The Independent: Seven months after the Royal Navy suffered one of the most humiliating episodes in its history when 15 sailors and Royal Marines were detained by Iranian forces, British patrols have resumed close to the Iranian border.
Escorted by the US Navy, British sailors return to the Gulf
Iran court upholds death sentence on dissident
Reuters: Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence on a Kurdish dissident journalist convicted of charges including spying, his lawyer said on Friday.
Bush, Merkel to focus on Iran in Texas ranch visit
Reuters: President George W. Bush welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday to his Texas ranch where they will seek a common approach to deal with Iran’s nuclear program.
Bush, Merkel to focus on Iran in Texas ranch visit
Reuters: President George W. Bush will welcome German Chancellor Angela Merkel to his Texas ranch on Friday where they will seek to show unity on Iran even as Tehran defies the West over its nuclear program.
Bush extends Iranian asset freeze
AFP: President George W. Bush on Friday extended by one year a freeze of Iranian government assets in the United States that has been in place since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the White House said.
Iran opposition says elite militia tightening grip on econ
Dow Jones: An Iranian opposition group alleged Thursday that new information contained in a confidential government report obtained by the opposition showed the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards militia force had tightened its grip on the Iranian economy.
Florida governor cancels Brazil meeting over Iran ties
Reuters: The governor of Florida, who is on a trade mission in Brazil, canceled a meeting with executives of the state energy company Petrobras on Thursday because of its business dealings with Iran.
Iran booted from Yahoo!, Microsoft lists
UPI: Two U.S.-based e-mail services, Microsoft and Yahoo!, have taken Iran off their country lists.
Washington tells EU firms: quit Iran now
The Guardian: Multinational companies are coming under increasing pressure from the US to stop doing business with Iran because of its nuclear programme. European operators are facing threats from Washington that they could jeopardise their US interests by continuing to deal with Tehran, with increasing evidence that European governments, mainly France, Germany and Britain, are supporting the US campaign.
Iranian fallout
Washington Times: President Bush’s decision to impose sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and other Iranian targets drew support from Capitol Hill to Brussels, as members of Congress and the European Parliament praised the action but urged the administration to go further.
