World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (June 9, 2011)

The Los Angeles Times published an article headlined “Nuclear proliferation: Engaging Iran.” It says that, over the last decade, we have followed the development of the nuclear crisis between Iran and the international community. It is unacceptable that the talks have been deadlocked for such a long time. In terms of international law, the position of Europe and the United States is perhaps less assured than is generally believed. Basically, it is embodied in a set of resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council authorizing coercive measures in case of "threats to peace." The two sides in this conflict are to ask the IAEA what additional tools it needs to monitor the Iranian nuclear program fully and provide credible assurances that all the activities connected with it are purely peaceful in intent. The agency's answer would offer a basis for the next round of pragmatic negotiations with Iran.


The New York Times reported that Iran declared on Wednesday that it planned this year to triple production of its most concentrated form of nuclear fuel, expanding its manufacturing efforts to a mountainous, once-secret nuclear site buried deep underground. Atomic experts worry that the production of more concentrated fuel could bring Iran closer to the ability to rapidly make weapons-grade uranium for a bomb. Whether Iran has decided to make a weapon — if it could — is far from clear.

“Iran is not in breach of international law” is an article published by the Guardian. It says that it has been exactly a year since the last UN Security Council resolution imposed extra sanctions on Iran. International debate is resuming on the country's continued failure to heed UN decisions, and a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency rightly draws attention to the questions Iran has not answered about experiments it has made on nuclear bomb technology.

The Turkish information agency Hurriyet reported that the Turkish prime minister on Wednesday unveiled plans for a new post-election government structure that is being seen as a step toward creating a presidential system for the country. The plans announced by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan include setting up new ministries, eliminating eight current ones and merging some others. The restructuring would also create a new position of deputy minister for each ministry, an appointee position that could be filled by experts from the private sector.

The Iranian information agency Press TV published an article headlined “Iran warns of Western plots against nations.” It says that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attached special importance to anti-hegemony revolutions and warned of complicated plots by Western powers to bring free nations to their knees. He highlighted the significance of sustainable political and economic relations between Iran and independent and anti-arrogance countries and called for the expansion of Iran's ties with Venezuela, Ecuador and Belarus. The Iranian chief executive also urged the country's officials to diligently pursue ways to implement agreements already signed with Caracas, Quito and Minsk.