EU to Adopt Symbolic Sanctions Against Mullahs, Agence France Presse, April 28 

LUXEMBOURG - US pressure for tough European action against Iran in the wake of a court ruling linking Tehran to a political assassination on German soil will be resisted at a meeting of EU foreign ministers here on Tuesday, diplomats said….

But EU diplomats indicated that his calls for Europe to join the US in a strategy of isolating the Tehran regime had gone largely unheeded.

"Nobody is talking about economic sanctions," said one senior official. A complete break in diplomatic ties had also been ruled out, he added.

Instead, the ministers are expected to agree a package of largely symbolic sanctions while signaling their determination to keep channels of communication to Iran open by setting a timetable for the return of their senior diplomats to Tehran….

The measures expected to be agreed include a temporary freeze on ministerial contacts with the Iranian government, a ban on visas being issued for certain Iranian officials and a statement calling for tough action on intelligence officers operating from embassies in Europe….

 

French Connection, U.S. News & World Report, May 5 

Tehran has ordered the transfer of Iran's European espionage and terror operations from diplomatic missions in Germany to more innocuous covers in France, according to Bonn-based intelligence operatives. The move follows a recent German court finding that the Iranian government was directly involved in the 1992 Berlin murder of four Iranian Kurdish exiles. With Germany clamping down on Iran's operations in Bonn and Berlin, Tehran intelligence hopes to make it harder for French counterintelligence to monitor its activities. Iran's plan is to reduce the ties between diplomatic missions and intelligence operations in France. That will be done, according to sources, by beefing up a network of French-based Iranian business ventures, as well as expanding ties to radical elements within France's Muslim community. Iran… may also try to exploit its role as France's second-largest oil supplier.

 

 

Lebanese Hezbollah Chief Visits Iran, Agence France Presse, April 27 

TEHRAN - A delegation from the Lebanese Hezbollah headed by its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah is on a visit to Iran, officials said Sunday.…

Nasrallah’s visit comes after a trip to Lebanon by Iranian deputy foreign minister, Morteza Sarmadi, in late March…

 

Iran Says Military Can Close Off Hormuz Strait, Reuter, April 27 

DUBAI - Iran has the power to close the Strait of Hormuz and control access to the key oil transport route, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said.

"We can keep the Strait of Hormuz open...But if we want to, we shall close this strait to anyone who is an obstacle to security in the region and keep it open for our friends and the Moslems," Major-General Mohsen Rezaei told Iranian television late on Saturday...

Rezaei was speaking on television about the "Tariq ol-Qods" (Road to Jerusalem) military exercises, Iran's largest wargames which ended on Friday….

The maneuvers also proved Iran was capable of fighting a war on two fronts, Rezaei said. "For instance, we can both fight America in the south and, at the same time, if anyone wanted to take advantage of this American attack on our western borders, we are also able to be present there and foil that move as well," he said.

 

Women Banned from Running for Presidency, Associated press, April 28

TEHRAN - Only recognized statesmen who are committed to Iran's Islamic government will be allowed to run in May presidential elections, a top election official said Monday. The remarks by lawmaker Ayatollah Emami Kashani, who heads a panel that will screen candidates, appeared to signal government plans to weed out candidates it deems undesirable and bar moves toward secularism….

Kashani said candidates must be committed to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini…

Khamenei stands above the government and constitution. But since Khomeini's death, there has been growing debate about whether anyone should have that kind of power….

The paper said Azam Taleqani, the first Iranian woman ever to announce her candidacy, would be rejected because the constitution does not allow women to run for president.

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