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Bank Mellat of Iran on Wednesday won a preliminary court ruling against sanctions imposed by the British government. The government has accused the privately owned bank of providing financial services to companies involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs. The Treasury acted in October to forbid any U.K. financial companies from doing business with the bank. ››read more

John KerrySenator Kerry, who is privy to the details of efforts to impose sanctions on Iran, hinted yesterday at a press conference in Jerusalem after a meeting with the prime minister that Biden's visit to Israel, and that of other senior administration officials, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen, aims at restraining Israel against the possibility of unilaterally attacking Iran. ››read more

China today insisted there is still room for talks to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear program. The comments by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang came after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow is ready to consider new sanctions against Iran for its refusal to comply with international demands to halt uranium enrichment. ››read more

Yukiya Amano, the new director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has raised hopes that a "confidence-building" plan for a swap of nuclear material between Iran and a third party could still be salvaged. At the same time, Amano used his opening speech to the Vienna meeting of the agency's board of governors on Monday to reaffirm that Iran hadn't provided "the necessary cooperation" to confirm all such material in Iran is for peaceful activities. ››read more