AP: The Iranian government financed a 1996 terrorist attack that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia and must pay $254 million to the victims’ families, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Judge: Iran owes $254M in terror attack
CNOOC confirms preliminary gas deal with Iran – Xinhua
Reuters: China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) said on Friday it has signed a preliminary gas deal worth $16 billion with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Xinhua reported.
Lebanon’s top Sunni cleric slams Iran
AFP: Lebanon’s top Sunni cleric Thursday condemned what he described as Shiite Iran’s “blatant intervention” in Lebanese affairs and urged an end to foreign pressure on his country.
U.S. to maintain long presence in Gulf region: Gates
Reuters: An increased U.S. naval presence in the Gulf is not a response to any action by Iran but a message to all countries that the United States will keep its regional footprint “for a long time”, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.
Iran vote unlikely Friday: France
AFP: The French foreign ministry said that a vote at the UN security council on sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme is unlikely to take place Friday, as originally envisaged.
Rice: U.S. talks not needed for Iran to halt its meddling in Iraq
Iran Focus: Washington, D.C., Dec. 22 United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted on Thursday that the Bush administration had been reasonable in offering Iran a chance to hold direct talks if Tehran ceased its uranium enrichment activities.
Rice: U.S. talks not needed for Iran to halt its meddling in Iraq
Iran Focus: Washington, D.C., Dec. 22 United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted on Thursday that the Bush administration had been reasonable in offering Iran a chance to hold direct talks if Tehran ceased its uranium enrichment activities.
Bickering Saudis struggle for an answer to Irans rising influence in the Middle East
New York Times: At a late-night reading this week, a self-styled poet raised his hand for silence and began a riff on neighboring Iraq, in the old style of Bedouin storytellers.
Iran defies United Nations with pledge of ‘going nuclear within weeks’
Daily Telegraph: Iran defied imminent United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme yesterday and pledged that it would become a member of the nuclear club within weeks.
U.S., EU urge vote on Iran ban
Washington Times: The United States and European Union yesterday pushed for a U.N. Security Council vote as early as today on Iran sanctions, a diluted version that drops a U.S.-backed travel ban on Iranian nuclear officials in a bid to win Russian support.
