Swiss-based commodities trading house Trafigura confirmed that it bartered alumina with the Iranian Aluminum Company, Iralco, folllwing an agreement reached in October 2011. Trafigura says that no deliveries have been made to Iralco since it was sanctioned by the European Union in December 2012. E.U. sanctions were imposed on Iralco because of links to Iran's nuclear program.

International negotiators softened Western positions on Iran's nuclear program in a February round of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The P5+1 negotiating partners proposed that Iran could keep enough 20 percent enriched uranium to fuel a research reactor - a step back from an earlier proposal that Iran's entire stock of 20% uranium be shipped out of the country. The P5+1 also proposed that enrichment activities at the fortified underground Fordow facility be suspended; an earlier proposal had called for Fordow to be shut down. In return, sanctions on gold, precious metals and petrochemicals would be eased.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran has begun installing more advanced IR-2 centrifuges at its Natanz facility. This centrifuge is based on Pakistan's second-generation model, but has been modified by Iran: its rotor is made of carbon fiber rather than high-strength steel. According to the IAEA, Iran has also installed an additional 2,255 older centrifuges at Natanz.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned a number of Iranian entities responsible for human rights abuses and restrictions on free speech, including Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), and its director Ezatollah Zarghami, the Iranian Cyber Police, the Communications Regulatory Authority, and Iran Electronics Industries (IEI). Treasury also announced the implementation of new restrictions on Iran's ability to repatriate earnings from oil sales.