World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (September 14, 2011)

The Washington Post reported today that Iran’s judiciary on Wednesday denied President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s statements that two American men convicted of spying were being pardoned and would be released within two days. In a statement published in Farsi on their website, the judiciary, which constitutionally is independent from other powers in the Islamic Republic of Iran, denied that Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal would be released.

The Los Angeles Times touches on the same theme. It writes that a bail offer for the two Americans convicted of spying is still under review. On Tuesday, defense lawyer Masoud Shafiei said that the court handling the case set bail of $500,000 each for the Americans, who were detained in July 2009 while hiking along the Iran-Iraq border. A third American, Sarah Shourd, was released last year on the same bail -- but only after similar mixed messages between Ahmadinejad and the judiciary over the timing. The U.S. government has appealed for the two men to be released, insisting that they have done nothing wrong. The two countries have no direct diplomatic relations and Washington relies on the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to follow the case.

The New York Times published an article headlined “Israeli Company Taken Off Iran Trade Blacklist.” It says that the State Department of Israel removed Ofer Holdings Group Ltd., a leading Israeli company, from a sanctions blacklist for trade with Iran, reversing a step taken four months ago that dealt a blow to the reputation and businesses of the Ofer family, one of the richest in Israel. In May, the State Department announced that it was imposing sanctions on a company it identified as the Ofer Brothers Group and a company based in Singapore, Tanker Pacific, which is under indirect ownership of the Ofer family, for what it called their roles in a September 2010 transaction that provided a tanker valued at $8.65 million to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

The Turkish information agency Hurriyet reported that recognition of a Palestinian state is an “obligation” rather than an option, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in Egypt on Tuesday, calling on all Arab states to support Palestine’s U.N. membership bid this month. “Before the end of this year we will see Palestine at the United Nations in a very different situation,” the prime minister said. “It’s time to raise the Palestinian flag at the United Nations. Let’s raise the Palestinian flag and let that flag be the symbol of peace and justice in the Middle East. Let’s contribute to securing well-deserved peace and stability in the Middle East.”

“Iran urges IAEA action on N-terrorism” is an article published by the Iranian information agency Press TV. Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called on the UN body to take immediate action against the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists. “This unprecedented and sordid phenomenon… is undoubtedly a form of nuclear terrorism which falls within the framework of nuclear security and therefore [within the framework of] the obligations of the IAEA,” Ali Asghar Soltanieh said. In January 2010, Professor Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, a lecturer at Tehran University, was killed when an explosive-laden motorbike was detonated with a remote-controlled device near his home. In November 2010, terrorists attacked university professors Majid Shahriari and Fereydoun Abbasi. Shahriari was killed immediately, but Dr. Abbasi and his wife survived the attack with minor injuries.