Top Stories
Reuters: "Japan is set to toughen sanctions against Iran as early as this week over its disputed nuclear programme, the Nikkei business daily said, following the United States and European Union's leads in pressuring Tehran. The unilateral measures, which go beyond sanctions imposed by the United Nations, include banning new investments in energy-related industries and imposing a limit on trade insurance, the Nikkei reported on Wednesday." http://bit.ly/bh9ipG
Reuters: "The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday she had pressed China to ensure that Chinese companies did not fill the void left by other firms leaving Iran due to U.N. sanctions. U.S. officials said in July that Chinese companies had been pursuing trade with Iran despite the threat of U.S. sanctions and a June United Nations Security Council resolution imposing more punitive measures on Tehran over its nuclear programme." http://bit.ly/cbY9bu
Reuters: "Turkey's gasoline exports to Iran dropped by a hefty 74 percent in July after U.S.-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic came into force, figures obtained by Reuters from Turkey's statistics office showed on Wednesday. Turkey sold 35,444 tonnes of the fuel to Iran in July, equivalent to roughly one standard cargo tanker or 301,272 barrels, which is down from exports of 138,673 tonnes in June." http://bit.ly/9I3gC6
Nuclear Program
Radio Farda: "Mojtaba Zolnour, deputy representative of Iran's supreme leader in the Revolutionary Guard, has said that 'Zionists' are waiting for the Hidden Imam to appear to kill him. Hojatoleslam Zolnour made the comments earlier this week at Qom University." http://bit.ly/9u7Fz1
Human Rights
AFP: "Prominent Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, barred from attending the screening of his short film 'The Accordion' at the Venice film festival, on Wednesday decried his 'mental imprisonment.' 'Although I have been released from prison now, I am still not free to travel outside of the country,' Panahi, 50, said in a statement read out before the screening of 'The Accordion.'" http://bit.ly/dkc0pX
Domestic Politics
FT: "The wife of one of Iran's opposition leaders pleaded with the country's supreme leader on Wednesday to protect her family from the regime's militias. Fatemeh Karroubi, whose husband Mehdi Karroubi contested last year's disputed presidential election, said members of the Basij militia and the Revolutionary Guard Corps had been outside the family home in Tehran for three days. The men had shouted abuse at Mr Karroubi, insulted his neighbours and vandalised property, she said. They chanted that the 'illiterate Karroubi' was an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service." http://bit.ly/ag1pQN
AFP: "Hardline 'thugs' surrounded the home of opposition Iranian leader Mehdi Karroubi, pelting the building with rocks to prevent the cleric from attending a rally, his website said. In the latest such incident, members of the Islamist Basij militia 'violently attacked' the building where the opposition cleric lives, the sahamnews.org website said." http://bit.ly/dg4Yw4
Radio Farda: "Iran's opposition Green Movement has officially launched a new satellite TV channel, RASA TV (Resan-e Sabz-e Iran or Iran's Green Media), RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Ebrahim Nabavi, one of the channel's organizers, said their aim is to break the state-controlled broadcasters' monopoly on the flow of information, fight against censorship in Iran, reflect the views of all Iranian people, and frankly discuss all issues related to Iran." http://bit.ly/bZF3VY
Foreign Affairs
NYT: "In the political arena, Iran versus the United States is a matchup that gets attention. In a basketball arena, that wasn't the case on Wednesday. 'For me, it's a normal game,' said Mahdi Kamrany, Iran's captain for the world championships in Turkey. The United States won easily, 88-51, in Istanbul to earn a top seed in the knockout round in the first meeting between two countries with a history of contentious relations." http://nyti.ms/cwzXSr
LAT: "The United States, including Lakers star Lamar Odom, blew out Iran score-wise in the basketball game between the two teams in the FIBA World Championship in Istanbul on Wednesday with an 88-51 victory over the Islamic Republic But Iran may have won a smaller victory. It may have prompted the otherwise lightly clad Ukrainian cheerleaders to dress a little more conservatively for the game." http://bit.ly/d8VfmL
AFP: "Egypt said Thursday it has postponed a visit to Cairo by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki over comments criticising the role of some Arab leaders in facilitating Middle East peace talks. The head of the Iranian interests section in Cairo was summoned to explain comments attributed to Mottaki in which he criticised 'the participation of certain Arab leaders in the relaunch of direct peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis in Washington,' the foreign ministry said." http://bit.ly/bDfXP5
AFP: "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to make a brief visit on Sunday to Qatar, Iran's closest ally among the Gulf Arab states, the Iranian ambassador in Doha, Abdollah Sohrabi, said. Ahmadinejad will hold talks with Qatari emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, on issues including the Palestinian question and the devastating floods in Pakistan, Sohrabi told reporters on Thursday." http://bit.ly/dihw5X
Opinion
Tony Karon in TIME: "The U.S. - whose remaining 50,000 troops are still by far the strongest armed force in the country - maintains a veto over military events in Iraq, but Washington's political influence is marginal. Iran, however, retains effective political veto power via its allies among the Shi'ite majority. It may not be influential enough to impose a client regime of its own in Baghdad, but Tehran can prevent the formation of any government that is aligned with Iran's adversaries, including the U.S." http://bit.ly/9HghVn
Lawrence Haas in the Bellingham Herald: "On the very day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the United States would lead a renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace effort, Iran boasted that it had test-fired a surface-to-air missile. A day later, Iran began loading fuel rods into its Bushehr nuclear reactor, marking further progress on its quest for nuclear weapons... These developments illustrate a big problem with the U.S. peace effort - it will divert U.S. time and attention from the far more pressing challenge of containing Iran's regional hegemonic ambitions, which threaten our allies, our role in the region, and our ongoing efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hotspots." http://bit.ly/chGKH2
News Analysis
Scott Wilson in WashPost: "As President Obama convenes the first direct Middle East peace talks in 20 months, the question many observers here and in the region are asking is what, if anything, makes this round any more hopeful than the last. One reason for optimism may be the shared regional fear of Iran, which has only grown since talks broke off between Israelis and Palestinians in December 2008. Obama began a series of bilateral meetings Wednesday morning with the four leaders involved in the talks. Each has his own interest in seeing them succeed, but Iran's threat is a common concern to all of them." http://bit.ly/cMwoM7
Robert Tait in Radio Farda: "A record boom in Tehran's stock market will end in a spectacular crash that could trigger a prolonged depression producing multiple bankruptcies, mass unemployment, and acute economic hardship, analysts say. The warning follows months of soaring share prices that have prompted officials in Iran's Islamic regime to proclaim that the country's economy is flourishing despite fresh international sanctions aimed at combating its nuclear program." http://bit.ly/bTtGOE
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