The US State Department has confirmed that a top American diplomat will be attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization being convened specifically to discuss the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. A State Department spokesman did not rule out that the US diplomat would hold talks with Iranian officials on the sidelines of the meeting.
The US State Department has confirmed that a top American diplomat will be attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization being convened specifically to discuss the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. A State Department spokesman did not rule out that the US diplomat would hold talks with Iranian officials on the sidelines of the meeting.
It is official: Iran will not be offered full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2009. Member states deem Tehran, which is currently embroiled in a dispute with the international community over its nuclear program, too big a liability.
It is official: Iran will not be offered full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2009. Member states deem Tehran, which is currently embroiled in a dispute with the international community over its nuclear program, too big a liability.
Russia has entered into an energy swap arrangement with Iran that can strengthen Moscow's position in the Caspian Basin. Meanwhile, Tehran stands to reap geopolitical benefits, as the deal could make it more difficult for the international community to tighten economic sanctions connected to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
Russia has entered into an energy swap arrangement with Iran that can strengthen Moscow's position in the Caspian Basin. Meanwhile, Tehran stands to reap geopolitical benefits, as the deal could make it more difficult for the international community to tighten economic sanctions connected to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
Iran and Uzbekistan want to up open new regional transit routes linking Iran with China.
"Tehran and Tashkent should benefit from their common interests and deepen their ties in different fields," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said following a meeting with Uzbek Deputy Foreign Minister Anvar Solihbaev in Tehran, March 14.
Farid Hashemi's latest "status update" on his Facebook page says a lot about his state of mind.
"It's better to be born as a dog in a democracy than to be a human in a dictatorship," he writes.
Twenty-eight-year-old Hashemi is a senior member of Iran's largest pro-reform student group, Daftar Tahkim Vahdat, which is a regular target of pressure from the state.
Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan have pledged to increase cooperation. Among the measures mooted by the three states is the creation of a trilateral investment bank.
Tajik President Imomali Rahmon huddled with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of an Economic Cooperation Organization summit being held in Tehran.
RFE/RL: Why do you think U.S. intelligence officials are now saying that Iran has yet to decide whether to build a nuclear bomb?
Shannon Kile: There needs to be a context to this. Last week, there was a [U.S. intelligence] statement that Iran had produced enough low-enriched uranium that it could produce a nuclear weapon at some point in the near-term future.
