Reuters: European governments have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian oil, EU diplomats said Wednesday, dealing a potentially heavy blow to Tehran that crowns new Western economic sanctions imposing real pain just months before an Iranian election.

Reuters: The Massachusetts public employees pension fund has divested all of its stakes in companies with major ties to Iran’s energy industry, joining a campaign to pressure the country to stop developing nuclear weapons, state Treasurer Steve Grossman said on Tuesday.

Reuters: Kuwait protested on Tuesday against Iran’s intention to unilaterally develop a disputed offshore gas field in the Gulf unless an agreement is reached, Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA reported.

Reuters: Iran will take action if a U.S. aircraft carrier which left the area because of Iranian naval exercises returns to the Gulf, the state news agency quoted army chief Ataollah Salehi as saying on Tuesday.

AP: The daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been convicted and sentenced to six months in prison on charges of making propaganda against the ruling system.

AFP: A trial in Iran of an American-Iranian man accused of being a CIA spy has finished and he is now awaiting the verdict, the country’s chief prosecutor said Monday, according to the Mehr news agency.

AP: Pakistani authorities have yet to decide what to do with three Iranian border guards who they say crossed into southwestern Pakistan while chasing after smugglers and killed one them, a government official said Monday.

AFP: Iran on Monday tested missiles near the Strait of Hormuz, underlining its threats to close the vital oil-transit waterway as the West readies to impose more economic sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear drive.