Iran Focus

Reuters: Saddled with Middle East problems ranging from Iran to Syria and beyond, President Barack Obama now faces one that is both old and new: Iraq.

Washington Post: The world is, understandably, focused on the Middle East. The map of the region — drawn a century ago by European powers to reflect imperial interests rather than ethnic realities — is unraveling.

New York Times: American officials and corporate security experts examining a new wave of potentially destructive computer attacks striking American corporations, especially energy firms, say they have tracked the attacks back to Iran.

AP: Iran's top nuclear negotiator, a candidate in next month's presidential elections, vowed Friday he will pursue a policy of resistance against the West if elected.

AFP: Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, jailed in 2010 for anti-regime propaganda, told the Cannes Film Festival on Friday he knew his latest picture would also come under fire in his own country.

AFP: US Secretary of State John Kerry slammed Iran on Friday for its barring of would-be candidates for a presidential election next month. Kerry spoke at the end of a visit to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem and Ramallah respectively.

Fars New Agency: A security official reported the arrest of a number of individuals affiliated with the MEK whose mission was to disrupt the elections.

Bloomberg: A dispute over whether to include Iran in proposed negotiations to end the fighting in Syria is complicating the effort by the U.S. and allies to present a unified front against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Reuters: Swiss-based commodities giant Glencore Xstrata (GLEN.L) said on Thursday that it had done nothing wrong when it engaged in metal swaps with Iran, rejecting a suggestion by U.N. experts that such bartering could have been a way of evading sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.

Wall Street Journal: Iranian-backed hackers have escalated a campaign of cyberassaults against U.S. corporations by launching infiltration and surveillance missions against the computer networks running energy companies, according to current and former U.S. officials.

AFP: The US Treasury on Thursday added 20 companies and individuals to its Iran sanctions blacklist, accusing them of supporting Tehran's nuclear efforts and helping the country avoid international sanctions.

AFP: Iran's ruling establishment has moved to prevent infighting by allowing only a handful of conservatives loyal to the all-powerful supreme leader to contest next month's presidential election, analysts say.

Wall Street Journal: The top foreign-policy officials of 11 Western and Arab countries denounced the militant group Hezbollah and fighters from Iran for intervening in recent fighting in the Syrian civil war, calling in a formal statement Wednesday for their removal from the country.

Reuters: Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has accused Iran's leadership of incompetence and ignorance just days after he was barred from standing in an election next month, the opposition Kaleme website reported on Thursday.

Reuters: Metals swap deals with Iran by Switzerland-based commodities giants Glencore Xstrata and Trafigura could have been a way of skirting international sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, according to a confidential U.N. Panel of Experts report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

Washington Post: Iran has begun paving over a former military site where its scientists are suspected to have conducted nuclear-weapons-related experiments, according to a new U.N. report, a move that could doom efforts to reconstruct a critical part of Iran’s nuclear history.

AFP: Iran could face tightened sanctions within months after a US congressional panel Wednesday adopted a measure targeting the nation's auto and mining industries as well as its foreign currency reserves.

Iran Focus: The security forces have reportedly detained a number of former Preisdent, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s campaign staff in the aftermath of his disqualification by the watchdog Guardian Council.

AFP: The UN nuclear watchdog's latest report on Iran's nuclear program marks the "unfortunate milestone" of a decade of Iranian defiance of the body, the US State Department said Wednesday.

Reuters: A U.S. House of Representatives committee approved legislation on Wednesday seeking to impose tighter sanctions on Iran, the latest congressional effort to slow development of the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear program.

AFP: Bahrain on Wednesday said it has found an Iranian drone in the kingdom's north near Saudi Arabia and called for increased cooperation between regional security services to face "threats" from Tehran.

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.