Despite Iran’s vast energy reserves, widespread economic malaise has been the greatest source of popular discontent and the chief Achilles heel of the Islamic Republic. Experts examine the potential economic impact and efficacy of international sanctions and other punitive measures.With Hossein Askari, Fareed Mohamedi, Kevan Harris, Matthew Levitt and Karim Sadjadpour.

Free Iran:  Another article that highlights the futility of trying to gain Chinese cooperation against this regime.  America needs a more realistic policy – one which doesn’t depend on Chinese or Russian cooperation for its success.

State-run Chinaoil has sold two gasoline cargoes for April delivery to Iran, industry sources said on Wednesday, stepping into a void left by fuel suppliers halting shipments under threat of U.S. sanctions. Go to Reuters.

China depends on Iranian oil — 12 per cent of its oil imports come from Iran — and this is likely to be one of the main constraining factors in Beijing’s approach to sanctions.

The setback for Mr Obama came in the form of a regular press briefing given by the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing today. The spokesman said: “China always believes that dialogue and negotiation are the best way out for this issue. Pressure and sanctions cannot fundamentally solve it.” Mr Jiang said that China supported a “dual-track” strategy, continuing dialogue with Tehran while considering the possibility of sanctions if that failed. Go to Times UK.

The Chinese government says it hasn’t changed its approach to sanctions against Tehran, following White House talk of cooperation. Go to LA Times.

Free Iran: So long as this regime has access to Iran’s oil income, all other sanctions, although may be necessary, are band-aid solutions at best – if not just feel good measures.  America needs to focus on the source of the regime’s strength, its oil income, and not waste so much time and effort on cutting of each individual tentacle.

President Obama’s quiet nomination of S. Leslie Ireland, a top former CIA, Defense Department and DNI specialist on Iran, to be the Treasury Department’s top intelligence official seems to signal that he’s putting the final pieces in place for tougher sanctions on the Tehran regime.

Ireland has been serving Obama recently as an intelligence briefer. But prior to that, she spent 25 years in intelligence, much of it concentrating on Iran. Go to Washington Post.

Dialogue, not sanctions, is the best way to handle negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, China’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. Go to CNN.

WASHINGTON — President Obama secured a promise from President Hu Jintao of China on Monday to join negotiations on a new package of sanctions against Iran, administration officials said, but Mr. Hu made no specific commitment to backing measures that the United States considers severe enough to force a change in direction in Iran’s nuclear program. Go to NY Times.

SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)–Despite a lack of current investments in Iran, Brazilian state-controlled oil giant Petrobras (PBR, PETR4.BR) will keep its office running in that country for the foreseeable future, Petrobras President Jose Sergio Gabrielli said Monday. Go to WSJ.

WASHINGTON—U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, meeting on the first day of a nuclear security summit, agreed to step up pressure on Iran for its nuclear program, the U.S. said, but the two nations still appear divided on how to apply that pressure. Go to WSJ.

Turkey’s prime minister declined to support President Barack Obama’s push for tough new sanctions against Iran but said his country was willing to act as a mediator in the diplomatic standoff over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Go to CNN.

After months of reluctance to participate in sanctions against Iran for its nuclear weapons program, Chinese leaders are now agreeing in concept to sanctions, White House officials said today.

“This is a substantive and positive step forward,” a national security official told ABC News. Go to ABC News.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid a sudden upswing in relations, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao sought common ground Monday on Iran, agreeing that a set of potential sanctions should make clear to Iran the cost of continued nuclear defiance, a White House official said. Go to NY Times.

WASHINGTON — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview aired Monday that while he agreed sanctions were needed to halt Iran’s nuclear drive, they should not crack down on its oil trade. Go to AFP.

PARIS — The United States’ notions of U.N. sanctions on Iran have devolved over the past months from crippling ones to ones that bite to the currently described smart ones, which although packaged with the words tough and strong might not be hard-nosed enough to give the mullahs a half-hour’s lost sleep.

Is this a descending spiral of resolve fated to result in sanctions that pinch, nip or tweak? Go to NY Times.

US president Barack Obama on Sunday updated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the plans on the works for imposing fresh sanctions on Iran, but India struck a different chord saying such plans targeting ordinary people are counter-productive. Go to original article.