LATEST: Sunni Insurgency Jaish ul-Adl Executes 1 of 5 Kidnapped Border Guards

Fars, the outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guards, puts out some All-Is-Well news on the oil front on Sunday.

The website, lifting from a Reuters report, says that Iran’s top four oil buyers — China, India, Japan, and South Korea — have taken more than 1 million barrels per day since November, when an interim nuclear deal was signed with the 5+1 Powers.

Fars proclaims that February was the fourth straight month of increased sales, with China’s shipments up 6% to 558,877 bpd in January and February.

At no point does Fars mention that Iran’s oil exports are still down more than 40% from 2.2 million bpd in 2012. Nor does it note that the recovery is from a historic low point of the Islamic Republic of less than 800,000 bpd last year.


Sunni Insurgency Jaish ul-Adl Executes 1 of 5 Kidnapped Border Guards

The Sunni insurgency Jaish ul-Adl says it has executed one of the five Iranian border guards that it kidnapped in early February.

Jaish ul-Adl said it had hung the Iranian sergeant because of the regime’s “oppression and cruelty”. It said it would return the guard’s body in return for the bodies of 50 “martyrs”.

An Iranian official denied the claim.

The insurgency took the guards into Pakistan soon after the abduction. Iranian officials have been in contact with Pakistani counterparts with no apparent progress towards the release of the men.

Jaish ul-Adl had said it would free the men in exchange for the release of 300 detainees, including 50 of its members.

Detained Opposition Leader Karroubi Allowed New Year’s Visit with Family

Detained opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi has been allowed a visit with his family for Iranian New Year. according to his son Mohammad Hossein.

Mehdi Karroubi, a challenger in the disputed 2009 Presidential election, has been under strict house arrest since February 2011.

Mohammad Hossein Karroubi said he and other relatives saw the opposition leader on Thursday for three hours, informing him of the “latest news of the country and the catastrophic corruption of the former government”. For the first time, no security officers were in the room.

He said his father was in good physical health and spirits and had sent Nowruz greetings to all Iranians, especially political prisoners and their families.

Mehdi Karroubi said, according to his son, “What haunts me most is thinking of what the future generations and history will say of us. And that they will ask what led to so much digression from the Revolution.”