The U.N.‘s human rights chief says she is shocked by the recent violence in Iran and has urged the government to keep security forces from using excessive force.

Iran’s police chief says more than 500 opposition protesters have been arrested since clashes on Sunday that left at least eight dead.

Iran is close to clinching a deal to clandestinely import 1,350 tons of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan, according to an intelligence report obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday. Diplomats said the assessment was heightening international concern about Tehran’s nuclear activities.

Iranian security forces have limited the movements of a leading opposition figure by refusing to protect him when he leaves his home, his son said Tuesday as authorities broadened their crackdown with a new wave of arrests that included the sister of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi.

The body of the nephew of Iran’s opposition leader - slain in the deadliest day of anti-government protests in months - disappeared from a hospital Monday, and security forces detained at least seven prominent activists, opposition reports said.

Opposition activists said Iranian security forces rounded up at least seven prominent activists on Monday, stepping up a crackdown on the country’s pro-reform movement a day after eight people, including the nephew of the chief opposition leader, were killed in anti-government protests.

The majority of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency has voted to censure Iran for its nuclear defiance.

Iranian authorities have confiscated Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi’s medal, her lawyer and Norway’s government said today, in a sign of the increasingly drastic steps Tehran is taking against any dissent. In Norway, where the peace prize is awarded, the government said the confiscation was a shocking first in the history of the 108-year-old prize.

Islamic religious authorities have begun tightening their grip on Iranian public schools, a report said Wednesday, as hard-liners expand an ideological “soft war” against Western influence.

Iran is ready to exchange its low-enriched uranium with a higher enriched material, but only on its own soil, to guarantee the West follows through with promises to give the fuel, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Iran on Sunday began large-scale air defense war games aimed at protecting its nuclear facilities from attack, state TV reported, as an air force commander boasted the country could deter any military strike by Israel.

Six world powers are meeting in Brussels to discuss possible measures against Tehran for its refusal to halt nuclear enrichment activities.

Showing impatience with Iranian foot-dragging, President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. and its allies are discussing possible new penalties to bring fresh pressure on Iran for defying international attempts to halt its contested nuclear program.

SINGAPORE—President Barack Obama wrapped up a busy day of diplomacy in Singapore yesterday, saying the U.S. and Russia made progress on reducing nuclear arms and had found common ground on curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Russia said it may back more sanctions on Tehran if it fails to cooperate with nuclear inspectors. Obama said he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to urge Iran “to take the path that leads them to meeting its international obligations.“

The assets include Islamic centers in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston, more than 100 acres in Virginia, and a 36-story office tower in New York.