Reuters: Intesa SanPaolo has suspended financing Iranian oil trading deals, becoming the last Italian bank to bow to pressure from the United States to cut ties with the Islamic Republic, trading sources told Reuters.
Last Italian bank suspends Iran oil deals
Former homeland officials: De-list Iranian opposition group
CQ: Two top homeland security officials in the George W. Bush adminstration last week criticized the Obama administration’s engagement strategy with Iran, as well as the State Department’s decision to keep the resistance group know as Mujahedin-e Khalq on a list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997.
Iran gasoline use drops 16.6 pct after price hike
Reuters: Iranian gasoline useage dropped by 16.6 percent on the first day after the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad implemented a deeply unpopular four-fold price rise, the oil ministry website said on Monday.
Iran increases gas prices in overhaul of subsidies
Washington Post: Police patrolled the streets of Tehran and other cities as Iran on Sunday started a politically sensitive overhaul of the way state subsidies are handed out.
Iran parliament committee votes to cuts ties with UK
Reuters: A committee in Iran’s parliament voted on Sunday to cut diplomatic relations with Britain, a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for “cooperation” with major powers.
Iranian arms cache causes diplomatic rift in W.Africa
AFP: A shipment of Iranian arms discovered in Nigeria in October and destined for Gambia, to the chagrin of neighbouring Senegal, has stirred up diplomatic troubles between Tehran, Dakar and Banjul.
Heavy security on Iran streets after subsidy cuts
AP: Iran deployed squads of riot police around the major intersections of the capital Sunday, bracing for any kind of violent backlash in the tightly controlled Islamic Republic on the day deep cuts in food and energy subsidies went into effect.
Iran ex-foreign minister says sacking ‘un-Islamic’
AFP: Iran’s former foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki has hit out at his sacking this week by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, branding the move both “un-Islamic and offensive.”
Petrol prices shoot up as Iran scraps subsidies
AFP: Domestic petrol prices shot up as much as fourfold on Sunday as the Iranian government started to implement a controversial plan to remove subsidies on energy and food products.
Iran’s nuclear program: Is regime change the way to stop it?
Christian Science Monitor: While Obama officials tout tougher sanctions to get Iranians to the negotiating table, foreign policy conservatives are looking to revive regime change as the way to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
