Iran Focus

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.

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.