"US Blocks Iran’s Bid for a UN Board Seat", the New York Times writes today. The United States orchestrated the defeat of Iran’s push to gain a seat onWednesday on the board of the new United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality around the world, in keeping with the broader American strategy to isolate Iran. The United States organized a global diplomatic effort to block Iran from the board, with its ambassadors approaching dozens of foreign ministries to argue that the Islamic Republic’s human rights record would send the wrong message about the new body.
More news about Iran is that its anti-aircraft system is being built. Iran is building its own advanced anti-aircraft missile system, after Russia said it would not sell it one, a top commander of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, General Mohammad Hasan Mansourian said on Wednesday. Iran will soon test its own version of the S-300 missile system, which is being developed at military industrial sites. Russia suspended the sale of the system, citing the latest round of United Nations sanctions. General Mansourian said the Iranian version was “ currently undergoing field modifications and is at the testing stage.”
The Turkish news agency Hurriyet reports that Azerbaijan is dissatisfied with US criticism of its elections. The US State Department, in a statement on Tuesday, said the State Department's views of Sunday's polls differed from that of international observers led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or the OSCE. But a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said the international mission’s report did not include a clause on the elections not having met international standards. In a joint statement issued on Monday, international observers expressed particular concern about restrictions of fundamental freedoms, media bias, the dominance of public life by one party, and serious violations on polling day.
An article devoted to Iran says that Tehran is hosting an inter-religious conference. Representatives from the Vatican and several Muslim organizations from around the world have gathered in Tehran for a three-day inter-religious dialogue which started on Monday, the Iranian Press TV news network reported on Wednesday. The event comes as the seventh round of meetings between the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization and the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. The conference is expected to address Christian and Muslim perspectives on a broad range of issues.
The Roma in Turkey welcome the prospect of healthcare, is another news item published by Hurriyet. Antalya's Roma community is not facing eviction, assault, or discrimination, but rather are having their social security premiums paid by the local administration. The Antalya Social Security Directorate has announced a new system to provide coverage for residents of Antalya who cannot afford to make their own social security contributions. 'The Roma people who collect paper to recycle from garbage face health issues but can now receive health care,' an official says. Roma people in the Mediterranean province of Antalya who make their living by collecting garbage to recycle, or who suffer from health issues, will have their social security premiums paid for by the government, a provincial official has announced.
Press TV cites Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewing his call for Israel to apologize for its raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that left nine Turkish peace activists dead. At the same time an Iranian cleric urges action on Iraq's plight become of it, and a civilized country of the world has turned into a. A senior Iranian cleric has condemned the recent spate of violence in Iraq, calling on all Muslims across the world to protest the “crimes against humanity.” “Iraq is a thousands-year-old civilized country and is the birthplace of great scientists and scholars … but look what has bloody scene of crimes against humanity,” Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said."Iran, Turkey N-disarmament advocates" is the title of an article published by Press TV. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says the Islamic Republic and Turkey have the potential to be flag-bearers for international nuclear disarmament.
Press TV also reports that US President Barack Obama has renewed longstanding financial sanctions against Iran, initially imposed 31 years ago by President Jimmy Carter. The executive order was meant to 'deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat' to national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the United States as a result of the situation in Iran.
