Press TV,

Iran’s oil minister has shrugged off sanctions against the country, saying the country will raise its daily gasoline output to 170 million liters in 4 years.

“Iran will not beg foreigners for undertaking its oil, gas and petrochemical projects,” Massoud Mirkazemi said on Wednesday at the inaugural ceremony of two new projects in Morvarid Petrochemical Complex and Pardis Petrochemical Company in the southern Iranian port city of Assalouyeh in Bushehr Province.

He added that Iran will turn into a gasoline exporter after its daily gasoline production reaches 170 million liters.

“Iran has currently the main know-how in petrochemical industries,” the Iranian minister said.

The Washington Post,

The Iranian nuclear scientist who claimed to have been abducted by the CIA before departing for his homeland Wednesday was paid more than $5 million by the agency to provide intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. officials said.

Shahram Amiri is not obligated to return the money but might be unable to access it after breaking off what U.S. officials described as significant cooperation with the CIA and abruptly returning to Iran. Officials said he might have left out of concern that the Tehran government would harm his family.

“Anything he got is now beyond his reach, thanks to the financial sanctions on Iran,” a U.S. official said. “He’s gone, but his money’s not. We have his information, and the Iranians have him.”

The Washington Post,

The mystery surrounding Mr. Amiri has fed those tensions. Mr. Amiri disappeared during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June 2009. It remains unclear how Mr. Amiri reached the U.S., or even obtained a visa; officials familiar with the matter said he defected.

One year after his disappearance, Iranian state media aired a video in which Mr. Amiri alleges he was being held against his will in the U.S. after being captured by U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia. Iran filed a complaint to the U.S., according to Iranian media. American officials denied Tehran’s charge that he was kidnapped.

In a second video that surfaced on the Internet, Mr. Amiri appeared to contradict that, saying he was in the U.S. of his own free will, but denying he had defected to the U.S.

In a third video, Mr. Amiri says he is in Virginia, and he isn’t a free man. “If any thing happens to me the United States is responsible. I want my family to know that I never ever betrayed my country.”

AFP,

Iranian-backed militants recently received specialist training inside Iran to help mount an attack on American military bases in Iraq, the top US commander in Baghdad said on Tuesday.

General Ray Odierno detailed a plot in which he said Ketaib Hezbollah, a Tehran-sponsored Shiite insurgent group, had planned an attack in recent weeks, prompting the US army to increase its security measures.

“There has been some intelligence of Iranian surrogates attempting to attack US bases, which we are watching very carefully,” Odierno told reporters at Camp Victory, a giant US base west of the capital.

“In the last couple of weeks there has been an increased threat of a potential Iran attack … so we have increased our security in some of our bases,” said the general, who commands all 74,000 US troops stationed in Iraq.

“This is another attempt by Iran and others to attempt to influence the US role here inside of Iraq,” he added, naming Ketaib Hezbollah as the militant group behind the conspiracy, and describing the threat as “consistent”.

Yahoo! News,

An Iranian fashion organization has issued a new list of culturally appropriate haircuts for men, possibly indicating a new crackdown on male attire after years of strict rules for women, Iranian media reported.

Although the Ministry of Culture has yet to officially adopt the styles presented by the Veil and Modesty Festival, the private organization said approval is pending. It would be the first such rules for men’s hair styles since 1979 Islamic Revolution.

“We introduced the hairstyles to the Culture Ministry,” said Jaleh Khodayar, head of the group, telling Iranian newspapers Tuesday that it had been approved informally and an official statement would soon be made.

CNSNews,

Iran will not hold talks with the West over its nuclear program until late August to “punish” world powers for imposing tougher sanctions against the country, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday.

He also vowed that Iran will retaliate should its ships be searched over suspicions that the cargo may violate the new sanctions, which were approved by the U.N. Security Council earlier this month.

The European Union and U.S. Congress followed with new punishing measures in a bid to show the Iranian government that notions of becoming a nuclear power could be accompanied by a steep economic price. Tehran insists its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.

Iran is ready to rescue President Obama if he requests help, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported Tuesday. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast underlined Tehran’s technical capability to help the United States control the oil spill and the resulting slick, which he said is a “humanitarian issue.”

One day earlier, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, otherwise known as the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), offered to provide experts to help the Americans. “The experience of Iranians’ presence in curbing oil spills in a number of neighboring states in the Persian Gulf, such as Kuwait, demonstrates Iranian capabilities and skills, and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps is ready to help curb the oil spill,” Commander of the IRGC’s Khatam ol-Anbia Headquarters General Rostam Qassemi stated.

Iran said Tuesday it would send a blockade-busting ship carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists to Gaza, fueling concern in Israel, where commandos were training for another possible confrontation at sea.

Israel warned archenemy Iran to drop the plan. The Iranian announcement came days after Israel eased its three-year-old blockade of Gaza under international pressure following its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last month.

“No one in their right mind can believe that a ship sent by the ayatollahs and their Revolutionary Guards has anything to do with humanitarian aid,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. “I don’t think there is one single country in this region and beyond that would let such an ayatollah ship come near its coasts.”

The warships may exercise the right to inspect the Iranian boat for the illegal transport or weapons. Newsweek reported that Egyptian authorities could stop the ship for weeks, using technicalities such as requiring that any official documents be translated from Farsi into Arabic.

The magazine’s website also reported that the Iranian navy is the weakest part of its armed forces. Tehran has already backed down from announced intentions to escort the Iranian ships with “volunteer marines” from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Defying week-old U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program, Iran promised to expand its atomic research Wednesday as its president vowed to punish the West and force it to “sit at the negotiating table like a polite child” before agreeing to further talks.

Tehran, which insists its nuclear work is peaceful, said it will build four new reactors for atomic medical research. The United States and some of its allies believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, and the Islamic Republic’s plans to expand research could encourage calls in the West for more economic pressure against the country.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran will not make “one iota of concessions.” He said he will soon announce new conditions for talks with the West, but first he wants to punish world powers for imposing sanctions.

Fox News (AP) article continues here.

The Obama administration, which labored for months to impose tough new United Nations sanctions against Iran, now is pushing in the opposite direction against Congress as it crafts U.S. sanctions that the White House fears may go too far.

Administration officials have begun negotiations with congressional leaders, who are working on versions of House and Senate bills that would punish companies that sell refined petroleum products to Iran or help the country’s oil industry.

Unlike the U.N. measures, congressional action would pertain only to U.S. policies and agencies and would not be binding on other countries. Other countries and groups of nations also are considering adopting measures to augment the U.N. action.

Los Angeles Times article continues here.

Iran’s nuclear chief says his country will begin construction of a new uranium enrichment plant by March of next year, a defiant announcement days after the UN approved tougher sanctions.

Ali Akbar Salehi is quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying construction will start by the end of the Iranian calendar year in March.

Iran’s government has approved plans for 10 new enrichment facilities that can process uranium gas into fuel for nuclear power plants.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday passed a fourth sanctions resolution meant to curtail Iran’s nuclear activity.

The Jerusalem Post article continues here.

Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.

In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran.

To ensure the Israeli bombers pass unmolested, Riyadh has carried out tests to make certain its own jets are not scrambled and missile defence systems not activated. Once the Israelis are through, the kingdom’s air defences will return to full alert.

Times Online article continues here.

The U.S. and its allies scored a long-sought victory Wednesday by pushing through new U.N. sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, punishments Tehran dismissed as “annoying flies, like a used tissue.”

The sanctions target Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, ballistic missiles and nuclear-related investments. Oil exports, the lifeblood of Iran’s economy, are not affected because targeting them would have cost the U.S. essential support from Russia and China.

President Barack Obama said the sanctions are the toughest Iran has ever faced. They required several months of difficult negotiations by the five veto-wielding permanent U.N. Security Council members — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France — and non-member Germany. This is the fourth round of sanctions aimed at getting Iran into serious discussions on its nuclear ambitions.

Fox News (AP) article continues here.

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday approved new sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program that target Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, ballistic missiles and nuclear-related investments.

The resolution imposing a fourth round of sanctions against Iran was approved by a vote of 12-2 with Lebanon abstaining and Brazil and Turkey voting “no.”

Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent council members, brokered a fuel-swap agreement with Iran which they hoped would address concerns Tehran may be enriching uranium for nuclear weapons and avoid new sanctions.

Google News (AP) article continues here.

Osama bin Laden’s hiding place was pinned down for the first time Monday, June 7, by the Kuwaiti Al-Siyassa Monday, June 7, as the mountainous town of Savzevar in the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan, 220 km west of Mashhad. He is said to have lived there under Tehran’s protection for the last five years, along with Ayman Al-Zawahiri and five other high-ranking al Qaeda leaders.

debkafile’s intelligence sources disclosed Monday night that Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan and his intelligence chiefs are well aware that Bin Laden and Zawahiri are hiding in Iran. The leak to the Kuwait paper was intended to show the Obama administration that the Turkish leader’s ties with Iran had grown intense enough for him to be fully in the picture of Iran’s secret sanctuary for the authors of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Savzevar, a small town of about a quarter of a million inhabitants, is connected by road to Tehran and Mashhad and has a small airport. A center for producing grapes and raisins, its location is remote and difficult to access because it is enclosed by lofty mountains and a salt desert 50,000 square kilometers in area.

DEBKAfile article continues here.