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.
In order for the Obama administration to successfully engage Iran on the nuclear issue, Washington needs to enhance its ability to deter Tehran, according to the findings of a task force organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The Obama administration has a very different vision from the Bush administration about what American foreign policy interests are. The Obama administration, though, inherits several of the Bush administration's concerns about Russia.
Look who is touting the rule of law: Iran is threatening to sue Turkmenistan if Ashgabat does not offer compensation for unilaterally cutting off gas supplies in early 2008.
Iran's current diplomatic mission to Iraq, led by former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, aims to bury the mutual hostility that was generated by the 1980-88 war between the two neighboring states. If successful, Iran will retain its influence in Iraq as the United States moves forward with the withdrawal of American forces.
