Reuters: The article on Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency appeared routine: the minister of roads and urban development said the ministry does not have a contract with construction firm Khatam al Anbia to complete a major highway heading north from Tehran.
Insight: Nuclear deal heightens tension between Iran president and Guards
Iran says warships headed close to US borders
AP: The commander of Iran’s Northern Navy Fleet, Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad, said the vessels have already entered the Atlantic Ocean via waters near South Africa, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran official says oil contracts to be revised
AP: Iran’s Petroleum Minister says it plans to introduce by June a new generation of oil contracts that are more attractive to investors. Mahdi Hosseini, head of the contract revision committee in the ministry, told reporters Sunday that sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear activities drove the revisions.
Iran’s Khamenei demands ‘tolerance’ for Rouhani policies
AFP: Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed his confidence in President Hassan Rouhani Saturday, demanding tolerance from opponents who have criticised him over talks with world powers on Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme.
Iran’s MEK has friends in Congress, but that hasn’t eased problems in Iraq
Miami Herald: The congressional hearing earlier this week was to have focused on al Qaida’s resurgence in Iraq, but lawmaker after lawmaker veered off topic to ask about another problem left from the U.S.-led war there: what to do with a group of Iranian dissidents stuck in a besieged camp in Baghdad.
Iranian diasporas reject Rouhani as part of the ayatollahs’ regime
PRNewswire: A conclave of the Iranian Diaspora from a score of countries on four continents called today for the “overthrow of the clerical regime and the establishment of a democratic republic based on the separation of the mosque and the state that would respect all individual and political freedoms.
Freedom house condemns Iran’s hanging of renowned poet
Radio Free Europe: Freedom House has condemned the execution in Iran of acclaimed poet and activist Hashem Shaabani. The watchdog said Shaabani, 32, was put to death on January 27.
Treasury’s charge sees Tehran enabling al Qaeda in Syria
Wall Street Journal: The Obama administration charged that Tehran has allowed senior al Qaeda members operating from Iranian soil to facilitate the movement of Sunni fighters into Syria.
Shaheen urges Obama to press French on business visits to Iran
The Hill: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) is urging President Obama to use the upcoming state visit with French President Francois Hollande to press him on business visits French companies recently made to Iran.
US diplomats walk out of Tunisia ceremony after Iran jibe
AFP: US diplomats on Friday walked out of the ceremony to celebrate Tunisia’s new constitution after Iran’s representative made “false accusations” about Washington undermining the Arab Spring uprisings, the embassy said.
