World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (February 11-13, 2012)

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Turkey’s top diplomat said Friday that Iran is ready to negotiate an end to the standoff with Western powers over its nuclear program, suggesting that the controversy could be resolved quickly if the deep distrust between the two sides could be overcome. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also criticized economic sanctions against Iran as ineffective and warned that any military strike against the country’s nuclear facilities would inflame the region while doing little to curb Iran’s ambitions. Israeli and U.S. officials have not ruled out military options to impede Iran’s progress. Davutoglu, in Washington to consult with the Obama administration on the Syrian and Iranian crises, said he perceived a new willingness among Iran’s leaders to cut a deal on limits to its nuclear program. Talks between Iran and the “P5-plus-1” powers — the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany — have been frozen for more than a year.

The same agency reported on Monday that assailants attacked Israeli diplomatic targets in India and Georgia in near-simultaneous strikes on Monday, wounding two people in a car bombing in New Delhi, officials said. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said an attempted car bombing in Georgia was thwarted when the device was discovered before it went off. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But suspicion fell on Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, which both have deep grievances against the Jewish state. Authorities in the former Soviet republic of Georgia said an explosive device was planted on the car of a driver for the Israeli Embassy. Shota Utiashvili, spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, said the driver noticed a package attached to his car’s undercarriage on Monday and called police. Police found a grenade in the package and it was defused, Utiashvili said. He did not specify where the car was parked when the device was discovered.

The New York Times published the article headlined “Hamas Premier Visits Iran in Sign of Strong Relations.” It says that Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of the Hamas government in Gaza, arrived in Iran on Friday for a visit that suggested that relations between Hamas and Iran remained good despite reports of tensions over Syria. Hamas, the Islamic militant group, appeared to be trying to keep the visit low-key. Hamas officials in the Palestinian enclave either avoided calls from reporters or refused to comment on the trip, while Hamas television provided no immediate coverage. Mr. Haniya’s office sent a short text message to journalists saying only that he had arrived in Tehran on a private plane from Kuwait.

The same agency reported that India emerged as a major new irritant on Thursday in Western efforts to isolate Iran, announcing that it was sending a large trade delegation there within weeks to exploit opportunities created by the American and European antinuclear sanctions that are increasingly disrupting Iran’s economy. The trade delegation announcement coincided with new reports that India, an important consumer of Iranian oil, had eclipsed China for the first time as Iran’s No. 1 petroleum customer last month, subverting efforts by the United States to persuade other countries to find non-Iranian sources for their energy needs or risk onerous penalties under a new American sanctions law. The announcement also came ahead of a planned visit to India by Herman Van Rompuy, the European Union president, who was quoted in an interview with The Times of India as saying that he intended to seek the Indian government’s help in pressing Iran to give up its nuclear program.

The Turkish information agency Hurriyet reported that Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks, but the U.S. Navy can prevent it from blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region said yesterday.  Iran has made a series of threats in recent weeks to disrupt shipping in the Gulf or strike U.S. forces in retaliation if its oil trade is shut down by sanctions, or if its disputed nuclear programme comes under attack. "They have increased the number of submarines ... they increased the number of fast attack craft," Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters. "Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory."