Top Stories
LAT: "The Obama administration Wednesday added several
dozen Iranian individuals and organizations to its sanctions blacklist, its
first steps to intensify pressure after new international sanctions were
adopted last week by the United Nations Security Council." http://bit.ly/8XYSbW
WSJ: "Proposed U.S. sanctions aimed at starving Iran of
foreign gasoline could be signed into law before the end of June, but a shadowy
network of Middle East gasoline suppliers is already undermining U.S. efforts
to pile pressure on Tehran. Oil traders
and oil industry analysts say Iran will have little trouble finding other
gasoline supplies in the Persian Gulf, where a black market in fuel-products
thrives, even if Washington passes measures that would penalize firms or
individuals with business in the U.S. that supply gasoline to Iran." http://bit.ly/coNGNq
AP: "European Union leaders are set to adopt a new set of
sanctions against Iran on Thursday in a further effort to stall its disputed
nuclear program. The restrictions, which
come on top of sanctions already imposed by the U.N. Security Council, are
slated to be approved during a summit focused primarily on economic issues." http://bit.ly/aI2zcd
Nuclear Program
Bloomberg: "Turkey under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan may be headed for more tension with the U.S. as it steers an
increasingly independent course, enabled by a booming economy that lessens its
dependence on the West. Erdogan says his
embrace of nations such as Syria and Iran that the U.S. regards as adversaries
doesn't put him in that camp." http://bit.ly/9xFUbh
Bloomberg: "Ships from Dubai leave for Iran laden with
consumer goods every day. Iran accounted for 7.5 percent of U.A.E. exports in
2008, according to the CIA World Factbook. Trade between the two countries
exceeded $12 billion in the 12 months to March 20, 2008, the Iranian state-run
Fars News Agency reported. 'The U.A.E.
will be extremely keen not to create an image that they are trying to get around
the trade sanctions,' said Amr Hamzawy, research director and senior associate
of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut." http://bit.ly/9j37Ki
Reuters: "Iran accused Britain, France, Sweden and other
Western nations on Wednesday of supporting an exiled group that Iranian
officials say planned terrorist acts in the country, state media reported." http://nyti.ms/8YRfG0
Commerce
Radio Farda: "Iran's state rail company has warned
Uzbekistan that it will halt the movement of all Uzbek trains across Iran
unless Uzbekistan permits the unrestricted transit of freight bound for
Tajikistan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports." http://bit.ly/cvKCJo
Reuters: "Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan may redirect oil
exports to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk rather than shipping it to
Iran due to sanctions imposed from June 1, an industry source said on Thursday."
http://bit.ly/caFbjt
Human Rights
AP: "The mothers of three Americans jailed in Iran for
nearly a year called Thursday for the immediate release or trial of their
children, saying that country's government is using them as pawns in a standoff
with the U.S. It was the first time the
families of the jailed Americans have expressed any criticism of the Iranian
government." http://bit.ly/cadmVv
AP: "Iran's foreign ministry has rejected Western
nations' criticism of its human rights record, calling it unrealistic and
politically motivated. Western nations
rebuked Iran in a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council this week for what
they called a lack of progress in protecting human rights." http://bit.ly/bS3rMH
Foreign Affairs
AP: "The British ambassador was summoned to Iran's
Foreign Ministry on Wednesday over allegations of British ties to terrorist
activities in the country, the Foreign office said. The semiofficial Mehr news agency said
Wednesday that the summons came following the arrest of militants seeking to
carry out terrorist attacks." http://bit.ly/b0NM6G
Opinion
Golnaz Esfandiari in Radio Farda: "Don't have any doubts
about Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's support for the Islamic hijab,
says one Iranian legislator, Tabibeh Safayi. She has recently pointed to some
of Ahmadinejad's actions to demonstrate the president's apparent belief and
support for the Islamic dress code." http://bit.ly/dnVLCH
Greg Sheridan in The Australian: "If the Americans were
really serious, they would at the very least impose their own blanket economic
sanctions, designed to cause as much disruption to the Iranian economy as
possible, and ask all like-minded countries to follow. It would be an enormous
and costly undertaking, but that is what global leadership sometimes requires."
http://bit.ly/ba9N0O
Jamsheed Choksy for The Hudson Institute: "Ahmadinejad
and his Principlist allies have cultivated a series of alliances in yet another
vitally important branch of the Iranian government-the armed forces. Iranian
sources indicate that the president is using the IRGC and its ancillary wing,
the Basij, to centralize power within the executive branch." http://bit.ly/cuWSYL
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