Press-TV, Iranian state-run media agency, informs its audience that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu has called for the resumption of multifaceted talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. Also, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has described the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tehran's civilian nuclear program as 'double-edged.' According to the official, the confidential nine-page IAEA report claims the agency has received new information that Iran may not be merely developing nuclear energy for civilian purposes. On the other hand, the report said that Iran is pushing ahead with its nuclear activities and "there were indications that certain activities may have continued beyond 2004."
The New York times commented on US Defense Secretary Robert Gates's recent statement. M. Gates said on Tuesday that if some American troops remained in Iraq beyond the scheduled withdrawal of all United States forces by the end of the year, it would be reassuring to Persian Gulf countries, but not to Iran. "And that's a good thing," he added. Although Mr. Gates and other American officials had held out the possibility that some United States forces could stay in Iraq beyond the end of the year, the defense secretary had never before cited Iran as a factor in the Obama administration's thinking. Gates's remarks coincided with the release of a report on Tuesday by Frederick W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute, which said Iran's use of military proxy groups poses the most serious threat to Iraq's security.
According to the Washington Post, a pre-election scandal broke out in Turkey where opposition leaders were accused of indecent behavior: a video showing senior members of a Turkish opposition party in liaisons with women who are not their wives was put on the Internet.
