The Los Angeles Times published an article "Turkey builds on regional ties". As it takes over leadership of a regional economic bloc, analysts say Ankara's star is shining: balancing warm and commercially beneficial ties with Syria and Iran on the one hand while remaining a NATO member and ally of Israel on the other. Turkey took over the rotating leadership of a trade organization that includes Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asian states on Thursday in a post that highlights the country's increasing economic and political clout. Turkey has also sought to present itself as a diplomatic broker, seeking to ease tensions between Iran and the West and between Syria and Israel. It is scheduled to host international talks next month on Iran's nuclear program.
The New York Times reports that, despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has allowed American companies to do billions of dollars-worth of business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism. At the behest of a host of companies from Kraft Food and Pepsi to some of the nation's largest banks, a little-known office of the Treasury Department has granted nearly 10,000 licenses for deals involving countries that have been cast into economic purgatory, beyond the reach of American business. Hundreds of licenses were approved because they passed a litmus test: They were deemed to serve American foreign policy goals.
Hurriyet published an article headlined "Ahmadinejad plays down missile shield, says Istanbul nuke talks 'crucial' ". It says that Iran is not afraid of a NATO missile shield near its border and is hopeful about upcoming nuclear talks with world powers in Istanbul, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a press conference in Istanbul on Thursday. The Iranian president answered journalists' questions for more than an hour at the conference. Ahmadinejad said sanctions will not have an effect on the Iranian economy. He also denied that prices of food, oil and other goods in Iran had increased because of the UN sanctions, as some media reported.
Another article published by Hurriyet reports that a member of the elite al-Quds force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard has been captured in southern Afghanistan, accused of cross-border weapons smuggling. The man, described as a "key Taliban weapons facilitator," was captured on Saturday in Zhari district, Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, a volatile district targeted in recent coalition operations. He was targeted "for facilitating the movement of weapons between Iran and Kandahar through Nimroz province," a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. It is thought he was connected to smuggling small arms between the countries.
Today the Iranian information agency Press-TV reports that Iran has announced that gasoline consumption in the country fell by 10.6 million litres, just one day after the implementation of an economic reform plan. Meanwhile, Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company Javad Oji said it is predicted that natural gas consumption in Iranian households will decline by 25 percent following the implementation of the targeted subsidies law.
"Iran, Kyrgyzstan vow to enhance ties" is the article published by Press-TV. Iran and Kyrgyzstan have expressed their firm support for expansion of bilateral ties, vowing to explore all existing potential for the promotion of national development. The Iranian chief executive expressed Iran's readiness to make use of all capacities in an effort to strengthen coordination on bilateral, regional and international affairs, adding that "the expansion of all-out political, economical and cultural cooperation will be a huge advantage for the two nations' development, prosperity and security."
