Top Stories
NYT: "Iran announced an agreement on Monday to ship some
of its nuclear fuel to Turkey in a deal that could offer a short-term solution
to its ongoing nuclear standoff with the West, or prove to be a tactic aimed at
derailing efforts to bring new sanctions against Tehran." http://nyti.ms/9vlrEr
AP: "A radical cleric called Saturday for the creation of
a 'Greater Iran' that would rule over the entire Middle East and Central Asia,
in an event that he said would herald the coming of Islam's expected messiah." http://bit.ly/9t8ksR
WP: "The mothers of three American hikers held for 10
months in Iran know that their visit with their children may be brief so
they've thought about what they want to say and do. Cindy Hickey wants to make sure her son and
the two friends imprisoned with him see that there's a future in which they're
free - a light at the end of the tunnel." http://bit.ly/bQvGWW
Nuclear Program
McClatchy: "As world powers wrangle this month at the
United Nations about how to handle Iran's nuclear plans, China is attempting to
balance its thirst for Iranian oil and natural gas with its ambition to be a
diplomatic heavyweight." http://bit.ly/dryIN5
Human Rights
NYT: "A young French teacher arrested on spying charges
last July for photographing demonstrations in Iran will be allowed to leave the
country after paying a fine of about $300,000, her lawyer said in Tehran on
Saturday." http://nyti.ms/dpdjSu
Radio Farda: "An Iranian court has convicted two
activists in absentia and sentenced them to jail and lashes over a 2007
protest. Shadi Sadr, 35, an
award-winning women's rights activist, was sentenced to six years in jail and 74 lashes for acting
against national security and harming public order, her lawyer, Mohammad
Mostafai, said according to Iranian media reports." http://bit.ly/amI4sZ
Culture
LAT: "Landlocked and still recovering from the decades of
Soviet rule and a war with Azerbaijan that quickly followed, Armenia may not be
the world's most attractive vacation destination. But for those living in the neighboring
Islamic Republic, it's a kind of earthly paradise." http://bit.ly/dtbO2G
Opinion
Scott Peterson in CS Monitor: "The Iran nuclear fuel
swap deal, brokered by Turkey and Brazil, was cast by many as a
confidence-building measure. But Iran would still continue enriching uranium,
in defiance of the UN Security Council." http://bit.ly/bVqZya
John Vinocur in NYT: "These days, when Senator Jon Kyl
denounces efforts to muffle a strong response to Iran's rush toward nuclear
weapons, his prime target is not the Chinese or Russians, but Barack Obama. There is no deferential cushion attached to
his message: 'The president,' the senator has said, 'must drop his obstruction
of and halt his efforts to water down the tough new sanctions on Iran that
Congress is considering.'" http://nyti.ms/9tMTin
William Tobey in Foreign Policy: "The United States and
its allies want to strengthen the Treaty by making withdrawal more costly,
improving measures to detect cheating, and limiting the spread of the most
sensitive technologies. Iran is equally determined to block these measures and
is assembling a coalition to do so, with Belarus, Cuba, Syria, and Venezuela at
its core." http://bit.ly/bwSqq0
Jonathan Schanzer in Foreign Policy: "The U.S. Congress
is very close to sending President Barack Obama a bill designed to sanction
Iran's energy industry -- and potentially stop Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and his coterie from getting a nuclear bomb. The Iran Refined
Petroleum Sanctions Act is taking its final steps toward congressional
reconciliation. If passed, the new law will hammer Iran's lucrative energy
sector, making it even harder for cash-strapped Tehran to finance its illicit
nuclear program." http://bit.ly/bKaOu7
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