Iran Focus

Bloomberg: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s announcement that he will soon unveil a “major” nuclear development may be part a strategy he’s employed since 2006 of promising breakthroughs and delivering incremental gains.

Bloomberg: The U.S. Navy would move to stop any Iranian attempt to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz or Persian Gulf as an “act of war” the international community wouldn’t tolerate, the U.S. Navy’s top Gulf commander said.

AP: The top U.S. Navy official in the Persian Gulf says he takes Iran's military capabilities seriously but insists his forces are prepared to confront any Iranian aggression in the region.

AFP: Iran has further restricted access to the Internet and blocked popular email services for the past few days, in a move a top lawmaker said could "cost the regime dearly," media reports said on Sunday.

Bloomberg: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accepted an invitation to travel to China before the end of the Iranian calendar-year on March 19, the state-run Fars news agency reported, citing Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.

AFP: Iran's parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani warned Iran will not forgive Gulf Arab nations if they continue backing US "plots" against Tehran, local media reported on Sunday.

Reuters: Iranian authorities will crack down this week on any public protest against the year-long house arrest of opposition leaders, Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, an official was quoted as saying on Sunday.

AP: An Iranian news agency reports that more than 30 million people in the country have lost access to foreign email services such as Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail.

Reuters: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that the Islamic Republic, targeted by tougher Western sanctions, would soon announce advances in its nuclear program.

AFP: The EU on Friday pushed India to use its influence to get Iran to resume talks over its disputed nuclear drive, a day after New Delhi said it wanted to boost trade with the Islamic republic.

AFP: Hamas "will never recognise Israel," its Gaza prime minister said Saturday in a speech in Iran that is likely to complicate Palestinian efforts to form a unity government in the teeth of opposition from the Jewish state.

AP: An Iranian semiofficial news agency reports that the Hamas prime minister of Gaza has arrived in Tehran. The visit may be an attempt by the Palestinian militant movement to avoid snubbing Iran even as it cultivates ties with the wealthy Gulf.

UPI: Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a stern warning last week against the international community, which imposed sanctions last month targeting the regime's vital oil exports and central bank.

AP: Turkey and Iran, regional heavyweights and heirs to imperial pasts, expanded trade in the past decade and papered over their traditional rivalry with diplomacy and rhetoric. Now these neighbors have staked out opposing positions in Syria, where outside players seek to sway an outcome to the bloodshed that could, in turn, alter power balances in the Middle East.

Reuters: Iran has not approached Malaysia for barter deals to keep its palm oil supplies flowing as Western financial sanctions hurt it ability to pay for imported food staples, two Malaysian government sources told Reuters on Friday.

New York Times: The strategy we should have had for Iraq was to slowly transition from military presence by building Iraqi capacity to maintain security and grow political institutions that would frame and ensure representative governance in Iraq. President Obama’s rush to the exits precludes that outcome.

UPI: Iran says it will hang a former U.S. Marine for alleged espionage, but his attorney says a prisoner swap with the United States could save his life.

AFP: India Thursday said it would send a "huge" trade mission to Iran to explore business opportunities created by sanctions imposed by the West over the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear programme.

AP: The prospect of conflict with Iran has eclipsed Afghanistan as the key national security issue with head-spinning speed. After years of bad blood and an international impasse over Iran's disputed nuclear program, why does the threat of war seem so suddenly upon us?

Reuters: Indian tea exports to Iran are facing payment hurdles, the trade secretary said on Thursday, the latest sign that Western sanctions are biting the Islamic Republic which is struggling to pay to keep its trade flowing.

Bloomberg: India’s external affairs ministry has proposed paying for Iranian crude imports with wheat exports to the Persian Gulf nation, the Economic Times reported, citing an unidentified person with knowledge of the development.

AP: Newt Gingrich kept a stiff upper lip Wednesday after his poor showing in GOP presidential caucuses the night before, but issued dire warnings about Iran's potential nuclear capabilities.

The Guardian: The prospect of direct western military or "humanitarian" intervention, overt and covert, to speed regime change in Syria appears to be strengthening after last week's UN debacle and the regime's ensuing violent efforts to finish off its opponents. But appearances are deceptive.

AP: The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI receives many invitations and that a trip to Lebanon is under consideration but that there are no plans for a visit to Iran.