World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (November 17, 2011)

The Washington Post reported that The U.N. nuclear agency’s most recent resolution on Iran criticizes Tehran’s nuclear defiance, but with language moderate enough to secure Russia’s and China’s support. Diplomats characterize the document, obtained by The Associated Press, as a compromise. It will be put before the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board over the next two days. The U.S. and its allies had sought to deliver tougher demands for Iran to start cooperating with an International Atomic Energy Agency probe of allegations that Tehran is secretly working on nuclear arms. But Russia and China were opposed to any overtly harsh document. The resolution expresses “serious concern” over Iran’s defiance of the U.N. Security Council and the IAEA’s board. Those two bodies want Tehran to stop activities that could be used to make nuclear arms and allow a probe of its alleged secret weapons work.

The Los Angeles Times published the article headlined “To save money, look to nukes.” It says that the deficit reduction plans now on the table in Washington require some $400 billion in defense spending cuts starting in 2013 and extending for a decade. The author suggests looking to nuclear forces. Unfortunately, during last year's debate over ratification of the New START arms control treaty with Russia, the Obama administration agreed to demands from Senate Republicans to increase spending on nuclear capabilities. This is the wrong policy for an age of austerity. He writes: “we can also reduce spending on missile defense. Missile defense is important; it is hardly the anachronism of U.S.-Russian enmity that critics sometimes imply. But it is also overfunded, with too many systems in various stages of development and deployment.”

“Turkey: No nuke alliance with Iran” is an article published by the Hurriyet Daily News. It says that Turkey has no plans for cooperation with Iran to build nuclear power plants, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said yesterday, a day after a senior Iranian official had floated the possibility. Mohammad Javad Larijani, a foreign affairs adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said in New York on Nov. 15 that the Islamic Republic was willing to share its nuclear technology with neighboring countries, suggesting it could help Turkey build an atomic power plant. “Iran is an important neighboring country.

The Iranian information agency Press TV reported that Secretary General of Iran's High Council for Human Rights Mohammad Javad Larijani warns against the adverse outcomes of an attack on Iranian nuclear sites, describing it as a “foolish” move. Any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities is a foolish move, and Tehran's reaction towards any assault will be lethal and unpredictable, Larijani told US media on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly's Third Committee meeting in New York on Thursday. The Iranian official said such stupidity will result in nothing but disgrace and contrition for the aggressors, IRIB reported.