Top Stories
Reuters: "Iran and the United States sent positive signals on Wednesday about the possibility of fresh talks on the Iranian nuclear program, which Washington suspects aims to develop atomic weapons. Iran has given an assurance that it would stop enriching uranium to 20 percent purity if world powers agreed to a proposed nuclear fuel swap, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul." http://bit.ly/cej7oI
AFP: "Iran will suspend uranium enrichment to 20 percent if it acquires nuclear fuel for a research reactor, the country's atomic chief said on an Iranian television channel on Thursday. 'We will not need to enrich to 20 percent if our needs are met' for fuel to power the Tehran reactor, Ali Akbar Salehi said, quoted by Al-Alam Arabic-language channel." http://bit.ly/bfnvb6
AP: "Australia will impose new sanctions against Iran, including restrictions for the first time on business dealings with that country's oil and gas sector, the country's foreign minister said Thursday." http://nyti.ms/bvHz9q
Nuclear Program
NYT: "Trying to offset the effect of sanctions on the country's nuclear program, Iran said Wednesday that it would increase domestic gasoline production by converting two petrochemical plants so they could produce gasoline by processing benzene." http://nyti.ms/crK0Oo
Commerce
The National: "China's imports of Iranian crude oil fell by almost a third in the first half of the year, new figures showed this week. Volumes have decreased just as new US and European sanctions threaten to disrupt energy ties between the two countries, experts say. Iran shipped just over 9 million barrels of oil to China to the end of last month, making it China's third-largest crude supplier, according to fresh Chinese customs data." http://bit.ly/9yWtUJ
Human Rights
NYT: "This Saturday will mark the one year anniversary of the detainment and imprisonment of three young Americans in Iran... The circumstances surrounding the hikers' arrest remain mysterious. But one thing is very clear: Their yearlong detention in Evin Prison-with no trial date scheduled, no contact with their lawyer, and perhaps most egregious of all, no end in sight for Sarah's solitary confinement-is rife with human rights violations." http://nyti.ms/ccct7s
AP: "Amnesty International accused Iran of harassing the lawyer of a woman sentenced to death by stoning, saying Wednesday that he has gone missing and two of his relatives have been detained... 'Mostafaei's whereabouts have been unknown since shortly after he was released from questioning by judicial officials last Saturday,' the London-based human rights group said." http://bit.ly/9xEyjj
Radio Farda: "Iranian journalist and human rights activist Emadeddin Baghi has been sentenced to one year in jail and banned from political activity for five years, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports." http://bit.ly/amNLdM
Domestic Politics
Radio Farda: "The Iranian hard-line website 'Seratnews' says that Tehran's Revolution Square is nowadays covered with hundreds of Stars of David and that the central square has been 'conquered by the Zionist regime.' The website claims that the 'stars' are part of a newly built monument at the square." http://bit.ly/cuqWcP
Daily Telegraph: "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, is well known for his outlandish actions and thoughts. Here is a list of some of his, and his government's, more quirky 'dislikes.'" http://bit.ly/cATpJe
Opinion
Michael Adler in Politico: "This final-pressure stage of sanctions thus assumes even greater importance in avoiding having one day to make the choice between living with an Iran bomb or having to bomb Iran. Is a nuclear deal possible? Yes. Despite all the prophets of war and doom, the fat lady has not yet sung." http://bit.ly/dvH7Tw
Golnaz Esfandiari in Radio Farda: "'The website of the followers of Khamenei has been created. Please enter with your hijab and after completing your ablution.' With that Facebook post, 29-year-old Iranian Ahmad heralded the arrival of a new social networking site, called Velayatmadaran, launched by the Iranian establishment." http://bit.ly/ahvnkS
Jane E. Hughes in the Chicago Tribune: "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was first elected president of Iran in 2005, also appears to blame the Jews for everything that's wrong in the world. 'The Zionists are the true manifestations of Satan,' he tells his fellow Iranians. They are 'this filthy bacteria,' the scourge of the Middle East and, indeed, of all humanity. At a 'conference' entitled 'The World Without Zionism' in 2005, he told attendees that 'Israel must be wiped off the map.' In October 2009 he proclaimed, to thunderous applause, 'The uniform shout of the Iranian nation is forever Death to Israel.'" http://bit.ly/bptWOc
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