Iran Focus

AFP: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hit out Wednesday at a decision to disqualify a close ally from a vote to elect his successor, while former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had no objections to his own omission.

Reuters: Oil imports from Iran fell 34.2 percent in April from March, data from trade sources showed on Wednesday, bolstering the country's case for the renewal of a waiver from US sanctions on Tehran due to expire next month.

ABC News: The United States has new evidence that Iran and Hezbollah have direct involvement with the Syrian regime, a senior State Department official told reporters traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry in Oman.

Reuters: Iran's government is negotiating a tax of up to 40 percent on iron ore exports to take advantage of a surge in sales to China, aiming to replace revenue from oil and other sources eroded by sanctions.

AFP: Iran's moderate ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been barred from standing in next month's presidential election, along with a controversial aide of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

AFP: Saudi authorities have arrested 10 more suspects in an alleged Iranian spy ring unveiled two months ago, an interior ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

Reuters: A U.N. nuclear agency report due this week is expected to show Iran further increasing its capacity to produce material that its adversaries fear could eventually be put to developing atomic bombs, Western diplomats said on Tuesday.

AFP: Iran's June 14 presidential election steps up a gear on Tuesday when the Guardians Council releases the approved list of candidates who have passed muster under the vetting process.

AFP: US Secretary of State John Kerry will help ink a major estimated $2.1 billion proposed deal with Oman to supply a US-made air-defense system to the Gulf nation, officials said Tuesday.

Bloomberg: This might be the worst Washington scandal since Iran-Contra, in which 14 members of President Ronald Reagan's administration were indicted, including U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.

AFP: A car bomb exploded near a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims north of Baghdad on Monday, killing eight people, Iraqi police and a local official said.

AP: Iran's election overseers said Monday they will bar candidates who are physically weak from running in next month's presidential election, a reference to a former leader seen as a threat to hard-liners.

AP: Iran says it has started mass producing a new sophisticated air defense missile system capable of engaging low-altitude aircraft.

Gulf News: Bahrain has condemned a statement by an Iranian minister as flagrant interference in its internal affairs and unprecedented behaviour in relations between sovereign countries.

AFP: Iran is tightening control of the Internet ahead of next month's presidential election, mindful of violent street protests that social networkers inspired last time around over claims of fraud, users and experts say.

AP: Several Iranian newspapers are citing a senior Revolutionary Guard commander as warning his forces will be on watch for possible unrest after the June 14 presidential election.

AP: Iran's state radio says authorities have executed two men convicted of spying for Israel's Mossad and the American CIA spy agency.

The Telegraph: Iran has dispatched one of its newest warships to shadow the world's biggest mine-hunting exercise that has been taking place over the last few days in the Gulf.

Wall Street Journal: The candidacy of Ali Akbar Rafsanjani for the presidential elections in Iran elevates the internal power struggle within the regime and poses a tremendous challenge to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Wall Street Journal: India is looking to broaden its range of exports to Iran to help balance bilateral trade under an agreement that allows the countries to bypass Western sanctions, Indian industry and government officials said.

AP: USA Wrestling says that Iran has pulled out of a dual meet set for Sunday in Los Angeles. The organization said Friday that the Iranian Wrestling Federation told them the team’s schedule has changed and that it has returned to Iran. No further reasons were given for Iran’s departure.

Reuters: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey had already significantly reduced its oil imports from Iran, which is under the choke of Western sanctions, and further cutbacks would depend on his country's energy needs.

AFP: Divers leap from a helicopter into the Gulf's choppy waters to destroy a mine, while a US marine fires at a floating target, as forces from 41 countries gathered for naval manoeuvres facing Iran's shores.

New York Times: Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani headed a family empire that owned the second biggest Iranian airline, Mahan, had a near monopoly on the lucrative pistachio trade and controlled the country’s largest private university, Azad.