Top Stories
Reuters: "Iran and the United States sent positive signals on Wednesday about
the possibility of fresh talks on the Iranian nuclear program, which Washington
suspects aims to develop atomic weapons. Iran has given an assurance that it
would stop enriching uranium to 20 percent purity if world powers agreed to a
proposed nuclear fuel swap, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told
reporters in Istanbul." http://bit.ly/cej7oI
AFP: "Iran will suspend
uranium enrichment to 20 percent if it acquires nuclear fuel for a research
reactor, the country's atomic chief said on an Iranian television channel on
Thursday. 'We will not need to enrich to 20 percent if our needs are met' for
fuel to power the Tehran reactor, Ali Akbar Salehi said, quoted by Al-Alam
Arabic-language channel." http://bit.ly/bfnvb6
AP: "Australia will impose
new sanctions against Iran, including restrictions for the first time on
business dealings with that country's oil and gas sector, the country's foreign
minister said Thursday." http://nyti.ms/bvHz9q
Nuclear Program
NYT:
"Trying
to offset the effect of sanctions on the country's nuclear program, Iran said Wednesday that it would increase domestic gasoline
production by converting two petrochemical plants so they could produce gasoline
by processing benzene." http://nyti.ms/crK0Oo
Commerce
The National: "China's
imports of Iranian crude oil fell by almost a third in the first half of the
year, new figures showed this week. Volumes have decreased just as new US and
European sanctions threaten to disrupt energy ties between the two countries,
experts say. Iran shipped just over 9 million barrels of oil to China to the
end of last month, making it China's third-largest crude supplier, according to
fresh Chinese customs data." http://bit.ly/9yWtUJ
Human
Rights
NYT: "This
Saturday will mark the one year anniversary of the detainment and imprisonment
of three young Americans in Iran... The circumstances surrounding the hikers'
arrest remain mysterious. But one thing is very clear: Their yearlong detention
in Evin Prison-with no trial date scheduled, no contact with their lawyer, and
perhaps most egregious of all, no end in sight for Sarah's solitary
confinement-is rife with human rights violations." http://nyti.ms/ccct7s
AP: "Amnesty International accused Iran of
harassing the lawyer of a woman sentenced to death by stoning, saying Wednesday
that he has gone missing and two of his relatives have been detained... 'Mostafaei's
whereabouts have been unknown since shortly after he was released from
questioning by judicial officials last Saturday,' the London-based human rights
group said." http://bit.ly/9xEyjj
Radio Farda: "Iranian journalist and
human rights activist Emadeddin Baghi has been sentenced to one year in jail
and banned from political activity for five years, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports."
http://bit.ly/amNLdM
Domestic Politics
Radio Farda: "The Iranian
hard-line website 'Seratnews' says that Tehran's Revolution Square is nowadays
covered with hundreds of Stars of David and that the central square has been 'conquered
by the Zionist regime.' The
website claims that the 'stars' are part of a newly built monument at the
square." http://bit.ly/cuqWcP
Daily Telegraph: "Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, is well known for his outlandish actions
and thoughts.
Here is a list of some of his, and his government's, more quirky 'dislikes.'" http://bit.ly/cATpJe
Opinion
Michael Adler in Politico: "This
final-pressure stage of sanctions thus assumes even greater importance in
avoiding having one day to make the choice between living with an Iran bomb or
having to bomb Iran. Is a nuclear deal possible? Yes. Despite all the prophets
of war and doom, the fat lady has not yet sung." http://bit.ly/dvH7Tw
Golnaz Esfandiari in Radio Farda: "'The website of the followers of Khamenei has been created. Please enter with
your hijab and after completing your ablution.' With that Facebook post,
29-year-old Iranian Ahmad heralded the arrival of a new social networking site,
called Velayatmadaran,
launched by the Iranian establishment." http://bit.ly/ahvnkS
Jane E. Hughes in the Chicago Tribune: "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
who was first elected president of Iran in 2005, also appears to blame the Jews
for everything that's wrong in the world. 'The Zionists are the true
manifestations of Satan,' he tells his fellow Iranians. They are 'this filthy
bacteria,' the scourge of the Middle East and, indeed, of all humanity. At a 'conference'
entitled 'The World Without Zionism' in 2005, he told attendees that 'Israel
must be wiped off the map.' In October 2009 he proclaimed, to thunderous
applause, 'The uniform shout of the Iranian nation is forever Death to Israel.'"
http://bit.ly/bptWOc
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