At the center of western media reports over the past two days is
Iran’s invitation to tour its nuclear sites before the nuclear talks
of the world powers in Turkey at the end of January. A senior Iranian
envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, suggested the weekend of 15 January for
the tour. Among the countries invited on the tour are Russia, China,
Egypt, the group of non-aligned nations at the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), Cuba, Arab League members at the IAEA, and
Hungary, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency. The US,
Britain, France and Germany were not among the world powers invited.
The Guardian reported on the 3rd of January that the German
authorities are urging Iran to free two German journalists, in a plea
signed by the German foreign minister. The two journalists, Jens Koch
and Marcus Hellwig, were arrested last October while interviewing the
son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to death by
stoning for adultery. On the 4th of January the Los Angeles Times and
the Washington Post reported that Iran warned that a campaign to free
the German journalists might backfire.
The Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian report on
the fate of an Iranian nuclear scientist, Shahram Amiri, who claimed
to be abducted by the CIA and who returned as a hero to Tehran last
July. According to a US-based opposition website, Iranbriefing.net,
the scientist was tortured in Iran on suspicion of revealing state
secrets to US officials.
The New York Times published an article on the 3rd of January entitled
“Ahmadinejad Was Slapped by General, Leaked Cable Says.” The article
discusses information leaked by WikiLeaks, according to which the
president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was slapped in the face by
Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps, at a meeting of Iran’s Supreme National
Security Council, two weeks after several protesters were killed at a
demonstration in Tehran for suggesting that perhaps restrictions on
the press should be relaxed.
The Turkish new agency Hurriyet published an article entitled “Turkish
court: Lock 'em up, toss away the key.” Turkey has introduced new
measures, meant to harmonize Turkey’s laws on arrest prior to
conviction with European Union standards. Suspects on trial without
conviction for years were released in Turkey in the first days of
2011. However, despite the attempts of the Turkish authorities to
standardize the Turkish legal system in accordance with EU
regulations, experts are suggesting the five to ten years of arrest
without conviction provided by the new Turkish regulations is
unacceptable by European standards.
The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times inform about a warning
by Afghanistan that the Iranian fuel ban could cause an energy crisis.
Iran's decision to stop up to 2,500 fuel trucks at its border with
Afghanistan has already caused an increase in domestic fuel prices of
70% and a shortage of fuel.
The Azerbaijani news agency Trend published extracts from an interview
given by the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, with the
Mexican newspaper The News. In the interview, Elmar Mammadyarov said
that he is “absolutely sure that Armenia will eventually return our
territories, because it is a matter of international law,” and “if
diplomatic options of trading the territories back should fail,
Azerbaijan is prepared “to use whatever means it takes” to reclaim its
territory.
