Reuters: Sri Lanka will refurbish its only refinery, now designed to refine mainly Iranian light crude, to process many other grades to enable the island nation to face a decline in Iranian crude imports after U.S. sanctions get effective by end June, Petroleum Industries minister said on Friday.
Sri Lanka to upgrade refinery to use non-Iran oil
Iran’s Oil Ministry under cyberattack
UPI: Iran’s Oil Ministry, already battling stringent economic sanctions aimed at throttling the country’s oil exports, is now having to fight on another front: cyber attacks.
US may have to strike Iran: Republican VP prospect
AFP: Potential Republican vice presidential candidate Marco Rubio said Wednesday that a unilateral “military solution” from the United States may be needed to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.
Iran ‘mobilizing’ for cyberwar with West: experts
AFP: Iran is busy acquiring the technical know-how to launch a potentially crippling cyber-attack on the United States and its allies, experts told a congressional hearing on Thursday, urging the US to step up its defensive measures.
Lloyd’s Register withdraws from Iran due to sanctions
Reuters: Lloyd’s Register, a leading maritime risk management firm, has shut its operations in Iran and can no longer vouch for the safety of the OPEC member’s fleet due to Western sanctions, the head of the company told Reuters.
Exclusive – South Korea’s Iran crude imports to plunge from June – sources
Reuters: South Korea will make sharp cuts in imports of Iranian crude from June as tightening Western sanctions make it impossible to secure insurance cover for tankers to ship the crude, industry and company sources said.
Japan’s crude imports from Iran drop as sanctions bite
Reuters: Japan’s customs-cleared crude imports from Iran fell 6.3 percent in March from a year ago, ahead of a sharp drop expected in April and May due to difficulty in doing business with the Islamic Republic amid tighter Western sanctions.
4 Iran Guards killed in clashes with Kurd rebels
AP: Four troops from Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards have been killed in clashes with Kurdish rebels in western Iran, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported Wednesday. Eight others were wounded.
British man gets $1M bail in Iran missile case
AP: A judge granted a $1 million bail Monday for a British man who was extradited to Texas to face charges that he tried to sell missile parts to Iran.
Iran says new US sanctions could affect talks
AFP: Iran on Tuesday warned that new US sanctions targeting its access to surveillance technology were “negative” and could adversely affect its crucial talks next month with world powers over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
