Bloomberg: Iran and its leading oil buyers, China and India, are finding ways to skirt U.S. and European Union financial sanctions on the Islamic republic by agreeing to trade oil for local currencies and goods including wheat, soybean meal and consumer products.
India and China skirt Iran sanctions with ‘junk for oil’
Japan crude imports from Iran fall 32.7% in Feb
Reuters: Japan’s crude oil imports from Iran fell 32.7 percent in February from a year earlier to 1.41 million kilolitres (305,800 barrels per day), data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed on Friday.
Baghdad Arab summit spotlights fault lines
UPI: The Arab League summit that began Thursday in Baghdad has illuminated the political and religious divisions splitting with Arab world, while powerful eastern non-Arab neighbor Iran looks on and tries to pull Iraq’s strings.
Obama likely to find oil market can handle Iran sanctions
Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama is likely to determine by Friday that there will be enough oil in the world market to allow countries to cut imports from Iran, taking another step toward sanctioning those nations that do not, analysts and a congressional aide said.
Iran, Turkey sharply differ on Syria
AP: Iranian and Turkish leaders exchanged sharply opposing views Thursday as they discussed how to deal with the crisis in Syria.
Reuters says Iran suspends staffers’ accreditation
AP: Reuters says the Iranian government has suspended media accreditation for its staff in Tehran after the news agency published a video on women’s martial-arts training that contained an error.
U.S. moving minesweepers to waters near Iran
CNN: Four Navy minesweepers will be on their way to the Persian Gulf within weeks as part of an effort to boost American military capability in the region amid rising tensions with Iran, a Navy official says.
Turkey voices support for Iran nuclear programme
AFP: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday voiced his country’s unwavering support for Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in a meeting with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to an official statement.
Explosions heard as Arab summit opens in Baghdad
AP: The annual Arab summit meeting opened in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday with only 10 of the leaders of the 22-member Arab League in attendance and amid a growing rift between Arab countries over how far they should go to end the one-year conflict in Syria.
Kuwait condemns Sunnis for burning Iran flag
AFP: Kuwait on Thursday condemned Sunni activists for setting ablaze an Iranian flag during a rally to protest a Shiite tweeter’s insults against Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.
