Iran news headlines on Saturday include return of detained Iranian scientist to Iran from US; an Iranian MP Arsalan Fathipour announcement for running in presidential election; EIA remarks over fall of Iran’s 2012 oil exports due to sanctions; Salehi remarks over time of Iran and world powers talks and Iran releasing indigenous ballistic, cruise missiles in near future.
 
Iranian scientist returns home after release from US prison
An Iranian scientist held by the U.S. since late 2011 has returned to Iran. The scientist, Mojtaba Atarodi said U.S. authorities had treated him “generally well.” The microchip expert at Tehran’s high profile Sharif University, Atarodi was in U.S. custody since December 2011 over allegations he bought high-tech equipment in violation of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

 
Iran MP Fathipour to run for president
Senior Iranian lawmaker Arsalan Fathipour has officially said he would run for the June 14 presidential election. The chairman of the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) Economic Commission announced on Friday that he would run in the upcoming election.

 
EIA says sanctions cut Iran’s 2012 oil exports
Global sanctions cut Iran’s crude oil exports by 39% in 2012, to 1.5 million barrels a day, the lowest level since 1986, during the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Friday.

 
Iran against waste of time in P5+1 talks
Iran voices opposition to any waste of time in talks between Tehran and the six world powers, better known as the P5+1, reaffirming Iran’s preparedness for negotiations. “We shouldn’t let time go by, and the Islamic Republic [of Iran] has constantly announced its readiness for talks,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters at the end of his visit to Kazakhstan on Friday.

 
Iran to unveil indigenous ballistic, cruise missiles
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says Iran will unveil indigenous ballistic and cruise missiles as well as other new military achievements by the next five months. “New Iranian ballistic and cruise missiles will be unveiled in the first six months of the current [Iranian] year (before mid-September),” said Vahidi in a Saturday interview.

 

The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.