World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (Dec. 4-6, 2010)

On Saturday the Los Angeles Times reported that the Iranian capital continues to be cloaked in a cloud of noxious, dangerous gas that some are describing as hopeless. Officials shut down all kindergartens and primary schools. Officials have tried quick fixes. They imposed rules allowing cars to be driven only on alternating days; drivers with even- and odd-numbered license plates take turns. Pollution has also reached crisis levels in Isfahan, north of Tehran. Meteorologists predict that weather conditions that have recently intensified the pollution problem will remain unchanged until Tuesday.

On Sunday the Los Angeles Times published an article "Iran's entrepreneurs do business of a sort in face of sanctions". It tells about the peculiarities of Iranian business life. Starting with the ascent of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1989, the middle-class, a huge swathe of Iran that includes businesspeople, professionals, civil servants and underemployed, over-educated men and women in their 20s, was officially favoured by Iranian policymakers. But then came the 2005 election of hard-liner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose politics have trumped business concerns. Doing business began getting difficult. Staying in the game is getting more expensive for the Iranian businessman. News outlets hostile to the government regularly report increases in the price of basic goods. Merchants in the Tehran bazaar say they've raised them 10% or more in the last couple of months to keep pace with costs.

The New York Times reported that Iran on Sunday claimed for the first time to have used domestically mined uranium ore to make the material needed for uranium enrichment. It called the step a major advance in its atomic program, sending a defiant message before a new round of talks on Iran's suspect nuclear activities. Western experts said the progress appeared to be more symbolic than substantive and did not bear immediately on whether Iran could accelerate its efforts at enriching uranium, which can fuel either reactors or atom bombs.

An article "MUSLIM WORLD: Poll shows majority want Islam in politics; feelings mixed on Hamas, Hezbollah" was published in the Los Angeles. It said a majority of Muslims around the world welcome a significant role for Islam in their countries' political life, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, but have mixed feelings toward militant religious groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. According to the survey, majorities in Muslims countries would favour changing the current laws to allow stoning as a punishment for adultery, hand amputation for theft and death for those who convert from Islam to another religion.

The information agency Reuters reported that while China has backed UN Security Council resolutions pressing Iran to abandon its disputed nuclear activities, Beijing has close energy and trade ties with Iran and has opposed unilateral sanctions imposed by Europe or the United States. Both countries shared a common interest in fighting terrorism, he said. China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton last week that he hoped the Geneva talks would be constructive.

Today the top news is the talks on Iran's nuclear power in Geneva.

The Washington Post reports that Iran and major world powers began meeting on Monday for their first talks in 14 months, amid low expectations and public posturing by both sides on Iran's nuclear ambitions. The world powers spent the first hour of the meeting making a case for why Iran's nuclear program should be discussed. Iran publicly insists it has no interest in discussing the enrichment program that has led to four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions, and Western diplomats do not even know whether Iran is prepared to stay for the second planned day of talks. Publicly, Iran has suggested it is prepared to stay only a single day.

The Los Angeles Times stresses the economic aspect of the negotiations. An article "Talks begin on Iran's nuclear program" says diplomats from the six powers want Tehran to agree to begin extended negotiations, although they say their hopes are not high because of the Islamic Republic's long resistance to international pressure. Western officials view the meetings as a key test of whether Iran, under pressure from a fourth round of economic sanctions, is more willing to bend. The world powers have also offered a package of economic and diplomatic incentives. But failure here may stir demands for a more forceful approach among those who want action to head off the nuclear program -- including Israel, some Arab nations, and some American lawmakers.

The New York Times emphasizes the problem of domestically-mined uranium ore in Iran, as claimed on Sunday. The Obama administration has become increasingly sceptical that Iran will seriously take up an offer for wide-ranging talks on all issues, but based on an agreement to stop or at least suspend nuclear enrichment. Iran denies that it is seeking the capacity for a nuclear bomb to add to its significant missile capacity. Very few in Western governments or in the Middle East believe Tehran's denials. Another article, "Iran, 6 Powers Haggle Over Scope of Geneva Talks", says Iran has insisted previously that the topic of enrichment was not up for negotiation. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said it was up to Iran to restore trust in its nuclear intentions, urging it to come to Geneva prepared to "firmly, conclusively reject the pursuit of nuclear weapons." But for Iran, the main issues are peace and prosperity, but nuclear topics are only discussed in the context of global disarmament.

Reuters continues the same theme and develops it in the New York Times' key story. It reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week that the key topic of enrichment was not on the agenda at Geneva. Ahmadinejad accused the West of double standards. Ali Baqeri, deputy head of Iran's delegation, said the talks would go beyond the nuclear issue and include regional security, Iraq, Afghanistan, drug smuggling and terrorism. Last week's killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran, which Iran has blamed on Western intelligence services, could cloud the atmosphere for dialogue in Geneva.

The Iranian information agency Press-TV summarizes the first results of the meeting. The article "Iran urges cooperative approach in talks" reports that Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says the new approach of major world powers towards Tehran should be based on constructive cooperation. The Western refusal to offer Tehran objective guarantees in the fuel-swap proposal led to Iran issuing a nuclear declaration with Turkey and Brazil on May 17 to ease concerns in the West. Under the declaration, Iran agreed to ship most of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for fuel. The US and its allies snubbed the declaration and used their influence in the UN Security Council to press for fresh sanctions against Tehran over the country's nuclear program. Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted the accusations, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, Tehran has the right to use peaceful nuclear technology.