World Press on Iran, Turkey and Caucasus (October 26, 2010)

An article entitled "Afghan president confirms large cash payments by Iranian officials" was published today in the Los Angeles Times. According to the author of the article, Laura King, Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged on Monday that his office regularly received large cash sums from Iranian officials, but said there was nothing untoward about the payments. However, several hours before Karzai's statement, the Iranian authorities in Kabul had dismissed the allegations vehemently.

The Washington Post writes that Iran is injecting fuel into the core of its first reactor. According to the newspaper, the English-language Press TV announced on Tuesday morning the injection of fuel into the core of the reactor at Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran. "Iran says the 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant, built with the help of Russia, will begin generating electricity in early 2011 after years of delays," says the article.

Press TV reports that Iranian and Danish officials are ready to expand longstanding trade and economic ties, despite a host of US-sponsored sanctions against Tehran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry's Director-General for Northeastern Europe, Behnam Behrouz, and Deputy Danish Foreign Minister, Anne Steffensen, discussed areas of possible cooperation during a meeting in Copenhagen on Monday. "Denmark is one of Iran's longstanding trade partners and we are keen to expand our
cooperation and ties with the state, particularly in the economic sector," Behrouz said.

Another item published by Press TV today says that Iran's top presidential advisor, Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi, believes the West has used the September 11 event as a ploy to dominate the nergy-laden
Middle East. "Although September 11 is a reality that took place, the subsequent events were of hundreds of times greater importance than that single episode," said the Iranian official.

Hurriyet has published an article according to which a prominent American expert believes that war with a nuclear-armed Iran is inevitable. If Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, there will be war, an
American expert on Iran has said. But, he said, even if its outlook seems to be "too naive," Turkey still has role to play in persuading Iran to limit its nuclear weapons capabilities.