alleged insults to the Prophet Muhammad.
Why it matters: Iran
AP: Despite unprecedented global penalties, Iran’s nuclear program is advancing. The United States and other Western nations fear the Islamic republic is determined to develop nuclear weapons and fundamentally reshape the balance of power in the Middle East.
Iran says will hit Hormuz, US bases, Israel if attacked
AFP: The head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards on Sunday warned of retaliation against the Gulf’s strategic Strait of Hormuz, US bases in the Middle East and Israel if his country was to be attacked.
