WSJ: A letter-writing campaign to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has shattered a taboo against criticizing the country’s top religious and political authority.
Letter writers break Iranian taboo
Iran claims new oil field discovery
UPI: Iran made an oil field discovery that will add to its recoverable reserve estimate of more than 150 million barrels, an official said.
Iran denies role in Israeli embassy attack -envoy
Reuters: Iran rejects as “sheer lies” accusations that it was involved in a bomb attack on the Israeli embassy in India, the official IRNA news agency quoted the Islamic Republic’s ambassador to New Delhi as saying on Monday.
Iran: Nuclear facilities immune to cyber attacks
AP: A senior Iranian military official said Monday that Tehran’s nuclear and other industrial facilities suffer periodic cyber attacks, but that the country has the technology to protect itself from the threat, an official news agency reported.
Iran chokes Internet at politically sensitive time
AFP: Access to the Internet’s most-used sites and tools is being choked in Iran at a politically charged period, blocking communication channels for local businesses, bank clients, scientists and foreign media.
Israel blames Iran for embassy bombs in Delhi, Tbilisi
AFP: A hitman on a motorbike fixed a suspected magnetic bomb on an Israeli embassy car in the Indian capital on Monday, police said, in one of two attacks in New Delhi and Tbilisi blamed by Israel on Iran.
Google confirms Gmail and YouTube blocked in Iran since Feb. 10
Bloomberg: Google Inc.’s (GOOG) encrypted search, Gmail, Google Videos and YouTube have been blocked in Iran since Feb. 10, the company said in an e-mailed response to a query.
Ahmadinejad’s ‘major’ nuclear progress comment follows rhetorical pattern
Bloomberg: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s announcement that he will soon unveil a “major” nuclear development may be part a strategy he’s employed since 2006 of promising breakthroughs and delivering incremental gains.
U.S. would block Iran from mining Hormuz Strait, commander says
Bloomberg: The U.S. Navy would move to stop any Iranian attempt to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz or Persian Gulf as an “act of war” the international community wouldn’t tolerate, the U.S. Navy’s top Gulf commander said.
US admiral says forces prepared to confront Iran
AP: The top U.S. Navy official in the Persian Gulf says he takes Iran’s military capabilities seriously but insists his forces are prepared to confront any Iranian aggression in the region.
