Bloomberg: Iranians arrested after blasts on a Bangkok street aimed to attack Israeli diplomats, and the devices used were similar to bombs targeting Israelis in India and Georgia this week, according to Thailand’s police chief.
Iranian bombing suspects ‘targeted’ Israeli diplomats, Thailand police say
US: Iran lashing out to “distract” from sanctions
AP: The White House says Iran is lashing out at the world to “distract attention” from the damage that international sanctions are having at home.
Iran unveils nuclear progress, defying US-EU pressure
AFP: Iran announced new strides in its nuclear programme on Wednesday in a defiant blow to US and EU pressure to rein in its atomic activities, and amid signs of an increasingly vicious covert war with Israel over the issue.
Iran tensions rise amid blasts, nuclear progress
AFP: Tensions over Iran rose several notches on Wednesday following a series of suspected bomb plots against Israeli diplomats in different countries, and ahead of an expected announcement on Tehran’s nuclear progress.
Iran’s influence in UP: an American diplomatic cable
New York Times: We’ve unearthed this cable from the Wikileaks archive of diplomatic correspondence from the United States Embassy in New Delhi, dated August 4, 2006 which alleges there was an active Iranian influence in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of heavy attacks that summer by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.
US bid to crimp Iranian oil sales to Asia stumbles
AP: American attempts to get major Asian importers of Iranian oil to rein in their purchases are faltering as allies South Korea and Japan give U.S. officials a polite brushoff. Emerging giants India and China may even increase their purchases, further complicating Washington’s efforts to force Iran to curtail its nuclear program.
Thais find possible bomb link in Thai, India attacks
Reuters: Thai investigators believe they have found a link between this week’s bomb blasts in Bangkok and New Delhi, a senior security official said on Wednesday, two of three botched attacks Israel has blamed on Iran.
Oliver Stone’s son converts to Islam in Iran, Tehran Times says
Bloomberg: Sean Stone, the son of U.S. film director Oliver Stone, has converted to Islam while in Iran, the Tehran Times newspaper reported.
Overseas shipholding awaits U.S. loan decision as tankers end Iran visits
Bloomberg: The U.S. Maritime Administration has a Feb. 18 deadline to decide on a $241.8 million loan guarantee application from the New York-based owner of a supertanker that called at Iran’s biggest crude-export terminal last month.
U.S. leaders: US, UN protect Iranian dissidents
PRNewswire: A bipartisan group of former U.S. political and military leaders is calling for the U.S. State Department to remove a prominent Iranian dissident group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran/Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (PMOI/MeK), from its list of terrorist organizations
