Iran Focus

AFP: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ruled out an attack on the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme, during a visit to Qatar on Sunday, because any such action would result in Israel's destruction.

AP: The Vatican is raising the possibility of a diplomatic effort to try to spare the life of an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned for adultery.

AFP: Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Sunday denied they and Islamist militiamen had besieged opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi's home, but urged that the cleric and "seditionists" like him be tried.

AFP: Most banks in the United Arab Emirates, an important trading partner for Iran, have stopped money transfers there after the latest round of sanctions on the Islamic republic, bankers said on Sunday.

AFP: A senior Iranian cleric, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, dismissed the Nazi Holocaust of Jews during World War II as a new "superstition" for the West, media reported on Saturday.

AFP: The Palestinian Authority lashed out Saturday at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his remarks about the relaunching of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

CNN: The administration of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas lashed out at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday, a day after Ahmadinejad criticized Abbas for renewing direct peace talks with Israel.

Los Angeles Times: Iranian authorities on Saturday arrested the prominent lawyer and women's rights activist Nasrine Sotoudeh, her husband told Babylon & Beyond.

AFP: Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, has also been sentenced to 99 lashes for a photo published of her without a headscarf, according to her son.

Bloomberg: President Barack Obama’s top military adviser, Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, urged Turkey to help ensure Iran doesn’t gain the capacity to make atomic weapons and to extend the period of its commands in Afghanistan.

Wall Street Journal: Iran's government used annual pro-Palestinian demonstrations Friday to renew its threat to wipe Israel off the map, while dissident leaders accused the regime of using verbal attacks on Israel to divert attention from its battle with domestic political opponents.

AFP: Japan imposed new sanctions Friday against Iran, including an assets freeze on people and entities linked to its contentious nuclear programme and tighter restrictions on financial transactions.

AFP: The United States praised Japan Friday for imposing new sanctions on Iran that include an asset freeze and tighter restrictions on financial transactions, part of a global response to Tehran's contested nuclear program.

Iran Focus: Mashhad, Sep. 3 - From the Grapevine... Dozens of people in the north-eastern city of Mashhad early on Friday chanted “death to the dictator” and “Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon; I give my life for Iran” in opposition to the government-organised Qods (Jerusalem) day marches, eye witnesses said.

AP: Iran's military chief of staff says Tehran could strike Israel's nuclear facility if the Jewish state were to attack Iran's nuclear sites.

AFP: Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday that the people of the Middle East are "capable of removing the Zionist regime from the world scene" in an annual Palestinian solidarity day address in Tehran.

Bloomberg: Members of Iran’s Basij militia detained opposition supporters during Quds Day, the annual state-organized event to express solidarity with the Palestinian people, al-Arabiya television reported.

AFP: The son of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, pleaded Friday for sustained international pressure to save her life.

Wall Street Journal: Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi was attacked on Thursday night when a group of militiamen broke into his residential building and fired on his bodyguards, according to a family member.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Sep. 3 - Skirmishes erupted between security forces and anti-government protestors in Tehran on Friday which marks the state's annual Qods (Jerusalem) Day.

AFP: The son of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, pleaded Thursday for Brazil to keep up its campaign to try to save his mother's life.

AP: The lawyer defending a woman sentenced to death by stoning in Iran has been reunited with his family in Norway.

AFP: Egypt said Thursday it has postponed a visit to Cairo by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki over comments criticising the role of some Arab leaders in facilitating Middle East peace talks.

Reuters: The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday she had pressed China to ensure that Chinese companies did not fill the void left by other firms leaving Iran due to U.N. sanctions.