The Washington Post reported that the United States and the European Union demanded Tuesday that Iran return to international talks over its nuclear program and prove to the world that its atomic intentions are peaceful. Iranian state television channel said Tuesday that the government had accepted a proposal by the European Union on behalf of six powers for a new meeting, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said it would be held in Istanbul. But the EU said no such plans have been made.
The Turkish news agency Hurriyet touched on the same topic. It published the article headlined “Iran says ball in major powers' court on nuke talks.” It says that Iran said on Tuesday that the ball was in the court of the six major powers that have been trying to resolve concerns over Tehran's nuclear program after it expressed readiness for new talks. While the six powers want to focus on the Iranian nuclear program, Tehran wants to expand the discussions to issues such as global security and nuclear disarmament, Israel's undeclared but widely suspected nuclear arsenal and the right of all countries to civil nuclear cooperation.
The same agency reported that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that despite its dissatisfaction with how a U.N. inquiry into an Israeli flotilla raid is progressing, it is out of the question for Turkey to withdraw from the panel. Turkey has reportedly been threatening to drop out of the U.N. panel investigating Israel’s deadly raid last year on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla led by the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara, upset with wording in a draft report that it sees as favoring the Israeli view. Ankara’s strong reaction to the draft wording, which falls short of saying Israel violated international law in the raid, has delayed the announcement of the panel’s findings.
“Iran helping boost regional unity: ECO” is an article published by the Iranian information agency Press TV. It says the secretary general of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) says Iran is making every effort to foster unity and solidarity in the region. Ma'roufi said trade is instrumental in upgrading regional cooperation and will guarantee economic development in the region. He highlighted that ECO aims to form a bloc to enhance industrial and commercial progress in the region. Elsewhere in his remarks, the ECO secretary general elaborated on the progress that his organization has made in banking and transportation.
