Reuters: Iran’s central bank has received a total of $1 billion (608 million pounds) of previously frozen oil revenue from Japan under the terms of an extended nuclear agreement with six world powers, state news agency IRNA reported on Thursday. Iran and the United States, China, France, Germany, Britain and Russia agreed in July to extend a six-month interim accord until Nov 24 .
Iran receives $1 billion under extended nuclear deal – IRNA
Iran nuclear talks to continue in New York
Wall Street Journal: A new round of talks to seal a comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and six major world powers will start Sept. 18 in New York, Western diplomats said on Wednesday. The two sides had said negotiations would resume ahead of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. For the past six months, the talks have taken place in Vienna.
A really bad bargain: A U.S.-Iranian “strategic relationship”
National Interest Online: We could thus lose on two fronts. The Iranians get a green light to pursue their nuclear program while at the same time enjoying U.S. approval for their rising preeminence inside Iraq and the region. We’ve made enough mistakes already. Let’s not double down and make another one by trying to work with Iran.
UN’s Iran nuclear probe stalls again
AP: A new and seemingly promising U.N probe of allegations that Iran worked on atomic arms has stalled, diplomats say, leaving investigators not much further than where they started a decade ago and dampening U.S. hopes of reaching a deal with Tehran by a November deadline. Expectations were high just two weeks ago, when chief U.N. nuclear inspector Yukiya Amano emerged from talks in Tehran.
Iran denies pulling out of Sudan cultural centers
AP: A semi-official news agency in Iran reported Wednesday that the Islamic Republic has denied pulling out of its cultural centers in Sudan after the government there ordered them closed. The report by the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Iranian deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahaian as saying Sudan’s leaders will thwart any attempt to damage relations between the two countries.
Iran oil minister vows to bypass sanctions after new U.S. curbs
Reuters: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Tehran would continue to bypass sanctions after the United States penalised a number of companies for violating sanctions imposed on Iran, mostly in connection with its nuclear programme. On Friday, the United States imposed a fresh round of curbs on a number of Iranian and foreign companies, banks and airlines.
Commerzbank said near $650 million settlement on Iran
Bloomberg: Commerzbank AG, Germany’s second-largest lender, will probably agree in coming weeks to a settlement of at least $650 million with U.S. regulators over allegations of sanctions violations involving Iran. The resolution of Commerzbank’s case is likely to involve a deferred-prosecution agreement, similar to other settlements involving sanctions violations reached in recent years.
Ex-officials urge aid for Iranian dissidents at Camp Liberty
Washington Times: A bipartisan group of former officials and retired military officers is urging President Obama to provide humanitarian aid to hundreds of Iranian dissidents living at a former U.S. military compound near Baghdad’s international airport. Gen. Jones said the dissidents require similar protection as the religious minorities who are fleeing persecution from the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
A Christian prisoner in Iran
Wall Street Journal: Iran’s leaders are preparing for another visit to New York this month for the U.N. General Assembly, but many of their citizens aren’t going anywhere as they languish in the regime’s prisons for political crimes. One notable case is Farshid Fathi, an evangelical Christian pastor who this week will spend his 35th birthday in jail.
Sudan government closes Iranian cultural centers
AP: Sudan announced Tuesday it closed the Iranian cultural center in the capital and other branches, saying the establishment violated its mandate and became a social and ideological threat to the largely Sunni country. The official statement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Youssef al-Kordofani came a day after local media reported the Iranian center was shut in the capital, Khartoum.
