World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (February 1, 2012)

The Washington Post reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has presented parliament a draft budget that would cut government spending by 5.6 percent while allocating more money for development projects. The $416 billion budget, unveiled Wednesday, is about 5 percent less than the previous year’s budget, and comes at a time when Iran is facing mounting international sanctions and isolation over its controversial nuclear program. Iran disputes the West’s claim that the program is aimed at producing weapons. The proposed budget sees a 5.6 percent cut in government spending while boosting spending on development projects by 20 percent. The new budget would cover the Iranian calendar year beginning March 20.

The same agency reported that visiting U.N. inspectors did not visit any of the country’s nuclear sites, Iran’s official news agency reported Tuesday, concentrating instead on talks with officials. IRNA quoted an unnamed Iranian official as saying the team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency conducted negotiations with Iranians and did not visit the sites where uranium is being enriched. He said the talks were held in a “positive and constructive atmosphere.” The report did not elaborate. There was no comment from the U.N. team. The IAEA team arrived Sunday on a visit set for three days. An Iranian official indicated it could be extended, but a report from the semi-offical Fars news agency Tuesday indicated the talks were over. Mohammad Karamirad, a member of the influential parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, told the Isna news agency Tuesday that the visit by the IAEA team showed Iran has had “comprehensive and honest cooperation with the agency.”

The New York Times published the article headlined “Iran Offers to Extend Inspection by U.N. Team.” It says that Iran’s foreign minister offered on Monday to extend a three-day visit to his country by United Nations inspectors in what seemed to be a further attempt to lower the strident tone of a crisis with the West over Tehran’s nuclear program after the imposition of new economic sanctions. It was not clear whether the offer was part of what European officials have termed efforts by Iran to buy time while continuing uranium enrichment. Iran says the nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, while Western leaders say it is seeking the capacity to build nuclear weapons. The conciliatory tone struck by Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, reported by Iran’s state-run news media, was offset by other Iranian news reports that suggested Iran might be girding for a military confrontation. Those reports said Iran had tested new battlefield equipment including laser-guided artillery shells and a remotely piloted drone capable of carrying an 11-pound payload.

The Turkish information agency Hurriyet reported that Turkish coast guards rescued three crew members from a Cambodian-registered cargo ship that sank in a Black Sea storm, and were searching for eight others still missing today, officials said. Local people had reported seeing life jackets and lights in the waters off the port of Ereğli in the northern province of Zonguldak, where the ship went down. Zonguldak governor Erol Ayyıldız said they had not given up hope of finding them. "The bulk carrier tried to get to the port of Ereğli because of the bad weather conditions, but started to take on water beforehand and sank in two or three minutes," Zonguldak Ayyıldız told Anatolia news agency. All three sailors rescued - Ukrainians second-in-command Eduard Pavlenko, third-in-command Pavlo Selimanov and the ship's female cook Larysa Lukach - were in good health, he added.