Iran Focus

AP: Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman says Tehran's nuclear negotiator is seeking a "constructive" response from the European Union's top diplomat in upcoming talks aimed at possibly restarting wider dialogue with the U.S. and other world powers.

AP: Iran has expressed regret for the shooting deaths of Afghan migrants entering the country illegally over the weekend.

Washington Post: After failing to halt Iran’s nuclear advances with harsh economic sanctions, a group of U.S. lawmakers and analysts is proposing a more drastic remedy: cutting off Iran entirely from world oil markets.

AFP: United States ambassadors will boycott meetings of the UN Conference on Disarmament when Iran takes over the body this month, a US spokeswoman said Monday.

The Guardian: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, gazes down from a giant coloured backdrop that adorns the wall of the Tehran ministry that has been registering candidates for next month's presidential election.

AFP: Iran is unhappy with the current oil prices, its oil minister said Monday, hinting at a proposal for the OPEC to lower its output to compensate for a drop in crude prices.

AP: A Nigerian federal judge has found an Iranian and a Nigerian guilty of attempting to smuggle a shipment of military-grade weapons seized at the country's main port.

Reuters: Iran expects progress will be made in talks this week with the United Nations' atomic agency, Tehran's nuclear envoy said on Monday, but Western diplomats held out little hope of an end to the deadlock.

New York Times: A day after two game-changing politicians signed up at the last minute as candidates for Iran’s presidential elections in June, the country’s governing establishment reacted angrily, predicting that they would not be allowed to participate or that they would definitely lose.

Reuters: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may face charges for accompanying his former chief of staff to register for June's presidential vote, the country's electoral watchdog said.

AFP: Vice Admiral John Miller, commander of the US Fifth Fleet, said on Sunday that a massive naval minesweeping exercise involving 41 countries was not directed at Iran.

AP: Afghanistan has accused Iran of holding as many as 21 migrant Afghan workers following a border shooting incident during the weekend and has filed a formal complaint to Tehran, an official said Sunday.

AFP: Iran has given Reuters news agency permission to reopen its Tehran bureau after work there was suspended in March 2012 over one of its video reports, a culture ministry official said on Saturday.

AP: A pair of powerful and divisive figures registered Saturday to run in Iran's presidential election, jolting the political landscape ahead of next month's vote to pick a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

New York Daily News: Iran is looking for more business with India in non-oil sectors to boost the bilateral trade, said its Consul General Hassan Noorian who sees great potential for cooperation in various non-oil fields like pharma, IT, electronics, automobile spare parts and food processing.

AP: Iran's powerful former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has entered the race for the June presidential election. Simultaneously, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's close confident Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei also signed up in the last minutes before Saturday's registration deadline.

Reuters: Iranian guards fired on a large group of Afghan migrants illegally crossing the border overnight, killing at least nine people, Afghan officials said on Saturday.

AFP: Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on Saturday registered to stand in the June 14 presidential election, joining several conservative hopefuls aiming to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

AFP: A strong earthquake of 6.2 magnitude hit southern Iran early on Saturday, killing one child and injuring at least 20 others in remote, mountainous villages, state television reported.

Reuters: New candidates entered Iran's presidential race on Saturday on opposite sides of the divide between loyal defenders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and opponents accused of threatening to undermine him.

Reuters: Iran welcomes a U.S.-Russian proposal for an international conference on ending the conflict in Syria and hopes it will be held in Geneva, Vice President Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh said in Geneva on Friday.

Reuters: Iran's nuclear and hydropower facilities are well protected from cyber attacks and even the most powerful earthquakes, Iranian environmental protection chief Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh said on Friday.

The Independent: The situation for the mullahs in Iran and their leader Ali Khamenei has never been so bleak. Facing growing discontent at home, and waning support abroad, Khamenei is desperate to prolong the life of a regime that many think is crumbling.

Reuters: An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined the presidential race on Friday, with authorities keen to make the June vote a peaceful contrast to the upheaval that followed the disputed 2009 poll.