AFP: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will begin a regional tour on Sunday to drum up support for next month’s international conference in Egypt aimed at quelling the raging bloodshed in Iraq.
Iraq PM to lobby for Egypt talks
Engineer accused of taking codes to Iran
AP: A former engineer at the nation’s largest nuclear power plant has been charged with taking computer access codes and software to Iran and using it to download details of plant control rooms and reactors, authorities said.
Austria’s OMV signs MOU with Iran to develop South Pars gas field
AFP: Austria’s OMV, the biggest oil and gas group in Central Europe, announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran Saturday to jointly develop a gas field in the Gulf.
Iran signs major gas deal with Austria’s OMV: reports
Reuters: Iran signed a major gas development and production agreement with Austrian energy group OMV on Saturday, official Iranian media reported.
Iran: West should build nuclear plants
AP: An Iranian official invited Western nations Friday to help build nuclear power plants across Iran, reiterating his country’s insistence on pursuing an atomic program as a European official said the two sides had agreed to discuss the standoff next week.
Iran says UN has no right to stop enrichment plans
Reuters: Iran’s foreign minister said on Saturday the U.N. Security Council, which has passed two sanctions resolutions on Iran since December, had no right to stop it enriching uranium.
Iran hopes for “serious” talks
Reuters: Iran expressed hope on Sunday that talks with a senior EU official next week could lead to a solution to its row with the West, but made clear it would not halt a nuclear fuel enrichment program, which the West fears could produce an atomic bomb.
Iran needs several years to produce nuclear fuel: official
AFP: Iran still needs several years to be in a position to manufacture enough nuclear fuel through uranium enrichment for industrial use, the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency said on Friday.
US hails fresh EU-Iran nuclear talks, urges Tehran to cede ground
AFP: The United States on Friday welcomed the planned renewal of talks between the European Union and Iran aimed at ending an international showdown over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Rice open to talks with Iran at Iraq meeting
Reuters: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend a meeting of Iraq’s neighbors in Egypt next month and is open to direct talks with Iran over Iraq, the State Department said on Friday.
