London, 4 Apr – Saudi Arabia has taken steps to slow Iran’s efforts at increasing oil exports, banning vessels that transport Iranian crude from entering their waters, Britain’s Financial Times reported on Monday quoting traders and shipbrokers.
Iran Focus
Paris, 3 Apr – A number of female Air France cabin crew are resisting an airline ruling that they should wear a headscarf while in Iran when flights to Tehran resume on 17 April.
Islamabad, 2 Apr – Pakistan has asked Iran to investigate the case of a suspected Indian spy who Pakistani authorities say has confessed to spying against Pakistan from Iran, according to a copy of an Interior Ministry letter to Iran obtained by Reuters on Friday.
Last month, Pakistan said it had detained the suspected spy, Kulbhushan Jadhav, in the violence-plagued province of Baluchistan after he had illegally entered the country from Iran.
Dubai, 2 Apr – Bahrain’s foreign minister said on Friday that Gulf Arab states were prepared to confront Iran over its foreign policy and Tehran should drop its support for Middle East factions.
Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa also played down any difference with the United States over remarks by US President Barack Obama last month telling Saudi Arabia and Iran “to find an effective way to share the neighbourhood”, Reuters reported.
Washington, 2 Apr – United States President Barack Obama on Friday criticized Iranian leaders for undermining the “spirit” of last year’s historic nuclear agreement, even as they stick to the “letter” of the pact.
In comments following the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Obama denied speculation that the US would ease rules preventing dollars from being used in financial transactions with Iran, in order to boost the country’s engagement with the rest of the world.
Iran Focus
London, 31 Mar – On March 20 a large shipment of arms believed to have come from Iran was seized by the French Navy off the coast of Somalia. The cache, which included several hundred AK47 assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank weapons was spotted heading toward Somalia by a helicopter performing routine surveillance although the ultimate destination is believed to be Yemen.
Iran Focus
London, 31 Mar – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has cancelled a trip to Austria planned for March 30-31. A statement from the Austrian President’s office stated the meeting had been postponed by the Iranian side for security reasons. A spokesperson for the Austrian Interior Ministry, Karl-Heinz Grundboeck said that there were “no concrete indications of any security threats”. The Iranian government confirmed the postponement of the meeting, a decision reached by “mutual agreement”.
Washington, 31 Mar – Western businesses ought to avoid dealing with Iran or risk being named and shamed by the United States Congress, Rep. Peter Roskam, chairman of the US House of Representatives Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
The following is the full text of Roskam’s op-ed in The Wall Street Journal:
