Wall Street Journal: As the Iran nuclear talks grind toward a soft July 20 deadline in Vienna, U.S. negotiators and their partners seem oblivious to a loophole that could render any agreement meaningless. Tehran could outsource the completion of a bomb to its longtime ally, North Korea. As a venue for secretly completing and testing a nuclear bomb, North Korea would be ideal.
Iran could outsource its nuclear-weapons program to North Korea
Embattled Nouri al-Maliki ‘will not go quietly,’ foes and friends say
Washington Post: Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani did not directly mention Maliki, but he called for the creation of a government that has “broad national support,” a clear reference to Maliki’s failure to win the confidence of the country’s Sunnis during his eight years in office. The message was delivered by his representative Ahmed al-Safi in the holy city of Karbala.
Khamenei says Iran strongly opposes US intervention in Iraq
Reuters: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed strong opposition on Sunday to intervention in Iraq by the United States or anyone else, saying Iraqis themselves could bring an end to violence there, the official IRNA news agency reported. “We are strongly opposed to U.S. and other (countries’) intervention in Iraq,” IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying.
Fox in the henhouse: Obama’s newest middle-east mistake
American Thinker: With our typical lack of foresight, we have sanctioned that Iran send its special black-ops forces to protect Baghdad. How conveniently we have “forgotten” that on Baghdad’s western flank, a kilometer north of the Baghdad International Airport, sits Camp “Liberty,” where some 3,000 Iranian refugee opponents of the Tehran regime reside.
Iran won’t let women watch the world cup
The Daily Beast: Fans are experiencing further obstacles to watching the sports they love. Cinema owners had hoped to arrange screenings for this year’s World Cup games. But General Ahmadi Moghadam, commander of Iran’s Security Forces, announced that football matches would not be shown in cinemas to mixed audiences. It would only be tolerated if men and women watched games in separate halls.
Iran rejects ‘excessive demands’ in nuclear talks with six powers
Reuters: Iran told six big powers on Friday it would not accept their “excessive demands” after the latest talks on lifting sanctions against Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear work yielded no breakthrough, with a deadline for a deal just a month away. U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman said it was Iran that would need to shift its position.
Iran says Obama remarks show U.S. not serious in fighting terrorism
Reuters: President Barack Obama’s plan to send advisers to Iraq to help Baghdad counter Sunni Islamist militants shows the United States is not serious about fighting terrorism, an Iranian official was quoted by official media as saying on Friday. Obama on Thursday offered up to 300 Americans to help coordinate the fight against ISIL. But he held off granting a request for air strikes from the Shi’ite-led government.
Freedom of information still flouted a year after Rouhani’s election
Reporters Without Borders: Reporters Without Borders condemns the lack of progress for freedom of information and the unacceptable conditions in which journalists and netizens are still detained a year after the moderate conservative Hassan Rouhani’s election as Iran’s president on 14 June 2013. Iran is ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
Enigmatic Iranian military man at centre of U.N. nuclear investigation
Reuters: He is believed to top the list of elusive Iranian officials the U.N. nuclear watchdog wants to query. Exiled foes of the Islamic state cite him as the mastermind of clandestine efforts to design an atomic bomb. Tehran is mum about him, while denying having any nuclear arms agenda. Western officials and experts think the shadowy military figure played a pivotal role in suspected Iranian nuclear work.
Questioning Iran’s nuclear program lands professor 18-month sentence
Reuters: Iran has sentenced a prominent academic to 18 months in prison for “spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic” after he questioned the utility of its disputed nuclear program. He questioned the wisdom of vast state spending on a nuclear power programme that the West suspects is a front for developing weapons technology.
