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Bloomberg: "The U.S. said China and Singapore have 'significantly reduced' their purchases of Iranian oil, earning exemptions from U.S. financial sanctions that otherwise would have been imposed yesterday. China was the biggest importer of Iranian crude last year, and Singapore is Asia's oil trading and refining hub. The U.S. granted renewable, 180-day exemptions on March 20 to Japan and 10 European Union nations. India, South Korea, Turkey, South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Taiwan won exemptions June 11. 'A total of 20 world economies have now qualified for such an exception,' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. 'Their cumulative actions are a clear demonstration to Iran's government that Iran's continued violation of its international nuclear obligations carries an enormous economic cost.' ... Mark Wallace, chief executive officer of United Against Nuclear Iran, a New York-based advocacy group, said in an e-mail that the world oil supply presents a 'unique opportunity' for nations to stop all Iranian oil purchases. 'We call for the total boycott of Iranian oil to isolate that regime,' he said." http://t.uani.com/LzQcCD

Reuters: "A South Korean ship classification society faces pressure from a U.S. lobby group to stop verifying safety and environmental standards for Iran's biggest shipping companies as tightening U.S. and European sanctions restrict its oil exports. Without verification from such bodies, ships are unable to call at international ports. U.S. group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), in a letter sent this week to the Korean Register of Shipping (KR), urged the society to stop providing classification and certification services to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), its front companies and the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC). 'KR's irresponsible decision to provide certification services at a time when responsible businesses are leaving Iran undermines the efforts of the international community to isolate the Iranian regime,' Mark Wallace, UANI's chief executive and a former U.S. ambassador wrote in the letter dated June 25." http://t.uani.com/LzNexU

Reuters: "OPEC oil output has fallen in June as U.S. and European sanctions have pushed Iran's supply to its lowest level in more than two decades, a Reuters survey showed on Friday. Production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries still has remained close to its highest since 2008 as extra oil from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya has compensated for the drop in Iranian output... The biggest drop in supplies came from Iran, whose crude is subject to a European Union embargo on July 1 that also bars EU insurance firms from covering Iran's exports. Iran's supply slipped by 180,000 bpd to 2.95 million bpd in June, according to the survey. That would be its lowest output since it produced 2.81 million bpd in 1989, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration." http://t.uani.com/MFP9mo

Nuclear Program  & Sanctions

FT: "Over the past month, the bulk of Iran's fleet of oil supertankers suddenly disappeared off the map. When they re-emerged on the high seas, the freshly-painted tankers had new names, new flags and new home ports. The ships' new identities - changed, for example, from Hoda, Honar and Nesa to Precious, Victory and Truth - is the latest episode of a cat-and-mouse game between Tehran and Western officials tracking Iranian oil exports. Since the beginning of the year, Tehran has tried to hide the final destination of its oil exports as western powers have targeted the country's energy sales in an effort to bring Iran to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme. While the name changing does not stop trackers finding the vessels, it complicates their efforts." http://t.uani.com/LJ7546

AP: "The U.S. and Europe want to deprive Iran of the oil income it needs to run its government and, most importantly, fund what they believe is an effort to build a nuclear weapon. Their efforts are entering a new phase this week. The U.S. as of Thursday will penalize banks that do oil deals with Iran, while European nations will embargo imports of Iranian oil starting Sunday. These measures were announced in December and January, but lawmakers gave countries and the oil markets until this week to adjust. Iran initially responded by threatening to block key oil routes. Oil soared over $100 per barrel as traders imagined an oil market straining to meet growing demand from China while only getting a trickle of oil from the world's third largest exporter. Those fears have evaporated." http://t.uani.com/OIzNTL

WSJ: "A steep drop-off in China's crude-oil imports from Iran earlier this year, which companies involved blamed on a contract dispute, has provided a face-saving way for Beijing to appease the U.S. even as it officially maintains opposition to U.S. sanctions against Tehran, analysts said. The U.S. decision on Thursday to exempt China from penalties targeting financial institutions that do business with Iran's energy sector came after data showing that China's imports of crude from Iran over the first five months of 2012 were down almost 25% from a year earlier. China International United Petroleum & Chemical Co., known as Unipec, and National Iranian Oil Co. started the year stuck in drawn-out contract negotiations. Though they reached agreement in February, imports didn't recover until April; by May they were back to levels similar to those of a year earlier." http://t.uani.com/LUzqPr

Reuters: "Iran expects to equip its ships in the Strait of Hormuz soon with shorter-range missiles, a Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted as saying, in the latest apparent warning to the West not to attack it over its disputed nuclear program. The Islamic Republic has threatened to shut the Strait, the conduit out of the Gulf for 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil trade, if Western sanctions aimed at curbing its nuclear works block its own crude exports." http://t.uani.com/LzRIEN

Reuters: "Dubai's national oil company may have to stop importing condensate from Iran unless Washington grants it an exemption or temporary exception from this week's tightening of U.S. sanctions, diplomatic and industry sources said. U.S. State Department officials said that financial transactions that facilitate the import of Iranian condensate are liable to a new round of measures effective June 28 that aim to cut Iran's oil revenues and force Tehran to drop its disputed nuclear program. The fresh sanctions target condensate, produced in association with gas, which is Tehran's second-biggest source of export revenue after crude and refined products, which were targeted in earlier sanctions. Officials at Dubai-government-owned Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) declined to comment." http://t.uani.com/NJXzss

Reuters: "Turkey's crude oil imports from Iran dropped by more than 35 percent in May from April as it steps up efforts to ensure the United States waives sanctions on its imports of Iranian oil for the remainder of this year. Official trade data showed on Friday the country imported 161,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian oil, down from 249,000 bpd in April and 270,000 bpd in March, when the imports were unusually high. Turkey's May purchases are roughly in line with Ankara's pledge to cut imports of Iranian oil by around a fifth from its annual average. It also shows that even the most loyal customers are reducing trade with Tehran under pressure from Washington." http://t.uani.com/NbJmmT

Reuters: "Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi warned South Korea on Thursday that Tehran would reconsider ties with Seoul if the country stopped importing oil from Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported. South Korea said on Monday it would halt imports of Iranian crude from July 1 due to a European Union ban on insuring tankers carrying Iranian oil, becoming the first major Asian consumer of Iranian crude to announce suspension of imports. 'If South Korea completely halts imports of Iranian oil, there will be a reconsideration in ties with this country,' Qasemi said according to IRNA, without elaborating." http://t.uani.com/MFOYrb

Human Rights

Reuters: "Four members of Iran's Arab minority executed last week were sentenced to death in an opaque trial whose fairness was questionable, United Nations human rights experts said on Thursday, urging Tehran to halt all executions. The four men, three of whom were brothers, were arrested last year during a protest by Arab Iranians, who have long-complained of economic deprivation and systematic discrimination by the authorities. Convicted of 'enmity against God' and of 'corruption on earth', the men were executed last week in the southwestern city of Ahwaz - the capital of Khuzestan province that is home to a large population of ethnic Arabs." http://t.uani.com/N1X9P2

Foreign Affairs

NYT: "President Bashar al-Assad of Syria thanked Iran as one of the 'wise governments' seeking to protect Syrian stability in the face of the uprising against him, he said in a taped interview broadcast Thursday on Iranian state television... 'We highly appreciate the realistic stance of an important regional country such as Iran,' Mr. Assad said. 'As long as Syria's stability is important for the stability in the region and the world, wise governments should spare no effort to safeguard Syria's stability.' He also said 'Iran plays an important role because the people of Iran live in the same region and they know the region better than distant countries do.'" http://t.uani.com/MFLGqO

Guardian: "Conflicting reports have emerged over the brief detention of the Iranian foreign minister, by an anti-terror unit at Larnaca International Airport on his official visit to Cyprus. Both Iranian and Cyprus governments denied media reports that Salehi was arrested temporarily because his name was listed on an outdated EU travel ban targeting Iranian officials including those involved in the country's controversial nuclear programme. Salehi, a former head of the Iranian atomic energy organisation, was previously banned from entering EU countries but restrictions on him were lifted when president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promoted him to foreign minister in December 2010." http://t.uani.com/KQTkid

Opinion & Analysis

Julian Borger & Saeed Kamali Dehghan in The Guardian: "The EU's oil embargo comes into full effect on Sunday, marking a dramatic escalation in the pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme. But while the sanctions are biting deeper into Iranians' lives with each passing day, it is less clear whether they will alter the minds of the Tehran leadership. The 1 July deadline for the European embargo is coordinated with other measures around the world. This Thursday the latest tranche of US sanctions come into effect, imposing punitive measures on countries doing oil deals with Iran's central bank. Next week, South Korea, Iran's fourth biggest oil customer, will stop buying its crude oil, in response to a European ban on shipping insurance for tankers carrying Iranian oil, which also comes into force on Sunday. Until recently Iran has attempted to shrug off the tightening noose, insisting it could always find other markets. But on Wednesday an Iranian official admitted that oil exports had dropped 20% to 30% from normal levels of 2.2m barrels a day. The official claimed the shortfall was due to scheduled maintenance of oil wells, but the accelerating decline in sales has become impossible to hide. Europe represented a fifth of the global market for Iranian oil, and the insurance ban has spread the embargo much further afield. In the run-up to the Sunday deadline, as one country after another stopped purchases, Iran is thought to have lost 600,000 to 800,000 barrels a day in sales. By 1 July the lost sales will amount to over a million barrels a day, a drop of 50%. Combined with a recent dip in the oil price, the shortfall in Iranian hard currency revenues is severe, and could have long-lasting damaging effects on its production capacity. 'It is running out places to store what it can't sell. It has tankers at sea full of oil, being used as storage, but after that Iran will have to stop pumping. It will have to decommission oil wells. That is bad news for wells - it's not straightforward to get them going again,' a western official said. The official noted that Iran took part in three rounds of international talks over its nuclear programme this year, after insisting throughout 2011 that the programme was non-negotiable. But Iran took a tough position at the latest round of talks, last week in Moscow. Other nations also held firm and the talks were downgraded from high-level negotiations among senior diplomats to a technical meeting among experts, due next Tuesday in Istanbul. 'I think sanctions have brought Iran to the table but I don't think they can do all the heavy lifting at the table,' said Shashank Joshi, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, in London, who is writing a policy paper on the Iranian nuclear challenge." http://t.uani.com/LUB5EI