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UPDATE 1345 GMT: Jason Rezaian’s first trial hearing has adjourned after two hours.

The trial began at 10:30 a.m. at Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. Judge Abolghassem Salavati will announce a date for the resumption of the proceedings.


ORIGINAL ENTRY: Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s correspondent in Tehran, will be tried by an Iranian court on Tuesday behind closed doors.

Rejecting calls for transparency and continuing restrictions on Rezaian and his lawyer, Judge Abolghassem Salavati — known as “the Judge of Death” for his lengthy sentences, including capital punishments — has barred everyone except Rezaian and attorney Leila Ahsan. Rezaian’s mother and his wife, journalist Yeganeh Salehi, have been refused entry, and the Post’s request for a visa for a senior correspondent was unanswered.

Rezaian and Salehi were among four journalists arrested in a raid on July 22. Salehi was released on bail in October, but the Washington Post correspondent, a dual Iranian-American national who has worked in Tehran since 2008, remained behind bars.

Rezaian was denied access to a lawyer for months, as his family was denied a choice of attorney. Ahsan was finally appointed by the court early this year, but has been allowed only one brief meeting with her client.

The charges against Rezaian were not announced until early this year, and details of his supposed contacts with foreign agents have never been made public.

Rezaian’s brother Ali said the two pieces of evidence declared to Ahsan are an American visa application for Salehi, an Iranian citizen, and a form letter sent by Rezaian to Barack Obama’s 2008 White House transition team offering help to improve relations between Iran and the US.

Rezaian’s mother Mary, who has been in Iran for weeks hoping to attend the trial, and Salehi were allowed to visit him for an hour in prison last Wednesday.


Nuclear Talks Resume in Vienna

Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany) resume drafting of a final text for a comprehensive nuclear agreement on Tuesday in Vienna.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araghchi and Majid Takht-e Ravanchi, continue to lead Tehran’s delegation, while the European Union’s deputy foreign policy chief Helga Schmid heads the 5+1.

Tuesday’s talks are the fifth round since a nuclear framework was announced on April 2. They are scheduled to last until Friday.

The two sides are seeking a comprehensive agreement by a June 30 deadline.

Speaking to State TV on Monday, Araqchi repeated that Iran will not agree to inspections of its military sites or interviews with its nuclear scientists.

An Iranian MP had stirred controversy on Sunday when he said that Araqchi, in a closed-door meeting with MPs, had indicated that inspections would be allowed under arrangements set by Tehran with the International Atomic Energy Agency.


Iran: We Have Not Sent Troops Into Iraq for Offensive to Retake Oil Refinery

Tehran has denied that it is deploying Iranian troops in an offensive to recapture one of Iraq’s three oil refineries from the Islamic State.

US defense officials said last week that Iran has sent fighters, artillery, and surveillance drones to assist Iraqi forces and Shia militias hoping to defeat the Islamic State at the Baiji oil refinery, 130 miles north of Baghdad.

However, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian insisted on Monday, “We have sent no military forces to Iraq.”

The Islamic State has held most of the refinery complex since its offensive across northern Iraq last summer, but a force of about 200 Iraqi soldiers has continued to hold out in one section.

See Iran Daily, May 23: Tehran Sends Troops Into Iraqi Fight for Oil Refinery


Deputy Foreign Minister: “Talks for Russia’s Delivery of S-300 Missiles Successful”

Iran has declared again that it will soon receive S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia.

After talks in Moscow on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said, “Negotiations on the delivery of the S-300 to Iran have been successful.” He emphasized that all issues surrounding the delivery of the system to Iran are “progressing well” and that the S-300 shipments “will happen at the soonest opportunity possible”.

On April 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin suddenly signed a decree lifting the suspension on delivery of the S-300s, for which Iran signed a contract in 2010.

Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan soon proclaimed that Iran expected delivery of the first S-300s by the end of 2015; however, the Russian Foreign Ministry dampened the hopes as it said that supply was not foreseen until next year at the earliest.