World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (June 7, 2011)

The Washington Post reported that Iran has sent submarines to the Red Sea in the first such deployment by the country’s navy in distant waters. The deployment reflects Iran’s efforts to show off its naval power. Iran has long had three Russian-made submarines, and last year four new small Iranian-built submarines were delivered to its navy. Israel, the United States and others want to stop Iran from what they fear is a push by Tehran to develop nuclear weapons. So far the pressure on Iran has been mostly through international sanctions, but neither Israel nor the US have ruled out a military strike if sanctions fail.

The Guardian published an article devoted to a new addition to the modest Muslim wardrobe, ResportOn, a sleek sports hijab designed for female Muslim athletes. The ResportOn is the brainchild of Iranian-born French-Canadian designer Elham Seyed Javad. She came up with the idea after five Muslim girls were banned from competing in tae kwondo tournaments in Montreal because of their hijabs (the headscarves were considered a health and safety risk). Javed receives orders from Muslim women all over the world, but also from non-Muslim women and men wanting to keep long tresses out of their faces while exercising.

“Turkey to allow Greece to build new Ankara embassy” is an article published by the Turkish information agency Hurriyet. It says that Turkey and Greece are making mutual moves to address long-pending requests to build or expand embassy buildings on each other's soil. Turkey agrees to allow Greece to build a new embassy on Ankara on land granted to the country in the 1930s, as Greece eases the way for Turkey to buy a new embassy building in Athens.

The other article published by the same agency is headlined “Wanted protest organizer flees Georgia, official says.” A Georgian opposition figure, charged with organizing attacks on security forces after protests last month ended in violence, has fled the former Soviet state, the Georgian interior ministry said on Monday. But the ministry said it did not know where Badri Bitsadze – whose wife Nino led the opposition protests aimed at ousting Western-backed President Mikhail Saakashvili – was now hiding. Saakashvili also accused Russian military intelligence of organizing a series of bomb blasts and attempted attacks in Georgia over the past year.

The Iranian information agency Press TV reported that NATO has flatly turned down a Russian proposal on the Western military alliance's plans to deploy a disputed missile system in Eastern Europe. Moscow has indicated its willingness to drop its opposition to the installation of the missile system if NATO provides legal guarantees that the missiles would not be used against Russia. The refusal comes ahead of a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels on Wednesday, at which Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov will seek to convince his Western counterparts to sign a legally binding cooperation treaty.