OVER THE NORTH SEA (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday characterized U.S. military planning for a strike on Iran as “routine”. read more… »

By JEANNINE AVERSA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Economic sanctions in place for decades haven’t stopped Iran from pursuing nuclear ambitions the Bush administration says are a cover for a nuclear bomb or, if administration allegations are true, from funding terrorism across the Middle East. read more… »

By Ali-Reza Nourizadeh

London, Asharq Al-Awsat - Dismissal or resignation? That is the question buzzing around Iran today after former Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, tendered his resignation last Saturday 20 October. The silence surrounding this recent development has been a resounding one with no reasons or motives cited for resignation, or indeed, dismissal. read more… »

October 25, 2007 (RFE/RL) — With one fell swoop of the U.S. government’s pen, Washington has hit Iran with some of the strongest U.S. unilateral sanctions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, singling out Iran’s Defense Ministry, Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and its elite Quds Force in a move that is likely to send the crisis over Tehran’s nuclear program to a new level of tension and uncertainty. read more… »

London, Oct. 25 - The U.S. State Department designated on Thursday an elite Iranian military force a “supporter of terrorism”. read more… »

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it backed Washington’s decision to impose new sanctions on Iran and vowed to take the lead in pulling together a third round of United Nations Security Council sanctions. read more… »

By MIKE ECKEL

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned strongly against new international sanctions on Iran, saying they would lead to a dead end. read more… »

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday the United States would cut off Iran’s “malignant” activities in Iraq and stop its destabilizing behavior across the region. read more… »

This is the message prime minister Ehud Olmert is carrying urgently to French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday and British premier Gordon Brown Tuesday, according to military and intelligence sources. read more… »

The first hint that a strategic deal was brewing was dropped by Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a news conference in Tehran last week, he alluded to a shift in the controversy with Washington which might settle his dispute with President George W. Bush on the US missile shield in East Europe. read more… »