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NYT: "Thirty-six years after construction began under the shah, Iran finally opened its first nuclear power plant at a ceremony on Saturday. Attended by senior officials from Iran and Russia, which helped build the plant, the ceremony marked the beginning of the transfer of low-enriched uranium fuel rods from a storage site into the plant. Officials of both countries said that Saturday's events signified the opening, not the startup, of the plant near Bushehr, in southern Iran." http://nyti.ms/bhD901

NYT: "Iran unveiled a long-range unmanned bomber on Sunday, the latest in a series of announcements about new Iranian military advances as tensions rise over Tehran's nuclear program. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a ceremony to mark Iran's Defense Industry Day, called the weapon a 'messenger of glory and salvation for humanity' but an 'ambassador of death' for Iran's enemies. The new aircraft, called Karrar or destroyer, can carry up to four cruise missiles and has a range of 620 miles, according to reports on state-owned media, not long enough to reach Israel." http://nyti.ms/dwlR4S     

AFP: "Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has promised a global response if his country is attacked, in an interview with Qatari daily Al-Sharq published on Saturday. 'Our options will have no limits... They will touch the entire planet,' he said in reply to a question about Tehran's reaction in the event of such an attack." http://bit.ly/aINbAG
 

Nuclear Program
 
Bloomberg: "Iran announced it has begun producing two types of missile-equipped speedboat, a day after the country unveiled a long-range drone that can carry bombs... 'Enemies should be careful not to play with fire,' Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on state television today at the opening ceremony for the vessels' production lines. 'If they attack Iran our response will not be limited to one region and will be unpredictable.'" http://bit.ly/cUu9E4

Radio Farda: "Washington says it sees no 'proliferation risk' from the launch of Iran's first nuclear power plant... U.S. State Department spokesman Darby Holladay told news agencies that Moscow's agreement to supply nuclear fuel and remove spent fuel rods minimized the risk they would be used to make nuclear weapons. 'Russia's support for Bushehr underscores that Iran does not need an indigenous enrichment capability if its intentions are purely peaceful,' Holladay told the Reuters news agency." http://bit.ly/be4gVg

AFP: "Iran's first nuclear plant, scheduled to go online this weekend, is not a major proliferation risk, despite international concerns about the nature of Tehran's atomic programme, experts said Friday. The Russian-built plant in the southern port city of Bushehr is set to be launched on Saturday, following more than three decades of delay. But it will be months yet before it actually starts generating electricity." http://bit.ly/asBjr7

AFP: "US officials wrapped up Friday an extensive visit to eight nations to push for the implementation of US and UN sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program, the Treasury Department said. In Bahrain, Brazil, Ecuador, Japan, Lebanon, South Korea, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, they emphasized in talks that foreign banks risked losing access to the US financial system if they continued to do business with those blacklisted over the Iranian issue, a statement said." http://bit.ly/cTHlA9

AFP: "Britain acknowledged Iran's right to build nuclear power stations Saturday as it began loading fuel into the first plant, but warned that concerns remain about the Islamic republic's atomic programme. 'We have always respected Iran's right to develop an exclusively civil nuclear power programme,' Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said, as engineers began loading fuel into Iran's Russian-built Bushehr plant." http://bit.ly/a8627y

Commerce

Reuters: "Tupras, Turkey's sole refiner, purchases about a third of its crude from neighbouring Iran. In June, Turkey provided about half of Iran's gasoline needs, but sales last month dropped 73 percent to $25.6 million, equivalent to about one cargo, as sanctions against Iran took effect... 'In the current situation, sales of petroleum products to Iran are not being made. Therefore, there is no possibility that our company will face any kind of sanctions,' Tupras said." http://bit.ly/9FSCgU

BBC: "Iranian authorities have closed the Tehran operations of Oriflame Cosmetics and detained five workers, the Swedish firm has said. The reasons for the move were disputed, with Tehran alleging fraud and Oriflame saying the authorities disliked it employing women in certain roles. Last week, Iran's commerce and culture ministries called the company illegal and blocked its local internet site." http://bbc.in/apIamx

WSJ: "European energy companies have shelved a plan to source gas from Iran to Europe via the European Union-backed Nabucco gas pipeline given Iran's political situation, the Nabucco consortium said Monday. In line with previous statements on Iran, the consortium said it has decided to go ahead with the construction of two smaller supply pipes from Georgia and Iraq to the Turkish Nabucco pipeline starting point, but that the plan for a third from Iran has been cancelled for the time being." http://bit.ly/bboB44   

Human Rights

BBC: "Iran has suspended three judicial officers over their alleged role in the killing of anti-government protesters in prison last year, reports say. The move clears the way for the trio, who were not named, to face trial. It comes two months after a military court sentenced two prison officials to death in connection with the killings. At least three protesters died after a series of beatings in Kahrizak jail, where they were held for taking part in last year's election protests." http://bbc.in/baY8SS

Foreign Affairs

CNN: "Venezuela's ambassador to the United States is defending his country's controversial airline service to the capitals of Syria and Iran -- both countries that are designated by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism. The scheduled flights to Damascus and Tehran were cited by the U.S. State Department this month as a cause for concern, and U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York, raised questions about the flights in an interview last week with Voice of America." http://bit.ly/d7YIzD

AFP: "Turkey is to remove Iran from a watchlist of nations it considers a specific threat to its national security, a news report said Monday, amid Western concerns of rapprochement between the two countries. The updated list is contained in Turkey's security review produced by the country's National Security Council which will be adopted in October and will no longer refer to Iran as a 'specific threat', the Milliyet newspaper said." http://bit.ly/9doqHG

Opinion