Iran Focus

Wall Street Journal - Review & Outlook: Another International Atomic Energy Agency report serves up more data on Iran's atomic progress. Ho-hum. So, barring an epiphany of seriousness by the so-called international community, one of these days Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will usher his regime into the world's club of nuclear states.

BBC: The latest report from UN weapons inspectors has raised new fears that Iran could be building the capability to make nuclear weapons.

AFP: Iran will circumvent international sanctions aimed at halting its controversial nuclear programme, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Tuesday.

Reuters: South Korea blacklisted on Wednesday 102 companies, including the Seoul branch of Iran's Bank Mellat, and 24 individuals accused of facilitating Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

AP: Germany, the European Union and a major human rights group slammed Iran on Wednesday for its plans to stone a woman convicted of adultery, increasing the global pressure on Tehran over a case it has tried to present as a criminal matter and not one of human rights.

Iran Focus: Washington, Sep. 09 – A previously-undisclosed Iranian nuclear site will be unveiled on Thursday, potentially causing further embarrassment to Tehran which on Tuesday ticked the UN atomic watchdog for a report critical of its lack of cooperation with international inspectors.

CBS: Fidel Castro criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and advocated global nuclear disarmament, specifically recommending to Israel that the only way it can achieve security is through dropping its nuclear arsenal, in an interview published online Tuesday.

AFP: The United States said Tuesday that a new report by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reinforces US concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

Bloomberg: Lebanese banks will have to comply with stricter sanctions by the United Nations, the U.S. and the European Union on Iran, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh said.

AP: The European Union has condemned the death sentence by stoning for a widowed Iranian woman convicted of adultery.

Wall Street Journal: South Korea will move to temporarily close the local branch of an Iranian bank as part of its effort to join United Nations sanctions over Iran's nuclear program, according to people familiar with the matter.

Reuters: China called on Iran on Tuesday to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency which said the Islamic Republic was hampering its work in the country by barring some of its inspectors.

AFP: Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said on Tuesday that Iran has attained self-sufficiency in producing petrol, a commodity targeted by world powers in new sanctions imposed against Tehran.

Reuters: The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday said it designated an Iranian-owned bank in Germany as facilitating Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons, a move that effectively prevents the firm from doing business with international financial institutions.

AFP: Iran's main audit body has slammed the government's plan to scrap subsidies from later this month and its policy of privatising state firms, Iranian media reported on Tuesday.

Fox News: As Oval Office speeches go, it wasn’t much. Even so, we will look back on President Obama’s speech announcing the end of the Iraq War as one of great significance. Not because of what he said, but because of what he didn't say. He didn't talk about the elephant in the room – IRAN.

Daily Telegraph: China is poised to sign a $2bn (£1.3bn) deal to build a railway line in Iran in the first step of a wider plan to tie the Middle East and Central Asia to Beijing.

Washington Post: Iran is steadily stockpiling enriched uranium, even in the face of toughened international sanctions, according to a U.N. inspection report that raises new concerns about the ability to monitor parts of the nation's nuclear program that could be used to make a bomb.

AFP: Iran said on Tuesday that it was within its rights to vet UN inspectors who monitor its nuclear facilities after the UN watchdog said its work was being hampered by the barring of some of its staff.

AP: The lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned on an adultery conviction says he and her children are worried the delayed execution could be carried out soon.

Reuters: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Iran needs to answer the demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over its nuclear programme.

Reuters: Iran is pushing ahead with its nuclear programme in defiance of tougher sanctions, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in a new report that Washington called "troubling" but Tehran dismissed as "not balanced".

Reuters: An Iranian Baha'i missionary has been arrested in northern Iran for allegedly having an "illicit sexual relationship", the semi-official Fars news agency said on Monday without giving a source.

AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has questioned the accepted narrative of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, saying it was still not clear who was behind them.