Top Stories
AP: "Brazil's foreign minister said Tuesday that despite
the nation's strong opposition to any new sanctions on Iran, it would respect
them if they are approved." http://bit.ly/byjE4z
WP: "Iranian authorities have begun police patrols in the
capital to arrest women wearing clothes deemed improper. The campaign against
loose-fitting veils and other signs of modernism comes as government opponents
are calling for rallies to mark the anniversary of the disputed presidential
election, and critics of the crackdown say it is stoking feelings of
discontent." http://bit.ly/9qGkMr
WSJ: "Iran may be offering a fresh sign that reserve
managers could turn cold on the troubled euro after a local news agency
reported, without naming sources, that the country's central bank plans to
convert €45 billion ($55.06 billion) from its reserves into dollars and gold." http://bit.ly/dxMmQs
Nuclear Program
Dow Jones: "Iran could accumulate sufficient uranium to
build a crude nuclear weapon within a period of eight to nine months, Brazilian
Foreign Relations Minister Celso Amorim said Tuesday. Speaking at a Brazilian Senate Foreign
Relations Committee hearing, Amorim estimated that Iran would need to
accumulate only an additional 800 kilograms of enriched uranium to build a bomb
even if it did follow through with a uranium swap recently proposed in an
accord with Brazil and Turkey." http://bit.ly/dcDPwU
Reuters: "World powers should seriously consider a
newly-drafted fuel swap plan for Iran to part with some of its nuclear
material, even if it is not perfect, a group of high-profile experts said." http://bit.ly/92sceY
CS Monitor: "New report that Iran is amassing more
low-enriched uranium - and has enough to make two nuclear bombs - is likely to
spur the move toward tougher sanctions. But Israel's raid on Gaza aid flotilla
may stall any international action on Iran." http://bit.ly/9H9Sxo
AFP: "Fresh international sanctions against Iran over its
nuclear programme could lead to confrontation, foreign minister Manouchehr
Mottaki warned during a visit to Brussels on Wednesday. 'There are two options,' to resolve the
problem, he told an audience at the European Policy Centre think-tank. 'The first is based on cooperation, the other
is based on confrontation,' he said on the second and last day of his visit to
the Belgian capital." http://bit.ly/b5i2hs
Commerce
AFP: "Beijing has offered a loan of one billion euros
(1.2 billion dollars) to fund projects in Tehran, a report said on Sunday, in a
sign of increased Chinese participation in the Iranian economy." http://bit.ly/b2lZeH
AFP: "Pakistan and Iran on Friday signed a 'sovereign
guarantee' agreement paving the way for the completion of a 7.5-billion-dollar
gas pipeline project within the next four years. The 900-kilometre (560-mile) pipeline will be between
Asalooyeh, in southern Iran, and Iranshahr, near the border with Pakistan, and
will carry natural gas from Iran's South Pars field." http://bit.ly/cgNZKv
Human Rights
Radio Farda: "The lawyer for an Iranian teacher activist
has told RFE/RL's Radio Farda his client has been beaten in prison. Masud Shafie, who represents teachers' union
leader Rasul Bodaghi, told Radio Farda on May 31 that his client informed him
he had been assaulted late last week in prison by three Revolutionary Guards." http://bit.ly/9viY3g
Culture
WSJ: "Long Beach Island, a charming Jersey Shore town
only a tank of gas away from New York City, couldn't be farther from the
streets of Tehran. But this weekend, the Lighthouse International Film Festival
is hoping one screening will transport audiences to Azadi Stadium in Iran's
capital." http://bit.ly/c3Ogud
Opinion
Faye Flam in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "In the last few
months, Iran has advanced to the brink of having a nuclear weapon. It has accumulated at least two tons of
enriched uranium - enough to make two nuclear bombs, according to a U.N. report
released Monday. Though the uranium is meant to be used for power generation
and a medical reactor, it's a short step from there to bomb-grade fuel." http://bit.ly/aaP2ou
Jerry Guo in Newsweek: "The U.N. Security Council has
agreed to new sanctions against Iran, but the country faces a far tougher
threat in an ambitious program by the U.S. Treasury Department to paint it as a
corporate untouchable. In just the past two months, the U.S. government has
persuaded multinationals such as Daimler, Caterpillar, and KPMG to pull out and
banks from Europe to China to stop all transactions originating in Iran." http://bit.ly/bVHnXZ
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